Europe -- May/June 2013

In June of 2010 my mom retired. Over the years she has done so much for my brother and for Kim and for myself that the three of us decided to take her on her first ever trip to Europe as a retirement present. Unfortunately, life doesn't always go according to plan.

With the loss of Kim, my brother and I felt that it was more important than ever to still do the trip (even though my mom got to Europe for the first time on her own with some University friends in the Autumn of 2012). The parameters for the trip were two weeks to anywhere in Europe (mom's choice). Mom chose France, specifically Paris and some of the World War I and World War II memorials north of the city in Normandy and around Lille.

Mom's requests in mind, I started putting together the trip. First I booked a flat to stay in for a week in Paris on Airbnb. Then I looked for flights. Prices had gone up a bunch since my last trip to France and I was constantly frustrated with my attempts to find a reasonable price for a reasonable itinerary. So I got creative and found a great price on flights from Toronto to Amsterdam, and then from Paris to Toronto with a one night stopover in Reykjavík, Iceland. I then booked a one way car rental from Amsterdam to Paris and suddenly we were going to be seeing four countries (Netherlands, Belgium, France and Iceland) for the price of one!

While making these plans, Anthony was chosen to present a paper at a conference in Melbourne, Australia at the beginning of May. Rather than fly back to Canada only to get right back on a plane to Europe, Anthony extended his stay in Australia to see a bit of the country and then flew from Sydney via Kuala Lumpur to Paris and then got on a train and met us in Lille.

Below is a transcription of the day-to-day journal I kept with photos taken by all three of us.

• May 18 -- Amsterdam, Netherlands
• May 19 -- Lille, France
• May 20 -- Amiens, France
• May 21 -- Honfleur, France
• May 22 -- Pontorson, France
• May 23 -- Dinan, France
• May 24 -- Carnac, France
• May 25 -- Paris, France
• May 26 -- Paris, France
• May 27 -- Paris, France
• May 28 -- Paris, France
• May 29 -- Paris, France
• May 30 -- Paris, France
• May 31 -- Paris, France
• June 1 -- Reykjavík, Iceland
• June 2 -- Above the Atlantic Ocean

We're in Amsterdam! At least my mom and I are. Anthony is somewhere in transit, hopefully doing well. The plan is to meet him in Lille tomorrow afternoon.

Yesterday mom and I arrived at Pearson at exactly the same time (by chance) and together we uneventfully moved though the standard airport process. The flight was overnight as usual with a transfer in Reykjavík (it's Icelandair). The transfer was a bit tight (an hour and twenty minutes), but we made it and after three more hours of flying we arrived in Amsterdam around noon today. I even had time to pick up a couple 'Skyr' yogurts and some fruit at Keflavik airport to eat for breakfast on our flight.

Getting into Amsterdam city centre from the airport was trivial. We bought tickets from a machine and got on a high speed train direct to the central train station in the city. From there we hopped on a tram that would drop us off right in front of our hotel. Unfortunately there was construction on the tram line and it detoured about halfway there. I was following along on the map on my phone and when I saw it go the wrong way we bailed. I knew where we needed to go but had no idea where the tram was going so I thought it best to abandon it. Of course once we arrived at the hotel after a twenty minute walk with our bags the tram pulled up, having rejoined its normal route right by our hotel. The walk was nice though, it's always good to walk through a new city to get a feel for it! I'm not sure if my mom agreed.

Our hotel room is small but clean and has a lovely view of a park out the window. It was really hard to book a spot at all tonight in Amsterdam as it is a holiday weekend here (Whitsunday). Everything I looked at was either full or had a minimum stay of three nights, so I'm quite pleased to have got this place. It's nothing special, but not bad and not too expensive.

After getting settled at the hotel we popped around the corner to a coffee shop I found on Yelp using the hotel's WiFi. It was lovely, mom had a cappuccino and I had an espresso and we shared a really tasty cheese sandwich and a huge piece of apple pie while watching what seemed like every sort of person in the world pass by the window on a bike. I knew that biking is a big part of the culture here, but seeing it in person is something else. Everyone bikes, but the bikes aren't special in general. They're very utilitarian and many people don't even worry about locking them up because they aren't worth stealing. Biking seems to be just how everyone gets around here and nothing more.

Feeling rested and refreshed, we headed out to explore the city a bit. It was too late in the afternoon to visit any museums or anything, so we just wandered around. The city is really cool with all the canals and it was also neat to see all forms of transportation (pedestrians, bikes, cars, scooters, trams, boats, etc.) sharing the spaces in a relatively civilized manner. It's probably the best example of urban development I've ever seen.

We stopped at a random cheese shop to get some gouda to munch on while wandering and then for supper we went to a restaurant in this old historical building in the centre of Nieuwmarkt. Mom had fresh white asparagus with ham, poached egg and hollandaise sauce while I had the cod with potatoes, zucchini, fennel and more hollandaise. I also had a 'spring beer' (Lentebier) from a dutch brewery called Jopen. The meal was great and we followed it up with some ice cream while walking back to the hotel.

Now we're relaxing a bit and I'm preparing for a week of driving around northern France. Tomorrow morning we pick up a rental car back at the airport and although I've ordered a GPS I like to have a backup. I just found a cool offline maps application for my phone called 'Pocket Earth' so I'm using the hotel WiFi to download map data for everywhere we're going just in case the GPS fails. The app is a bit buggy, but I think it will serve quite well.

Canal near our hotel

Houseboats on a canal

Scooter parked outside a houseboat with flowers

Cool bike

More canal

Awesome crooked houses

A sea of bikes in a central square

Cool buildings

Fancy mall in a gorgeous old building

My beer for tonight (lovely lacing)

Today was busy and fun, but it could have gone a bit better if I had been less ambitious and maybe did a bit more advanced research. At least we successfully met up with Anthony and now we're all together.

Mom and I got up early this morning and had an amazing breakfast of fresh croissants, bacon and eggs at a lovely little cafe just outside our hotel. It was really good food and just as we were leaving the daughter (maybe ten years old) of one of the owners rolled out from the back in pyjamas and roller blades. It was cute and funny, but even better was when we looked again and she was joined by her identical twin doing the same thing. They were such perfect little stereotypical dutch girls and mom was very amused.

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and caught the tram back to the train station and then caught a train to the airport to pick up the rental car. I had reserved the second smallest car available, but for whatever reason they upgraded me to something bigger. So we're driving an Opel Astra station wagon and it feels positively massive. I wanted something small as I knew that driving can get tight in Europe but we'll survive. The GPS is fantastic and I don't think I'll need the offline maps on my phone at all. At large confusing junctions it actually shows the road layout and highlights which path to take. I really couldn't ask for more.

Soon we were out of the Amsterdam area and speeding along the motorway towards Bruges. There was almost no indication we had crossed the border into Belgium and the only way I knew for sure was because my mobile phone provider texted me to let me know the roaming rates for Belgium. The drive was very easy and we soon parked at the train station in Bruges and set out to explore. Our parking included a free bus ticket to get into the centre of the city so we hopped on a bus and ten minutes later we were exploring the central square.

Bruges is really pretty and we thought it would be a good idea to get some proper Belgian frites and sit in the square and enjoy the view and the lovely weather. Unfortunately the place we chose to get fries from was very busy and very slow and turned out to not be very good. So we lost a lot of time for little pay off. After eating we walked around a bit but then had to get going in order to make it to Lille in reasonable time. Visiting Bruges was probably too ambitious, but I wanted to see something in Belgium while we passed through.

The other stop I wanted to make in Belgium was the Westvleteren Brewery, a Trappist brewery run by the monks of the Trappist Abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren. Westvleteren beers are often judged to be some of the best in the world and they are extremely hard to come by as they are very very rarely exported outside of Belgium (and even within Belgium they are not super easy to find). So my goal was to visit, buy some beer and then head to Lille.

