Until next year

Leave the shutters open, we will be back!

A couple of weeks ago I dreamed that I was back in Canada and I was running a marathon all the way from our house, right across the country, and the most remarkable thing was that I felt that I could run and run and run and never stop. It felt so good! When I told Gord my dream his comment was, "Oh, and what did you do when you got to Kerrisdale?" (about 10 minutes from our house!!) Well going to Provence has been a wonderful dream, and not even Gord with all his hesitation, stopped it from happening. He has told me that it wasn't that he didn't want to go, it was just that he didn't want to leave - family, friends and Vancouver - as he has spent his whole career going away. But he also has felt that this time away has been a fabulous gift to each other and the very best way we could have spent his first eight months of retirement. We have memories to last a lifetime that we will treasure and we will always have a very special place in our hearts for the Luberon valley and all things "so French"!

Coming home was made more complicated by the roving volcanic dust and it was with grateful hearts that we landed in Vancouver in the middle of the night, 30 hours after the start of our journey, to a warm welcome from our son Steve and his fiancee Christy. It was so good to see them and so unexpected at that late hour! Our house has been left in very good shape by the tenants and well overseen by Steve downstairs. The garden was needing a bit of TLC but that was just to be expected, and we have had fun cleaning it up this week. The other day I came around the corner and came face to face with a raccoon, not quite a wild boar but still an unwelcome visitor. Recently in France, I opened a window to find a scorpion sitting there who I encouraged outside, a little more alarming than the spiders I am encountering here.

One of the hardest things to get used to being home is the noise.  I miss the sound of the church chiming out the hour and the birds and the occasional car that I know the driver of without ever even lifting my head from the pillow. Here I listen to the traffic not far away and have to try really hard to pretend that I am back in our little attic bedroom in Provence. I am never sadder to be home than when I walk into the grocery store and see the limited selection and none of our new favourite foods. I am going to have to be much more creative in finding sources for some of the things that we have grown to love and being a lot more inventive in the kitchen. 

But it is good to be back. It is wonderful to see family and get reconnected with friends. Our house feels enormous and the kitchen is so wonderful, I have a real oven again! We will only be here for a few more days when we will head back to the cottage for a couple of weeks and once again experience the quiet, broken this time by the loon instead of the village church clock. And we will return next spring to our Provencal village home for a couple of months. In the meantime we have a wonderful storehouse of vivid memories and we would be glad to share some of our thousands of pictures with you! Our hearts desire is that we bring some of the wonder of the time away home with us; the connection that we felt after limitless hours with each other, the sense of peace and total lack of rush and busyness, the fun of exploration, the rich time spent with friends who came to visit. 

It was marvelous, it was a dream, it was a precious gift, il etait une fois en Provence.......

One last Sunday Morning

A tsunami of poppies!




We took some time out from the cleaning and packing to spend one last Sunday morning in my favourite way here in France; visiting L'Isle sur la Sorgue and the antique and artisan market. Glorious poppies lined the road the whole way to the town. I had been worried that we would not be here to see the poppies but we have not been disappointed but they are wonderful, and I enjoyed every one. I felt like they had come out just to say goodbye and I was the queen in a royal procession with my public lining the way and waving to me. (Okay I know I am getting a little sentimental but then these days are drawing to a close rapidly!) Once at the market, we followed our now familiar pattern. Gord spent about 40 minutes reading in the car while I went to say goodbye to my absolute favourite store (not to be confused with my other favorites). It is a shop that sells linens of course but the perfect part is that Madame has a workshop on one side where she sews and the other side where the retail part is. She makes everything from old linens and cottons and it is a feast for the senses! (But Gord does not quite share my enthusiasm, at least not to the same extent.)

Perfect right? and oh so French!












When I had had a chance to see most of my choice spots we then met up on the bridge by a lovely old maison, that now houses a bank and must be the prettiest bank in France. We spent about 20 minutes walking the now crowded market together, about Gord's limit, and then went to the classic Cafe de France for our coffee.

