Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Reims

May through to October, there is a fabulous light show on the front facade of the Cathedrale, Thursday through Sunday. Friday, the 22nd, we were able to catch it. Starting at 11, it repeats twice. We were able to catch the second show of the evening. These pictures don't really do it justice.

About 20 minutes to half an hour long, set to music, its something that must be seen. I hope to catch it again before we return home.

Two Days in Paris

We decided to make an overnight trip to Paris Wednesday the 20th of July. Two reasons: 1. Nick's friend Lane arrived in Paris Tuesday and was going to be there for a couple of days. 2. Marc could golf guilt free!

Picked up the train tickets on Tuesday, and found out that, despite me calling the credit card companies to advise of this trip, two of my credit cards were rejected. Thankfully, I had a third, for which I had also provided notification, and it worked. And thank goodness for skype. I was able to call the credit card companies, again, to confirm my travel. We've since had occasional problems with both mine and Marc's credit cards, but it's just due to the way some merchants are set up. Most credit cards in Europe have a microchip, and most credit cards in N.A. do not. Some merchants, and toll booths, are only able to process the chipped cards. And so it goes.

The ride from Reims to Paris Est is 45 minutes. Enough time for a few rounds of a card game the kids called Egyptian Rat something or other. They didn't play that when I was a kid.

I think our favourite thing about strolling the Champ Elysees was the fountains en route to the Louvre. They're encircled with chairs, and over the lunch hours they're full of people enjoying their long midday break.

Elmo came along, of course.

We decided to visit the Louvre Thursday, as there was rain in the forecast. But I made Nick pose for a picture with me, very similar to the last and only time that I've been here. When I was pregnant with Nick. I'll have to get the photo from Marc and see them side by side. We ARE in both photos!

Marc booked us a lovely room, right on the Champ Elysees, and this lovely cheese plate was waiting for us. There are definitely some benefits to the traveling Marc endures.

Before we could get in our room, we used the computer in the business centre to contact Lane. Gaby was intrigued by the difference in the keyboard. A French keyboard is difficult to use, when you're not used to it!

Thursday, we set out for the Louvre.

And so did hundreds of others, perhaps also escaping the rain. Not the best plan I suppose. It was so crowded, but we put up with the crowds to get close to the Mona Lisa. We were there, so we had to see her.

Packed in so tight, I could probably have lifted my feet and stayed upright. Insane! And all for this:

We saw her!

And so did Elmo.

The Louvre was fabulous. Overwhelming. And so crowded that we probably only saw half of what was there. But it was enough for that day. One more stop at the fountains after lunch, and we were on our way back to Reims.

By Metro.

And of course, the train. We were entertained by more pigeons at Paris Est, while we waited. We had fun, but were never able to meet up with Lane.

Thursday evening we had another dinner invitation. This was at the home of Catherine and Patrick, friends of Marc's from the golf course. Catherine is a fabulous cook. I should have photographed the appetizer, which was a sardine mousse served in individual sardine cans. It was light and delicious. The beef and carrot stew, the main course, was perfect for the fall-like weather. And also SO good! Dessert was mascarpone cheese and berries served in individual jars. Beautiful and yummy.

I meant to get both of them -- Patrick was in the kitchen when I snapped this.

A couple of their friends also joined us. No English this evening, which was fun and enlightening. I realize that Nick's 4 years of French have given him better comprehension than I have, though he's not comfortable speaking. I was impressed!

Of course by the time we finished dinner it was past 10:30. We're in France, remember?

Two Days in Reims

When packing, one should take seriously the weather forecast of the destination. The weather at home had been so unseasonably hot, for so long, that I packed with that in mind. I could not bring myself to pack jeans, long sleeves, warm jackets, anything like that. The best I did was one pair of light weight pants, one long sleeve tee, and a long sleeve sheer shirt, which is not that warm. I brought a heavier weight hoody mostly for the plane. Of course we did all bring rain jackets, thankfully. Cuz the first week in Reims was unseasonably cool, around 18 C, overcast, and rain at some point every day.

