nouvelles de Mike

Bonjour mes amis,

I know...no news from me, nor Gail, for quite a while. What do they say....no news is good news?! a combination of factors has made it difficult to keep you updated...being largely outside of cities where internet service is not as readily available, and being quite busy, too busy to stop and write!

Anyways, our trip is rapidly coming to an end. We are flying home this Saturday, and we are all excited. the kids especially have been looking forward to sleep in their own bed! I too am looking forward to not having to share small, two double bed rooms with 3 other people!

the last 6 weeks in France and Italy have been very different than our time in Latin America. We rented a car, and rented 4 different farm houses in southern france--one in Provence near Avignon, one on the Meditarean coast near Marseilles, one en Dordogne, and one near Nice. the gites were great because we were not moving around so much, and we could finally cook our own meals. Yes, we missed that luxury--big time! It was nice to not feel the obligation to get up and do something, see something etc. the boys started reading a lot more; sometimes spending a whole day reading, and sometimes rereqding, Harry Potter! Dylan stqrted to take a lot of enjoyment writing in his journal! surprising, yes; I know! I think he got a lot of pleasure reflecting back on earlier parts of the trip. Being forced to write about it...forced in the sense that it was our carrot to later take him to Euro Disney in Paris...forced him to try and remember details, and the pleasure lay in the details.

For my part, I really enjoyed going back to places in Southern France that I had first discovered in my early tzenties when I spend a year studying in Toulouse. It was fun to see the same places through different; hopefully wiser; eyes, and being able to share the experiences with Gail and the boys. Little things, like living in a traditional French farm house, with the huge windows; tall ceiling, shutters etc all left a mark on me. I want to come back again, and again!

We are in Paris at the moment, after spending last week in Italy. the highlight in Italy was hiking in Cinque Terre..;spelling? just south of Genoa. In Paris,, the highlights have been renting the cities municipal bicycles....an environmental initiative to get Parisiens out of their cars; and using thousands of bikes placed aroung the city to travel on..;to disover Paris on two wheels. We went to the tour Eiffel, and the Louvre, and walked around the Maris, and went to Euro Disney, and walked, and walked....until we hqve got so tired that we want to get on the plane, and come home.

It has been a reat trip, but it is time to savour that sweeeeeeeeeet feeling of coming home! e llok forward to seeing you soon.

Best wishes,

Mike

ps excuse the typos;;;I have been warned that i have to sent this now, or i will be cut off!

This week has found us exploring the beautiful city of Nice...

This week has found us exploring the beautiful city of Nice, strolling the 8km promenade along the beach and discovering so many interesting shops, restaurants and heritage cites in the old town, I was "forced" by my kids to take my "life into my hands" on rollerblades one afternoon with the kids and managed to avoid a faceplant on the pavement, dodged numerous bikes , strollers and pedestrians, although the speed bump was a scary moment, We even hit the movies-- a fitting movie--Into the Wild. The movie showed an exteme escape from a mundane life but it still instilled our appreciation for taking some risk, stepping out of routines, and seeing beyond our neighbourhoods, The kids really reflected upon the many travellers we have met along our journey and recognized that people travel for a wide variety of reasons and people grow in many ways because of their travels. They also thought that Alex from Into the Wild was too "far out there" in his adventurous , foolhardy spirit.The kids also wore themselves out at an adventure ropes course for a day. They were drenched in sweat with many scrapes, bruises and tired muscles yet grinning ear to ear when we picked them up after the 5 hour adventure.

We have even dodged some rain storms to get us climatized to the lovely Vancouver weather we have missed. We are kown as the crazy Canadians who swim laps most mornings in the freezing cold unheated pools we have had. The real reason that we can bear the elements is the extra layers of insulation we have from all the gelato, chocolate croissants and the wine! We are getting used to the typically French idiocyncracies, ie, 130 km per hour on the auto routes and make sure you have lots of euro coins ready for all the tolls, countless roundabouts which is nice when you aren't sure which way to turn---you just go around as many times as you need to figure it out; most people smoke but luckily no longer in restaurantst; most have small dogs that are welcome everywhere and definitely welcome to leave their marks whereever it drops---no walking barefoot; some of the best parts are the great coffee, wine, and the way the French shut down everything except the retaurants from 12 to 3 to savour a midday meal. They do not believe on eating on the run. Food is to be enjoyed and it is very important that meals are shared with family and friends. There are virtually no overwight French people either so maybe taking time with very good food at set meal time and eliminating junk food has merit. It is also very rare to buy takeout coffee so no takeout garbage littering the streets. We have also been so impressed with all the help we have been given to find routes, accom, food etc.

We left Nice and headed along the Ligurian coast of Italy, We settled into nice little beach town of Loano. Much better gelato, terrific pasta and we love the animated Italan conversations, It is a national holiday this weekend so it was wonderful hanging out with the locals and using our best sign language to communicate----not too much english in this town but for once even Mike doesn't know the language. We were heading to Turino but fierce storms and slides have dictated a new route---not sure where. Hope the school year is winding down well and you have some good summer plans to keep you going. Gail