The drive from Bruges to the brewery was tons of fun. The brewery is way out in the middle of nowhere and many of the roads are only wide enough for a single car despite being two way roads. It was a nice change to the motorway driving from the morning and it was a really good way to see a bit of Belgian countryside. The grounds the brewery is on are lovely and we could have spent hours there. But time was tight so I grabbed a six-pack of their blond along with a set of four Westvleteren glasses and then we continued our journey. I would have preferred to get the Westvleteren XII instead of the blond, but they didn't have any available for sale that day. It was on tap in the restaurant (which appeared to be serving really nice food) but alas, we had no time.

The drive to Lille was uneventful (although parking under the hotel was extremely cramped and I cursed the large car a few times). When we got to our room Anthony was already checked in and had just finished getting cleaned up. His flight arrived in Paris early this morning and he caught a train direct from the airport to Lille. This left him with the whole day to fill until we arrived so he explored the city. Rather than use a luggage locker at the train station or even ask the hotel to store his stuff, he decided to explore the city with his big backpack on his back and his carry-on backpack on his front. He estimates that he walked at least ten kilometres all over Lille today carrying all of his stuff after flying overnight from Sydney. I suspect sleep deprivation has addled his cognitive abilities but he seems happy so that's all that matters.

After mom and I got settled Anthony took us out into the city to show us a few sights and to find some supper. Unfortunately the holiday weekend made finding supper difficult as many places were closed and the ones that were open required a reservation. In one of the more touristy areas we came across 'Les 3 Brasseurs' which is a mediocre brewpub chain based in Montreal (with locations in Toronto. We were amused and hungry enough that we decided to try to eat there. It was busy too but they assured us a table would open up and invited us to have a drink at the bar. Unfortunately they forgot about us so we left and got shawarma which is well known to be a solid backup food in any major city in the world.

Hunger satisfied we returned to the hotel. Lille is a beautiful city, at least in the core, with many cool old buildings and apparently a very neat citadel thing that Anthony saw (with all his bags). We had not really planned on seeing anything here though so tomorrow we will leave bright and early. The main purpose of our stopping here was as a place to meet up with Anthony and a convenient location from which to visit the Vimy Ridge Memorial. While walking around and failing at supper we mostly chatted with Anthony, catching up and hearing about all of his adventures and misadventures in Australia.

In hindsight, I would definitely have done things differently today. I would have skipped Bruges entirely and driven straight to Lille. There we would have collected Anthony and driven back into Belgium to the brewery. I would have then bought my beer and glasses and then we could have done the lovely seven kilometre walk through the forested grounds of the monastery before having dinner in the restaurant. I guess I know for next time.

Our hotel here in Lille is really nice, although it is awfully large and impersonal. We finished up the evening drinking a couple of my beers and chatting more about all our respective adventures.

Mom at the train station in Amsterdam

Trams in Amsterdam

Central square in Bruges

Central square in Bruges

Belfry

Me at Westvleteren with my beers and glasses

Random pub we passed a few kilometres from the brewery, it was actually called The Canada Pub. It was closed for the holiday though.

Looking away from the pub, notice the width of the road compared to that very small car. It's a two way street.

In Lille, Les 3 Brasseurs in the background

Mom and Anthony by the train station

More Lille

Lille Opera House

Random street in Lille

This morning we got up early and tried to go out and find a nice cafe for breakfast. However, due to the holiday (Whitmonday), we were totally out of luck as the city was dead. The only places open were super touristy so we settled on one and had a very mediocre and expensive breakfast. We probably would have done better just eating at the hotel. After breakfast we walked around a bit waiting for the grocery store to open so we could stock up on supplies to use for lunches.

With food secured, we drove out of Lille in the rain towards the Vimy Ridge Memorial. The roads were busy and the rain added an extra level of difficulty, but trusty GPS led us true and soon we arrived at our destination. On the way we passed through really nice forested areas with rolling hills and grazing sheep. All these areas were fenced in with signs warning of danger from unexploded ordinance. We found out later that they use the sheep to keep the grass short as it would be too dangerous to use lawnmowers or other machinery to do the job. Apparently no one was worried about the sheep.

Just past the memorial is a museum dedicated to the history of the battle of Vimy Ridge which is run by the Government of Canada and staffed by Canadian students. We went there first and it was really fun to just walk in and start talking to some of the staff and instantly recognize them as Canadian. We did a tour of some old trenches and tunnels used by the Canadians in WWI. It was led by a political science student from Ottawa and was really well done.

After the tour we thought we'd walk to see the big monument despite the rain. It wasn't cold out and the rain was light and the area was just so pretty. Unfortunately we didn't go in the correct direction and it took us twenty minutes before we decided to give up and turn back. Still, it was a really nice walk.

Given that we were wet and had walked enough we returned to the car and had a snack before driving to the monument. It was huge and amazing and I found it very moving in a way I wasn't prepared for. Also, the poor weather meant that we had the whole thing to ourselves (there was a couple there when we arrived but they just took a quick picture and then left). We walked all around it slowly and really took time to enjoy the peace and quiet of the area. It was fantastic and very much worth visiting for any Canadian.

After Vimy, our original plan was to drive north to the coast near Calais (where the chunnel comes out from England) and then drive west along the coast. It is apparently a very beautiful drive. However we took longer at Vimy than expected and the rain and the clouds meant the views would not have been as good so we decided instead to drive straight on to our next hotel in Amiens. The drive crossed a lot of pretty countryside so it was still enjoyable. Plus, just after leaving Vimy we came across a large WWI cemetery with thousands of crosses, literally "row-on-row." Tons of the graves were Canadian and the scale was just unbelievable (especially since it is nowhere near the largest war cemetery in France). The senselessness of so many deaths was a lot to take in.

In Amiens we hit a bit of trouble. I parked the car illegally near the hotel so that we could drop off our bags before parking properly. Unfortunately there was no one at the hotel and the door was locked! So I called the contact number and managed to have a productive conversation in French that eventually netted me the door code. Once inside we found a white board telling us our room number as well as information on WiFi and other details about the hotel. Our room was left unlocked with the key inside. Crisis averted and the room is great! Very big and very clean and comfortable. The hotel is called "Hotel Le Saint Louis" and we'd definitely recommend it. We ditched our stuff, parked the car in a nearby underground garage and then returned to the hotel to freshen up (and change into dry clothes!).

Amiens is a great little city with a really nice downtown centred around a gigantic 13th century gothic cathedral (the biggest in France apparently). So after a brief rest we went back out into the rain to explore. The cathedral was amazing to see and we also just enjoyed walking through town to get to it. After visiting we went to a couple shops and then tried to find some supper. Unfortunately the holiday caused us problems again and the rain kept getting harder. Rather than keep searching we ducked into a convenient "Quick" (a French fast-food chain modelled after McDonald's). Although it was junk food, it was pretty nice and it was also just good to be out of the rain.

We're back at the hotel now. It's early, but with the rain and so many things closed we decided to just relax this evening. Anthony is already asleep. I imagine the jetlag is catching up to him as he also fell asleep in the car a couple times today. I just finished a really nice amber ale from Brasserie St-Rieul, a local craft brewer, and now I'm sharing an excellent bottle of wine with mom that we picked up at the grocery store this morning.

As comfortable as our hotel is, it also feels a bit creepy. We have yet to see any other guests and the halls are all rather dark. It's an older building and so there is definitely a haunted vibe to it. Mom doesn't understand but Anthony and I feel the ambiance is definitely sinister (in a fun way).

Old tunnel at Vimy

Field that used to be no-man's-land between the Canadian and German trenches

Reconstructed trench

Nice trees

This path does not lead to the monument but it was nice to walk on

Lawnmowers

First view of the monument

Up close

Remnants left by someone else

View down the ridge from on the monument

Endless names

There were lots of signs like this

View of the monument from the other side

Flowers in the rain

Walking around the side of the cathedral in Amiens

Inside the cathedral

The organ

Mom looking sculptures

Looking towards the back of the cathedral, attempting to give a sense of the size here

The front of the cathedral

My beer for the evening

Once again we got up early today in order to get on the road to our next destination in good time. Breakfast at the hotel was lovely and our theories about it being deserted were proved wrong. There were plenty of staff members bustling around this morning and several other groups of guests were at breakfast.

