Poisson D'Avril

April 1 - April Fool's day, or as the French call it Le Poisson D'Avril. The concept is the same - play tricks on your neighbour, but the real focus here, revolves around putting a fish on someone else's back. According to the kids, this is hilarious! The girl's carefully hand crafted fish were "secretly" put on our backs a number of times this evening, followed by an outburst of laughter. We played along, ha ha ha, but wondered.... at what age (if at all) in France does this stop being funny?

Finally Family

I was thinking about crediting our visit from cousin Andrew Ritchie and girlfriend Silvia as the first family visit, but it occured to me, that in fact, Jeremy Allen was our first family guest, and we forgot to post his visit. So here is a quick two in one family visits Paris update.

First Jeremy, travelling through with work, from site visits in Rome and Tunisa to scout film locations came by for dinner. We enjoyed a great evening of lively discussions, and wonderful family memories, and yes, the "Allens do know best"... yours truly included. In the end we drank lots of red wine (a Jeremy signature) and my head was tight the next day. He stayed over. Thanks for coming Jeremy. It was really great.

As mentioned above, our second family visit was from Andrew & Silvia. They came for the weekend. We saw lots together including the huge Waterlillies (Nymphéas) at the "Musée de l'Orangerie " It's a perfect sized art exhibit for me (less than 1hr) with works from Cézanne, Matisse, Modigliani, Picasso, Renoir and of course Monet. We squeezed a lot into a short weekend including a dinner at a local restaurant Les Cocottes where even French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been known to dine. Paris is even better when you can share it with family.

Sorry for the small picture...I pinched it from Andrew's Facebook

Une Tradition, S'il Vous Plait

Lately we've been actively trying to supplement the girls French, as we have realized that a Montessori (Bilingual as it may be), with its philosophy of choice, where the child can choose to speak to the English or the French teacher, is not necessarily the best place to learn French.

One of the small things we have added into our routine, is sending the girls in to buy our daily Tradition (our prefered type of baguette). The girls go into the boulangerie all on their own, wait in the queue (sometimes for 10min), order and pay.

The women behind the counter just melt everytime our little anglo angels order "Une tradition s'il vous plait..... merci... au revoir." The girls walk out empowered with their coveted bread in hand and quite often an extra treat.

Scotland Part I of II

A last minute chance encounter by Rupert, with a key Canadian embassy employee allowed us to renew D’s passport in time and shove off for the second week of the girl’s school holiday. An even more last minute change in plans, switched our destination from Rome, to Scotland and we were off.

Home base for our six days was Steve & Paul Ritchie’s house in Collieston, a small seaside Scottish village, just north of Aberdeen. Steve and Paul are Mark’s (Rupert’s Stepfather) father and brother - we could have not have dreamed of better hosts.

The clean air, spectacular scenery and a dose of family was just what the doctor ordered. Our days were filled with long oceanside walks, castles, scotch, haggis and Mark Knopfler playing in our heads.

A view from our Steve & Paul’s house in Collieston

D at Hackley Bay

P admires her daily haul of shells, at Hackley Bay

We made the rabbit avoiding pilgrimage to the seaside village of Pennan, the location of the family favorite movie, Local Hero.

P makes a call to Mr. Happer. No answer

Collieston is conveniently located just a stones throw from the Whiskey triangle. Ru, P&D amongst the stills, at the Glenfiddich distillery

D with Errol castle in the distance. The castle is thought to be the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Making paper in Paul’s very cool studio.

The BC’s and the Ritchie’s outside Seaview

Scotland Part II of II

The last 24hours of our vacation was spent site seeing in Edinburgh. We toured the very cool neighbourhood of South Queen’s Ferry, the Royal mile, Edinburgh castle and had good old Scottish pub meal.

Outside Edinburgh castle

Before we set off for the airport, an ambitious Ru suggested a hike up to Arthur’s Seat, a small piece of highland landscape, smack dab in the middle of Edinburgh. Our uneducated choice in route proved to be quite steep and extremely windy. The girls had to stay low at the top, or risk being blown off.


Our trip definitely had its influence on the girls. In a game of “restaurant”, shortly after our return, D ordered a scotch from her server.
Note to reader – NonLocal Hero fans may find this post occasionally confusing

Fun with the Millepattes (hockey sur glace)

Finding hockey in Paris was really tough, but it was really worth the effort. The Colombes Millepattes practice 10:15pm on Monday's and Thursday's and play many Sunday nights in a friendly interclub format. The team is 2-2 since I joined, and until last Sunday, most were close games. Last Sunday the score was 23-2, the most lop-sided game I've ever played. I only had 2 goals and 5 assists, but another Canadian had a triple hat-rick. The hockey is fun, with a good mix of experinced skilled players, and a handful of novices. The hockey is helping me stay in shape, practice my French, make friends and play a sport I love. Mary Jo said no one would be interested in my dumb hockey news:), so this one is for James, and me when I read the blog in my old age.

