Aiguille du Midi

All bundled up for the visit to the top of the world…

We decided to go up the Aiguille du Midi (by cable car “telepherique”) on the first clear day. We packed everyone up into two cars, borrowed some winter clothes (thanks PF and A!) and drove off under spectacular skies. Just the drive from Megeve to Chamonix is awesome… through tiny villages on windy roads with cow bells ringing constantly and the view of Mont Blanc and the surrounding mountains around every corner. Once arrived we were cooking in our winter clothes as the temperature quickly rose to the mid-to high 20s in the valley. The cable car carries somewhere around 70 people (there were 68 in our car) and many passengers are loaded down with ski gear, climbing gear etc… The ride is fine, but is not for those who have fear of heights.  The ride down is especially fun as it is quite quick and feels much like a roller coaster. Here is the telepherique at the in-between station – the last picture shows the view from the mid-station to the top of the aiguille.

Here are some pictures from the top… I was surprised at how the altitude affected me – I haven’t spent much time that high up before! We had lunch at the restaurant/cafeteria but didn’t venture up the elevator to the very top of the aiguille. The kids weren’t actually that interested in seeing the view, so adding a third step to the adventure wasn’t in the cards.

Then on the way down we stopped at the mid-station. This part was the favorite as the kids could run around and throw snow balls at the parents:)

Now we are counting down our sleeps as we prepare for the long journey home. The kids are excited to see their friends and their cat, and I am ready for a little exercise again (impossible on the road!).  Francois needs the recovery time (though he will be back in Europe just one week after we get home for a conference already – poor guy!).

Quincy made friends with some French climbers who lent him their ice pick and helmet

Five years old in the Alps

This is the second year in a row that Quincy requested fondue and artichokes for his birthday dinner, and this year we are staying in the heart of fondue expertise. Lise bought the cheese at the market, and when she requested they grate it for her they refused, saying that proper fondue is made with cheese gently sliced into thin pieces. I am not sure how Francois ended up making it, but the result was fantastic. In the end, Quincy thought the taste was too strong and contented himself eating the bread and fresh artichokes dry. Fine by me – all the more cheese for the grown-ups:)

We took the kids to a type of zip-lining/climbing area in the forest for a family birthday celebration. Mia was too young and too small, but as there is limited concern about liability here, they said if we wanted to take her we could. She loved it!

and there was no way I was going to attempt to make a birthday cake when the patisserie down the road has a baker who is recognized in France as “Meuilleur Ouvrier”.  We bought a selection and everyone indulged… and present opening followed (how are we ever going to get packed up to go home again??):

and since we were heading to the Aiguille du Midi the next day (see next post), Quincy got a Telepherique (cable car) for his birthday. It fits his Lego and Playmobil characters and came with a cool snowboarder:

At the end of the day Francois and I snuck off to have dinner at a restaurant with 2 Michelin stars. A first for us, and I will ensure that it is not the last:)  It was phenomenal – Flocons de Sel.

The Amazing Alps

Wow! For the first 7 weeks of the trip we spent most of our time in places that I have spent much time before, but now we are staying in the Alps and I am blown away. It is breathtaking. A lovely friend from many years ago has generously shared his home with us in Megeve for the last two weeks of May. Megeve is located close to Geneva, Chamonix and within view of the spectacular Mont Blanc. It is the off season now (summer season won’t kick in until the beginning of June) so we are enjoying some very quiet time. Francois’ mom Lise and her partner Charles have joined us and the kids have loved having their “Mamie” to play with and spoil them. I have appreciated the company and help during the week when Francois is away.

Here are some pictures of where we are staying… Firstly – the view from the balcony with a little bit of breakfast, and the neighbour cowbells:

Playing with Mamie:

We went on a day trip to the Parc de Merlet where we could observe animals of the Alps living in their natural environment (chamois, marmots, deer, mountain goats etc), all with the spectacular view of the Alps as a back drop:

After visiting the Park we stopped in on a place where St. Bernard’s are being raised. There were 18 adults and 7 puppies:

Other communities nearby that we have visited include Combleaux and Chamonix and everywhere the mountain views are fantastic. In many ways they are reminiscent of the Rockies, but the charm of the old villages nearby and the church steeples in view make it truly unique. Here are a few pics:

Combleaux:

Chamonix:

good-bye Holland

After a fabulous and full visit to Holland, we are off again!  This time we head down to the French Alps where they are forecasting snow and freezing temperatures… hmmm.