Today our goal was to drive along the "Alabaster Coast" which stretches from Dieppe almost to Le Havre and then finish up the day at our hotel in Honfleur. So we got some supplies for a picnic lunch before leaving Amiens and then headed out.

Just before Dieppe we stopped in the small town of Envermeu for a short break and to get some dessert for lunch from a bakery. We didn't pick out the town in advance, it just looked nice so we stopped. It turned out to have a really old and busted up cathedral which was an interesting contrast to the well-maintained behemoth in Amiens. It seemed like it might fall down at any point. The bakery also proved to be quite nice and we got a very heavy eclair and a raspberry tart (seriously the eclair weighed at least a pound).

We continued on, and in the short time it took to finally reach the sea it started raining and the fog rolled in. This was too bad but we still had a nice picnic inside the warm, dry car at a lookout point near Pourville-sur-mer. We made tuna sandwiches on amazing hazelnut bread with avocado, cheese and tomato and then we had some Greek yogurt with fresh strawberries and the eclair for dessert.

After lunch we continued driving along the coast stopping occasionally to explore beaches and little towns along the way. Despite the weather it was a really great drive. Eventually we turned back in-land to make our way to Honfleur. There were a few very tiny roads for a while like in Belgium and then there was an awesome section of driving through a large forest where the road felt like a tunnel due to the size and thickness of the trees on either side. We also crossed the Seine river on a huge suspension bridge at one point. Anthony slept through most of this stuff. His Australia adventures seem to be catching up to him. I didn't fare a lot better though, by the time we got to Honfleur I was exhausted and really needing a break.

Honfleur is a tiny port town with awesome old houses everywhere and a 600 year old wooden church in the centre of town. By accident, I managed to book a hotel (Hotel du Dauphin) right in the central square of town with a view looking out over the church. It was totally amazing and just seeing it renewed my energy levels.

After fighting our way past a busload of old Americans who were all trying to check into our hotel at the same time we went out to explore the town. The church was really neat with huge thick wooden pillars that looked and felt almost petrified. We spent a bit of time as well looking in shops and we picked up some cider (a speciality of Normandy) and I bought some local beers as well as a bottle of Calvados (a type of apple brandy from the region).

For dinner we went to a restaurant recommended by the Lonely Planet. We didn't have a reservation, but we showed up right at opening time (7pm) so they were able to squeeze us in. By the time we ordered, the place was totally packed so we were very lucky. The food was fantastic! I had oysters, steak, and some chocolate cake; mom had local terrine, duck and an apple crumble; and Anthony had quiche, sting ray, and the local cheese platter. We all shared a bottle of Chardonnay. The restaurant was called "L'Homme de Bois" and was in a really pretty old building on one of the side streets off the main square. We loved it!

After dinner we walked around town a bit more and now we're back at the hotel and I'm enjoying a nice brown ale from Brasserie Hotteterre before bed.

Canola fields on our drive

Church in Envermeu

Church in Envermeu

Pebble beach near Dieppe

Pebble beach near Dieppe

Anthony pointing at WWII German pillboxes, some of which used to be on the cliff but have since fallen down to the beach

Mom checking out the pillbox

Cows and coastline

We found a sandy beach although it was still raining and windy. You can see kite-surfers in the background.

Anthony demonstrating the width of one of the roads we drove on; this one was actually pretty wide

View from hotel room in Honfleur

Wooden clock tower, separated from the church to minimize damage from lightning

Typical street in Honfleur

Inside the wood church

Anthony rejoining us after we sent him back to the hotel for the second time to drop off various purchases

The back of the church

The port lined with pretty houses

The port lined with pretty houses

Family picture!

Champlain sailed for Canada from Honfleur

Dinner spot

Random house with small door

Back at the port

Our hotel from the outside

My beer for the evening

This morning we had breakfast at the hotel (sleeping in a bit to avoid the bus load of American tourists staying there too), and then checked out. Before leaving town we picked up some food at the farmer's market in the central square. We got an amazing loaf of bread and some ash-ripened goat cheese along with some produce.

Then we made the short drive to Courseulles-sur-mer, where Juno Beach is located. Responsibility for taking this beach was given to the Canadians during the D-Day invasion of Normandy in WWII. We visited the museum there and also went on an hour long tour of the area. Unlike Vimy, this museum is not run by the government. Instead it is a non-profit venture founded by a veteran of the war. The place was still staffed by Canadian students though and our tour guide was a film major from Saskatchewan. The tour was pretty good and the museum was very thorough.

Between visiting the museum and going on the tour we had a picnic lunch on the beach. It was a beautiful sunny day today and the beach is huge and sandy. It was hard to imagine what it would have been like during the war.

After finishing up at Juno we drove on to Pontorson, a small town near Mont Saint-Michel (which we plan to visit tomorrow). I chose to stay a bit away from the Mont in order to avoid the massive piles of touristy stuff that has accumulated around it (over three million people visit Mont Saint-Michel each year).

Our hotel in Pontorson is just a Best Western, but the building was once the home of the Earl of Montgomery, built in the early 16th century. It still has the beautiful original staircase and lots of old furniture and fixtures. Like our hotel in Amiens, Anthony and I theorize that this hotel is really a ghost hotel.

After getting settled at the hotel we went for a walk around Pontorson and then went for dinner at a small crêperie. It is run by a husband (chef) and wife (waitress) and the food was amazing. Galettes, or buckwheat crêpes, are a regional speciality in Brittany which is why we chose this restaurant. To drink we shared another regional speciality, a bottle of cider from Normandy (we are pretty much on the border between the regions here). I had a ham, cheese, asparagus and leek galette; mom had lettuce, bacon and goat cheese; and Anthony had one with four different types of meat. For dessert we had sweet crêpes made with regular flour. I had one with chocolate, coconut and whipped cream; mom had chocolate, banana and whipped cream; and Anthony had a huge one with mascarpone, marzipan, pear, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.

The sun was starting to go down as we left the restaurant so we decided to make the short drive to Mont Saint-Michel to have a bit of a walk and see it in the sunset. Mont Saint-Michel is pretty amazing. It's a rocky tidal island located about a kilometre off the coast and which has been the site of an abbey and monastery for over a thousand years. During the Hundred Years' War, despite taking all the surrounding land, the English were unable to take the Mont due to the strong walls and the difficult location. The tides surrounding the island are huge and fast and soldiers would get stuck in the mud when trying to cross at low tide only to be drowned when the high tide came sweeping in. Unfortunately, continued interest in the site and the area in the 19th and early 20th century led to the bay silting up and the island has become more of a peninsula. In 2009, the government of France started a large project to restore the region to its original state and the plans look to be progressing well. I'd love to come back in twenty or thirty years and see the bay restored to its former glory.

We parked the car and enjoyed a nice long walk along the causeway leading to the island. The wind was a bit chilly, but the sunset was pretty and it was good to walk off all the food from supper. When the sun went down we headed back and now we're relaxing at the hotel. I had some more of my Westvleteren tonight, which I chilled along with Anthony's beers on the window sill of our room.

Making lunch on the beach

Time for a walk

People headed out with boats

The beach was huge, it went on for miles

Old German observation bunker

View from the roof of the museum over the beach

Wisteria outside our hotel

Mom and her galette with a mug of cider

Walking towards Mont Saint-Michel

Me taking photos

Beauty shot

Nice black and white shot taken as we were leaving

Drinks chilling on our window sill

Hotel hallway

Hotel stairs

Hotel courtyard from our window

Breakfast this morning was bright and early in the magnificent dining rooms of our hotel (fancy historical building had fancy historical dining rooms). Then we quickly packed up and headed out to brave the crowds to see Mont Saint-Michel. We took the shuttle to the Mont this morning since we had already done the walk last night.

