Saturday May 4, 2012
My trip
to France started well because Elodie gave me a ride to the airport – I never
get luxury like that, so it was a great treat.
Check-in and security were a breeze, so that should have tipped me off
because it was all going so well! Just
as I was about to finish my first movie they announce we are landing in
WINNIPEG! I definitely had no desire to
see Winnipeg on this trip. Apparently
there was a mechanical error on the plane that had to be fixed. Sucky.
So we stopped for about an hour in order to rectify this issue. In the mean time, I met a really nice girl
who works for Backroads Active Travel who was on her way to do 7 weeks of
cycling tours in France and Greece. I
definitely have to look them up for job potential when I get home; her job
sounded pretty awesome! It was nice to
meet her and made the hour or so in the airport pass more quickly.
I found
out from a French couple that if we wanted to reroute through Toronto and then
Heathrow we could be guaranteed to get to Paris (lol – barring any other
airplane mishaps) by 3pm Sunday, so I decided that would be the best
option. As the flight boarded and I tried
to change mine I found out that AirFrance isn’t part of the Star Alliance which
meant I could not be rebooked L. I was really sad as I got back on the plane
as this meant that I would be leaving Montreal 24h later than planned!
BUT, I
got to finish my movie that I was 8 minutes away from finishing when we had to
land in Winnipeg, so that was a bonus.
And I was worried that I wasn’t going to be able to see the awesome full
moon as it is really big and close to the Earth this weekend – so I got to see
that from the plane.
There
were a tonne of us who missed our European connections, so thankfully AC had
our new tickets and hotel vouchers all printed and ready to go…except
mine! I was told I had to go to the
Customer Service desk to figure out my ticket!
Seriously?? So, off I went…and
the agent was nice and moderately helpful and suggested there may be a flight
tonight on an AirTransat flight. So, as
it stands now I am on standby for that flight.
If I can’t make it onto that one, then I’ll be spending the next day in
Montreal before I get to take a flight to Toronto and then to Paris. Gotta love the gong-shows! Uggg…
At least I get free-food out of it J.
I woke
up this morning in the Sheraton Airport Hotel in Montreal – definitely not in
France! The flight to Paris with Air
Transat was full last night so I was sent over to the hotel to spend the
night. It was the most comfortable bed
and pillows ever! I was so comfortable –
but I somehow didn’t sleep well, unfortunately!
Oh well! It was a wonderful hotel
in any case.
The
breakfast was seriously the most amazing French toast I’d ever had before I
managed to catch the bus back to the airport in order to check in because I
wasn’t able to do it online…which already had me worried. Once I got to the gate I learned that I
didn’t officially have a seat on the plane and that there were already 8 people
checked in before me that didn’t have a seat either. I was told not to worry, however, because I
have more status points than the other eight people, so I was put to the top of
the list…and off downtown I went…
I had a
great day despite not knowing if I would get onto the flight to Paris or
not! I got downtown with no problems and
managed to hit a bunch of events…I got to see the Black Watch Parade, which was
cool and a good chance to practice my camera skills. Then I walked up the Park Mont-Royal and
there was a walk or hike or something going on so I got free cake! The park is huge and there were a tonne of
people out, but it was a great view of the city and it was lovely weather
too. I even saw a really big woodpecker,
which was also cool.
After
coming down from the park I wandered around the McGill campus and stopped to
look at the Cathedral St. Catherine. It
was great because someone was practicing the organ, so despite not being in
France to hear it this morning, I got to hear it here instead! There was a little market outside and I ended
up buying this copper bracelet – because I am such a suck for markets!!
I
bought a 1$ drink from McDonalds and wandered over to a park where I read my
book for a couple of hours in the sun before catching the airport bus. I had dinner at my hotel (which was the most
amazing Caesar salad with scallops) because of my vouchers and then went off to
the airport.
No
issues with security or finding the gate, which was great – however, when the
agent finally arrived at the desk I heard her say that the flight was
overbooked by 30 people! I was
definitely worried. After the flight had
already started to board, I was given a seat, so I was really happy that I’d be
getting on the flight.
