Diane & Corey's Adventures

Back in Canada

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 02:40:20 GMT

So we made it back and are in the process of moving up to Edmonton.

I'm meeting people at the Milestone's Restaurant downtown Wednesday evening (6pm) for dinner. Corey will be off playing Heroclix with his friends.

Thursday we drive up to Edmonton and start the search for a property to buy. Yippy! (I'm excited and dreading the hassle all at the same time.)

We have new cell phones and the numbers are (780) 884-4321 for Diane and (780) 884-0432 for Corey so if you need to reach us that's probably the best way since internet access will be limited until we move into a place that's more permanent. Maybe the Hotel in Edmonton will have internet...
:)

Another update

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 12:33:48 GMT

Okay, So we did all that stuff in my last post plus a bunch more as we tried to squeeze in a few more touristy things before the flight back. I'll have to sit down and write them down when I get more time. I'm currently on hold with British Gas to cancel our account.

Anyway, what's coming up next.
1 June: hang out with some friends
2 June: fly back to Canada (Calgary)
11 June: start work at the Shell refinery in Fort Saskatchewan.

So we have to do a lot of shopping in the next couple of weeks for cell phones, car, house, etc. As much as I love shopping, I hate shopping for big ticket items. At least I get assignment allowances for hotel, car, food, etc. so that should help.
Off to book a rental car for a couple weeks until we find wheels of our own.
:)

Things to come...

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 19:19:38 GMT

I guess I should also do a summary of what's coming up for the next couple of months since I might not get back to this. After you read all that we're doing you'll understand why I say that...

April 6: Evening with Katryn as she's visiting London over Easter.
April 7-9: Lincoln Castle re-enactment event
April 14-15: Berlin for a weekend
April 19-25: Tour from Prague to Budapest
April 27-29: Northern Ireland with Karen and get to stay with her mum.
May 17-27: My brother, Greg, comes over to visit
May 27-31: Shannon & Thomas visit us during their tour of the UK & Ireland
June 3: Corey & I fly back to Canada (for good)

It's been too long...

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 19:13:36 GMT

I'm sorry I've been crap at keeping this up to date since November so here's a summary and I'll have to go into detail on a few things later.

November 18-19: We spent 2 days (really only 30 hours) in Rome and saw the Vatican, Tivoli Fountain, Colleseum, Pantheon, etc. And had Italian ice cream: Gelato. Yum!

November 23-26: Our Swedish friends came to London for a visit. It was awesome seeing them again and we had a great time with them. We spent so much time at the Camden Market area that I haven't been back since! We also hit an arcade and I was convinced to do some Dance Dance Revolution.

December was pretty uneventful as we prepared to get our work visas and take a trip back to Canada for the holidays.

December 20-22: Rick & Melissa stopped by for a visit in London on their way to the Canary Islands. We all went to see Spamalot, which was absolutely hilarious.

December 23-January 7: Corey and I go back to Canada for a visit.

Not much else happened in January as we were taking it easy. Visiting places in Europe during the winter isn't as nice as during the spring/summer as closing times are usually earlier.

January 20: Went shopping with Karen & Corey to get some appropriate frocs for the Bechtel Ball. That evening we went over the Kathryn's place to say good bye as she starts her new adventure in Switzerland with her beau.

January 25: Corey and I went to see Wicked which was wicked!

January 27-28: Training weekend in a small town in SW England. We got a ride with Bryan & Helma and had a great weekend of revelry even if the training ended on a sour note. Nobody got physically hurt, but feelings/pride were another thing...

February 3: Bechtel Ball. A great night of eating and drinking (the complimentary wine on the table because the drinks from the bar were like 9 pounds each).

February 14: Valentine's Day. Corey is a sweetie! He got me a mini rose plant to keep at work and he put a bag of chocolate hearts in my coat pocket so I'd find them after he left for work. Isn't he a sweetie! Of course there's a reason for all the sweetness... He wanted to go play Heroclix that night so we postponed celebrating until later that week.

March 1: My Birthday. Corey got me a really cute card with a button that says 'I'm a Wonderfull Wife' that I wore to work that day. He also got me a yummy chocolate cake and a little Tigger cake to take to work. We all headed to the pub after work where Corey met up with us and polished off the rest of the Tigger cake.

March 9-11: Back to Stockholm (well close to it) to visit our Swedish friends. They picked us up at the airport holding up a sign for the 'Canarians' (inside joke) and we got to stay at Pele & Katarina's house with their two rats, I mean cats. This was the ideal vacation where we didn't have to worry about anything. The whole weekend was great except for the part where I reacted to something I ate with a headache that wouldn't go away even with large doses of pain killers and my stomach was upset.

March 16-18: Istanbul, Turkey. This was a quick hop over to Istanbul to see the sites and go shopping. As usual, the tourist price is 3x that of the local price so lots of haggling on my part. It was a really nice city to go to and you can easily go broke saving money.