Colombes new version of Nick Lidstrom

Wanna buy a Castle?

A new real estate agency opened up next to our building last week, that specializes in selling Chateau's. I can't help but stop and look and the tens of Castles displayed in the window every time I walk by. What's even more amazing than the number of French Chateaux on the market, is the prices - many less than an average sized apartment in the middle of Paris. Apparently the upkeep is the killer.

When four little girls were asked "which castle would they like to buy", all four responded, "the white one" (bottom right). Not my first choice, but who can blame the Cinderella loving cherubs.

Weekend in Normandy - D-Day Beaches - Part II of II

Our Sunday was spent exploring the D-Day Beaches. Our first stop was the American Cemetary overlooking Omaha beach (one of the landing sites during the Normandy Invasion in WWII) which contains over 9000 US military who died, mostly during the invasion. After spending some time inside the museum watching film and touring the exhibits, we ventured outside to the serene and pristine lines of gravestones. Reading the names on the stones, coupled with the visual of the rows and rows of markers, made the loss poignantly real and left lumps in our throats for most of the morning.

Our second stop was Point-du-Hoc a memorial and museum dedicated to the United States Army Range Assault Group during Operation Overlord. The site of museum is fact the remains of a cliff top German machine gun post, which looks much like it must have looked, in the years immediately after the war. The attack site is still covered in its actual bomb craters and many of the original fortifications. Rupert & P had a great time, climbing in and out of the bunkers, block houses and through the reinforced concrete tunnels. I stayed above ground for the most part, it was a bit too real for me.

D in the crater field

Unfortunately the children conked out before we made it to the Canadian landing site, Juno Beach. Perhaps another time.

Weekend in Normandy - Mont-St-Michel - Part I of II

Last weekend, the BC bus finally rolled out of Paris on our first trip to see more of France. We rented a small car and drove 2.5 hrs to Villers Bocage in the heart of Normandy to our accomodations, La Ferme du Pressoir B&B. With an Audi in the driveway, the smell of farm, and a big old harvest table, we knew we were home.

P,D, and a new friend, holding their monnaie d'argent, outside our B&B

Nothing but the best of France for Breakfast, but what is D doing in Mark's chair?

Our Saturday was consumed by Mont-St-Michel, an ancient abbey built in the 8th Century, that sits 1km off the North Coast of France. Even though the tides no longer completely cut the Mont off from the mainland, Mont-St-Michel is one the most impressive things I have seen since we moved to France. It is inspiring on so many levels - the beauty of the man made structure completely isolated in its natural surroundings, the history, the stunning gardens inside the abbey, the simplicity of the abbey rooms, and the views!!! Then there was the constant questioning of how & why.

We entered the small touristy town at the base of the Mont and walked it's narrow cobbled stone streets. Then wound our way around the island, stopping at many great views and finally climbed the multiple sets of steep steps to the abbey. Once on top, we truly felt it's grandeur and it was clear why this has been a spiritual place for the millenea and continues to be a place of pilgrimage. Since the season doesn't get any lower than mid-January, we got to enjoy the experience as it should be, quietly and calmly, sometimes not seeing another person for extended periods of time.

The girls on the man made causeway in front of Mont-St-Michel

Smiling D


P & D enjoying the view from the top

For more info on Mont-St-Michel

Hunting and Gathering

Our quest for firewood on the streets of Paris has become more than just stocking our woodpile for free, it has become, our mission.

With a good eye, the trees with their log bases (buches) can be found, but the base removal is our biggest challenge. The hammer didn't help, and after my "friend" referred to me as a "Pikey" for my logging activities, I started to become discouraged. The trees will soon be gone and some other lucky scavenger will have reaped the rewards. Just so you don't think I am crazy, there are others out there collecting the buches. I have not seen them, but I know they are out there. Many of times, I have spotted a tree (buche intact) on my way somewhere and planned to make a removal attempt on my way home, only to be disappointed upon return, to find the tree left bucheless.

On our way home from the library yesterday, P spotted a buche and encouraged the broken me to have another go. It had been more than 24hours since my last attempt, so I was well rested and P's motivational words were enough to encourage me to try one more time. I decided to retry "the twist" method. It worked! The stands are basically screwed into the trunk of the tree. About fifteen twists and the base was off.

After a quick walk of the hood, the girls and I came home on top of the world - four buches and high hopes for more tomorrow. Relic would have been proud.