Our Stuff

Has arrived.

Things I've learned about international shipping:
1. It's not as simple as the shipping company makes it seem.

2. Ask about hidden costs up front. I was not pleasantly surprised when our shipment got transferred to the UK shipping agent (after having paid the Canadian company) and the welcome email included a list of possible additional expenses.

3. If you've been out of the country for more than a year, you will likely have to pay duty (duties?) on your goods. This whole fiasco delayed delivery by almost a month.

4. Make a detailed inventory of your goods, even if the shipping company says it's not necessary. Said detailed inventory would have been helpful when we had to come up with the exact value of our goods so that customs could calculate the duty we owed.

5. Another hidden cost not listed should have been 'reception of international calls on your cell phone in order to direct truck driver to your home'. Can't wait to see this month's bill!

6. Paris + big trucks + street construction = impossible. The delivery truck ended up parking a good three blocks away after deciding that it was too big to fit down our street. And this was after getting completely turned around trying to find our street due to the construction on the road that you kind of need to take to get here. Things you forget to mention when you don't actually drive... Also it was raining. Good thing we didn't have that much stuff!

Sevilla

Here are some the few photos that I took during my trip to Sevilla. It was a beautiful city and we had the most lovely weather. Blue skies without a cloud in sight. A tropical 35 degrees most days, it was most manageable when sipping a cool drink in the shade. And there was lots of shade (cool drinks, too).


Beautiful tiled garden at the Art Gallery of Seville


Drinking tinto verano and eating tapas next to the river


The cathedral of Seville--third largest cathedral in the world!


We climbed to the top of the cathedral's tower and then had fun spotting the buildings with pools. Why didn't our hotel have one?


At the top of the cathedral tower. (can't figure out how to flip the photo around).


This huge waffle like structure was a big open plaza in the downtown. Very cool. We also had some very yummy tapas right beside it.


The float that carries the weeping Virgin Mary statue during Seville's Semana de Santas.


The famous weeping virgin Mary. She has a crystal tear on her cheek and many different robes she can be dressed in.


Did I mention that there was tapas?

It's been awhile since I posted, but June and July have been a busy months and the nice weather that we've had makes it hard to stay inside behind the computer. I'm off to Seville on Thursday for a long weekend with a friend (forecast says 36 degrees!!).

In the meantime, be sure to check out Steve's blog and follow him on his walk from Edmontonto Vancouver. Gambaro Japan!

Picnic

We just filed our taxes and are having our annual tax-paying blues (perfect way to end a five-day weekend), so it seems like an appropriate time to remember happier, carefree times and share some photos of the picnic we had yesterday with our friends Julie and Eileen.



We had hoped to go to beach at Toqueville (near Deauville in the north) for the day, but that didn't work out, and the next best thing was laying in the sun in the Bois de Boulogne. We had planned to rent a rowboat as well, but by the time we got out there we were too hungry to do anything but eat. We took the water taxi across to the little island on one of the lakes and found the perfect place to picnic, ignoring all the 'no picnicking' signs.



There were two peacocks roaming around to keep us company.

We lazed about for a couple of hours enjoying the sun and commenting on the constant stream of rowers that went past. It was a lovely afternoon, one that we will hopefully be repeating (with boats and a real camera) very soon and very often.

The Farm

Last week was my field trip to a pedagogical farm with my class of 11 five year olds. Overnight trips are a common activity in French schools, and are called 'classe verte' or green class. It was basically like being at camp, the kids had fun, and we all returned exhausted and in need of a good shower.

The four days were jam packed of fun farm activities.


We met the pigs and piglets, and got out the hose to make them a mud bath.


We groomed the work horse who then took us on a carriage ride.


We took a walk through the forest to get to a stream.


Then we collected insects and other gross things from said strem (including a leech!)


We milked goats, and tasted the milk.


We played with the ducklings.



There was horse back (poney back?) riding.


We hung out with some cows.


We saw a HUGE turkey.


And the highlight, got to pet the baby bunnies.

It was a fun week, and the kids really got a lot of hands on time with the animals, which was pretty cool. I have spent some quality time this weekend on the couch enjoying the quiet, and am just about ready to see all these kids again tomorrow.

Toronto comes to us!

