Beautiful Bordeaux & Sand in Our Shoes

Last weekend we took advantage of one of the many French holidays in May, and visited the beautiful city of Bordeaux. Bordeaux has about one million residents, making it one of the largest cities in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, which is the region in which we reside. But most famously it is known for its surrounding area, that produces some of the world's best and most well-known wines.

The tourist area of the city is almost squeaky clean. The sandstone buildings have all been cleaned, there is an impressive amount of pedestrian streets, and amazingly, there is next to no dog poop on the streets (a rarity in most of France). There is a wide and long walkway along the river, with walking and cycling lanes. Also on this walkway is the miroir d'eau, or water mirror. It is a large concrete area covered with about an inch of water. It is a bustling area, attracting both locals and tourists. Unfortunately it was a bit breezy the afternoon we checked it out, so it didn't exactly resemble a mirror.

On the drive home we stopped at the Dune de Pyla, the largest sand dunes in Europe. They are about 110 m high and three kilometers long. They fall into the Arcachon Bay, which is famous in France for its oyster production. We climbed the dunes, walked along them for a bit, then let Xavier play in the sand. They are very impressive! And we are still emptying the sand out of our shoes, pockets, diaper bag,....

Free-Range, Farm Fresh

Kramer had Little Jerry Seinfeld, now we have our own rooster, I mean chicken. Well, we don’t exactly have a chicken running around in our backyard, but we do have the next best thing: eggs from a friend’s chickens.

The egg industry is a sad one in most industrialized countries. Hundreds of chickens are crammed into cages, forced to stand on little pegs, see little or no sunlight, and just lay eggs. This results in unhealthy chickens laying unhealthy eggs. Just look at the colour of the yolks. In Calgary, the yolks of the eggs I bought were a dull straw colour. I tried different eggs claiming to be high in omega fats, with little improvement. It’s unfortunate, because there are free-range eggs out there, but not usually in the grocery stores, and most people are unwilling to pay the much higher price for them.

In France, the situation is much better. There are very affordable free-range eggs available at the grocery store. I am often skeptical of labels such as ‘organic’ and ‘free-range’, knowing it can be easy to make these claims, regardless of the actual farming technique, but the eggs I buy here are significantly better than what I bought in Calgary.

Many chickens do run freely here. All I need to do is walk five minutes down my street to find a home with a few chickens in the yard. The owners are not farmers, just own a couple of chickens for their use. I do not notice a foul smell coming from their yard; I only hear the occasional cockadoodledoo early on a summer morning when our windows are open.

Urban foodies in Canadian cities are now fighting for the right to raise chickens in their yards. Currently, there is a trial being run in Calgary and Edmonton to see if it is manageable, and Vancouver is close to passing a by-law allowing the practice. Hopefully the trials will be successful, and those wanting to keep chickens will be able to do so.

Now back to our eggs. Gilles and I have made friends with a French couple that live in our town. They have a virtual zoo in their yard, and amongst the dog, pigeons, geese, rooster, and bunnies, they have several egg-laying chickens running around. When I arrived at her house yesterday, three chickens strutted in front of my car. They roam freely, eating grass, oats, and corn. The yolks are so yellow that scrambled eggs look fluorescent. And now I am buying half a dozen eggs from her every week. Healthy chickens, healthy eggs!

Have Baby, Will Travel

I was 22 years old when I boarded my first airplane. My son, Xavier, was four months old. When I was eleven years old, my family spent a few days in St John, New Brunswick to visit my grandfather in the hospital. One night my parents took us to the shopping mall just so that my brother, sister, and I could ride the escalator. I had likely never been on an escalator before this, so it was a fun-filled family activity! In contrast to his Mom's early sheltered life, Xavier has been on city buses, Seabuses, escalators, subways, and many flights.

Last weekend we went to London, for round two of travel with baby. Babies are constantly changing, so this trip posed different challenges than the Vancouver trip. Xavier is now older and more alert, and doesn't just fall asleep anywhere and at anytime. We had to plan around naptimes and make sure to give him some playtime throughout the day. But in general, the trip went really well. Thankfully, the weather cooperated, and we only had to seek refuge from rain the last afternoon we were there.