 We sat outside under the plain trees at a little round table not far from the accordion player next to the                                                         
stall that sells gorgeous flowers (very reasonably!) Our harried water arrived, carrying our cafe au lait and cafe allongee (tall black coffee). Ahhh, the moment was perfect, too perfect so I had to wreck it by shedding a tear. The scene was so quintessentially French and I am going to miss the experience of this place so much.

 All too soon it was time to drive back home and up to the village one last time and to finish the clean up and hand back the keys to our little piece of heaven. We are not quite ready to go but then could one ever be ready to leave all of this?

Our dream chateau

 

Well, we almost made it of France without falling head over heels in love with a house. My brother had asked me to look for a place to buy and I had told him that we would never want to buy here, just visit, but today we changed our minds. We went for a near perfect hike today and started off in the little village of Murs. There, perched on a hill overlooking the village and the valley was our dream home, actually the chateau! What made this so perfect was not only the outlook, but the lands surrounding the chateau, the enormous gates front and back, it's own private chapel, wonderful outbuildings and a farm just waiting for someone to pour money into it to restore it back to its former grandeur. The fact that it was not for sale was not the only factor in our hesitation to pursue the purchase of this property but it was just about perfect otherwise. After practically climbing the walls to get a closer look we went from there up into the surrounding hills. The walk was long but without too many steep inclines and the views from the hills were spectacular. The countryside is uncharacteristically green, florescent green that is because of all the rain we have been having! The wildflowers are just amazing and I am sure that I saw at least fifty different varieties on our walk (no exaggeration, this time!). 

The threatened rain held off long enough for us to complete the four hour circuit, complete with a great picnic spot at a magnificent viewpoint. We are really going to miss walks like this, it is our favourite activity here in these beautiful hills, and the countryside never looked better than now, in springtime, in Provence.

Old cars that even I get a kick out of!

 

 Now that the weather is getting warmer, people are bringing their interesting vintage cars out of hibernation and enjoying driving around the back roads. We have seen a lot of old Porches, Jaguars and I (an old Morgan fan from days past) have never seen so many Morgans in such a short time. Our friend was in a car rally recently in a  Bugatti, something I would have loved to have seen. In typical French style, the rally started in a village in front of the Gendarmarie with the red wine being served liberally at 9:00 in the morning! Not only were the gendarmes not alarmed, they actually joined in the celebration before waving them off for the race. The rally then continued slowly through several villages before ending up at a lovely outdoor lunch, complete with champagne for the lucky participants that mandaged to negotioate their vintage cars through without a scratch.

Even when some of the more exotic cars are not as visible we see the old Chevrons, known as 'Deux Chevaux' every day. There is one that lives on our village street, usually complete with a sleeping cat on top, and we followed another one down the road today. The 'deux chevaux' literally means two horse power, and while they are slow,  2 hp seems impossible to us. The french measure their horsepower differently and what would be 120 hp in Canada would be 8 hp in France. Even still they do not have a lot of power and they are reputed to go from "0 to 60 in one day!" They were produced for 42 years, starting in 1948 and they are the iconic French car. They really add a lot of character to the scene and they make me feel as if I was in an old French movie. As far as I am concerned there is nothing finer than following an old 2CV on the narrow roads through the vineyards and orchards, plus it keeps Gord from driving too fast as the roads are often to windy to pass safely on.

Today though, Gord got a real treat as he went for a ride in the hills with our friend and his latest toy, a 1959 TR3. He was in his element with a fun car and an excellent fast driver. Sadly the threatened rain put an end to the joyride. You can't get these old cars wet you know! Gord helped dry it off and tuck it away, but it took a lot longer to wipe the grin off his face. Now if only he had his old Corvette for these roads.....

