We're back

Well it's now time to get back to reality. Mel and I arrived back in Ottawa yesterday afternoon.

We spent the last 4 days of our trip in Paris where we spent most of our time checking out museums and some sights.

We got to visit the Louvre and even got to see the Mona Lisa....I guess the readers of the DaVinci Code sleep late. It is amazing at all the art and artifacts the louvre has. They come from all over the world and were likely accumulated a long time ago....likely during Napolean's conquests. The Louvre has a great Egyptian section.

We also got to see the Pompidou where they have a large modern art collection including paints or scultptures from Pollack, Dali, Picasso, Munch and many more.

On our last day we visited the Rodin museum and got to see most of all of his great works...including The Thinker, The kiss, Hells Gates, and much much more.

We also visited the Pere Lachasse cemetary where we visited the graves of Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde and Delacroix.

We also visited the Eiffel Tour, The Arc of Triumph and the Champs D'Elysee. Most of which was by foot...I think we lost some weight on the trip despite all the food.

Mel and I took a night bus tour of Paris were we got some great photos of the more famous Paris landmarks...look for photos shortly

Paris was alive with people from all over the world coming for the rugby tournament. Heck on Wednesday Britain played South Africa in Paris and the place swelled up with British.

I will be posting...hopefully soon....some photos....the good ones of the over 1800 I took.

I will also post a link to my flickr account where all the photos will be posted.

Now it's back to reality, work and renovations.

Italy

Well Mel and I have been in Italy for around a week and a half and are loving it. Great food, great wine and great people.

Our first stop was Cinque Terra....5 little towns on the meditteranean. What a gorgeous area, we stayed in the middle town of the 5 called Corniglia. The nice part about these towns is they are all linked by trails and train access. Corniglia is the quitest and most remote of them all. The only issue is that if you dont want to wait for the shuttle bus from the train station it is quite a hike up to town....some 382 steps to be precise....no wonder Italians are in great shape they climb stairs all the time.

We ended up staying for 5 nights as it was the perfect place ot relax and to get to know Italian culture. We quickly made friends with the owner of the local wine shop (Mario or Merlo Blanco"white Mockingbird) as well as his two closet friends Folco and Renaldo (El Gatacho "wildcat". The shop had a great vibe and seemed to draw in travelers constantly. Folco is well known Italian folk musiican with a very tom waite like voice and style...he was always playing the guitar. El Gatacho was a retired boat radioman...you would never guess he was 78. They were harvesting during the day but would hang with us all night...heck i even got to hang out with them asd they started to make wine. This little wine shop has alos played host to Jack Johnson as he was there 5 or 6 years ago....it has a kind of magic in drawing people in.

We met lots of great people while there including a retired couple (Mike and Deana) from Seattle who are on a 4 month vacation and had just dropped their daughter off at school in Europe. A great couple from Michigan as well as an Aussie couple who were on their honeymoon as well. He owns Redmen Wines in Koownaharra Valley...so we got chatting about wine a fair bit. We also had the pleasure of watching the France - Italy Soccer game with all the locals...they put out a tv in front of the wine bar for all to enjoy.

Mel and I have been enjoying the train trips as we get to see the country side, meet new people and eat well. We buy bread, meat and cheese for the road and wash it down with a bottle of wine.

After Corniglia we arrived in Rome....what a crazy city.....tourists everywhere....but what history as there are Roman Ruins everywhere. Soem highlights from Rome so far are:
- Dinner at the Embassadors house - Thanks Fiona, your parents where fantastic.
- Seeing all the sites of old rome including the emperors palace and the coloseum
- seeing the parthenon
- visiting and seeing the enormous wealth of the vatican....how they could not come up with 13 million to restore the sistine chapel frescos is unbelieveable.
- watching Scotland beat France in the Eurocup qualifier at a irish pub....what a great game and monumental win....almost makes up for the loss to Brazil in the 2000 world cup.

Well we are off to Paris tonight by plane. I am hoping to catch a rugby game while there as they are hosting the rugby worldcup.

One of these days I will post photos but be warned we have over 1200 so far....some real good shots though.

a quick update

Mel and I have been having a great time. Normandie was very nice, the people great and the food good.

However Burgundy was a different story. The people are just as nice and helpful. The food was fantastic, some of the best ever. Every meal out did the previous one. Finally the wine was insane. Every bottle was fantastic and was the equivalent of a $100 bottle back home.

On Friday, August 30th we did some private wine tours of the vineyards of Burgundy's second biggest producer...Jean Claude Boisset....thanks to my cousin Del for setting this up. It was incredible to see these wineries from such an intimate side. We visited Jean Claude Boisset, the Imaginarium, Domaine de Vougeraie and Bouchard aine et fils. The Domaine Vougeraie is at the high end of wineries and we were lucky enough to taste all of their wines...including their Grande Cru...$200+

On Saturday we took the afternoon train to the town of Frejus. Frejus is next to St Rapheal a very touristy beach town on the cote d'azur. Frejus is nice but small and built on an old Roman city. We had originally planned to stay for 3 nights but decided the touristy crap was not our style.

Today, August 3rd we left Frejus for Menton on the east side of Monaco. What an amazing town built into the surrounding mountains and right on the ocean. Lots of old medieval buildings to go with a modern feel. Lots of seafood on the menus as well.

Tomorrow we will daytrip to Monaco, after that it will likely be Italy and Cinque Terre. After that it is Rome where we are having dinner at Fiona's parents place....her father happens to be the Canadian Ambassador to the Vatican.

We have made sure to take lots of photos and will post them on our return.

We hope everyone is doing well and the weather is staying warm