As I
was finally getting on the plane I realized I was in FIRST CLASS! Yeah!
I was a happy girl. Thank
goodness for status points because if I didn’t have those I would have been
pretty much guaranteed to be spending another day in Montreal and I definitely
wouldn’t have been bumped up to first class.
I love when traveling pays off… J
Off to
enjoy my wine and airplane bed! Yeah!
Night.
-Allison
Monday May 7, 2012
We
arrived in Paris at 9am this morning. I
definitely enjoyed my little pod-bed in the plane and I think I must have slept
for about 3 hours, which is pretty decent, I guess. France doesn’t require landing cards anymore,
and because I was in first class I had a special passport control line, so I
was out of the airport in less than 15 minutes.
Pretty impressive.
I found
the RER/Train to Paris with no problem as it is attached to the far end of the
airport…nothing has changed much in that respect. I got my ticket and randomly decided where
I’d get off in Paris. Along the way I
helped two Russian girls try to understand how to buy their tickets and then
planned with them where to go in Paris…and then did the same thing with a
couple from Texas. It was an odd train
ride, between the simplified English for the Russians, the English with the
Texans, and the French everywhere else!!
I got
off at the Notre Dame stop, emerged from the subway and right in front of me
was Notre Dame – it was pretty cool! I
was a happy girl. I reorganized my
things so I wouldn’t be carrying so much in my purse and set off to take
pictures and visit all the touristy stuff that I haven’t done in a while. It was awesome! I walked and walked and walked….visited the
outside of all the big buildings like the Louvre and walked all the way to the
Eiffel Tower. Thankfully it was a
decently nice day out, so I was able to walk and not be ducking from the
rain. I sat on the benches in front of
the tower and had a few head-bobbing naps (jet-lag was definitely catching up
with me) before I continued on my way.
There
was a little market in front of the Tower and I found mom’s soaps there, so
that was great…and they weren’t that bad of a price, either, which was
impressive.
I
walked up the Champs d’Elisee and decided that I needed to find Sophie’s town
before I was too tired to think! It was
easy getting the ticket and finding la gare de l’est where her train left
from. A lot of head-bobbing later I
arrived in Meaux. I had printed off a
google-map so I could find her place a little easier, but the thing about
France is that they severely lack street signs!
I found the Cathedral no problem and after going the wrong way turned
the corner and heard someone yell “AJ”!
I looked around behind me and thought how silly that was because no one
here calls me that and Sophie isn’t expecting me for another hour. However, I heard it again, looked up, and
there was Sophie sticking her head out of the window!
It was
so good to see her! Even though we
haven’t seen each other for 2 years it is like we saw each other
yesterday. I always think that is so
cool – probably why we are still able to be friends after 12 years and living
on different continents!
Sophie’s
place is the perfect French flat.
Seriously. You walk into this
courtyard and up two flights of narrow stairs to get to her place. It is shaped like the letter L. You walk in and the kitchen Is gally style
with the entrance on one end and the family room on the other. At the far end of the family room is a big
window where you look right out onto the Cathedral (which is so amazing, I
can’t even describe it!). Off of the
family room is the bedroom/study where there is the same huge desk and
cupboards Sophie had in Metz. And above
the bed is a sloping roof that has a window in it – which looking up from bed
you can see gargoyles! Pretty
amazing. All in all, I’d say it’s about
750 square feet….which is impressive. No
wasted space on hallways because the kitchen is the hallway, I guess! Anyway, when Sophie moved in here 2 years ago
I remember her telling me that I’d love it – and I totally do!
Meaux
is a lovely town (despite everything she says).
We went for a walk to this huge park that they have here where we saw a
guy doing abs without his clothes on (what is it with the French!?)…which was
interesting…I was showen around the tourist info centre and a few of the stores
around the centre of town. I managed to
make it to 10pm before I totally passed out!
Night!