March 23-26: Ireland. We arrived the evening of the 22nd, checked into our Hostel and got up the next morning to get on our bus for a 3 day tour of Western Ireland. This was a pretty good tour with a little bit of everything. The second day was probably the least exciting as it's the 'scenery' day and if you've ever been to the West or East coast of Canada you'll have that feeling of 'dejavue'. We spent the Monday touring Dublinia (Life in Dublin through the ages) and the Guinness Storehouse. Then we went to do some shopping before hopping back on the bus to the airport.

March 31: We headed out to Brentford to visit Bryan & Helma (and work on some kit) then popped over to Kew Palace and Gardens for a couple hours before heading back to their place to do some more work on our kits then watch the season opener of Dr. Who.

And that should bring me up to date...
:)

10 Days in Greece

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 17:35:45 GMT

So this past week we were in Greece or more specifically we were 7 days on Crete and 1.5 days in Athens.

We flew from London to Athens direct on British Airways then hopped over to Crete on Aegean Airlines. We arrived at the Heraklion airport and were greeted by the rental car rep from Zorba's Rental Car. Very nice fellow, but nothing as professional as the big named rental car companies. We got our little (it truly was a wee car) and were on our way to the hotel.

Back to this in a bit...

Hop, Skip and a Jump to the South of France

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 12:03:13 GMT

This past weekend we were off to the South of France for just the weekend. We flew on a slightly delayed flight due to fog at our destination from London to Toulouse Saturday morning. We got the rental car then headed off to Carcasonne to see the huge castle. We spent several hours at the castle wandering around until they closed then headed off to the B&B I thought I had made a reservation at. We arrived to a confused host and it dawned on me that I had made a reservation at another B&B close to Carcasonne since they didn't have room at the one we now stood in. To get to the B&B I had made the reservation at would have taken us an hour to get back to so we just made our way to one of the cheap hotels in the main town close to the highway. That's one of the great things about France they have some really nice cheap hotels dotted all over the country. Since it was after the peak season we had no trouble getting a room then headed off to find dinner. A kabab place hit the spot, but no sign of a McDonalds for breakfast so we opted for the breakfast at the hotel. It was nothing to write home about.

The next morning we made our way to Beziers and found the 8 locks on the Canal du Midi and even got to watch a boat come down the locks. Corey really enjoyed it and took tons of pictures even though he wasn't all that impressed when we first arrived.

Then it was onto Montpellier to take a look at the historical centre, which we drove through a couple times to get all the pictures we wanted. Then it was back on the highway to a town near Marseille for lunch at a chinese restaurant before heading to the airport in Marseille to catch our flight back to London. That's the other thing about France, nothing is really open on Sunday so it's hard to find places to eat. We'd ordered a shrimp dish, a calamari dish and a plate of fried rice. It was all very good and we probably would have ordered more, but we still had to get to the airport and return the car so I didn't want to push it.

The flight home was uneventful and we got home at a reasonable time to unpack and get ready for the week ahead.

Battle of Hastings 2006!!!

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 11:27:32 GMT

On Friday the 13th (unlucky for some) we headed by train to the town of Battle named after the Battle of Hastings that occured here 940 years ago. We had our camping gear (minus the tent as we sent that with friends) in tow and caught a cab from the train station as it was dark and the road to the campsite was very narrow with no room for pedestrians. Once on site we then had to find our friends (to get the tent) so we could set up camp. There were rows and rows of tents and cars in the plastic camp, but I already knew where the majority of the group were (or we could have just followed the noise from the party.) Everyone was in a great mood and very excited about the upcoming weekend or maybe it was just the alcohol...

We got the tent, set up, then contemplated going back to the party, but it was already 10pm and we had to be up early to get breakfast before the Living History site opened. We climbed into our little plastic tent and went to sleep almost instantly. We must have been tired from the week before as we had been staying up late completing various projects like shoes, pouches, and socks.

Saturday morning our neighbor, Helma's mom, woke us up to make sure we didn't miss breakfast. We slowly crawled out of bed, got dressed in our kit and then headed off to breakfast in the LH camp. We didn't know exactly where we were going so we just wandered up the main path until Corey spotted the shields (of which he helped make some of them). Breakfast was yummy with sausages, cheese, bread and bacon. Then it was time to get in full kit as the gates were going to be opened to the mass of public waiting to get good seats for the show. I still needed wimple pins, but figured we'd find some at the traders so we went off to registration where we discovered the value of being part of a well established group as we were already ticked off for kit inspection and Corey was ticked off for fight inspection. Off to the traders where there was a mix of authentic and fantasy wares. We found a lady selling beautiful wimple pins for a reasonable price so I picked up the 4 I needed then found some drinking vessels that were a bit more money than I wanted to spend, but they were very authentic, well made and beautiful. A lot of things seemed to be over priced so we just wandered through looking at things.