Last times

As Gord and I were walking this afternoon, I asked him what he would like to do to finish off our time here. What places, hikes, cafes and restaurants would he like to revisit before we go. In true characteristic style, while I was armed with a list a mile long, Gord said that he was entirely satisfied and felt that we had done all he wanted to and he had no unfulfilled wishes. While I cannot wait to get home, especially to see family and friends, part of me will never be ready to leave this place. After all, I could never get enough of the lovely little villages, markets, linens, cheese............
This week the weather has changed from the lovely sunshine we have been having and is rather cloudy and overcast and looks to stay that way for most of the week. While we are sorry, it does make it easier to pack up and leave.  Today it was terribly windy. I don't remember as windy a day since we were newly arrived and I had a battle with the wind over the garbage and lost! I am reminded of Mary Poppins, and also Vianne in Chocolat, who left when the wind changed and so I guess that the wind is a harbinger of things to come. Despite Gord's satisfaction with the place we do have a few "last times" to fit in starting with dinner with our friends M and G tonight. They have been so good to us while we are here and a meal around their table is always a delightful affair. Their dinner guests are always interesting, the conversation lively and the laughter usually uproarious, thanks to our very amusing host. Our hostess is a fantastic cook and their home is definitely my favourite place to go for a meal in the entire valley! There is always something new and interesting to see at their place, whether it is progress on the building project or a new car (so far there have been three of those since we met!!) and tonight we are going to see G's new vintage TR3. Our social life vastly improved since meeting this interesting couple!

The view from our bedroom just now












PS We did not get up from the dinner table until after midnight so I did not get this posted last night. The meal was as wonderful as expected, the guests very entertaining but the new car was "sulking" as it was so wet and did not get visited so Gord has to return to see it before we leave!

Feasting in England

We returned "home" to Provence tonight after a weekend in England celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of my Aunt Sheila and Uncle Arthur. We wanted to go to see all the relatives while we were on this side of the world, and having a celebration like this is a wonderful opportunity for bringing all the family together. I was also a flower girl at the wedding so it was important for us to get there. For a while it looked as if the Icelandic volcano was going to disrupt our plans but fortunately things settled down enough for us to go. We were very grateful to be picked up at Stansted (supposedly a London airport but actually miles away) and driven through the night by my very kind cousin Sally. She gave us a remarkably warm welcome considering the hour that we arrived.

The bride with three of her five bridesmaids




The celebrating continued for two days and included a lunch, a dinner, another lunch and a tea, so basically we ate solidly for two days. The parties were also held in two parts of the Cotswolds and Gord and I enjoyed being back there and reminiscing about the lovely holidays that we had had when we rented a cottage in Burford. Sadly there was not enough time to do any retail therapy there and Sally and I looked longingly out the window at the shoe shop that we cousins, sisters and friends have supported over the years, but alas Gord was driving and so he hurtled past in case we should seize the opportunity to jump out at a red light.

After all that celebrating we were grateful that Ryanair did not charge us excess baggage, though fortunately they do not weigh the passengers yet but I expect they are considering it, (did you hear that they are considering charging a pound to use the loo on the flights?) We made it back to Marseille, tacky trumpets heralding the on time arrival and all, and picked up a little Citroen that we will use for our last week here. It does not have the bells and whistles of our Peugeot but it will do to get us around these last few days. We made the familiar trek north from the Marseille airport, we have done that trip a lot with all our guests, but this will be the last time for quite a while. I was delighted to see that the roads are now lined with lots of red poppies, I may yet get to see a field full of poppies before we leave - I do hope so!

Milestones - big and not so big!

Our car - not exactly as shown!

