Last Blog Entry

We will head to the airport in the morning to make our way back home so this will be our last post. We walked from this spot where the group is looking over the Seine with the Eiffel Tower in the distance and walked along the river to the tower. There were lots of smiles and laughs on this second last day of our journey. Although someone said " we left our true Pyrz sounds " in Paris with some good screaming on the underground on the way back. It has been a bit of a weird day for us after 3 months on the road. We have done lots of stuff over this time, obviously too much for this blog. Hopefully the blog will do what we wanted and help us to keep a map of where we were and a bit of what we were doing to help keep all of our pictures in order when we get back to recall some stories. Once in a lifetime is a pretty overused line most of the times, but it is hard to imagine the 9 of us doing something of this duration like this all together again. We have gone thousands of kilometers and gone on : planes, trains, automobiles, walked, ran, crawled, strollered, boated, road the trolley, tram, bike,ferry, bus, tube, piggyback and a few other modes of transportation. We met lots of different people, from the person who wouldn't accept a Canadian passport in England as identification to the people in the church in Poland that gave us handouts of money to the good Samaritan on the underground in Italy that offered his knife to Rob to cut his backpack off that was caught in the doors as the rest of the family had gotten off of the train. We broke lots of the travel rules on this time away and it couldn't have worked out any better. 9 people don't live out of a 9 passenger van for 3 months without learning a few things. For those of you that have read this along the way thanks for the company we have enjoyed it. It is a good feeling we all had tonight to be heading back home now with all of the memories of these last 3 months.

Paris

When we arrived in Paris it was funny how many people we ran into that said " you didn't drive into Paris did you?" No matter how hard we seemed to have tried to miss traffic we ended up driving in to where we are staying Friday afternoon at 5:00pm. At least we know how rush hour feels. The apartment where we are staying is not to far from the Louvre. When we got here it was funny, we had to meet someone with a key but we were really in the wrong building, we were waiting in the office building of the design office of Louis Vuitton. Security people politely told the 9 Canadian hobo's that we had to leave. Lots of things that we read said if you go to Paris n December expect rain and that part has been true. Jackie and Rob went and walked around some of the Christmas markets around Saint Germain area and tested the Chaud vin. We hope to continue walking around,we have already given our vehicle back so we are on foot again . We visited the Louvre and paid our respects to Mona, this may be the first museum Natalie hasn't slept through. Our place here is very small, if you take a picture you will normally catch at least 3 or 4 people on the screen. This first picture is outside our front door on Rivoli which runs parallel with the river.

Our 13th Country?

As we make our way back up to Paris we made a stop at technically not another country but it probably has a bigger budget than Luxembourg. It started out as mostly a joke earlier in our trip but in the true spirit of following the signs that interested the group at the time we made a stop at Disneyland, France. I guess we really did have enough left for 1 more castle. Rob has been taking lots of pictures of the cast picking up garbage and the inner workings of Disney and all of us have pretty much done what we like here as it is not busy at all. We stayed in the town of Lagny sur Marne which really is a great place. It is so interesting to see a place that has made it on its own for hundreds of years and then become so close to something like Disney just 15 years ago and see how it has adapted to the change. People watching is a great pastime, like watching a local walk into a cafe at 7:00am have a glass of beer and then go next door to the butcher and pick up a rabbit still in its skin. Oh well I guess it is the weekend.

Home stretch and back to France

Heading back north and across the Pyrenees to make our way back up into France, we certainly have crossed our share of mountains and passes through our trip. Lots of cyclists on the roads more than anywhere else we have been yet. No doubt the Tour de France influence. We even got near to Col du Tourmalet one of the most famous passes in the race. We only had 2 of our team members throw up during this ride! We made our planned stop in Lourdes. Not quite sure how to even try and write about Lourdes, an unbelievable feeling being there. The peacefulness felt there is almost unexplainable. In the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception there is a very small chapel "St. Gabriel's" where an English mass is held each day that we were able to get to. The Basilica is built right above and on the Grotto rocks. The priest there who was from South Africa gave some really good tips of how to see and understand Lourdes better. We are so glad we came to Lourdes.