That didn't stop us from setting out on our first day, a Monday. We slept late, Marc met us for lunch, and we continued on to do a bit of sightseeing.

Planking in Reims.

The Chagall windows at the Cathedrale de Notre Dame. Many French cities have a Cathedrale de Notre Dame, but I think this is one of the most spectacular. It was repaired to its original magificence after sustaining heavy damage during World War II, and is celebrating it's 800th year this year.

Words just cannot describe.

Monday evening we were invited to dine at the home of Patrick and Claire.Patrick is a work colleague of Marc's. Stefan was also invited, and so were about 20 other people. Their home was beautiful, their family and the company, delightful, and the food was fabulous! We were invited to arrive after 7:30 and the meal was put out around 9. We did enjoy some snacks and plenty of champagne, of course. Tastes much better here than at home!

A trampoline and ping pong table kept the kids entertained. The adults joined in for some sort of round the table ping pong game. Fast and fun!

Claire, Guimette and Gaby

Marc & Guimette, Patrick and Claire's children, Nick and Gaby.

Rainy Tuesday and a late start, again.

The French do love their chocolate cereal!

Lunch. Groceries are quite reasonable, so most of our lunches here in Reims will be at 'home'. Baguette, a variety of cheeses, pate, and some mushroom filled crepes hit the spot.

They call this a Chinese massage. My kids, that is. Apparently, when Nick's back is sore, Gaby walking on it provides relief. Here, or at home!

Arriving in Paris

We arrived the morning of Sunday July 17th, weary, loaded down with waaaay too much luggage (I overpacked, as usual!) and lucky to have Marc's smiling face waiting for us on the other side of the glass at baggage claim. He'd arrived 2 weeks earlier. Since Reims, where he stays/works, is almost an hour's drive, he took an airport hotel room Saturday night and took the hotel shuttle to the airport to meet and assist us. Back to his hotel, we regrouped, showered, some of us slept, and then set out for a quicky tour of Paris in the afternoon.

First stop: Le Tour Eiffel, of course!

Gaby brought a little Elmo along to share in her adventures.

You can't escape the souvenir sellers!

Planking in Paris!

A rare photo of the 4 of us.

We drove to Reims in time for dinner (which is so unbelievably late here -- just can't get used to finishing by 10!) and to catch the Women's World Cup final game, the US and Japan. Marc had looked into getting us tickets, as the game was in Frankfurt. We decided against it because of the late start time of the game, 8:45 local time. The roughly 6 hour drive home would have been ridiculous. So we watched Japan defeat the US while dining at the James Joyce Pub, with Marc's colleague Stefan, who had just arrived himself, from Quebec.

Back in Business!

I'm baaaaccckkk! And hopefuly, to stay! Not back home. Yet. But back online. We've been fortunate to be in France, where Marc is working. What hasn't been working is my computer. Specifically, my power cord. The connection to my computer is loose, so the battery drains and then I can't use it. Even with all of the gadgets we're traveling with, I really can't get any blogging done if MY computer is down. Marc needs his computer for work, so I can't muck around on it. My Nook, an e reader, has a web browser, but its function is limited and I can't download photos to it with my camera's big CF cards. It doesn't have a usb port either. Then there's the ipods. Embarassingly, three, in our family. Everyone but me, and that's just fine. The kids have theirs as a result of Marc's upgrading his. And Marc also has an ipad, but that's his too.

We're actually traveling with our own router and a big power bar. The router works in locations where the free internet is hardwired, or the wifi doesn't work well, and the power bar is great for plugging in everything that needs charging -- all of these devices plus cell phones, cameras/batteries, you name it. We haven't camped for a couple of years and it would be fun to see how we would manage without electricity!