-Allison
I slept
until 10am this morning! I guess I am
totally caught up on my jet-lag after that, though! A few of the girls Sophie teaches with were
going for a run in the park so I went along too…it definitely isn’t fair that
Sophie’s legs are so long! We both died
on our 6km run….her because she doesn’t do that too often and me because I did
a million squats yesterday with my backpack on in order to take pictures and my
legs are crazy sore!! It is a beautiful
park, however, and it was nice to meet people that Sophie knows here.
We ate
lunch and drove over to a beautiful castle that was about an hour away. It is called Le Chateau Fontainebleau and is
right in the middle of the city.
Unfortunately, because it was a stat holiday today, only the grounds
were open. It started to rain just as we
got here (the weather here is more confused than it is in Alberta!), but we
persevered and wandered around taking pictures.
It was beautiful with a huge lake and swans swimming in front of the
castle. Very cool.
We
decided to have a hot chocolate in a little café in town in hopes that the rain
would stop and we could walk around a bit more.
We did manage to have a few moments sans pluie after, so it was a good
idea.
On the
way home we stopped to visit another castle, but because it was a private
castle the fee was ridiculous, so we decided to just look at it before heading
home.
For
dinner I had more bread and cheese – I have to make the most of my week
here! Oh, and Sophie and I downed an
entire bottle of wine from Alsace as well!
We watched this really cool show where a French celebrity gets put on a
plane without knowing where they will end up.
This time she went to a tiny village in Africa and lived there for 2
weeks with the villagers. It was an
amazing show. I think I should start it
in Canada! J
Later
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Another
10am morning! I am getting good at
these, apparently! I had some great
bread with nutella and a wonderful peach for breakfast. Their fruits and veggies are ahead of ours at
the moment and it’s nice to have a change from salad and grapefruits!
Once I
got my act together I went to the tourist info centre in order to find out what
the last train back from Paris was at. I
wanted to go see a concert at Notre Dame with Sophie, but we had to make sure
we’d actually get back to Meaux. Always
a good thing. Afterwards, I wandered
around town and checked out a few of the shops and grocery store and
everything. I ended up getting a nice
shirt from Naf Naf and a sweater at Pimkie…my lovely stores that I remember
here. Not too much damage, however,
which is always a good thing.
I met
Sophie back at her place at noon (when she was done work for the day) and we
decided that we’d meet in Paris at 6:30 for dinner, so I headed off on the
train. I love the train. It is so easy and so reasonably priced. Makes me angry with our lousy transit system
at home.
Anyway, off I went…first to Notre
Dame to buy our tickets for the concert at Notre Dame and then to
Montmartre. It is a fun neighbourhood
with all the artsy people milling about.
The Cathedral was busy, but it was good to visit it again. The best part, really, was buying a petit
pain au chocolate and a Fanta limon that I got on my walk around! Had to fit those into my week J.
Sophie and I had no problem
finding each other for dinner (which is amazing, really!) and we found a nice
little place to have dinner before our concert.
I had French onion soup on a patio – it was fantastic! Made me happy. We didn’t have time for
desert, and it was a good thing we didn’t push it because by the time we got to
Notre Dame there was a huge line of people waiting to get into the concert.
The concert was “Musique au temps
des Papes d’Avignon” –Gregorian chants.
It was really a once-in-a-lifetime experience! The chants were amazing and we had great
seats in the middle of Notre Dame. The
acoustics were fantastic and the singers were amazing. It was cool to see how young most of the
singers were – I’d say the majority were in their 20s! It was a great concert.
And we managed to visit
Berthillon Ice Cream Shop located at rue Saint-Louis-en-L’Isle on Ile
Saint-Louis to have some amazing ice cream for dessert after the concert was
over. It was great ice cream and tastes
just like you were eating the thing that the ice cream was made from. Pretty cool!!
Yeah
for the great day!