Well, a little part of Toronto, anyway.







Our friends Kurt, Kim and Andy were in Paris for the first time over the weekend. We had a great time exploring Montmartre with them, and of course, eating. We had a lovely dinner on Saturday night at La Rotonde in Montparnasse, where the star of the meal was oysters, bien sur!

Happy Mother's Day!

To both our moms, we hope that you are having a fantastic day, and we wish we could be spending it with you! Maybe it's time for another visit?

Lots of love!

Toronto 4

Our last two days we got to spend lots of time with Christy, and she was lucky enough (and hungry enough) to come and have brunch at Sneaky Dee's. Brunch was good, but I still regret not having ordered nachos.


Erik's standard: Burro Favorito and a Ceasar. Breakfast of champions. Or grad students.

We walked off that meal through Queen West, an area that I enjoyed so much we went back again the next day to do some last minute shopping. We had cocktails and poutine in a nice sunny booth at some place on Bathurst, before madly rushing home to get ready for the wedding.



Saturday morning we had a great French brunch (something that doesn't exist in France. +1 Canada for finding a French solution to brunch) at Le Select, and by that point I was pretty sure that I wasn't ready to go back to Paris.

But Christy dropped me off at the airport, and one overnight flight later I was standing at the baggage claim at CDG trying to decide if I should be the polite Canadian or the pushy French and elbow my way to the front of the crowd so that I could actually see my bag when it came out. It finally arrived, and the RER got me home quickly, and the market was going, so I wandered sleepily through that before dragging myself to Easter brunch at a friends house.

And then Erik came home on Saturday, after having gone directly from Toronto to San Francisco for the week.

As much as I love Toronto, I certainly can't say that I'm unhappy here in Paris, especially now that the weather is starting to warm up. Paris is lovely in the springtime, and for now, this is our home, and it certainly is sweet.

Toronto, 3

My family came down to visit us for a night, and we had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant in Leslieville. A nice end to a day that had included a very cold walk down to the AGO only to discover that it is closed on Mondays.



We tried again the next day, and my mom and I spent a couple of hours admiring the Group of Sevens, and the David Blackwood exhibit of etchings, as well as the new architecture. What a beautiful space!



View out the back of the AGO

Mom, Rob and I had dim sum for lunch before they hit the road to head home. (+1 Canada for having good Chinese food)



We spent the remainder of the trip staying with Erik's cousin Christy, and her parents joined us for a yummy dinner at Terroni's (which has an upstairs now!).



No visit to Toronto would be complete without seeing Sharon and Harry and their girls, and Erik's grandma, who was looking pretty good for 90! We spent the day out there going through our stuff, and hanging out with the girls. Hard to believe Kristen was just 5 when we left. Harry made a great dinner (mixed grill! Our favorite!).

Toronto, 2

I have to admit that I took very few photos on this trip. It was nice to just BE there, and to enjoy each moment. That was perhaps the best part of being back. Everything just felt normal. Everything made sense. People were nice. (+ 2 for Canada)


We rode the subway many times, and it was so BIG. And empty. And kind of slow. But the TTC employees were in general friendly, and very helpful, something that doesn't exist here. I'll give Toronto one point for actually having a subway, but France gets two points for having a system that actually works better than having a car. We spent a lot of time waiting for streetcars in Toronto, and were inconvenienced by not one, but two streetcar diversions which were a huge pain in the cold.





We went out for dinner with our friends Mark and Alyssa, and met their adorable little girl. It was so nice to reconnect with people that we haven't seen in ages. On the way home I took some pictures walking up Bathurst, and then of the park near where we used to live (you can just see the CN tower in the distance).



We went out for dinner another night with Katie and Ross, whose wedding we were in town for. Our friend Pam has just opened a restaurant called the Brockton General, and we had a nice meal there.





We also had a nice brunch with the rugby crowd and got to meet two of their newest additions: Fred and Jing's daughter Amira, and Tony and Agnes's daughter Isabella. Plus all their dogs (Erik would give Canada +1 for that). We also spent time with Roman and Hannah, and their kids Jazmine, Sebastian and Eva. (Canada gets +4 for having friends that we have a history with)

Score: 7 Canada, 2 France