Once on the island we headed straight for the abbey on the top. This involved many stairs and steep pathways through very cool narrow streets. Of course the streets were lined with terrible touristy shops and restaurants, but the buildings themselves were all very neat. At the top, we decided to wait thirty minutes for a free English tour of the abbey. There was a great big terrace with amazing views of the whole area so we spent the time taking pictures and enjoying the scenery. It was really windy though so we were glad when the tour finally started.

Our guide was hilarious. He was French but had just recently come back from living in England for almost twenty years where he said he had managed to develop a proper sense of humour. The abbey was staggering. It was big, but not huge...the impressive part was the difficulty of construction. The island comes to a peak much smaller than the abbey that is perched there. They had to build up a set of crypts around the peak in order to provide a platform on which to put the final building.

After finishing up at the abbey we had a snack and then explored the rest of Mont Saint-Michel. The tide was out and some people were doing guided walks across the tidal flats. It would be cool to see the tide come in, but that didn't happen until 6:30pm tonight and we didn't have time to stick around.

Back in Pontorson we got some groceries and ate a late lunch before continuing on to our next stop, Dinan, forty kilometres to the west. I definitely appreciated the easy driving today.

Our hotel room in Dinan is huge and very modern, but it's a little bit far from the core of the city (about twenty minutes walk). So we had a nice rest there after arriving before heading out to explore the town. Dinan is a very well preserved medieval walled city with cool "half-timbered" houses, three kilometres of original ramparts and many buildings dating from the 13th century. That is to say it's beautiful. We walked all over, looking in shops, exploring the basilica and the walls and parks. To recuperate from all the walking we found a cafe to have a drink in before supper. This worked for a while but out of nowhere a giant herd of American tourists appeared and all came into our cafe at once. The place was overwhelmed and we barely escaped with our lives. Fortunately restaurants were beginning to open for dinner and we headed over to a highly recommended crêperie for some more galettes. This time I had one with scallops (another regional speciality), leeks and creme fraiche; while mom had a duck and escargot galette; and Anthony had salmon. Again we shared a bottle of cider to drink and this one was the best we had on the trip. For dessert I had a chocolate, coconut crêpe again, while mom had chocolate, cherry with ice cream and Anthony had salted caramel. Another great meal!

We're back at the hotel now relaxing with more window sill-chilled beverages after a very busy day.

Approaching Mont Saint-Michel in the daytime

Gates

Walking up a random street inside the town at the base of the Mont

Approaching the abbey (but still many stairs away)

More stairs!

Looking back out over the bay

View of the work they're doing to restore the bay to its original state.

At the top

View towards the ocean, this area all fills in with water at high tide

Mom and Anthony in the wind

Mom and I in the wind

A group walking out over the flats to the island

Close-up of the same group

Inside the abbey

Gardens beside the abbey

Arches

Part of the abbey

Behind the abbey

The abbey from town

Anthony exploring a very narrow passage

One last look as we head out

Half-timbered houses in Dinan

Half-timbered houses in Dinan

View from the walls of Dinan

View from the walls of Dinan

Basilica in Dinan

Stained glass

Inside the basilica

Inside the basilica

Walls and chateau of Dinan

Best cider of the trip, with custom glasses!

Beverages chilling on our window sill

Today after a lovely breakfast at the hotel we checked out and drove to the town of Carnac on the southern coast of Brittany. The area around Carnac contains one of the largest collections of Neolithic standing stones in the world. Over 3000 stones of all sizes and dating from between 4500BC and 3300BC are arranged in straight lines in fields surrounding the town.

Carnac is also known for it's nice beaches and when we arrived we went straight to one of them for a picnic lunch. It still isn't warm enough for swimming but we were able to enjoy the sun and we finished up just before the rain started again. Then we drove back out of town to see the stones and we had a nice walk through the sites. The quantity and age of the stones was unreal. We also stopped at a dolmen (single chamber megalithic tomb) which was really cool too (like Newgrange in Ireland but smaller).

After finishing up seeing the stones we drove back into town and checked into our hotel. The place was quite nice and the owner was very friendly and tolerant of my poor French.

It was still early, so we decided to drive out to the end of the nearby Quiberon Peninsula. The peninsula is a very narrow land mass that stretches more than twenty kilometres out into the ocean. At the end are some walking trails that take you right to the tip where you can see the calm waters of the sheltered bay to your left and the rougher Atlantic Ocean waters to your right. It was a beautiful, rugged area and a great place for a long walk before dinner.

Back in Carnac we hit up another crêperie for one last taste of Brittany goodness before heading to Paris tomorrow.

Anthony's customary posture while driving through France

Heading down to the beach at Carnac

The beach at Carnac

The beach at Carnac

Standing stones outside Carnac

Over the years locals have taken some of the stones to use for fences and other things

Shutters and flowers

Standing stones

Standing stones

Flowers in front of stones

Walking

Standing stones

Standing stones

Standing stones

A wee dolmen

Cool stone wall on the way to the dolmen we visited

The dolmen

Capstone inside the dolmen

Hallway inside the dolmen

Dolmen entrance

Starting our walk on the Quiberon peninsula

On the Quiberon peninsula

On the Quiberon peninsula

On the Quiberon peninsula

On the Quiberon peninsula

On the Quiberon peninsula

On the Quiberon peninsula

On the Quiberon peninsula

On the Quiberon peninsula

On the Quiberon peninsula

Anthony trying to keep dry as he ponders whether to try to make the leap to the next rock

Still pondering...

He makes it!

Now to get back...

Quickly now...

Quickly now...

Quickly now...

Quickly now...

Made it! Only his feet are totally soaked.

On the Quiberon peninsula

Lancelot beer with dinner, umm...the beer of knights?

Gorgeous sunset on the walk back to the hotel after dinner

This morning we got up very early, had a quick breakfast at the hotel, and then filled up on gas and groceries before beginning the long drive to Paris. We saw lots of nice scenery on the way and had a great picnic lunch at a truck stop but it was still a long drive (about six hours). Plus, the end of the drive was the hardest as we had to work our way to the airport on the other side of Paris in order to drop off the car. The motorways around the city were as big and crazy as you'd imagine, but the GPS saw us through.

With the car returned we caught the train into the city and then rode the subway to the flat we have rented for the week. I called the owner when we arrived and she showed up a few minutes later to let us in and give us the keys. She also gave us a thorough tour of the flat and some recommendations on places to eat and get groceries in the area.

The flat is huge and beautiful. It has two full bedrooms with a big living and dining room and a nice kitchen. It also has laundry and a really nice view of the area. It's hard to believe that it's so cheap (not much more expensive than paying for hostel dorm beds for each of us). We're right at the 'Les Gobelins' metro station which is also quite close to the base of Rue Mouffetard. Rue Mouffetard is at the edge of the Latin Quarter and is known for its fantastic daily food markets. We intend to buy a lot of our groceries there.

After unpacking a little we went out and grabbed some shawarma for dinner and explored Rue Mouffetard a bit (most stuff was closed for the night already). We also picked up some groceries and walked around the outside of the Pantheon. Now we're just relaxing in the flat while doing laundry and enjoying the fact that we'll be staying in one place for the next week.

Today was our first full day in Paris! We started out with a visit to the market on Rue Mouffetard which is at its peak on Sundays. There were many fantastic produce stands, cheese shops, chocolate shops, wine shops, bakeries, butchers and fish mongers. We picked up a couple of roasted chickens along with veggies, fruits, cheese, and wine and then brought it all back to the flat to eat some of it before heading out to explore the city. We carved up the chickens and placed all the meat in tupperware in the fridge so that we can use it for sandwiches and other things throughout the week.

The first stop today was the Catacombs of Paris, however the line was enormous so we went for a walk in nearby Montparnasse Cemetery instead. Cemeteries in Paris are amazing places with huge tombs and lots of nice trees and paths. We visited the grave of Henri Poincaré, a famous French mathematician. Then we walked to the nearest metro stop and rode to the Arc de Triomphe. The subway system in Paris is phenomenal. It's inexpensive, there is always a stop within easy walking distance of anywhere you might want to go and the trains run very frequently.