The most challenging part of traveling with baby this trip was riding London’s Underground system, or ‘The Tube’. Most stations do not have elevators, meaning that we had to get the stroller up and down using escalators and stairs, all while fighting crowds of people. We quickly realized that making transfers was incredibly cumbersome, doubling the amount of ups and downs we had to make with the stroller. We could no longer come and go as freely as before, and chose to plan our trips to avoid transfers and the most touristy Tube stations.

Just like our London trip last year, we spent our first couple of days shopping, preferring London to Paris for this. Then, my sister and her boyfriend, who now live in Northern England, joined us for a few days. It was their first time in London, so we did some more touristy activities: we visited the sights on a hop on-hop off bus tour, and saw changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. And Saturday night, Auntie Julie babysat Xavier while we went to a lovely Indian restaurant for supper. It was our first time out alone since Xavier was born! A real treat, indeed!

Half Birthday!

Our little man turned six months old yesterday. Where did the time go? When I look at pictures of him from the early days, I hardly remember that time. Now I understand why everyone told us to cherish every moment, because it really does pass by so fast! Here are some pictures from yesterday.

Home Sweet Home!

Gilles and I are pretty close to modern day nomads. Since leaving home for University in 1995, between the two of us we have lived in Sackville, Medicine Hat, Halifax, Edmonton, Denver, Red Deer, Calgary, Pau, and the roaming home of the Bluenose. We have a file on our computer listing addresses we need to change in lieu of a move, and we have paid Canada Post plenty of money to temporarily redirect our mail. But perhaps we are slowing down a bit? We have now lived in Pau longer than we have lived anywhere (at one given time) since we flew our parents' coops. Ironic, since living an expat life with Total guarantees each posting is temporary. But here we are, almost exactly two years and seven months since leaving Calgary, still in our home away from home in Pau.

We do love our life here. It is very relaxing and simple, far from the super-charged life we led in Calgary. We are so laid back that chores seem to go by the wayside. Gilles has been meaning to sand and stain our teak patio furniture for weeks, and he has now decided that he needs to take our vehicles in for an interior/exterior cleaning, knowing he won't get to them himself. Lazy Saturdays involve a walk to the local market followed by a trip downtown for strolling and cafe time...that is pretty much it. We often marvel at how we accomplished a big home reno while working full time jobs in Calgary. Could we ever revert back to that lifestyle?

But despite our comfortable life here, it will never truly feel like 'home'. We will always be outsiders living in this, or any other country. We speak the language, but with noticeable accents. We have friends here, French and other, but we are culturally very different. The French bureaucracy will never seem acceptable, and carrying a cheque book around (and using it frequently!) will never feel normal. Part of this failure to assimilate is our fault. We watch Canadian television. I watch the news from Calgary and read the online Calgary Herald daily. Gilles' most frequented website is CBC news. We watch hockey, the Rick Mercer report, and still donate and listen to our favourite radio station-CKUA. But we are ok with this. I don't think we would have been happy expats in an era before internet, long-distance phone plans, and Skype. We are proud Canadians, and despite loving living abroad, we have to keep one foot entrenched in Canadian soil. And hopefully this way, Xavier will learn what it means to be Canadian, no matter where in the world he is living.

I have included some photos from around our home here in Pau. The red paper crowns were in the Christmas crackers my sister brought from the UK.

Beach Day!

We took advantage of the sunny weather last weekend, and headed to the beach Sunday afternoon. We went to Biarritz, probably the most well-known beach on the French South Atlantic Coast (Basque Coast). It is the closest beach to us, but we rarely go there because it is more of a surfing beach than a swimming beach. But since it is still too cool to swim, we thought we would pay it a visit.

It may have been too cool to swim, but apparently it was not too cool to sunbathe...at least according to the many people soaking up the rays in skimpy bathing suits. It was a comfortable fifteen degrees, cool enough for a sweater, but not if you are a die-hard tanner. Most Southern Europeans have not received the message about skin cancer!