Well tonight we said goodbye to the Peugeot that has served us faithfully for the past six months. It has been a great car, not good looking but very functional and it had loads of great features including a glass roof over the whole top of the car (very useful when driving by tall castles!) We have had some great trips in that car and spent a lot of time taking our company around in it. It was really a little big for our village but we were glad of the space when we had company. The size worried me sometimes but Gord loved the challenge: if ever I said "Gord you can't go down that street!" he took that as a challenge that he could not refuse! We leased the car and it only had 20 kms on it when we picked it up, and took it for the maximum time that we were allowed but the time has now run out and we have to let it go. We were allowed to drive twenty thousand kilometres and took it back just shy of that, and miraculously there was not a scratch on it!  (It is not truly a village car without the telltale scars down each side.) We were both sad to see it go and after we signed the paperwork, the agency drove us to catch our flight with our own car and then Gord and I stood and watched them drive off - without us!  It is only a car, what are we going to be like in 10 days when it is time for us to leave our little house

Gord driving up our street - yes it is that narrow!

Tonight we are sitting at the airport waiting for our Ryanair flight to take us to England where we are going for the weekend to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of my Aunt Sheila and Uncle Arthur. As a very young girl I took part in the wedding (impossible I know - I am too young) so it is appropriate that we return to honor them as they celebrate this milestone. As there are no direct flights on regular airlines between Marseille and London, we are forced to actually pay full fare for our flight - though with Ryanair full fair is less than a meal in our local cafe. So far the flight is already quite late in leaving, a situation that they failed to notify us of even though we checked the website just moments before leaving the house. It would be more bearable if it was not so late in the evening but at this rate the earliest we will arrive in London is close to 1:00 am (and then still have an hour and a half drive to Sally's house) so I am hoping that it is going to be a very good party!

Th Birds and the Bees

Last fall (when I thought that I would die on the autoroute in the downpour!) my neighbor MJ told me that everything in Provence is extreme, extremely wet, extremely cold, extremely hot etc and I figured that I would fit in as I tend to be a bit extreme myself! Well, the growing season is also extreme. I joked a while ago that I was going to go to the terrace and watch the wisteria grow, well it is almost a reality. Ten days  ago we had hardly any blooms and now we have hundreds, our vines had little new growth and now not only are they covered in leaves but you can also see tiny clusters of grapes growing. It has been so warm this week that we can actually mark the progress in the growth by the day! It is hard to believe that the fruit trees were only in blossom a couple of weeks ago. The almond trees already have almonds and I suspect we will be actually picking cherries soon. Not only is everything bursting in blooms but the insects are arriving too. I was delighted that we did not share our house this year with anything that was crawling, flying or scampering. Well that has changed! The bugs are growing at the same rate as the blooms and they are big! The wisteria is covered with huge black bees, the mosquitoes are the size of daddy long legs, the pink blossoms are covered in hundreds of smaller bees and there are emerald green 'June bugs' that have arrived a couple of months early. When we wake in the morning we are heralded by a symphony of bird songs, we hear the crickets in the evening and the frogs have the loudest and strangest voice of all. Provence is very much alive!

A few weeks ago yellow was the colour of choice and I was enchanted by the fields of yellow daisy-like flowers, the golden wallflowers and more, well now everything is purple: the wisteria, lilac, a purple blossoming tree that I don't know the name of and most glorious of all, dark purple irises are everywhere. I am still hoping that we will see the fields of poppies before we leave but if not, the purple irises are truly majestic, and not a bad second choice!

Mont Blanc and other vistas

After a lovely breakfast outside in front of the chalet, we set off for home. Jeannette and her father have treated us like royalty while we were with them and we will never forget their kindness or the beauty of the places that we have visited. We headed south from Lake Geneva, up a narrow windy mountain road, through a couple of passes, until we came to Chamonix in the French Alps, the site of the first winter olympics. This very popular ski town sits at the base of the spectacular Mont Blanc, also known as La Dame Blanche, the highest mountain in Europe at nearly 16,000ft. The weather was again fabulous with clear blue skies, and the tans of the skiers we saw reflected the effects of this past week of sunshine. We again took a back  road after Chamonix towards Albertville (the site of the 1992 olympics) and went through scenery that really left even me speechless. We quite ran out of adjectives as we watched the different faces of the magnificent mountain, beautiful meadows with their rainbow of spring flowers, mountains streams and waterfalls, fruit trees in blossom and the very vibrant green of fresh growth. We could not have imagined a more perfect day, or season, for traveling through this part of France. We sat and had a picnic lunch in hot sunny weather (about 28 degrees!) with a wonderful mountain view of Mt. Blanc, meadows, wildflowers, little chalets, the odd tractor and of course cows with bells! I could have sat there all day.