At the Arc de Triomphe we walked all around it and then climbed the stairs to the top to see some nice views of Paris. Then we proceeded to walk along the Champs Élysées to check out some shops. I bought a really nice long sleeve linen shirt at Celio (great French men's clothing store), and we bought some sandwiches for lunch from Marks and Spencer! I love M&S!

Next we checked out Place de la Concorde, a gigantic public square with fountains and an Egyptian Obelisk, and then we went to L'église de la Madeleine, a huge church with massive columns. To finish up the day we decided to squeeze in Notre Dame. When we arrived mass was happening so instead of going inside we climbed the stairs to the top to see the city from a different angle and to look at all the gargoyles. While we were up there the bells started ringing and it was really cool, but also a bit ear-shattering.

Back at the flat we made supper using chicken, asparagus and quinoa and for dessert we had a raspberry tart. Tomorrow we get up very early to go see Monet's garden so we're taking it easy tonight.

Looking out our window this morning

Living room

Kitchen

Bedroom number one

Bedroom number two

Stairs (we were on the fourth floor)

Walking to Rue Mouffetard

Walking to Rue Mouffetard

Seafood place on Rue Mouffetard

Cheese shop on Rue Mouffetard

Wine shop on Rue Mouffetard

Mom with the cheese and wine shop

Yummy roast chickens dripping on potatoes

Poincaré family grave

Montparnasse Cemetery

Mom at the Arc de Triomphe

Anthony and I at the Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe stairs

View from the top of the Arc de Triomphe

View from the top of the Arc de Triomphe looking along Champs Élysées

Sacré Cœur in the distance

Taking a rest on Champs Élysées

Champs Élysées

Champs Élysées looking towards the Arc de Triomphe

Obelisk

Mom and Anthony at Place de la Concorde

L'église de la Madeleine

Looking towards Place de la Concorde

Inside L'église de la Madeleine

Gargoyles on top of Notre Dame

Gargoyles on top of Notre Dame

Gargoyles on top of Notre Dame

Mom petting a gargoyle

Cool pelican gargoyle

Hungry gargoyle

View of the city from Notre Dame

View of the city from Notre Dame

Notre Dame

Sunset at our flat

This morning we got up very early, made and packed a lunch, and then headed to the train station to go to Monet's Garden. Claude Monet made his home in the town of Giverny and created huge, magnificent gardens all around it to provide subject matter for his painting. Some of his most famous works are actually of various parts of the gardens.

The town of Vernon is an easy, one hour train ride from Paris and a short shuttle trip from there drops you in Giverny. Then it's a brief walk to Monet's house through a very lovely little village. It was a beautiful day today so it was a bit crowded. Thus we decided after entering the gardens to immediately head for the back area as far from the entrance as possible. We found a nice bench in the sun overlooking part of the water gardens and had a little snack while enjoying the scenery and each other's company.

The gardens are truly beautiful, and unlike the parks and gardens in Paris, Monet's gardens are very wild and haphazard. Everywhere you look there are dozens of varieties of flowers and plants all in the same spot. It's crowded and chaotic and it works really well. After our snack we spent a long time wandering around and taking pictures. We also walked through Monet's house a bit where there was an enormous collection of Japanese woodblock prints that I absolutely loved.

We timed our exit from the garden poorly and ended up having to wait an hour for the next shuttle back to Vernon. So we found a cafe in Giverny and had a quiet drink. Even the town outside of the garden is really peaceful so we didn't mind whiling away the time there.

Back in Paris we returned to Notre Dame and spent some time exploring the inside since we were unable to do so yesterday. It was crazy busy but it's also an amazing place.

For supper we made a huge salad from leftover quinoa and chicken and lots of fresh vegetables. We served this with some excellent brie and a multigrain loaf. It's wonderful having this flat and being able to cook cheap, healthy meals. I find if I eat out too many times in a row I begin to feel ill which affects my enjoyment of whatever I'm doing. Here we have a great place to relax and I feel fantastic.

Chickens in the garden

View from our bench

Bamboo

Flowers

Flowers

Mom

Gardens

Flowers

Trees

Flowers

Noisy frog

Noisy frog making noise

Flowers

Flowers

Bamboo

Flowers

Flowers

Big fish

Flowers

Sun

Flowers

Flowers

Flowers

Flowers

Flowers

Flowers

Flowers

Flowers

Cool clock in Giverny

Back to Notre Dame

In Notre Dame

In Notre Dame

In Notre Dame

In Notre Dame

Cool sign honouring the dead of the British Empire from WWI, including those from Canada and from Newfoundland (as WWI was before Newfoundland joined the confederation)

In Notre Dame

Dinner

Our stereo, thanks Aunt Linda for the egg!

This morning I got up earlier than everyone else and headed out to the markets on my own to restock our fridge a bit. It was nice getting away from everyone else for a moment. It's been great travelling with my family, but I also like travelling on my own so I enjoyed the small bout of solitude.

After breakfast we headed to the Catacombs again. We arrived before opening this time so while there was still a line, it was much shorter. The Catacombs of Paris is a gigantic underground ossuary built in a small, repurposed section of the extensive quarries underneath the city. The quarry network is vast and old and interesting even without the Catacombs. However in the late 18th century Paris struggled with overflowing cemeteries to the point that it became a public health issue. To solve the problem, they renovated and reinforced a section of old quarry and over several years moved all the remains of all of Paris's dead to the new sepulchre. A few years later they renovated further, and stacked the bones neatly and arranged them around tomb stones and other decorations from the original cemeteries. The remains of over six million people are down there.

The tour through the Catacombs is a long self-guided walk. The quarries snake everywhere under the city and you come out far from where you started. The stacks of bones are endless and unbelievable. It was amazing to see and very humbling.

We returned to the flat for lunch and then headed up to Montmartre to see Sacré Cœur. The views are great and mom really enjoyed the inside of the church too. From Sacré Cœur we walked to "A L'Etoile d'Or" which is a fantastic chocolate and candy shop that I visited last time I was in Paris. It's run by a lady named Denise Acabo and she is the most passionate person I've ever met when it comes to sweets. We spent some of time browsing and mom and I both bought a bunch of stuff. Although I enjoyed visiting again, I find that my tastes in chocolate have changed and so there wasn't as much for me there as before. I've grown to enjoy much darker chocolate (85% or 90% cocoa) and all the bars there topped out at 70% or less. I plan on visiting another special chocolate shop tomorrow though and I suspect I'll be able to indulge my bitter-tooth there to a much greater extent.

Next we got on the subway and headed to the Eiffel Tower. Of course the lines to go up were ridiculously long so mom and I skipped it. Anthony chose instead to climb the stairs where there was no line at all. So we parted ways and Mom and I enjoyed a nice walk around the Champ de Mars, the park in front of the tower.

Back at the flat I made everyone omelettes for dinner featuring spinach, onions, prosciutto, asparagus, red pepper and Gruyère cheese. Anthony and I also enjoyed some nice beers that we picked up from a small speciality store near the chocolate shop.

Tomorrow mom and Anthony are going to Versailles which means they have to get up painfully early to get there in time to beat the lines. Since I've been to Versailles before I'm choosing to remain in Paris and have a quiet day to myself.

Entering the Catacombs

Cool marker from when the Catacombs were started

Entrance to the Ossuary

Bones

Bones

Bones

Bones

Bones

Bones

Bones

Sacré Cœur

Sacré Cœur

View from Sacré Cœur

Sacré Cœur

Mom and Anthony at Sacré Cœur

That big tower thing

View from that big tower thing

View from that big tower thing

Mom and I with that big tower thing (Anthony is somewhere on it, climbing the stairs)

While mom and Anthony got up early and made their way to Versailles, I slept in and had a leisurely morning. I went out to Rue Mouffetard to get some extra stuff for breakfast back at the flat and then planned my day. I decided eschew the subway and do a lot of walking instead. Paris is a big place but everything I wanted to do today was in a reasonably tight area (no more than fifteen kilometres of walking total by my rough estimates). I love walking in general and in Paris in specific as it is such a beautiful place.