Most of the last two weeks in Holland were very busy for poor Francois. He has been traveling way more than we expected and he is pretty exhausted. The kids and I were lucky to visit so many friends and family, but unlucky because the weather was pretty miserable for the last two of our three weeks in Holland (it has been a terrible spring all over Europe). We didn’t let it hold us back much though.

The kids (and I) really loved our day at Madurodam - a miniature version of Holland. The architecture and beauty of the variety of Dutch buildings was captured amazingly, and the kids loved the mini Schiphol (airport) with taxing planes and all. The intricate railway system winds itself through the whole park, including passenger, cargo and high-speed trains. Another favorite was the cargo ship in the water that kept catching fire and required the help of the fireboat to put it out. Every once in a while we could drop in a coin for extra fun. The last two pictures below show how when you drop in a Euro coin the wooden shoe factory bangs around and then drops some shoes in the dump truck. The truck then drives around so the kids can pick up their shoe souvenirs out of the back.

During our two weeks we had time to visit two beaches on the north Sea. We weren’t suntanning, but we all loved the strong wind, endless kms of beach and soft, soft sand. When Finn and I were kids we often went to Kijkduin with my parents and grandparents and I had so much fun introducing it to my little guys. Of course, the beach is always a winner and we have a large collection of shells to bring home (thank you Mia).  Quincy spent most of the two beach days creating (over and over and over) the Icelandic volcano with his feet in the sand, then having it erupt.

(Finn -remember climbing on the big tugboat? – still the same!!).

We also visited with lots of family and friends. Here is a snapshot:

And here are a few last shots from our time in Holland. First, pics of our home in Kockengen:

Learning Dutch marble rules, enjoying the playground and helping Ann cook:

Admiring the majestic blue heron and the last of the tulip fields:

Mother’s day bike ride:

windmills and more dutchness

While skypeing (is that a verb?) with my mom the other day she asked me what I did with all my time over here. I have no work, no house to take care of (other than daily cleaning), no committees, no teams, no playdates or friends, no kid’s activities…  And to top it off, I only have two outfits to choose from every day. I don’t waste anytime worrying what I have to wear:) No wonder I am having such a great time!

Most of my time is occupied with taking care of the kids. Francois has travelled more than we expected him to, so I have been spending most weekdays by myself with Quincy and Mia. In the evenings I often plan our activities for the next day by googling for things to do in the neighbourhood (within an hour’s drive). Then I program in several options into my GPS Tomtom so that I don’t have to think in the morning. We have abandoned all schedules and routines and the kids stay up late and enjoy sleeping in. They are always tired at the end of the day, so bedtime routine is quick and painless. We take it slow in the morning and don’t often get out the door before late morning.

For myself I have taken to doing things I don’t have time for at home. Reading the regional newspaper (practicing my Dutch or French) and learning about local political issues. I also enjoy reading my novel, and occasionally doing the Sudoku (crosswords in Dutch is too hard!). I have taken time to meet many of my old friends and family for excursions all over Holland. A real treat! Of course I am also having fun managing all our new photographs and working on this blog. All together, I feel a total sense of relaxation and freedom that is wonderfully welcome. So far, I have no need to come home yet!

So… I haven’t really posted much about Kockengen and our life in this small village. We are staying in a very old home in the middle of the old centre of this town. The town itself has a bakery, a butcher, flower store, postoffice, grocery store and not much else – except for THREE churches. The church across the street chimes every half hour, including twelve times at midnight right outside our bedroom window. After one night we were used to it already. Kockengen is located conveniently in the center of Holland so an easy drive or train ride to Utrecht, Amsterdam, and to the beach on the North Sea. Here are some pics of the house (living and dining):

and some pictures of the view from the master bedroom:

… and some pics of the backyard activities:

Last weekend we quickly jumped on the bikes when there was a sunny break in the miserable rain. We found the local Kockengen Molen (windmill) which turns every Saturday for historical purposes and is run by volunteers. We enjoyed learning about how it was formerly used as a water mill to empty the lower lands of water for the fields. The teeny tiny one room housed the “molenaar” (person who runs the windmill) as well as his wife and five children. We happened to be there just as they were taking the sails off of the mill and so we learned how they did that. It also happened to be the woman’s first day in her volunteer position after studying for two and half years to be able to run the mill.