Xavier practiced his new skill of sitting while playing in the sand. After awhile his legs and feet were buried in sand, helping stabilize the still wobbly sitter. Thankfully, his grasping skills are not fine-tuned enough to succeed in getting sand into his mouth!

Oh, and Gilles couldn't stop laughing about the quintuple-moon we received on the way there!

Baby Growth!

I find it hard to notice Xavier's growth, seeing as I spend every day with him. I see that he grows out of his clothes fairly regularly, but otherwise it is hard to put it into perspective. That is, until I look at photos of him from when he was younger. Or until last week when I put him in the stroller bassinet for the first time in several weeks, and noticed that he is as long as it is! Guess it is time to change to the seat attachment for the stroller!

Here are some before and after photos of the X-Man to show his growth.

Leaving Friends

After leaving Calgary a couple of weeks ago, we returned to France with heavy hearts. As with our visit there almost two years ago, we were reminded that seeing our friends makes us realize how much we miss them. We always have a wonderful time with them during our stay, but inevitably we have to leave. This time it hit Gilles harder than after our first visit. He said he does not miss his Calgary work life, but really does miss our friends. I told him to give it a week and he would feel at home in France again. Sure enough, he went to the market last Saturday and returned saying that he didn’t know how we could ever leave France. But wine, bread, and cheese may not satisfy us forever….

A heartfelt thank-you to everyone that welcomed us into their home while we were in Canada. The Schultzs cooked for us while we were in Vancouver, and we weren’t even staying in their house! But a trip home would never be complete without Darcy’s wings and ribs! Thanks to the Duncans for welcoming us into their home in Calgary. It was great to finally meet Liam, who shared all his toys with Xavier. And thanks to the Jupps for throwing us a great party. We wouldn’t have been able to see many of our friends had it not been for them. And it was also great to finally meet little Eric Jupp. There will be lots of friends for Xavier if/when we move back to Calgary!

Olympic Fun

The main purpose of our trip to Canada was to go to the Olympics. It seems like forever ago that we decided with our friends the Schultzs and Jupps that we would make an Olympic trip. In fact, we bid on event tickets before I was even pregnant! As our departure date approached, we became increasingly nervous about making such a long trip with a four month old, but we knew we couldn’t pass on the chance to attend the Olympics in our home country. Thankfully, we carried through with our plans because we had a fantastic time! I had been away from Canada for 1&1/2 years, and there was no better way to celebrate being back than with thousands of Canadians, proudly wearing red and white and waving our flag.

Our first two days in Vancouver were sunny and very warm. We took advantage of the warm weather, and toured beautiful Deep Cove (the community where we stayed) and took in the Olympic sights in downtown Vancouver. Those days we were awake at 3:30 AM, entertaining a four month old that thought it was time to get up, but that gave us a bit of an advantage when it came to seeing the sights. We arrived at the Olympic Cauldron while most people were still in bed, ensuring we got a great picture of it. And just as the streets of Vancouver were filling up mid-afternoon, we were ready to return to our house for a relaxing evening.

Gilles, Xavier and I attended two events, both of which produced a medal for Canada. We saw the ladies’ team win Silver in short-track speed skating, and the men’s team win Gold in long-track speed skating. We were especially lucky with the Gold medal event because they presented the medals after the race, meaning we got to see the Canadian flag being raised and hear the anthem played.

Gilles also attended two hockey games, including Canada vs Germany, and one snowboard event. Unfortunately, it poured at Cypress the day of the snowboard event, and he returned to the house dripping wet.

One afternoon, we were treated to lunch and a sail around the Vancouver harbour aboard our friend Dave’s parents’ boat. It was Xavier and the Jupp’s son Eric’s first sail…quite the experience considering we sailed right past the floating Olympic rings, the cauldron, and the media centre. We’ll be sure to tell them all about it when they are older!

Now that we are back in France, we are missing the Olympics, as I am sure many Canadians are. It was such a great experience that we joked with our friends that we should make plans to go to Sochi in 2014. And who knows…maybe we will!