First I headed back up Rue Mouffetard and then on to the Pantheon to get some photos and also to look inside the nearby church, Saint-Étienne-du-Mont. The church was very different from most of the others we've seen so far, with huge spriral staircases over the front. I chose not to pay to go into the Pantheon as I've done it before and it's really a more impressive building from the outside.

Next I crossed the Seine and headed up to the area around Les Halles. Les Halles is a huge shopping area with fountains and gardens but it is currently undergoing massive renovations so I just walked around the nearby streets a bit before checking out the Church of St Eustace. The church is very tall and clearly visible from many points in Paris so I wanted to see it up close.

France is known for wine, but I prefer beer when drinking, especially interesting local beer. Anthony and I have been subsisting thus far in Paris on Belgian Trappists that we can find at the grocery store or the occasional wine store that also carries beer. Belgian Trappists are fine, but they are not local and we were hankering for something new. So I used the magic of the Internet to try to find a dedicated beer store in Paris. Turns out there are a few and in fact France has a burgeoning craft beer scene. So after finishing up at the church my next stop was "La Cave à Bulles" which is considered to be the best beer shop in Paris. I was quite excited. Unfortunately, I read the hours wrong online and it's closed in the afternoon on Wednesday! Undeterred, I continued on my day's journey planning to return in the evening with Anthony.

I walked on through Marais along lots of neat, narrow streets lined with endless clothing shops. I passed the Pompidou Centre as well (Paris's museum of modern art). It's a neat building and while admiring it I grabbed a bit of quiche from a bakery for a snack.

My other major destination for the day was "Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse" which is perhaps the only bean-to-bar chocolate maker in Paris. Chocolate is a tricky and complicated thing to make. Most "chocolate shops" just buy chocolate from large chocolate manufactures and then add their own flavours and twists to it. There's nothing wrong with that, but I prefer plain dark chocolate made from single varieties of cocoa beans. The range in flavours you can get just by changing the beans is simply amazing. The large manufacturers generally make blends and so you get a very consistent, but not particularly interesting, flavour. Again, there is a place in the world for both, but my tastes run to the pure, single-origin side of things. A bean-to-bar chocolate maker buys beans themselves from all over the world. Then they roast them and grind them into chocolate, a process that requires special equipment and lots of space. The end product is not cheap, but the price seems fair given the costs of production. The shop was amazing and had lots of windows into the factory area, similar to the Soma chocolate shop in Toronto. In comparison to "A L'Etoile d'Or" this shop was very sterile and modern and less friendly. I did not have a long chat with an eccentric woman about chocolate, but it was still obvious that the owners are very passionate about their craft. I bought three bars of chocolate: one 75% bar made of Trinitario beans from Venezuela; another 75% bar made from rare Chuao beans also from Venezuela; and finally a 100% bar made from Trinitario beans from Peru. All three will be excellent, but I'm particularly excited for the bar from Peru. My favourite chocolate is made from Venezuelan beans, but beans from Peru can produce surprisingly fruity chocolate and I expect this 100% bar to be very interesting indeed.

Heading back to the flat, I passed Place de la Bastille and then I stopped on the island to get ice cream from Berthillon, reputed to be the best in Paris. It was definitely the best I've had this trip! I ate it on a bridge overlooking the backside of Notre Dame. Glorious!

Back on Rue Mouffetard I picked up an amazing looking full-sized quiche to reheat for dinner tonight. Then I relaxed at the flat for a while thinking mom and Anthony might soon return from Versailles. I got tired of waiting though so I went back out and walked to Jardin du Luxembourg which is the largest public park in Paris. It was one of my favourite spots from my last trip and I very much enjoyed wandering about in it again today.

Later, back at the flat, mom and Anthony returned having had a great day at Versailles. They would have been back sooner but just as they were finishing up the fountains started coming on in the gardens! The fountains rarely run (as they still use the original waterworks) so they were extremely lucky to see them. We caught up on each other's day over supper (the quiche was as amazing as it looked) and then we headed back to the beer store.

La Cave á Bulles is spectacular. I can't say enough good things about it. They carry a very large selection of beer from all over the world, but the focus is on beer from France. I spent over half an hour chatting with the owner (in English) about beer and we bought eleven bottles (mostly from France). It's great to see that a beer scene is emerging here. Wine is fine, but beer can be just as complex and good for pairing with food. The owner is very much aware that he is fighting an uphill battle, but given the variety available from the French craft brewers the battle is clearly going well. My only regret is that I didn't think to look for a place like this at the beginning of our stay in Paris!

After the beer store we tried to get ice cream at Berthillon but it was closed by the time we got there. Instead we got some random gelato and walked home where we are now relaxing with delicious beers.

The Pantheon

Saint-Étienne-du-Mont

Saint-Étienne-du-Mont

Organ at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont

Stairways at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont

Space invaders graffiti near the chocolate shop

Place de la Bastille

Place de la Bastille

Chocolate haul (A L'Etoile d'Or on bottom, Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse on top)

Fountain at Jardin du Luxembourg

Jardin du Luxembourg

Jardin du Luxembourg

Jardin du Luxembourg

Jardin du Luxembourg (keep off the grass!)

Jardin du Luxembourg

Jardin du Luxembourg

Jardin du Luxembourg

Jardin du Luxembourg

Mom at the gates to Versailles

Gates to Versailles

Front of Versailles

Cathedral in Versailles

Cool ceiling in Versailles

Versailles

Hall of Mirrors

Bedroom

Mom at Versailles

Gardens at Versailles

Gardens at Versailles

Versailles

Marie Antoinette's fantasy village

Marie Antoinette's fantasy village

Mom in the gardnes

Endless trees

Gardens

Fountains!!

Fountains!!

Fountains!!

Fountains!!

Fountains!!

Chateau de Versailles

Beer haul!

Today is mom's birthday! Happy birthday mom!

We got up in good time this morning in order to get to the Louvre before the worst of the crowds. It rained most of the day so it was a perfect time for one of the world's largest museums. We went in via the underground entrance in order to avoid standing around in the rain outside in front of the glass pyramid. It's funny that there are multiple entrances but most people don't seem to know about the others.

We spent most of the day looking at a lot of the ancient history sections of the museum (Egypt, Rome, Greece) and then headed into the painting and sculpture sections later in the afternoon. Just like my last trip we were quickly overwhelmed by the size of the collection and the crowds at the more popular pieces. It's all good stuff, but I feel like the museum is far better for someone who actually lives in Paris. You could go on a quieter day in the winter and just focus on a small section. Then you could leave without being exhausted.

After we were done at the Louvre we went back to the flat to rest a bit and then get dressed for dinner. While mom and Anthony were at Versailles earlier this week I made reservations for dinner at a nice restaurant to celebrate mom's birthday. The place is called Braisenville and it's located up in Montmartre. The owner of our flat highly recommended we eat there (she was gushing about it). The restaurant adheres to the style of dégustation which Wikipedia defines as:

Dégustation is a culinary term meaning a careful, appreciative tasting of various foods and focusing on the gustatory system, the senses, high culinary art and good company. Dégustation is more likely to involve sampling small portions of all of a chef's signature dishes in one sitting.

Without a doubt it was one of the best meals I've ever had. Mom and Anthony enjoyed it thoroughly too. The food was just so amazing and surprising (in a good way). Trip Advisor rates the restaurant as number 823 of 9695 restaurants in Paris. So it's in the top ten percent but certainly not at the top. But I don't know how a place could improve on this at least in terms of food. The decor was funky and more casual so I guess maybe it could be fancier? But that wouldn't make the food taste better which is all I care about. And the service was exemplary.