-Allison
I am
quite enjoying waking up at 10am…waking up Monday morning will be interesting,
that’s for sure! It was beautiful and
sunny when I woke up, but as I went out to get my petit pain au chocolat it
started to pour rain! The weather here is
nuts. I made it back inside without
getting too soaked and then practically by the time I made it back upstairs, it
was bright and sunny again!
I
wandered around town a bit more and went to the river to read for a while,
until I got way too hot in my long pants and fleece! After changing, I went and read in the church
garden for a while. Quite a relaxing
day. And it was great to have such great
weather.
Around
3pm I ran into Sophie and together we went to do more shopping, which is never
a good thing! I think I ended up buying
a pair of pants and a pair of dragonfly earrings! Yeah for shopping – definitely a good thing
considering I have no idea the last time I did any shopping at home (lol apart
from in Arizona, I suppose!).
There
is this cool milk shake shop – just like Marble Slab or the frozen yogurt place
at home – you got to pick your extras that were mixed into your icecream for
the milk shake. It was great to sit
outside in the sun and have our milkshake.
Yeah!
Packing
happened tonight as well because tomorrow morning we are going to Obernai. Sophie has the communion for her godson,
Lancelot, on Saturday and she doesn’t work on Friday, so off we go. Should be interesting.
Later,
-Allison
Dani
arrived home around 5am and so I woke up because I thought we were going to
head out…only to lay in bed for 3 hours until I thought I was going to go crazy
and got up! They both leisurely packed
and we ate breakfast and finally headed out (in a complete downpour) around
10am!
The
drive was really nice – not boring and painful like Sophie suggested (that is
how I describe Highway 2 between Edmonton and Calgary!). It was beautiful rolling hills and canola
crops and tiny little French towns scattered about. It was really scenic! I was cool as well because we got to drive
through four different departments: Ile de France, Champagne, Lorraine, and
Alsace. Covered a lot of territory!
We
arrived in Obernai around 4pm and it was 38 degrees out! It was fantastic. While Dani did grocery shopping for the
dinner, Sophie and I looked around town.
It is really cute. Quite a bit
smaller than Strasbourg (only 20min away) but with more than the necessary
shops and services available. It was a
lovely afternoon poking around the town, eating ice cream, and walking home to
the little town where Dani’s parents live just outside of Obernai. Definitely the quintessential French
experience!
Six
couple friends of Dani and Sophies came over for dinner this evening. It was a blast. I never hear Sophie speak French, so it is a
treat for me to hang out with her when she’s with other people so I can hear
that! Her friends are awesome. It was great to finally meet them as I have
been hearing about several of them for years!
Made me happy. Dani cooked a
bunch of different types of meat on this ghetto barbeque and they all tasted
amazing. I was super impressed.
Amazing
how being a passenger is exhausting, but it was! Night.
-Allison
I
managed to have a decent sleep this morning – actually, it was Dani and Sophie
doing dishes that woke me up! We had a
little breakfast and then Sophie and I climbed Mt. Sainte Odile. There is a convent on top of this little
mountain and the views from the top were fantastic. It was a lovely hike (5km one direction) in
among the trees. It made me really
happy. And, it was awesome because when
we got to the top it was noon and the bells were ringing! It was a total sense-around moment!
After
getting down I had a wonderful nap.
Gotta love those naps! I don’t do
well staying up until 1am, so I had to recover!
Dani
and Sophie headed out to their event and I took one of Dani’s bikes and rode
through the countryside to a bunch of little towns for a few hours. It was so perfect. I wasn’t going fast at all, but the sun was
peeking out from behind the clouds and the little mountain was in the
distance…it was awesome. So calm and
beautiful. When I’d had enough of the
little towns I made my way along the canal into Obernai and found a little
restaurant on the plaza where I had pizza for dinner. It was fantastic. I cycled home and read my book with some hot
chocolate! I was in heaven! It was pretty much the perfect day!
Tomorrow
morning I leave here and take the TGV to Paris.
So sad. The time here is always
way too short. At least I got a nice,
quiet, little visit in, however! J
-Allison
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