After Albertville, we headed for home with one more diversion to go through another national park, Les Vercours, south west of Grenoble. Here again we were treated to mountains, albeit smaller than the Alps, but also forests and deep gorges and meadows with picturesque farm houses. If Gord had stopped the car for a photo every time I had asked we probably wouldn't have made it home till next week! There were just so many beautiful scenes that we both felt major sensory overload. We especially loved St. Nazaire-en-Royans and were frustrated at being unable to spend more time there, but we had to get home as we have another trip planned for tomorrow!

 Although we have only explored the lower half of this country, the diversity is amazing, from the mountains to the Mediteranean, beautiful historic cities to golden medieval villages. We now have so many places in France that we would love to spend more time exploring, but we feel very fortunate to have been able to see as much as we have. Even with eight months here, the time just goes too quickly. 

From the Lake to the Mountains

Yesterday we spent some time exploring the NE side of Lake Geneva. We started in Ville Neuve and walked all along the lake, past the wonderful and picturesque 13th century Chateau Chillon that sits right on the shore. From there we followed the lake until the other side of Montreux. The flowers that are planted all along the lake are absolutely beautiful and so colorful and varied. We ended up at a lovely picnic spot by the lake and continued to work our way through the 24 Swiss cantons, culinarily speaking! 

After lunch we drove through the vineyards in the Lavaux region. Here the vines are planted on such steep slopes that they need a track for the carts to run up the mountains as it is too steep to climb. The road runs right through the middle of the vineyards and while they look very steep from the car, when we actually got out of the car and walked up some steps through the vineyards we got a real appreciation for the dedication and hard work of these vignerons and of the monks who had cleared the slopes many hundreds of years before. This is such a unique place that it is one of UNESCO's heritage sites.

  

After having spent some time exploring the lake area yesterday, today we headed into the mountains. We went to Aigle and boarded a train that took us up a long valley, high in the mountains to the ski resort of Champery. The weather was glorious and the views from the train were breathtaking on each side. The little chalets, alpine meadows full of wildflowers, blossoming fruit trees, picture perfect brown cows, each with their delightful cow bells and of course the magnificent snow capped mountains, all were perfect. As we got further up the mountain the blossoms lessened but the colorful wild flowers were just as glorious. We cannot imagine a more perfect time to be here as the skiers are gone, the summer tourists have not yet arrived and spring is bursting out all over in all its glory! 

As much as we loved the pretty little town of Champery and its idyllic setting, we were happy to get back to our hosts' chalet and sit quietly in the sunshine, listening to the birds and the bells and waiting for "Heidi" to come knocking at the door looking for "Grandfather"! It really would not be out of place - it is that perfect a setting!

Off to Switzerland

On Sunday morning we left Goult and drove to visit our friend Jeanette in Switzerland. Although she lives in Zurich we met her and her father at their charming holiday chalet in the south of  Switzerland, not far from Lausanne.   The carving above  the door indicates that the chalet was built in 1753. The chalet is absolutely charming in a spectacular setting. Although it is only fifteen minutes up the side of the mountain from a large urban centre, once here, it feels quite remote. Typical Swiss chalets like this one, would often have a place for the animals on the low side at ground level, then the family would live above and there would also be separate hay and storage areas, all under the same roof. The views from the chalet across the valley to the mountains beyond are breathtaking, and the only civilization visible is the little village sitting directly across the valley. Jeannette took us around the chalet and when she showed us our room I nearly cried with ecstasy! Our beds were made up with the most exquisite antique linens, really almost too beautiful to sleep in. We had been given her parents room with a little balcony overlooking the valley. There were lovely plum trees outside in full blossom and from the balcony we could hear the birds and the babbling brook at the foot of the property, and most wonderful of all, the cow bells in the meadow beyond us. 