Above you can see the stages of unhooking and rolling up the sails. Below you can see the kids helping the Molenaar unhook the sails before they are rolled up. When the sails are mounted the Molenaar or their helper has to climb the blades to attach them at the top. This is not necessary when taking them down. The next pic is of Francois and the kids watching as the mill is turned so that the next blade is down and the sail can be removed.

A favorite family activity here has been discovering the endless bike trails right at our doorstep. Although I understand the safety elements of the helmets and harnesses, there is something wonderfully free about biking along with the kids clinging precariously on to the rack on the back and the wind whipping through your hair.

Francois was in Munich and London during the week, so our first excursion during the week was to the Dick Bruna museum. He is the artist that created the Nijntje book series (Miffy in English). He is still alive and there is a little museum of the history of his work.

We are closing in on our last few days in Holland as Saturday we leave for the Alps and the finale of our trip. I will post a little more on life in Holland soon.

Holland!

France was wonderful but both Francois and I were also looking forward to being back in Holland. Unfortunately, we had to get there and that involved an epic trip by car, train, metro and taxi. Francois was already in Luxembourg (f0r work), so I had to pack everything up, drive the 1.5 hrs to Bordeaux, return the rental car and board the TGV with the two kids on my own (+the luggage). It all went surprisingly smoothly, though I was happy to see Francois in Paris (after 3 hrs) where he met us at the station. At Montparnasse I took a moment to enjoy a Starbucks (my first in over a month), but unfortunately chai lattes just aren’t the same in Paris:) We then took the metro, waited 2 hrs at Gare du Nord for our next TGV and then spent another 3 hrs on the train. Once in Amsterdam the kids were bouncing around like crazy. We were lucky to get to stay in a little separate apartment at my uncle Gislebert’s house. We only had one day in Amsterdam and enjoyed the beautiful weather by walking through the Vondel Park and hitting several cafes around town to do some people watching. We also had a nice little dinner at a cafe on the water in Nichtevecht with Oom Gies. Gies’ house:

Around Amsterdam:

Vondel Park (with Mia on the same horse carousel in 2008):

Following our day in Amsterdam we picked up a rental car and headed to Brabant where the rest of my aunts, uncles and cousins live. There we stayed at Judith’s place for 3 nights and Reyna’s house for 2 nights. Such a treat for Quincy and Mia to get to know the family. Unfortunately my camera was on the fritz for a couple of days, so I don’t have much to show for the lovely time we had. Hopefully somebody else can send me some pictures if they turned out! Family reunion at Judith’s:

Collecting eggs:

Playing with dolls and puppet house:

Taking care of Mees:

And after two weeks of travelling and moving around, we are now stable in a house in the town of Kockengen. We met the people who live here as they headed out the door on a family vacation to Italy on Friday (for spring break). We had offered to do a home exchange with this family, but since we approached them quite late, they had already arranged to go to Italy. Generously however, they offered their house to us anyway. We are caring for the guinea pig and rabbit while they are away:) The house is super comfortable and full of age appropriate toys (they have 5 year old twins + two older kids). Kockengen is a teeny town in the center of Holland and is surrounded by everything you can imagine as typically Dutch; windmills, milk/cheese farms, men in wooden shoes, canals, cows, herons, kilometers of bike paths etc…

And to top it off – we arrived on “Konningendag” (Queen’s day), a national holiday which includes tons of drinking, partying, general silliness as well as lots of fun things for kids and grown-ups alike to do. In the big cities it is nuts – the railway shut down this year because of people partying on the traintracks – so we stuck to Kockengen where we were noticeably the only people attending who didn’t live in the town. The kids participated in a nerf frisbee throwing contest into Cookie Monster’s mouth for an ice-cream prize.Here are some pictures:

Then there were other silly games for older kids and adults including, running across the dirty/cold canal on a slippery old log (fastest time less than 6 seconds), and raft races on same canal with children’s shovels as paddles. Before these games were started the divers spent an hour cleaning out the bottom of the canal of some garbage and (of course) a rusted bicycle.