Anthony and I each ordered four plates while mom ordered three and we all shared. As part of the "dégustation" experience, the server arranged the plates into courses that would produce the best possible combinations of flavours. To go with the food we had a bottle of Chardonnay from the Côtes du Jura region of France. That area is near Switzerland and the cool climate apparently produces very distinctive and unique wines. The Chardonnay was fantastic and I think as a result mom now has a favourite region for French wines. She'll have to come back and try to visit it in the future!

For our first course mom ordered the cheese platter, Anthony had a platter of house-smoked white ham with shaved truffles, and I had a platter of three year old prosciutto. Taken together it was almost like a nice charcuterie course. Anyway, the cheese was delightful (especially the brie) and my prosciutto was as good as you'd expect. The real surprise to me was Anthony's ham. It looked a lot like regular shaved ham which is hardly anything special. But the taste and mouthfeel was just out of this world. I'm sure the shaved truffle added much to the flavour but it was more than that. It was like the Platonic ideal version of ham.

For our second course mom had an emulsion, which is like a cross between mousse and soup. It was very light and frothy and served warm. Unfortunately I cannot remember all the ingredients but it had clams and mushrooms and green vegetables in it. We were a little surprised by the look of it when it came since we were not quite sure what an emulsion was. However it proved to be amazing and was one of our favourite dishes of the night. The flavours were so deep and incredible and indescribable. Mom practically fell over when she tried it for the first time. Anthony's second course was also superlative. He had ordered trout with an avocado and soy sauce expecting some sort of standard fish course. However it was served sashimi style (ie. raw) and it was fantastic. The sauce was perfect for the fish and I don't think I've ever tried higher quality sashimi. It just melted in a burst of flavour in your mouth. My second course included two of my orders at the same time as the server suggested that they went really well together. One was a mix of white asparagus and artichokes with a vinaigrette and garnished with flowers and the other was ceviche (raw fish marinated in citrus and spices) with sweet potato mash, sweet potato chips and more flowers. The dishes did go very well together I must say. The veggies were served cold and were bright and amazing. The lemon in the ceviche was even brighter and the fish was somehow even meltier than Anthony's trout. Again, words fail me trying to describe how good it all was. Looking around the table at the full course with all our plates my mind boggled and was overwhelmed by the endless taste sensations I had experienced.

For our final course mom had the slow braised steak with pesto sauce, scallions and capers. It was served rare, but cooked very slowly, so the meat just melted away when you ate it. It was one of the best steaks I've ever tasted. Anthony had two plates for his final course, one was the same excellent emulsion that mom had earlier, and the other was a pork filet mignon. Anthony's description of the filet was that it made him believe in pork again as an option in a fine dining experience. Normally a pork chop or filet is good, but not super interesting. This one was just cooked so perfectly (again, very slowly like the steak) that it made up for the generic nature of the meat. It was served with wispy potatoes and a sweet fruity sauce (probably apple but we can't remember). My final course was duck breast with a sweet fig relish. It was perfectly cooked with crispy skin and the relish worked really well. I love duck and this was an excellent rendition of it, but this was the only plate of the meal where I felt like I could maybe make it myself. Not that I'd send it back, but for me what made everything else so amazing was that I couldn't even begin to imagine how it was made. So I guess the duck was just not surprising like the other things. It was totally amazing though.

For dessert mom had a chocolate mousse with house-made marshmallows, coconut ice cream, wafers and a thin slice of dark chocolate. It was layered such that you'd get different combinations of the ingredients with each bite and so an otherwise simple dessert instead became quite complex, changing with each taste. It was great! Anthony had something called "Sur le green" which was a collection of fruits blended into a ball of super light ice cream paired with a ball of meringue that had a yellow cream sauce inside, making it look like an egg. The whole dessert was very light and airy and was an excellent finish to the meal for Anthony. My dessert was key lime pie made with real key limes imported from Florida. It was basically perfect in every way and paired with some espresso it was awesome.

Overall the meal was amazing and I'm so happy to have picked a good restaurant for mom's birthday. All of the dishes were small but perfectly prepared and each left you feeling exactly satisfied. I found that as good as each thing was, I didn't feel the need for more after finishing it. It's like the restaurant was managing my whole digestive system for me and all I had to do was move the food from the plate to my mouth. I've never had an eating experience like that before and I'll remember it for a very long time.

We're back at the flat now relaxing and already reminiscing about the meal. Anthony and I are also enjoying a few very nice French craft beers.

Crystal at the Louvre

A small part of the Louvre

Mom looking around

Venus de Milo

Huge hall in the Louvre

Mona Lisa

Pre-dinner beer. This one was a bit gimmicky, coming in at just 2.5% alcohol but over 180 IBU (international bitterness units, where 100 is generally considered the top end of the scale). I love bitter stuff so this was fun to try!

Our wine at dinner

My second course, ceviche on the left and veggies on the right. This was my favourite course.

My duck breast, also totally amazing

After a leisurely morning today we packed a lunch and then headed off to the Rodin museum and gardens. The museum and gardens were originally Rodin's home and he donated the grounds and all of his works to the state on the condition that they be preserved as a museum. We had a nice walk through the museum itself, but the real highlight is the gardens. They're like a nice little oasis in the middle of Paris filled with large bronze versions of his major works. We had our picnic lunch and spent a long time walking around.

After that we headed over to the Musée d'Orsay which holds a fabulous collection of French art in a converted former railway station. The building is really pretty and the impressionist collection is huge. I love that place and I had a great time revisiting all the works I saw last time I was here. Mom liked it too, but Anthony and her were both pretty tired by the time we finished. In fact Anthony left early to do some shopping for gifts.

On the way back to the flat mom and I stopped on Rue Mouffetard one last time. Mom wanted to pick up a few things to bring home like wine and chocolate. We also got some Berthillon ice cream from a stand in order to make up for missing it the other night.

Back at the flat we rested a bit and then Anthony returned and we made stir-fry for dinner. For dessert we had a delicious apple tart. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and preparing to leave tomorrow. Our flight is at 8:00am so we need to get up rather early. Anthony is out right now visiting the Eiffel Tower to see it all lit up at night, but mom and I chose to stay in and try to get some sleep.

Mom in the Rodin gardens

Little version of the Thinker in the museum

Statue in the museum

Statue in the museum

Mahler bust (and others)

Hands

Full size Thinker in the gardens

Statue in the gardens

Statue in the gardens

Statue in the gardens

Gates of Hell

Detail from the Gates of Hell

Thinker and Tower

Mom by some random big doors

Musée d'Orsay

Random metro station, I love the subway in Paris!

This was a collaboration beer between two French craft breweries. Awesome stuff!

Sparkling Eiffel Tower

We're in Iceland!

We got up around 4am this morning, had a bit of breakfast and then went out and caught a taxi to the airport. Another nice thing about our flat is that it is right in front of a taxi stand. So there are always taxis available, even at 5am. At the airport we had no problems although our flight was delayed by about twenty-five minutes.

At Keflavik we picked up some Icelandic krona (one Canadian dollar is currently worth about 125 krona) and then grabbed a bit of food for lunch. The sandwiches from the shop were surprisingly good and we added some delicious skyr to complete the meal (Icelandic yogurt). Then we picked up the car, a 5-speed diesel VW Golf. This was exactly the car I had hoped to get for France so I was happy to at least get to drive one in Iceland.

Before we could head out though I first had to read the mildly terrifying booklet listing the dangers of driving in Iceland. Chief among them included the car being blown off the road by extremely high winds, ash storms and rollovers due to the driver being distracted by the scenery. I found the section on ash storms particularly hilarious. There was a picture of a road and at the end was a solid wall of opaque, dark grey ash. Then it proceeded to give tips on how to drive through such a thing. For example, ash is slippery like ice, turn on your lights and drive slowly. Personally, if I saw anything like what was in the photo, I'd turn around and drive the other way. There were also warnings to stay off any back roads as insurance would not cover the almost certain damage that would occur to the car on those roads.

