From Paris with Love!

After a week of tanning in the sun (who am I kidding? Burning. ) we dropped off the boat and made our way to Paris. The trip was long and whinding ( that would be a mix between the whining kid beside me, and the stomach turning winding road).

We stayed at Laurences sisters place, complete with a pool, enough computers for all the visitors, and a adequate amount of chocolate. They are all very nice people, and good at breaking the ice. If i could ( L has forbade me ) I would put up the `just Dance `video of the family.`A Wii game that everyone must have.

The following day we took the train downtown and started our tour of all the main sights.

I`m not one to admire art, and to know good from bad. I have a really hard time seperating the kindergarten masterpiece from the abstract masterpiece. However, no one can really blame me becquse Penticton isn`t really teeming with spectacular art exhibits. Unless you count Frank, the Baggage handler.

Frank is one of the few nude sculptures I have seen. Not that I saw much. Frank, at the time, lived in the middle of the only roundabout in Penticton.He was frequently sporting a bikini or diaper, with perhaps a toilet placed behind him and a lay around his head. I never really fully appreciated the art, choosing to focus more on his amusing accessories.

So on the train, I decided to try and stay openminded, and try to appreciate the art.
verdict-
I Appreciate It.
If only realy men looked like this!

North America should place some of these sculpures strategiclly around cities. Its sort of uplifting..

Walking along after a long day of work, sweating in the evening heat, the .. sculpted sculptures help you continue on, lift your depression; and realise there is good in the world.

Ok, so thats a bunch of bull, but I really did enjoy all the art in France. We did see the Eiffel tower (hard to miss), Chateau de versailles, and went into the arc de triomph and the Notre Dame.

The Arc de Tromph is home to the tomb of the `unkown soldier`. It is meant to commemerate all the soldiers lost in the war and every ngiht they hold a small serice around it. All around the tomb are inscriptions in the pavement about the wars that France has fought in. I spent a good chunk of time reading ( and trying not to step on) the information, with my trusty dictionary (AKA Laurence) by my side.

After visiting all these famous landmarks, I am a bit embarassed to say we went to minature land. It is a hundred times bigger and better than the victoria one, but still pretty lame. It was 116 minature monuments, placed outside in grounds shaped France. The detail was pretty impressive, but everthing is all blurred together, I`m not really good at remebering over a hundrred different stories.

We stayed in Paris for a week, which, with all the crowdswas enough for me. Overall, the Parisians were very welcoming (no snobbyness encounterd!) the restaurants were WAY over priced ( no worry to me, I didn't pay..) and there was a serious lack of berets.

All last week I spent on the canal de midi in a private cruise liner.
OK, it wasn`t quite that big, but big enough by my standards, and any other reasonable person. Three bedroom, three bathroom, floating mansion. Complete with a kitchen, inside and outside tables and three lovely laydown lawnchairs (not to mention the cupbards full of nutella; chocolate , and a interesting array of flavours in chips) . Despite all these luxuries there were some drawbacks..
My shower/sink/toilet was in a four foot long box. The toilet way too high and the shower so low I had to lean down to be in the path of the water. My first shower I succeeded in drenching my weeks worth of toilet paper. The second shower I slipped and managed to knock the handle off of the door. I, impressingly, managed to lock myself in, and L had to come to my rescue. I can only imagine the wake of distruction if I was a whole 5`5...
The only other drawback (not really the boats fault..sound proof walls I don`t think are very sea worthy..) was the noise. Pellet gun for my birthday please? The flipping ducks almost drove me mad. The feathered demons would finally shut-up, and then a church bell wold ring.. which would set them off again.
We floated from Carcasonne to the meditarinien and back, managing to get through about fifty locks without major catostrophy. The canal was started in 1666, iintended as a shortcut betzeen the Qtlqntic and Med. They added locks to it a little later. to deliver things up and down stream.
The first lock we went through was a bit of a bumper boat. JM not being experienced at steering, and Lauarence and I not so great at the throwing and catching of the ropes. After the boat was secured, the gates shut and the water went down (and up,depending on the way were going). The gates then openned and we either steered into the next lock (the most in a row that we did was three, but there is one that is seven) or back onto the canal. Seeing other `crews`work together was really when we shon the most. Some people should just keep to solid ground, and maybe a tricylce with a shiny helmet and sturdy knee pads. The sufferening that the poor boats go through:.. One boat came in full speed , with two other boats already secured and in. After smashing around for a while, they managed to get it in roughly the right spot, on the right side. Then they throw up the ropes to secure. Not to the side that they can touch, but to the other side of the lock,20 feet away. Perhaps (hopefully) they were a tad drunk...
Every evening we stopped and tied up the boat to a few trees, and went for bike ride to the nearest village. We usually had ice cream and supper, and visited a few little shops. One shop sold every kind of jam imanginable, they hqd coconut and cinnamon, and pinapple. They also had pickled duck, which is apparently a specialty of the region. I saw one that said `squirrel`.. and assumed it was another, slightly revolting , specialty. Laurence laughed at me and pointed out it was actually different types of nuts, the `squirrel mixture`.
Language translation errors happen to me just as much as they happen to L or JM, or to random signs we manage to see. L has trouble with Jam and Ham, and often tells me to put jam with our tomato and lettuce sandwhiches and JM says McDonalds in a way that makes it sound like an exotic high class restaurant. Boat names like little Winky, and my favorite, the courthouse being called the `Palace of Justice`.
I have finallly bought my ticket, I am going to cameroon in mid august until mid november after i travel spain and Morocco. I am going to be volunteering at a school and orphanage there, as well as doing some travelling. Hopefully the planes zill be flying by that time, or I may have to endure the hardships here longer... :)