Spain

Our time in Spain has been quite different from most parts of our trip so far. The place where we stayed was called L'Hospitalet de I'Infant, right in the heart if the Costo Daurada. It is a real Miami Beach here. Most things are very new here as is the Villa that we are staying in. No complaining though, we are accepting the warm temperatures with no problem. It is very windy here but when the sun comes up it reaches at least 15 C each day. We made some day trips into Barcelona where we went to the Aquarium on the sea. Some fantastic shark photos! For the most part our week has been relaxing in the warm sun. One morning Livy went for a run with Rob and she came back with Oranges for breakfast that they picked on the way

Montfort

It is fun to watch everyone in town carry their baskets. It almost looks like everyone even has the same kind. Just before 7 am the street gets active with the older folks making their way to the Boulangerie for their bread. When we carried ours we almost immediately fit in, it seemed like even more people talk to you. We missed some good people pictures for sure. One picture that we should have got was when the fishmonger comes into town, or when the butcher who comes in once per week sets up to sell his “chevalin” horsemeat. It was surprising how much he sold. Peter really wanted to play soccer at the outdoor field but the rain didn’t let up. Our last night in Montfort got us up close and personal with the local electrician and burned a few candles out waiting. We ended up blowing the main fuse on the panel coming into the building. The main 40 amp fuse just couldn’t take it.

South of France

We drove along the the sea to make our way to France staying along the way on the Italian Riviera. Where we ended up getting to is a place called Montfort-sur-Argens, Provence, France. The place where we are staying was built in 1799, is called a typical Provencal burgher home from the area. Some of the reading says there are about 700 inhabitants in Montfort, maybe years ago there could have been a few thousand. It is very quaint, the person who owns this now is from Sweden and refers to Montfort as a unspoiled village and area that provides a hint of life in “old” Provence. It has been hard getting a lot going here this week as some crazy wind patterns seem to have latched on to the area bringing rain almost all of the time.Our thermometer has been Peter's feet, he decided to buy some shoes and put his flip flops in his bag. We won't be surprised if they come out again in Spain. Maybe that is ok too, to keep us in this place. We did drive out of the area towards Toulon and spent the day by the sea. Blog entries are getting fewer and shorter mostly because we don't seem to run into internet much where we have been. We do have lots of pictures though. The kitchen table is good for us a "monk table" that seats 12 so it is perfect for us. Natalie can be seen here working as the French gourmet chef. Hopefully we will be able to get out a little bit more. There is vineyard after vineyard when Rob and Livy were out cycling you could smell wine everywhere ( probably was just the empty vines from the past harvest ).

Arriving in Rome

We almost didn’t go to Rome; things have just been getting tight juggling our last few weeks. It almost seems like we are on or following a schedule now. We did get here though for a few days. Probably had one of our most tense driving moments here ending up in an underground parking lot made only for motorcycles. The apartment that we are staying at is on Piazza Cola di Rienzo about a 20 minute walk from the Vatican. We had a contact here that we needed to meet to arrange for a key, between not being able to park with all of the traffic and not being able to operate a public phone we moved block to block trying to duck the Italian traffic police. We ended up paying a cab driver to call Maria and arrange to meet us. We picked up some chestnuts from a man roasting them on the street outside and planned for the Vatican in the morning. We spent the day visiting the Sistine Chapel, Vatican museum and St. Peters. Some continued shopping along the way back. Rain seemed to really follow us in Rome. We walked in the rain for another day seeing some of the ruins and Trevi fountain. Lots of strange looks at Peters feet since he has gone back to bare feet. Many Italian women shaking their head at Jackie. We will head off following the Mediterranean to the south of France where we will hold up for a week.

More Barga

We have stayed close to Barga most of this last week. Walking the streets and wandering into shops and cafes, we have bought food from most everywhere that sells vegetables or fruit. Even the local barber shop got some of our business. Within the small area within the walls of Barga there are 4 churches, they are really close together literally less than a stones throw. The 4th which is the farthest away from us is where mass was held on Sunday (it is a 4 minute walk) Chiesa della Santissima Annunziata. It is too bad we didn’t capture the sound of the bells ringing Sunday morning with the echo inside of the town. There was a baptism held at the mass (young Giorgio). Another open market was set up through the streets of Barga on Sunday, it really livened up compared to how quiet it was mid week on the streets. We went into Lucca which is about 40 minutes from Barga, you can really get carried away with all of this history. It said Lucca was founded in 180 BC in the info center and that it was converted to Christianity by one of St. Peter’s disciples Paulinus who became the first bishop of Lucca. Haven’t quite figured out what the Puccini connection is yet but figured we may as well take a picture. We will head out in the morning and make our way south but probably not before at least hitting one more café before hitting the road.

