Filtering by Category: westerneurope

Travel by Map #8: France

July 15, 2015 / Dwayne Hodgson

June 1 to July 15 2015 /
France + two short séjours in Switzerland & Spain

We followed a rather eclectic itinerary in France, but covered over 3,300 km by TGV (high speed train), regular train, metro subway, rental car, funicular (up Mont Blanc!), ferry boat, bus, chairlifts, bicycle, surfboards, and in the end unfortunately, by skateboard.....and then ambulance....

The latter necessitated a slight change of itinerary: instead of leaving from Madrid, we headed north to Bordeaux to catch a flight home, courtesy of our travel insurance company.

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categories / westerneurope, france

Les adventures françaises

July 14, 2015 / Dwayne Hodgson

June 30 to July 9 / Cauterets, Lourdes & Capbreton, France

The last few weeks in France were spent doing a few more typical touristy past-times, including:

Hiking in the Pyrénees

We stayed in Cauterets, a winter ski resort and site of a recent Tour de France stage. From there we hiked in the Pyrenees National Park at the Pont d'Espagne, and the Cirque de Gavarnie.

Pilgrimaging to Lourdes

While making a one-night stop at Lourdes, we visited the Our Lady of Lourdes pilgrimage site. Although we are not Catholic, it was still very moving to see the thousands of people coming there with their prayers and ailments and to hear the prayers spoken in so many languages.

Surfing in Capbreton

Our friend in Paris recommended staying in Capbreton at her friends' surf hostel. Although we are not surfers, we were game to try and signed up for some lessons. It was surprisingly hard, although the waves there were great.

Full disclosure: these pictures below of pro surfers are not us! But rather, they represent what we were aspiring to do. To be honest, after an hour of lessons, we had all just managed to stand up on the board, if only for a few seconds.

So I thought that I should practice a bit on a skateboard before our next lesson.....

Navigating the French Healthcare System

Not a good idea, as it turned out.

Once I saw the second elbow on my right wrist, I realized that my trip was over. The paramedic gave me some ice during the 24 km ride to a clinic in Bayonne, but it was 4 hours until the doctors put me under to reduce the fracture. I woke up with this splint and a sinking feeling.

Three nights, some new French vocabulary, and miles of red tape later, we were medivaced via Bordeaux, Amsterdam and Toronto to Ottawa.

Now i am experiencing the thrills and chills of the Ontario healthcare system, both as I await my own surgery and because Isaac also fell and broke his wrist once we were back in Ottawa!

Quite the crash landing, indeed! Still i am glad that this only happened during our last week of our trip, and that we only ended up missing the last 6 days of our planned itinerary.

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categories / westerneurope, france
tags / france, hiking, mountains, surfing, beach

L'immersion française

July 06, 2015 / Dwayne Hodgson

Le 13 à 30 juin 2015 / Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur & Rhone-Alpes

Quand nous avons fait notre plan pour ce voyage pendant cinq dernières années, nous avons décidé que un but important pour notre année serait à améliorer notre français. Nous avons déjà étudié le français de temps en temps, Zoë a déjà commencé deux années de l’immersion français à l’école à Ottawa, et Isaac commencera à la quatrième niveau en Septembre. Mais pour étudier le français en France….ce serait merveilleux…

Puis, quand nous sommes arrivés en France, nous avons cherché un bon programme de la langue française pour les enfants et nous aussi.

Il était plus difficile que nous avons attendu plus difficile que nous l'avions imaginé, mais finalement, nous avons trouvé un bon cours à Cannes - La Bocca, au sud de la France. Enfin, nous avons étudié chaque matin pour trois heures, et pendant l’après-midi, nous avons resté à la plage, ou nous sommes allés en excursions avec les autres étudiants.

Après une semaine en classe, nous sommes partis en train jusqu’à Aubenas, où nous avons rencontrés François et Marie, les propriétaires de Mas Héritage, un vignoble en Ardèche. Là nous avons travaillé comme les bénévoles de WOOFing (« Willing Workers on Organic Farms). (L’année dernière, nous avons travaillé comme des bénévoles en Turquie avec une autre famille française).

Cette fois, nous avons travaillé dans les domaines du raisins, et puis, nous les avons aidé avec les préparations pour leur nouvelle gite. Ensemble, nous avons fait beaucoup de la peinture dans la gite, et Zoe et Isaac l’ont aidé Marie avec leur bébé, Zak. En sommes, Marie et François ont cinq enfants, et les parents de François et leur copains les ont aidé aussi.

Une gros point fort de la semaine a été de manger de bons repas chaque midi et soir avec toute la famille en tour un grand table dans le jardin. C’était comme nous avons habité dans un vrai film français ! Aussi, maintenant, je connais que que cela prend beaucoup de travail pour produit du vin; donc je vais maintenant le boire plus lentement!