Suitably informed, we headed out of the airport in the direction of the Golden Circle. This is a 300km loop from Reykjavík that is extremely scenic and hits three major sights: Þingvellir National Park, Gullfoss Waterfall and the Geysir and Strokkur geysers. Iceland is not very big, so even though the airport is on the south-western tip of the island, within an hour and a half we were entering Þingvellir National Park. The driving was super easy, many of the signs were in English and the roads were all well maintained.

Þingvellir National Park is the site of a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet (although they are pulling away from each other by 2.5cm per year). It was also the site of the first Icelandic parliament established in the year 930 and remaining there until 1798. It's a pretty awesome spot. It very much feels like the meeting place of the two plates, with big ridges, cracks and gorges and crazy volcanic rock everywhere. We spent an hour or so wandering around the area. Although it's awesome that we get to see Iceland, we don't have very much time (we have to meet the owner of the flat we're renting at 6pm) so soon we left the park and continued our journey.

As we drove we made stops whenever we saw pretty things, but that meant we were stopping every ten minutes or so. Iceland is truly an amazing place. Eventually we arrived at the next major stop, a geothermally active valley called Haukadalur. Haukadalur is where the geyser named "Geysir" is located which is where we get the English word geyser from. Unfortunately over the years people have clogged it up with rocks and things so it does not erupt very often anymore. But right beside it is another large geyser called Strokkur. It goes off every five or six minutes all day long. It was an amazing thing to see! The whole area is insane, with pits of boiling water and mud everywhere and a strong smell of sulphur. The whole place steams and trembles and is awesome. When we arrived it was raining so before checking everything out we went into the cafe and got some lunch. It was nothing special but we did get some awesome paprika mayo sauce with our fries and I bought an Icelandic chocolate bar which had bits of black licorice in it.

The final major stop for us was just a few minutes further along the road. The Gullfoss Waterfall is a spectacular two stage waterfall where a river drops into a gorge. It was truly stunning and made us all wonder why anyone bothers to visit Niagara Falls. This place is so much better. It was raining and cold and the waterfall was throwing up tons of spray but we spent a long time wandering all over and enjoying the view.

After finishing at the waterfall we were out of time for the day. There are some other smaller (but still awesome) things to see on the southern branch of the Golden Circle but instead we just headed straight back the way we came in order to get to Reykjavík in time to secure our flat. This was disappointing but we still got to see so many awesome things today that we weren't too sad.

In Reykjavík we had no problems sorting out the flat. It is an amazing space with a great kitchen and even a view of the huge Lutheran church. We spent a bit of time relaxing and getting warm and dry before we headed out to explore the city. Our first stop was the church, called Hallgrímskirkja. It's a huge, interesting building that was started in 1945 and finished in 1986. We went up the tower to the top and took in some awesome views of the city. After that we headed to the downtown area to get a bit of supper and explore. A lot of the shops were open quite late and we had fun walking around after a pretty decent meal at a random Italian restaurant.

Back at the flat we chatted for a while but mom and Anthony soon got tired and went to sleep. I'm pretty energized though, I love new countries! I could keep going for quite a while I think. Also, it's still very bright out. It's almost midnight now and I'm writing using only natural light. Sunset was at 11:30pm tonight and sunrise will be at 3:20am tomorrow. The sun won't get far enough below the horizon in order for it to ever become fully dark. It's weird and very cool!

Sunrise flight from Paris

Driving in Iceland!

Iceland!

Trusty steed

Iceland!

Iceland!

Iceland!

Iceland!

At Þingvellir National Park

At Þingvellir National Park

At Þingvellir National Park

At Þingvellir National Park

At Þingvellir National Park

At Þingvellir National Park

At Þingvellir National Park

At Þingvellir National Park

At Þingvellir National Park

At Þingvellir National Park

At Þingvellir National Park

At Þingvellir National Park

At Þingvellir National Park

At Þingvellir National Park

At Þingvellir National Park

Iceland!

At the geysers

Pool of boiling water

Strokkur Geyser

Strokkur Geyser

Pool of boiling water

Geysir Geyser

Gullfoss Waterfall

Gullfoss Waterfall

Gullfoss Waterfall

Gullfoss Waterfall

Gullfoss Waterfall

Icelandic ponies

Really random food product (???) we saw while picking up a few groceries for breakfast tomorrow

Walking in Reykjavík

Approaching the church

Hallgrímskirkja Church

Church entrance

Massive imposing organ

View from top of church

View from top of church

View from top of church

Last of the beer from Paris

This morning we had breakfast in our lovely flat (eggs and fruit and more skyr) and then we left Reykjavík for the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa located just a few minutes from the airport making it a perfect place to end our trip.

The lagoon has many services but the biggest is a large pool fed by geothermal waters with average temperature between 37 and 39 degrees Celsius. The waters are rich in silica and sulphur and they reportedly have vague healing properties. All I know is that it was a beautiful day and it was great to relax for a couple hours in a beautiful place.

The water for the Blue Lagoon is actually a tertiary usage. First the superheated water is pumped out of the ground and used to run turbines in a nearby geothermal power plant. Then it is passed through a heat exchanger to provide heat for a municipal water heating system. Finally it is fed into the Blue Lagoon. It's pretty amazing how powerful geothermal energy is here.

We had lunch at the Blue Lagoon too, they have a fancy restaurant with a big buffet. There was tons of delicious fish and lamb and other things and we pretty much gorged ourselves before heading to the airport. Without knowing it I tried whale meat (not sure what kind of whale). It looked like beef, but was much blander. It wasn't bad or anything, but it wasn't special. I can't imagine going out of my way to eat it. The endless piles of salmon on the other hand...delicious!

Now we're somewhere above the Atlantic on our way to Toronto. It's been a fantastic trip and I think my mom had a really good time even though we definitely tired her out. Staying in apartments and cooking for ourselves was a total revelation. Even though it was more work to do so, I think we all preferred apartment living to staying in hotels and eating out for every meal. And that's not even taking into account the monetary savings. Plus an apartment was a great place for kicking back with drinks at the end of the day (beer and wine).

There were a few recurring jokes/themes of the trip that didn't really come up in my journal that I'd like to immortalize here. First, mom really enjoyed all the crazy doors everywhere. There were a lot of big and fancy doors which we don't have anywhere in North America. Mom was constantly pointing them out. So we started watching for them for her and took lots of pictures of her with doors. The other two things that recurred were from Anthony. First, he did his conference in Australia and had to bring a poster in a giant poster tube for his presentation. Rather than mail the poster home from Australia he carried it with him everywhere. He was regularly cursing it on our travels and it amused both mom and I greatly. The other thing Anthony did was fail to buy new shoes before leaving Canada. His old shoes fell apart within a couple days in Australia (flapping soles and a giant hole straight through the middle of one of them). He also had running shoes and dress shoes, but for some reason he refused to wear the running shoes and so was always wearing dress shoes. It was pretty funny watching him hike over stuff in Iceland in dress shoes. He kept dragging us into shoe stores because he wanted to find stylish European walking shoes to replace his broken ones (he did not succeed). Also, he refused to throw out the destroyed pair of shoes. They came back to Canada and as far as I know he still has them. I'm sure I did strange things too, but since I'm writing this I choose not to remember any of them.

I think this trip was great for our family. We all have our own separate lives now. Although we're still very close this was a great oppourtunity to renew our relationships with each other and learn more about each other as adults. We would definitely be willing to travel together again which is a really big deal. It's hard to travel with other people, even (or perhaps especially) those closest to you, so I feel good knowing that we can do it well. I am eternally grateful for my mom and brother and I'm thrilled to be able to add this trip to the gigantic pile of wonderful memories I have of them. Life hasn't always been what we wanted, but what we got isn't so bad either.

Breakfast skyr

The steam in the distance is the Blue Lagoon

Random hole in the ground we found on the way to the Blue Lagoon

Outside the Blue Lagoon

The Blue Lagoon