Wrapping up the trip...

Already...



We've been out of the loop for a while - sorry about that... Tim and I went traveling around in the Might Strawberry (the bright red Toyota Aiygo we rented) for about four days, and we didn't have much access to wifi. We got back on Monday night, and have been busy, busy, busy, preparing for Thanksgiving.

We decided to call this either the experimental Thanksgiving, or the Thanksgiving of handicaps. We had to make many ingredient substitutions and unit conversions. Alex's family joined us for the meal, so the pressure was on to represent America well. The last time I visited Meg and Alex, I went with them to Barcelona, where Alex's family was celebrating Saint Jean day. They really welcomed me in, and showed me what the celebration was all about. It felt really nice to return the favor, and be part of showing them what Thanksgiving is to Americans.

In the end, we were very happy with how the meal turned out. We got a monster turkey. The butcher kept trying to talk Meg out of getting it, saying "It's just too big!" But we prevailed, and managed to even fit the turkey into the oven. It turned out really well - it was one of the best turkeys I've ever been involved in roasting.

Tonight is our last night. We spent the day picking up all the things that we just can't live without from Aix (aside from Meg and Alex and Jack and Kate). I'm going to head out so I can enjoy the visiting. If I'm able, I'll post some more photos from earlier in the trip once we're back. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a couple last pictures of Jack and Kate. You can find more photos here. Thanks for joining us!

A wonderful evening in Toulouse

We met up with Meg & Alex this afternoon for the Airbus tour. It was an impressive tour. They certainly go out of their way to assemble the A380 from pieces made in as many countries as possible. And it seems like it could be a comfortable airplane to be a passenger in (depending on whether the airline chooses to pack in 500 passengers or 800).

Then we went in to Toulouse to walk around town and get some dinner. Apparently it was Kate's first night put to dinner, and she seemed to enjoy it just as much as we did. Good food, great company!

To top it off, Toulouse seems to be a really pretty, and very lively city. Not sure exactly what the plans for tomorrow are, but we'll meet up in the morning and figure it out.

Some more exploring

Just a quick post because we have very limited wifi access. On Thursday, Tim and Meg and Kate and I explored around the Aix market, and built ourselves a scrumptious picnic lunch.



Then Tim and I picked up our rental car and hit the road. We spent the night in Nimes, where we had an amazing dinner at the Grange aux Canards (loosely translated, "Barn of Ducks"). We intended to have a relatively quick morning in town the next day, but first we overslept, and then we got turned around on our walk. That's okay, because we got a chance to see some interesting parts of the city while we were turned around.

Then we headed off to see the Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct outside Nimes that's astounding to see. We got sucked into the museum exhibits, which were really well done, and by the time we got out to see the aqueduct itself, the light was beginning to fade. Oh well, it was stunning nonetheless.



This morning we're in Toulouse. We'll meet up with Meg and Alex and crew this afternoon for the Airbus tour - should be fun!

As always, you can see some more pictures here. More later!

Arles and Aix and....

I've been having a hard time setting aside the time to keep up with the blog. There's been entirely too much visiting to do. On Monday, while Jack was at school and Alex was at work, Meg and Tim and Kate and I went on a driving loop through some of the landscape north of Aix en Provence. If I understand right, the name of the area is the Luberon. It was a rainy day, with tricky light, but we dodged into a restaurant for a lunch. I think we were seeking the shelter more than the food, but man, was the food tasty. We all ended up ordering the meal of the day, Basque chicken stew.




Tuesday we went to Arles, an old Roman town, dominated by a still functioning coliseum. Apparently, they still hold bull fights there and show plays there.



The wind was absolutely howling, so we didn't last outside so long, but the sky was gorgeous, and the sunlight was crystal clear. It's a beautiful town, filled with colors, and the texture of age.




After we got back from Arles, we picked up Jack and took him to his swim lesson. Tim and I explored a massive sporting good store afterward.

Yesterday we had a quieter day. All of us were feeling a little low level. We ran a few errands, walked around town, ate some tasty lunch.

Today we're sitting around the table, enjoying some baguettes and cheese and jam, drinking some coffee, and (of course) visiting. We'll head out to the market in a little bit. This afternoon, Tim and I are renting a car and exploring a bit until Saturday, when we'll meet up with the Martins again for a tour of the Airbus factory.

I've had a lot of thoughts that deserve flushing out here (the relationship between Frenchmen and their bread, navigating in a foreign language, etc...), but I've decided not to feel guilty about focusing on the visiting, and not on the writing.

I've been posting my pictures to Flickr, so you can see more pictures here. I've restricted some of the pictures of Jack and Kate to friends and family, so if you'd like to see those, "friend" me on Flickr.

Settling in...

Since we arrived, we've mostly been visiting while eating, visiting while walking, visiting while cooking. I think you get the picture, but the point is, we've been having a great time.
Yesterday, Meg made phenomenal omelettes for us in the morning and then the six of us went out for a walk around town. They took us to a park where Meg and Jack got into leaf wars while the rest of us enjoyed chausson aux pommes - apple slippers or apple turnovers.


The Martin's went off for a birthday party and Tim and I went out to explore around town.
We found this sign which seems very clear on the one hand, yet completely baffling.

It was a hard day for pictures - the light was so stunning. I could either expose for the sky, or I could expose for the buildings.

At any rate as we wandered around we found a convenience store open where we picked up some charcuterie and chevre cheese and red wine. We intended to wait until the Martins were back before breaking into it. But when they came in we had the cutting board out and full wine glasses. This is living!
Here are more pictures from the walk around town. If you'd like to see more, you can see them here.

Hitting the ground running

Sisters back together again.




Me wasting no time going after the good stuff.


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We made it!

We made it into Marseilles airport just a little late this morning. Considering it was a transatlantic flight, it went remarkably smoothly. We're already having a great time. I'm dual tasking as we speak - bouncing my charming niece and typing. Tim's drawing all the different spidermen with Jack.

(Sorry it's sideways - I can't figure out how to rotate it. In the meantime, if you turn your head to the right just so, it should make sense.)
Hopefully I'll write more coherently tomorrow once I've gotten caught up on sleep.

On our way

2:30am traffic on the Bay Bridge. This, along with the nonexistent security line at the airport, is a small redeeming benny for an o'dark thirty flight out of SFO.


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Location:Unnamed Rd,San Francisco,United States

list making and packing

So yet again, I'm dusting off the blog for our next adventure. Tomorrow morning at an obscenely early hour, Tim and I are heading out the door to make our way to Aix en Provence, France. My sister, Meg, had a baby girl on 1 September. We had originally planned to go out there in September, but for various reasons, we decided to wait. We can't wait to meet our newest niece, Kate, and have a bunch of fun with Meg, Alex, and Jack.

The trip is mostly about catching up with family, but the great thing about having a sister who lives in a great place like Aix en Provence is that we can do some great exploring and adventuring while we're at it. {The obvious down-side is that she and her family live so dang far away}

When we originally scheduled our flight, I didn't realize that I'd have today off for Veteran's Day. But I am so thankful that I do. I'm not quite sure how we'd manage it, if not. Speaking of which, I'd better get running. I've got a thousand things to do before Tim gets home from work. I never know what kind of internet connections we'll have along the way, but I hope to keep this updated with photos (and possibly videos) as often as possible...