Tuscany

As we make our way south the weather is really cooperating with us. Some days are even hitting 20C. Where we at now is the area of Tuscany referred to as the Garfagnana. Our destination was a place called Barga. The old town of Barga is surrounded by a fortification wall with 3 entrances and dates back before the year 1000. Too bad we didn’t film our drive up here. Where we will be staying for one week is within these walls in a stone building that was once a convent. One whole side of the villa is the actual fortification wall that is perhaps 75 or 85 feet high. The gentleman who owns this now has restored the building keeping much of the original character. It is strange staying in a building 1000 years old. The roads and streets inside the walls were certainly constructed for the necessity for defense in time of war. Apparently Barga was one of Mussolini’s places where he would come to relax and walk in the hills. We could not drive into our place; you need to walk everywhere (although everywhere is close). It is amazing seeing some of the older folks here walking up these steep inclines. Hopefully some of the photos will do some sort of justice to the area. One day we went into an open air market in a town north of Barga called Castelnuovo; it just seemed to go on and on. After seeing how the market is set up and taken down it makes you wonder why people rent mall space! A day trip took us out to Pisa. Peter said the tower doesn’t look that crooked. Although the city of Pisa has sort of gone the way of Niagara Falls inside the walls and the Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles) was well worth visiting. Our hosts Tony Wilton and his wife Carla invited us to their Villa last night and roasted chestnuts for us in their amazing fireplace in there kitchen. Peter and Natalie explored the place.

Venice

Although it seems like we are running out of time we made a stop in Venice. We actually stayed in a hotel for a couple of nights. This was a rare thing for us. We took the train in from Quatro’d ltino to the station to catch the water bus to bring us through the Grand Canal. Venice was one of those places that even seeing it in a book or in Video just doesn’t capture how different a place this really is. It is hard to imagine the how and why of building this city on the water. Fascinating…We made our way to San Marcos square and spent the day walking around. We may end up naming the Italy part of this trip “Operation Gelati”. It was also good to arrive in the day and leave after dark to see the city by the lights. After eating in Venice we boarded the train to head back. We boarded on platform 2 where we figured out train would leave in about 15 minutes. The train didn’t move for 2 hours. Finally everything started to move, after about 20 minutes it was one of those feelings that just didn’t seem right. Sure enough we had got us on the wrong train! We ended up catching the last train back to a larger station at just before midnight. It must have been a site to see the 9 of us “the only ones there” standing at that platform singing and eating pistachios.

Switzerland

Some of the time when we have been traveling we have not been quite on top of our accommodations. Last minute has pretty much been our style. In the case of Switzerland we really didn’t even look at the map too much when we booked Casa Cozen. We knew it was in the general area that we wanted to go but that is about all we knew. It is in a Village called Alvaneau. It is only about 450 km’s from Salzburg but it took us about 10 hours to drive there. We thought we were pretty good for time but didn’t realize that the road would stop! We aren’t really sure what it was called but our van was loaded up on a train and carried through a tunnel through the mountains that was just under 20 km’s long. Another 1st for us. As we found out later it was a more secure way to deal with travel in the Vereina pass. When we finally boarded the train and then got off it was dark. Alvaneau sits at an elevation of 1145 meters and is in the middle of the Swiss Alps. You certainly pass through some resort/ski areas on the way here but Alvaneau is probably as close to an authentic Swiss village as a person may think. We arrived in the black of night on what we were calling the “Fish road but paved”. We are not also quite sure how our excursions always seem to end up dark at the dead end of a mountain road and then having to drive in reverse to find a turn around spot! Our directions were sketchy and had no idea where we were going, and just seemed to be driving on higher and narrower roads. Jackie eventually knocked on a couple of doors and figured out a contact in town that knew where we were going. An unmarked house, which turned out to be great it is just that pretty much impossible to find, especially at night. In the morning we were finally able to see where we were, Peter had a great view of snow caps from his window. Our first night was All Souls day and the local church bells rang for most of the night, we are not really sure what the pattern for the bells followed.(we are about 50 meters from the church). There is lots of pasture in the Alps and so many cows and sheep grazing ( so different from the Rockies ). Rob met a local fellow Dieter Wolf who is a teacher in Alvaneau, he took Peter, Natalie and Rob for a tour of the school. Dieter said he was in the Canadian Rockies last year for a orienteering competition and he noted that difference too in the Rockies. We drove into Davos (which is about 30 minutes from Alvaea) to look around a little bit. Davos is Europes highest town at 1560 meters. The weather has been quite different from Austria it has been clear and warmer ( about 15C today). Peter is back in his shorts and flip flops, some by choice and some by forgetting one of his shoes in Austria. Headline to read: Canadian boy leaves Polish bought shoe by the sheep in Austria…..