 After a "welcome drink" in the garden. Jeannette said that she would take us for a walk in the mountains but that her father would join us later. We left the tiny hamlet where the chalet is located and started along a mountain path to a neighboring village. Shortly after we had begun, we heard an amazing sound, it was the alpenhorn being played somewhere below. Jeanette got very excited and told us that it was a rare treat to hear this horn anymore but that it used to be played every evening from the mountains villages as a kind of blessing on the day. It is a very difficult instrument to play and as it is over 12 feet long it is not something that is carried around in a pocket.  We followed the sound and before long we came to an alpine meadow full of wildflowers with a stream running through it. There before us stood the 'mountain man' playing the alpenhorn and it was none other than Jeanette's father who had run on ahead of us and set up the horn so that he could welcome us to the mountains 'properly'. It was a very special moment and we felt very honored indeed! 

After a tour of some of the lovely villages on the side of their mountain, just a few minutes away, we headed back for a great Swiss dinner. There are 24 Cantons (similar to Provinces) in Switzerland and our hosts are intending to feed us something from every Canton during our stay, so we will not go hungry. After a delicious dinner it was time to climb into those amazing linen sheets, in the wood paneled room, with the little balcony overlooking a picture perfect setting and have the sleep of our lives..... and just pray that we wouldn't wake up and find that it had all been a delightful dream!   

Too little time!

We have a little over two weeks left before we return to Canada and I don't know how we are going to accomplish all that needs to be done before we go. In the next two weeks we have to:

- learn French

- read all the books we brought which we haven't finished reading

- finish trying all the hikes in our favourite hiking book

- take a trip to Prague and Corsica, both places we had hope to visit but won't

- finish trying out all the cheeses in the cheese aisle

- take one last trip to all our favourite villages, shops and restaurants 

- work on my new business plan... something to do with French linens!

.......but apart from that we are going to take life easy for the remaining days. 

Oh, and we still have two trips to take.... we will keep you posted!

We are already thinking about what we will miss here:

- the wonderful walks in the hills and along the pretty country roads

- the peace and quiet of our little home at the top of the village

- the views

- the amazing food

- the markets (Lydele only will miss these, Gord has had enough to last him for quite a while!)

- having time to notice each new flower and bud, each different insect and bird
- the joy of exploration

- having great visits with friends when we had no agenda but to be together and enjoy Provence 

- the cafes and eating outside 

- the challenge of speaking a new language and the excitement of understanding and being understood
- the time to enjoy being together with no outside pressures

- the extreme luxury of getting up so many days and having absolutely nothing that had to be done

Yes, it has been magnifique!