Back to camp where I assisted Bella in her tablet weaving and then took a stroll down to test my new drinking vessel with some hot chocolate (I know it's not period.) Soon it was time for the fighters to get kitted up and head off to battle. It was really cool watching the various groups march past some of which we already met. I got to hang out at camp with some nice Americans who were living in the UK and who also did the SCA so we had a great time talking about this and that. I then wandered back down past the traders with the camera concealed in a leather pouch and took a few pictures of the battle field from the side with the public. I then wandered back behind the camp to the muster points for the fighters and found a bunch of the re-enactors at the other end of the battle field watching and taking pictures. It was really amazing seeing that many people in kit fighting it out on the battle field. I even caught a glimps of Corey and snapped a picture, but it was a long way off. I eventually wandered back down to camp as I was getting a bit chilled as the weather was cloudy with a chilly breeze, but no rain. Eventually the troops started making their way back to camp and the crouds of spectators made their way out the gate.

We had a lovely feast that had been cooking since the beginning of the battle (2pm) and then the party began. Bryan had some lovely, sweet mead that I had a generous portion of as we chatted with all sorts of people. It was a really lovely time, but Corey and I crashed pretty early as we often do.

The next morning we got up and headed to breakfast again, but we seemed to be the first ones up and functioning. We started cleaning up from the night before and got the fire going to start cooking breakfast as others slowly started to emerge from their tents. Eventually breakfast was served (sausages, bacon, cheese and bread) and we grilled mushrooms in the juices left by the bacon and sausages in the fry pan. They were oh-my-god good! All of us were crowded around the bowl of mushrooms with spoons taking turns diging in and going 'Mmmmm' with each bite.

After breakfast Corey and I headed to the traders again to pick up a couple more things that we were eying from our walk through yesturday. I picked up a nice silver viking toiletry set and some beautiful wool cloth to make some more clothing for Corey and I. Then it was back to camp where we hung out for a bit then decided to go back to our tent to pack up what we could so teardown after the battle would be quicker. Corey also got into his armour as the battle was about to start again. This time I was left pretty much by myself at camp to watch the pot of dinner cook. This was odd to me that they left the Canadian at the LH camp, but they must have figured I could handle it. Many people stopped by to see what I was doing and asked me various questions. They too got a good chuckle out of the fact that a Canadian was sitting in a Saxon LH camp naalbinding and stirring a pot of beans for a re-enactment group based out of London who were all out on the battle field. I didn't get a chance to go out and take pictures, but I sent my camera with Helma's brother's girlfriend so they could take some pictures as it was a beautiful sunny day.

After the battle, the troops all came back and we took some pictures of the group before Corey and I headed over to our tent to change and pack up before heading back with all our stuff to the LH camp for dinner. After another yummy dinner we said our good-byes and headed back to the train station (in the dark) with a couple others from our group. The train ride back was pretty uneventful, but a good time to chat and play some cards. Everything was muddy and/or smokey so it all went in the laundry and Corey and I each took showers before crashing after another great weekend of adventure.

Egypt Adventure

Fri, 06 Oct 2006 12:13:47 GMT

We've been back from Egypt for almost a week now and it already feels like it's been forever.

September 23rd we took a minicab to the Heathrow airport to catch our early morning flight through Zurich on Swiss Air to Cairo. We arrived in Cairo at about 1pm and were greated by our tour rep from Experience Egypt who got our visas and helped us with our bag out to the van. It was a toasty 32 degrees in Cairo and it was a nice drive to the hotel on the other side of Cairo. There are so many more cars now than there were 13 years ago and they've add lines to the roads, but those are more artwork than functional since no one follows them.

The Zoser Parner Hotel is located on a fairly busy road by the pyramids, but atleast that means there are lots of little shops nearby to get bottled water. The hotel is rated 4 stars, but for Egypt I'd almost give it 5 stars as the rooms were very clean if a bit on the small side, the food was good and reasonably priced for a hotel and the pool area was nice. The down side was that drinks cost the same as they do in the rest of the first world so we were buying our cans of pop and water from the little shops around the corner from the hotel ($0.25 US for pop & $0.35 for 1.5L of water.) The pool is in the shade most of the day as the hotel is built up around it.

September 24th we went on a tour of the Egyptian Museum, the Citadel and Coptic Cairo. The've reorganized the museum so it is way less cramped with stuff, but that meant a lot of stuff is in storage. There are plans to move the museum to a new location so that all the artefacts can be put on display properly. The Citadel is also under renovation so we were only able to go into the mosque and a portion of the palace, but that was good enough for me. This was Corey's first time in a mosque. Coptic Cairo includes the 'Hanging Church' that was built over the remains of a roman tower. Then it was off to a Paparus demonstration on our way to the Khan el-Khalili Bazaar. We only had an hour at the bazaar, but we found most of the shops that mum had shown me on a map. Some were closed, but we found out most would be open the next day so we were going to have to make another trip.