For now, my computer seems to be connecting to the power source properly. I'm handling it like an explosives expert attempting to detonate a bomb, and driving everyone else crazy with it! They know to steer clear of the cord and to not touch my computer. We're in one spot for a few days, so I'm hoping to catch up and share some photos soon. Marc was off the second and third weeks that we were here, so we travelled to Germany, Austria, Italy and the south of France. Back in Reims now, where he's working, we're still able to take small side trips. We just returned from a weekend in Belgium.

And I have been art journaling, though not 10 minutes a day. Just minutes, here and there, when I can find the time. I'll have to get those pages photographed, so I can share them.

Here are the last pages photographed, started back home and finished in Reims. My week 2 for July:

I picked up these stamps at my LSS, which sadly, is now closed. They were clearing out stock so I got a great deal, but I'd rather they were still open. On gessoed pages, I stamped, using Palette Noir ink. I watercoloured the background, coloured the stamped images with FC fine Pitt markers, which I also used to add colour elsewhere. I finished up the journaling with black Pitt markers, and some of the colours that I'm traveling with.

I prepped 6 sets of pages with gesso before we left, so that I could keep up with my art journaling. Its been more collaging than anything else, as I've been saving a lot of ephemera from our travels. I'll get those photographed soon.

Ready for the road!

Finishing Up June

I call this  - June week 4 and a half.

I first glued a few bits of the week's ephemera to the pages: a tag from a bag Gaby purchased, the tag from Nick's hiking boots for Guatemala, and the menu from Five Guys, where we had a delicious lunch of freshly made burgers and Cajun fries. Mmmmmmm. Gessoed the pages, lightly in some spots so the stuff underneath would show through. I stamped around the edges with Julie's ticket stamps. Love these too -- her freehand style translates so well to stamps.I tried out some new FC pens that I got -- the combo packs that come with the fat marker, gelato, watercolour pencil and marker. Went over them with a wet brush. Used watercolour crayons on the tickets themselves. Journalled with the Pitt markers.

July week 1.

Inspired by TH. He created a card on his blog for the 4th, and I used his stamps and duplicated his design. I used the FC fat markers on both stamps. I like the effect on these gessoed pages -- watercoloury. I used grey on the stars, where TH used white. The red and blue stripes are FC Aquarelle watercolour pencils. Like these too! The 4th stamp is SU, inked up with the same fat markers. Journaling is the pitt markers too.

Art Journaling for June - and it's now July!

I accomplished half of what I set out to do with my art journaling, in finishing up weekly pages for that week. But I obviously found it difficult to share them here. Not sure why, though summer did start off with a bang!

School was finished on Friday the 17th, and the following week, we were busy every day with VBS. Nick and Gaby were both counselors this year, and I got to be the official photographer. We all loved our jobs!

So I guess that's how I fell behind in posting my art journaling every day. Here's the rest of June:

June, week 3. Gessoed the pages, and then stamped all over with an SU Pattern Pieces stamp that I came across while tidying up my desk. I am not sure why I did this. As soon as I was done, I found myself staring at the pages, asking that very question. Why had I covered the pages with these itty bitty pattern piece shapes, and what was I gonna do next?

I ended up pulling out my SU watercolours and trying out different colour groupings on each set of pieces. I liked how it looked when completed, but I wasn't sure where I could/should journal. So I cut out the letters for the words 'School is out!', adhered those, and journaled on them with my fabulous FC Pitt markers.

June, week 4, I decided to cover my pages with bits of this lovely brown tissue I received with a recent purchase. Gel medium works so well for this and the result is much less sticky than with mod podge. And that's important during the humid season here, which can be April - October!

I also finally got my JFFB stamps, and I tried out the butterflies on these pages. The first images were a bit cloudy, as I had forgotten how bumpy the pages were. I got better as I stamped more. I watercoloured the wings, added a peacock feather rub on (Dove of the East, I believe) a recent fortune, the cap from the first bottle of Woodchuck cider for this season, and a TH journaling ticket. Again, the journaling was done using FC Pitt markers, which work well on so many surfaces.

Done!