Le Canal du Midi

There is an amazing network of canals across the South East of France known as the Canal du Midi. It was built between 1667 and 1694 and crosses over from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean through a 360 kms network of canals and has 328 locks, bridges, aqueducts and tunnels etc. It is fascinating to see a canal crossing over a river on a bridge. It is the work of Pierre-Paul Riquet and it is quite marvelous. Although no longer used for transportation, it is a very popular site for pleasure boaters and somewhere I would love to spend time exploring one day. But this is not the time and so we did a road trip of the canal from Carcassonne to Beziers, a weeks worth of boat exploration that we did in five hours by car. The canal is almost completely lined with large 'plain' trees that are now just bursting into life and this provides a wonderful green leafy canopy through which to cruise. There are dozens of pretty villages to explore on the route and they really cater to the visitors with little bakeries and restaurants close to the boat docking areas. All along the side of the canal there is either a road or a towing path and lots of people take bicycles on board so that they can ride along side for a change of pace. The river is teeming with wild life and we saw water rats, ducks, swans and lots of other birds that we could not identify. The banks were lined with wild flowers and the purple irises are particularly beautiful at this time. Yesterday, we saw dozens of boaters, some with obviously a lot more expertise than others. You do not need to have a special license to drive the boats and it really shows, especially going through the locks! There was one boat that provided us with great entertainment as it went through sideways with all occupants madly trying to fend off the shore line and the other boats with a number of boat hooks and one lone man on the shore with a line to the stern that only made matters worse. It may take them two weeks to reach their goal, if they ever do! The route we chose was not marked on any map because the canal is supposed to be seen from the water not the tarmac, however, with a couple of minor mistakes we made it. When we were not driving directly next to the canal we could always see it from a distance because of the constant mass of trees lining the bank of the waterway. We stopped in many of the villages and walked around and had a lovely picnic next to the water. It was far too fast to take it all in but it certainly has inspired us to take the trip sometime. Though judging by the number of boats out already, once again we are reminded that spring is the premium time to be here and not the summer. As we aren't exactly experts on the water, we may decide to go with a couple of more knowledgeable folk so that others are not laughing at us with our boat hooks. 

Carcassonne

This entry is for Claire's benefit as I am so sorry that she can't be here in person. She so wanted to come to Carcassonne on her much anticipated but unrealized visit to Provence. So Claire, it was not the same without you so hopefully you can come here one day and see it for yourself.

Today was a lovely sunny day, about 24 degrees and there were crowds of people here already - I can't imagine what it would be like in the summer. We booked last minute into a B and B that is a far cry from the place where we stayed last night! It is not exactly "French", our room is the "African" room and the walls are bright orange, the curtains red and the rest of the decor goes downhill from here. It is spotlessly clean though and very close to the old city but definitely not a "must see"! Dinner was less than spectacular too, so really Claire, you have not missed a thing! You can see the pictures, not have had indigestion from the meal tonight AND you get to sleep in your own bed instead of under the crossed spears and the dancing natives! (The towels with the strip of polyester with the print of the leopards really says it all.) So, in no particular order, because I can't seem to get them into a particular order!! Here is Carcassonne..... (and the rest will have to wait until we get home.) 

PS Bob and Renae are on their way.... should be somewhere over Middle America by now!

Back to Spain again!

Well, this morning we are once again reminded that while communication is readily available and easy, getting home is a different matter. We are sitting in our lovely hotel room right on the beach south of Barcelona with Bob and Renae, hoping that this is the day when they will start the long journey back to their home in Langley. They decided that their best way to get out of Europe was to head south and as the Spanish airports were less badly affected they needed to get here. True to form the French railway has been arranging sporadic strikes so with the unreliabilty of rail travel, the exhorbitant cost of a one way car rental to another country (especially at this time) and the fact that Gord and I had plenty of time due to other friends' cancelled travel plans, it seemed to be the most expedient thing for us to drive them here. It is about a five hour journey by autoroute and we arrived in Castelldefels late yesterday afternoon. We each have a lovely unobstructed view of the Mediterranean off the balcony in our rooms, with an endless sandy beach in each direction. We ate a very elegant, relaxed dinner in the hotel restaurant, and a wonderful buffet breakfast this morning. We have just transported Bob and Renae from the serenity of this lovely place to the craziness of the Barcelona airport and now we just hope and pray that they will make it home sometime before Renae's nephew's wedding on Friday night. The skies look clear, there are airplanes on the ground, there are people expecting to fly and so we are optimistic that they will get away.
Now Gord and I are headed back home but we are going to stop a night in Carcassonne, a fascinating medieval city, about an hour north of the Spanish border,  that we have been wanting to visit for some time. My sister Claire wanted us to delay our visit to Carcassonne until she arrived, but after two serious attempts, her trip has been postponed to next year so we are going to check out the city in her absence and will just have to return with her next year.