That’s it for now… more on Kockengen and Holland later in the week.

Eymet

Surprise… It is raining in Holland today (!) so I finally get a moment to work on the blog. We are in the town of Kockengen for the next two weeks, but we have been in Holland just over a week. The week after Paris we spent in the south of France in the Bordeaux region. The town we stayed at is called Eymet and to get there we had to drive through an hour and a half of vineyards from the city of Bordeaux (where the TGV left us after 3 hours of train from Paris). I guess the endless masses of vineyards are needed in order to make it possible to buy Bordeaux wines anywhere in the world. It makes the vineyards of the Okanagan look very few and far between. From Eymet we visited Bergerac (great little city) and the Chateau Monbazillac.

Francois’ Tante Gigi and Marc found us a fabulous little “gite” (summer cottage) that a friend of theirs let us have for free. The place was typical southern France with two foot deep rock walls and lizards scampering around everywhere. There was an unheated outside pool in the front garden that they opened for us (thinking the crazy Canucks could handle the cold water of an April pool). Amazingly enough it was close to thirty degrees most of the five days we were there so we did take a cold dip every day. It was hot and a lovely relaxing/lazy time after the busy days of Paris. We spent most of the time chasing lizards, playing around the pool and eating/drinking French food and wine. Marc is an amazing French chef and made dinner at our house for us on two occasions; the second of which was a sort of “Iron chef Eymet” where we bought the ingredients and he came over and made us dinner. This was the third visit Francois and I have made to Eymet (previously in 2004, 2008) and I will post the pictures below of how we have changed in the 6 years!

The gite:

Chateau Montbazillac (the well, the chateau, kids drinking grape juice in the chateau vineyard):

Chateau Monbazillac in 2004 and 2008 (in 2004 Francois and I spent all day hiking 40+ kms through the vineyards to the chateau, in 2008 we took the kids for the first time):

And Gigi and Marc have done beautifully over the years converting old barns (ie. 200+ years old) into fabulous loft style homes. Their current project is located on several acres of land with an old prune orchard  and a beautiful view. We visited the site (inside the house with original stone walls and new floor to ceiling windows and heated concrete floors):

Site of future pool (+ Lidu the dog):

And here are a few last pictures from our visit to southern France (finding bugs):

Paris (or the Eiffel Tower Fiasco)

It has been a week since we left Belgium, and I have had intermittent internet access and busier evenings with no time to blog. Our adventure continues, though it has taken a different pace. First of all, the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano has dominated the news and thoughts in Europe. Our Belgian friends landed in Brussels just hours before the airspace was closed for almost the entire week (lucky them!). We were fine on the train ride to Paris (as the airspace closed just as we were leaving), but our longer train ride 3 days later was quite busy as the trains began to fill up with stranded passengers. We have now been in Eymet (southern France an hour outside Bordeaux) since Sunday. Francois was supposed to fly to London on Monday for meetings all week, but lucky for me (!) his flight was of course cancelled. But let’s rewind for a minute…

We arrived in Paris and found our hotel with only one Mia meltdown when she was confronted with yet another set of staircases in the metro. The hotel was cozy, but not in the romantic Paris way that you might envision; it was cozy with 4 single beds:) Bedtime for all at 8pm.

Quincy’s one request for the whole trip was to see the Eiffel tower, and this was our first order of business on day 1. I consider it now in hindsight as the Eiffel Tower Fiasco… we waited in line for over an hour, in freezing hurricane like winds to get our tickets. Once we went up in the elevator and made it to the second floor, the kids were completely uninterested in taking in the view (in the freezing cold). So, we decided to take the next elevator up to the very top (we had paid the extra to go all the way), but once we found the endless line-up for the second elevator (again outside in the cold) we aborted the whole plan and went back down for hot chocolates. I still don’t think the kids even realized that we we never made the top.