Snow.
Warmth and picnics
Rain.
Sunshine Lollipops and rainbows everywhere..
Hail.
This weather has me on my toes (not to mention back, bottom and knees.. ice is no good for the clumsy). I keep going to put my snowboots away, and the next day I have to dig them out again as the weather turns from one thing to another.

Despite the weather, I consider myself a safe driver ( looking past the reverse incedent), in snow and rain I feel comfortable driving windy mountain roads. Emma and I usually have the music turned up, singing to music we can both agree to. Green Day is the middle road for us, I refuse to listen to Lady gaga, and she doesn't want to listen to Queen (Bohemian rapsody anyone?) The last week has been a bit of a change in the routine. Laurneces mother is visiting for a week, and she does not like our music.. or any at all in the car. The fifteen minute drive turns magically into hours. She sits ridgid in her seat, teeth clenched with a firm grip of the roof handle. My first impression of her was not an A+..

Later (when we finally made it to town..) a truck was blocking my way for a turn. I waited a while, but with a few blasts of horns from the people I was blocking I went to continue and find a different way. No way was Mamie having this. She told me to sit tight. Don't move. She pulled her little five foot self out of the car and went to give the truck driver a piece of her mind. Letter grade change. I like this lady!
She is an ironing maniac, Laurence ( who does not iron) has been creating a big pile of linens and such for the last week, and Mamie does a few hours every day. She likes to tell me why the Africans are lazy , how I must enjoy the heat here because it is so different from "back home", and she cheats at scrabble, but she is a halarious and a hoot to talk too.

The music in the car has been turned off, but the music in the house is roaring, with the great music of Hawaii. The sweet tunes of the ukuele haunt me in my sleep. Hawaiian music is the favorite of JM's dad, and I have had the great oppertunity to listen to it , every waking moment for the last few days.

Amid the screechy music ,Laurence managed to arrange a egg hunt in the house for Emma..
and me!
With the median ages of the house exceeding 50, I was put into the kid catergory for this one.. which was totally ok with me.. I got a giant kinder egg surpirse.. which I was pretty stoked about.. so stoked I already ate it ( and put it together without looking at the instructions..future engineer perhaps? :) )

The rest of the Easter weekend was very relaxed, besides the village wide easter egg hunt.
People volunteer (?) to get up very early to hide easter eggs around the town. We all hunted around finding eggs, and drinking hot cholocolate with Baileys. The kids all got prizes and there was a egg decoarting competition. This kind of thing happens alot, bingo, ski races, carnival. A really neat place to have a family ( and a really boring place after the age of about 11..)

One family we know is going on a trip to Reunion ( translation mix up- I thought they were crazy going to a month long "family" reunion, turns out it is the island name..) I have happily voluneeted to take there adorable dog on walks. Something that will hopefully get me out of the house, and away from the chocolate..

Next week we have rented a boat to float a channel for five days, and then make our way to Paris.. I will make sure I have found a good book before we make that long trip in close quarters.. but it should be good!