AU REVOIR LA FRANCE

On Friday July 23rd we packed our bags to the point of bursting and jumped into a cab (no more metro for us) heading to the airport. As we were walking to the check-in at the airport we ran into our good friend Susan Fuhr and her two sons Kieran and Landon. They had just arrived on the Toronto flight to Paris and were waiting for their Dad, Greg, who was flying in from Johannesburg, South Africa to meet them to begin their holiday.

We boarded our plane without incident but then our departure time was delayed by 45 minutes due to a security breach at the airport. Because of this delay and yet another delay waiting for our bags at the Toronto airport, we missed our connecting flight to Edmonton. Fortunately, we were able to get on another flight to Edmonton leaving 50 minutes later. Once we landed in Edmonton, we were greeted by Harley and Joan (Gramma and Grampa) who drove us back to our house. We spent an hour re-packing and then headed to the lake for the weekend. Logan participated in a Pro Am golf tournament at the Gull Lake Golf Course. He golfed really well (considering that he was off the course for three weeks) and his team placed fifth.

Our France trip surpassed all of our expectations. We met some amazing people, experienced a different culture, sampled great cuisine and enjoyed the amazing French landscape. It was wonderful to see that our children were comfortable in another culture different from their own. All in all, this was a fabulous adventure for our family.

FRENCH PASTERIES

Our first couple of trips to the patisseries we focused on purchasing baguettes and croissants. Occasionally we lucked out and found freshly baked baguettes that were still warm. It wasn’t until the last days in Paris that we paid attention to the “dessert section” of the store. This was the beginning of our pastry tasting adventure. We tried éclairs, Opera squares, chocolate mousse cake, thin pastries with custard, macaroons, etc. We can’t remember what they were all called but we thought they were all delicious. We didn’t pass too many patisseries without having a look inside. Even Logan was able to find a type of French donut that was nut free.
Finding yummy treats was not only limited to the patisseries, we also found a certain type of chocolaty goodness in the grocery stores. This confection was like a dense waffle that had been glazed with granulated sugar then dipped in chocolate.

ALBI, FRANCE

We woke up to another hot and clear day on Wednesday so we spent the morning and early afternoon in the pool. Later that afternoon we decided to follow Christiane’s advice and venture into Albi. So we programmed the GPS for Albi and it took us north along windy country roads. Along the way we were treated to vistas of beautiful fields of sunflowers and lush pastures. We drove through many small villages and noticed that they all had a church as their focal point/hub of the town.
Forty-five minutes later we arrived in Albi and drove to the centre-ville. We parked our car and toured through the narrow streets looking in small shops and patisseries (bakeries). After walking quite a while we came upon Cathedral Ste-Cécile which was the main reason for our visit to Albi. Christiane said that this cathedral was worth the drive and she was right. With the exception of the entrance, the outside of the building wasn’t very elaborate. We were not prepared for the sight that greeted us once we stepped inside. This cathedral was amazing. Rod thought that it was comparable to Paris’ Notre-Dame in its beauty. There were sculptures, walls painted with biblical scenes, carved stone pillars, stained glass windows and elaborately decorated alcoves. The main focal point was the pipe organ located high above the altar. The actual pipes were very large and all around them were cherubs carved from dark wood. The construction and installation of this pipe organ took 30 years. This did not surprise us as we had never seen carving that elaborate. In fact, everywhere you looked, you could see the amazing craftsmanship that went into decorating the cathedral when it was built between 1282 and 1512. The day we were there we heard a small chamber choir performing for the tourists. Their voices blended effortlessly and the sound was carried all through the church.

After touring the cathedral we continued our walking tour through the town. We found a nice restaurant and had another delicious French meal. It was very hot that day and after we ate our dinner Taryn and Rod decided to run through the fountain. Most of the other fountain jumpers were under the age of 5 but this did not seem to bother them.

We drove back to our cottage as the sun was setting.