Saturday, July 13, 2013

It's all over

Day 187: Finish packing, clean apartment, leave keys, tram ride to the airport bus, bus to the airport hotel, check in, eat dinner, sleep. 

Day 188: Up the next morning for breakfast, wait to drop off the bags, through security, wait for plane, one flight, customs, security again; wait for the second flight, long flight to Vancouver, immigration, fetch our 7 bags from the belt, shlep them through customs, forget to mark the "fruit, meat, turtle shells, endangers species, animals, insects" line for our dog so we get abused and have to wait for Canadian Customs to get their $30 fee; miss the next flight, get in line to be rebooked, go through security, water the dog, wait for the third flight, short flight, claim 7 bags again, transport them to airport hotel, check in, shower, sleep. 


Day 1 in Canada: Wake up at 2:30 am, lay silently till Dave and Deb wake at 6:00, eat breakfast, wait for Lisa to have breakfast, go to car rental counter, pick up car, drive to hotel, see 7 bags don't fit, back to car rental, trade for bigger car, fill car with bags, drive 2 hours, pick up lunch at Tim Horton's, drive home, turn on water, light water heaters, unpack my bag, clean pond, jump start car with dead battery, return rental, pick up battery charger at Canadian Tire, drive to Toyota Dealer (parts counter closed on Saturday), wait in car while Deb goes to grocery store, drive home, hook up battery charger.

We made it, safe and sound!

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Barthelona

Debra had a conference in Barcelona (Spain, but just across the border) so we all decided to tag along.

I found Barcelona to be an amazing city with incredible architecture and food. 

Gaudi's Park Guell
 
 
 

 
 La Sagrada Familia





Casa Batllo
 
 
and La Pedrera

were highlights for me.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Winding down

Friday, Lisa had her last day of school.

Saturday, Deb and I ran in the Grenoble Ekiden which is a marathon but in relay form (we each ran 5K, Deb broke 30 minutes, I stumbled in just under 32.). It was our first run, a bit of a hoot (though I pulled a muscle and limped for over half of my run) and a bit of a cultural experience.  We had a nice dinner at a colleague's house after.



Sunday we went to a picnic for Deb's French class.  Then David went up with his friend Quinn and his family to the "Acrobastille"-- a zipline course on the top of the hill.  After we had dinner with Quinn's family.  We had met them on David's first day of testing to get into Houille Blanche and have really come to like them (and they have inspired several of our adventures).

Today (Monday) David went to his next-to-last day of school.  He brought back his Report card and class photos.  (He either did really well or really badly, I can't tell, because he got all "1"s.)  As I scanned his school photos I was struck by how similar the photo would look for any Grade 5 class anywhere in the world.  Notice there are no baguettes or berets anywhere to be seen!
 
Although I am ready to head home, I am sad that our French adventure is ending.  Deb is feeling even more sad than I am.  Not only is it really nice to have a 6 month sabbatical, but Grenoble and France is a very nice place to live, with amazing food, and everyone we have met has been great.  I am not sure if expats inherently feel a certain comraderie with each other, or that there is some common mindset to people who want to travel and live in a foreign country such as France, but we have really enjoyed meeting them and hanging out with them.

Friday, June 14, 2013

A short jaunt to the Canaries

I had a conference in the Canary Islands. It's geographically off the coast of Africa (Morocco maybe, depending on your geo-political view on disputed territory) but officially part of Spain.

Three days in the city of Las Palmas, which I thought was a good place with interesting architecture...


Then I enjoyed two days on the beach in Maspalomas. 

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Short timers!

Five months down, one to go. We are thoroughly settled into our lives and routines, but knowing that our time here is dwindling and with the warm weather, we're trying to do a bit more exploring to see the sights. 

So in the last month we have traveled around the city by tram, bus, funicular. We have been around the area by bus (Vizille, airport) and around France by rental car (beaux villages) and train (Paris, Lyon). We have used the city bike rental service to get around town and a car rental service to get around the region (Rhone-Alps).

Here are some photos of the automated bike rental in town (cost: 10 cents per hour!)


Here are some photos from car trips. I'll post some photos of the car service later...






Friday, May 24, 2013

Spring!

A lot of folks are telling us that this has been a cool and wet spring, but I've really been enjoying it.  From our trips to the beaux villages of Provence...
 

 
 
 
To nearby Vizille...
 
 
 
 
 
Even in the Jardin de Ville in town...
 
 
 
 
 
Or nearby Sassenage...
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Friday, May 3, 2013

Images of Paris

Over the next few days (April 28 - May 3) we covered the major Parisian sights,
Notre Dame...


  

 
 

Some other spots...



The Louvre...

 






 
 The Eiffel tower...


 
 Versailles...







Montmarte...
 
And I even got to catch a little atmospherics on a rainy evening...