Une pause photographique

Après six jours de travaille, nous sommes sorti de nouveau vers Avignon, où nous avons visité des autres amis qui nous avons rencontrées à Maroc, Sylvie et Thierry, et leurs enfants, Yanis et Lèna, pour « le weekend » -- ceci est le bon français, je comprends.

Ensemble, nous avons visité le Pont de Gard, un ancien aqueduc romain, nous avons marché à centre-ville -- mais nous n’avons pas dansé sur le pont d’Avignon, malheureusement. Aussi, nous sommes allés avec la famille à une grande fête du tennis pour un repas festive de paella – la cuisine espagnole, mais avec une saveur française.

Après plus que deux semaines en immersion française, j’étais un peu fatigué ! Mais vraiment, je pense c’était une bon expérience pour tout notre famille, et un bon occasion à préparer pour l’année prochaine de l’école pour les enfants.

Pour récupérer, nous avons décidé à faire de la randonnée dans les Pyrénées. Restez à l'écoute pour le prochain épisode de notre aventures français ! À bientôt !

Crédits: Merci beaucoup à Tricia qui a corrigé ma première projet de ce blog. Comme vous avez des autre suggestions, si vous plaît écrivez-les dans la boîte ci-dessous.

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categories / westerneurope, france
tags / language, road scholars, French, food, wine

Une petit séjour en Suisse

June 25, 2015 / Dwayne Hodgson

June 8 to 13, 2015 / Near Geneva and therabouts

After a week in Paris, we decided to accept an invitation from our friends, Ralph & Louise, to visit them near Geneva, Switzerland. Geneva is in the southwest corner of Switzerland that juts out into France, and by rights it probably should have been French were it not for the Swiss have a somewhat stubborn, independent mindset.

The Swiss have consented, however, to be included in the European Union's Schengen Area , so there is no official passport control or border crossing post. In fact, the only thing that told us that we had entered Switzerland was a sudden set of speed bumps and a traffic attendant asking us for 50 Euros (about 40 Swiss Francs) for the annual highway tolls sticker. Sigh. Not an expense that we had planned on for a 5-day visit. But then again, the roads were excellent.

Geneva was the temporal home of John Calvin, and it now hosts the headquarters of a number of well-respected international organizations -- although not FIFA, that's in Zurich. The city is also so perfectly laid out and orderly that you'd be afraid to cast a shadow in the wrong place. I think that they may have a law against that, come to think of it.

Given our short stay, we only really saw a small area near Lac Léman (more commonly known as Lake Geneva due to its Smoke on the Water cameo). We made a pilgrimage to Gruyère, did a few short day hikes, and visited Mont Blanc Chamonix to see what's left of the ever-shrinking Mer de Glace.

The little that we saw of Switzerland was stunning, so I'd definitely like to go back some day, Inch'Allah / D.V to do some more hiking and skiing. Time for a new bucket list, I guess. And maybe time for me to get hired by FIFA (and open a Swiss bank account) so I can afford to visit there again.

Des photos

Here are a few pictures that I took in Switzerland. As always, please click on the thumbnails to see them in a larger format.

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categories / westerneurope
tags / switzerland, geneva

Une semaine parisienne

June 09, 2015 / Dwayne Hodgson

June 1 to 8, 2015 / Paris, France

After our visit to the Moederland, we made our way down to the City of Lights.

Like London, Paris is a city that you think that you know because at every turn there is either a massive monument or an iconic building that you' swear that you've seen before -- now If only there was a French expression for that...

Of course to find art galleries on every corner, view scenic vistas down the river, or to just try and look chic with a cup of coffee on a sidewalk cafe, this is where you want to be.

While here, we managed to visit:

the Musée d'Orsay, which made a great French Impression; and was good value for the Monet;
the Musée Carnavalet to learn a bit about the history of the city, especially the Napoleonic era;
the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris, with its buttresses flying and gargoyles glaring;
Sainte Chappelle, a medieval cathedral with breath-taking stain glass windows;
the Eiffel Tower, because you just have to; and
the Palace of Versailles, home to Louis' 14 through 16 until they were evicted.

We also managed to stroll down the Champs-Élysées, take a walk through the Tulleries Gardens, command a toy sail boat in the Luxembourg Gardens, and take a sunset cruise on the Seine. All pretty touristy stuff, I know, but it was amazing to see it finally.

We also enjoyed a nice visit with Jennifer, a schoolmate of mine, and her family in Jointville-le-Pont, a suburb just outside Paris proper. It was so lovely to have a quiet place to retreat to at the end of the day, and our kids enjoyed hanging out with her two children, Theo and Dominique. Thanks again.

Des Photos, SVP!

Voici des photos de notre visite à Paris. Cliquez sur chaque thumbnail à voir un plus grand image.

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categories / westerneurope
tags / paris, france