Horrendous line up in the bitter cold

Cold view

When Francois and I lived in Paris (1996-1998) I worked at the American University of Paris which was just by the Eiffel Tower. Once we got down from the tower I got to enjoy a little tour through my old neighbourhood to find “Cafe du Marche” for hot chocolates and get a crepe on the street – both weekly haunts in my younger years:)

In the afternoon the kids and I went to the Jardins Luxembourg (another favorite place of ours) while Francois went back to the hotel to do some work. Besides the lovely gardens, the Jardins Luxembourg has old guys playing chess and/or petoncles (bocci), marionette performances, toy wooden sailboat rentals and an old fashioned carousel. The kids loved the carousel – old wooden horses, seatbelts of weathered old leather and each kid was given a wooden stick. Later it was revealed they were to try and hook the little metal rings the carousel man was holding as they went by each time (see Quincy’s concentration as he hooks a ring in the picture below).

That night we had a fabulous dinner at a Lebanese restaurant near the hotel (Janna). The next morning the kids were surprised as we took them to see Eurodisney (they had never heard of it!). The Disney franchise isn’t my favorite (too commercial, too consumerist, too artificial), but it sure knows how to capture a kid’s excitement. Despite the hot weather and long lineups, the kids (especially Quincy) loved it…

I LOVE visiting Paris… but I can’t believe I actually lived there – such a stunning but crazy, overpopulated, busy, expensive, work-focused city. This visit was short and very child centered (we did not drag the kids to any of my 5 favorite museums or go to any lengthy/fabulous meals), but it was still lovely. I will definitely bring them again in a few years to enjoy more…

Leaving Tervuren

We leave Tervuren tomorrow when we take the train to Paris. The next two weeks of our trip are going to be the hardest as we are travelling far and often. The TGV (fast train) will be our main transportation as we head to Paris Thursday and Bordeaux on Sunday. The longest leg will be back to Amsterdam from Bordeaux the following weekend. I am excited to get down to the south of France  but the thought of trailing suitcases and preschoolers through train stations and metro stops is painful:) Also, Francois has booked a bunch of meetings in London, Luxembourg etc… so the kids and I will be on our own for the week.

Here are a few random pictures from our stay in Belgium.

Biking forever through the forest nearby.

Learning chess:

Bananaphone; bananasnack:

Mia cuddles:

Swinging, sleeping and stretching:

Silliness in Brussels (including: peeing dog, cycling cat, goofy Russian teenagers):

Fun in the bathroom (including cleaning stuffy’s bum in the bidet and playing hairdresser in the bath):

Brussels

We finally made some time for a few trips in to visit Brussels. It is best to go by public transportation, but when heading in on my own with the two kids it is an organizational feat. We have to take a tram and then a metro, and once arrived I only have a stroller for one out of two kids. Then we have to carry snacks, camera, phone, extra warm clothes etc… And to top it off – Quincy decided he was scared of escalators! Impossible to navigate the European metro system with stroller if not using escalator. I wondered yesterday if it was worth it, but in the end we had a great time.

The four of us went to Het Kindermuseum (Children’s museum) on the weekend. Such a blast! The ‘theme’ was RED and all the exhibits revolved around the colour: red as the colour of life, alarm, love etc…

Red elephant (?)

red and white blood cells

red in nature

red in art (Matisse's red fish)

red in theatre

We tried a non-kid focused cultural experience – The Brussels Cathedral (The Cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula). This was a stretch for 3 and 4 year olds, but Quincy enjoyed the skeleton sculptures and was somewhat interested in the dead people under the floor. It is a huge and impressive cathedral, but hard for preschoolers to understand the scope.

balance beam sculpture outside the cathedral

Hmmm...

"Who is that?" Oh boy...

And when the kids and I went together we visited the obligatory Grande Place and Manneken Pis. Quincy thought that Manneken Pis was the funniest sculpture ever, and quickly announced to the crowd of tourists that “the water is coming out of his PENIS!”.

"... and he's holding his penis too."

Tintin mural

fascinated by the street performers who pretend to be statues

taking a break from the sightseeing for a snack and a read

On a side note, I have been on a quest to buy books from the “Barbapapa” series. These books were published back in the early 70′s in French and I remember loving them as a kid. I recently inherited an old discarded copy from Glenmore elementary and my kids love it. The books carry very relevant messages about environmentalism, sustainability, protection of nature etc… in a way that Quincy adores. Now we have 7 out of 10 of them.

even found a Barbamama plate!