September 25th we headed to Maadi to go to the Cairo American College to see some of my old teachers and to see what had changed at the school. This was a great trip down memory lane and there have been a lot of additions and renovations to the buildings. After a walk around the campus where we ran into only a couple of my teachers Corey and I headed over to where I used to live. The bohab, Camel, was still out front of our first villa, but I don't think he remembered me then we continued on down to the ball field. The roads are so much busier than there were way back then so I don't think I would be biking around Maadi like I did back when I lived there. The ball field was closed since there weren't any games, but we peaked through the fence and it looks like they've paved the parking lot and added some more permanent buildings. Next we caught a cab to Road 9 so we could grab some lunch before heading back to the bazaar. It was kind of a nice experience to walk down Road 9 as the shop keepers are used to seeing foreigners so you don't get hasseled. We caught a cab from there to the Khan el-Khalili where we found our way back to Zaki's shop and put in our order for some cartouches. We then wandered around the bazaar picking up a few things here and there. After sunset we caught another cab back to the hotel. It was much more calm at that time as it was Ramadan so most of Cairo or sitting back relaxing after a big feast. That night we went on a dinner cruise on the Nile. The food was really good, the entertainment was excellent, but the cost of the drinks were astronomical for Egypt (2 soft drinks and a large bottle of water were $6 US.)

September 26th we went on a tour of the pyramids and sphinx at Giza and the Sakkara step pyramid. It was hot and sunny so it was a good thing we were doing this before noon. Corey and I haggled for two camels to go on a ride beside the pyramids and got him down to a resonable price, but still a tourist price. We didn't go into the great pyramid as it was $20 US each so we went in one of the little pyramids next to the big pyramids for $3.50 ea. I figured we're going to see enough tombs in the Valley of the Kings. We made our way down to the sphinx then off to a perfume place to sample various flower essences. We picked up the smallest bottle of lotus flower essence, which was still 60ml (enough to last several lifetimes.) Next we were off to Sakkara to see the step pyramid and a really well preserved tomb. Then we stopped at a carpet maker where the guy must have thought we were really looking for a particular carpet. Our guide was nice enough to stop at a grocery store on the way back to the hotel so we were able to pick up some snacks for the train ride to Luxor.

And there's the rest of the trip to Luxor (stupid hot) and then back to Cairo for a couple days before returning to London, but that will have to wait until I get some more time to recall everything and write it down...

The Vikings! Iver Carnival & Banquet

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:37:59 GMT

Saturday the 16th of September turned out to be a very busy day. There were 3 things going on and we had to pick between them. We decided to participate in the Iver Carnival with The Vikings! group during the afternoon and then head off to The Vikings! Banquet that evening as we had a ride with Helma. Bechtel OG&C were having their Family Day as well so we turned down the free food and entertainment for the Carnival.

So Saturday morning we got up and headed off to Helma & Brian's house out in Brentford with our duffle bag full of bedding & norse kit so we could catch a ride with Helma to the Carnival. Brian (Thorbjorn) was already out at the Banquet site as there were Jarl meetings earlier in the day. We got ready for the parade and found ourselves between a rather loud band supporting the library and a couple stunt bikers showing off their moves. It was a long walk especially in period shoes and I can't wait to put the felt insoles in my shoes. When we got to the end we did a little demonstration show for the croud then we packed up and headed to the Banquet, which was in Hatfield at the University.

We arrived at the banquet, picked a spot for our bed then started socializing. When the doors to the hall opened we made our way there, got some spots to sit with our 2 bottles of wine between Corey and I, and proceded to do some more socializing. The food was all really good and plentifull. There was so much bread, meat (ham, beef, chicken & ribs) and then cheese I could hardly walk back to bed. Getting to bed was also hindered by drinking a full bottle of wine to myself. The next morning was a lazy get up and pack up exercise and when we got home we had a nice relaxing afternoon.

Sadb & Finn Visit London

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:02:27 GMT

Vicky & Stewart arrived in London the afternoon of September 7th so I directed them to our local pub, The Beaconsfield, so they could hang out for an hour until I got off work. I met them at the pub, had a drink then took them back to our place so they could get settled in. When Corey finally got home from work we headed back to the pub for some dinner. By 8pm Vicky and Stew were fading fast so we got them to bed for a busy day of exploring London on their own Friday.

Friday, Corey and I headed off to work while Vicky & Stew took their time getting up as they were still tired from the long flight. They went and explored the Tower of London and the British Museum then we all met up at Paddington Station to go for pizza at this great little cafe just an the way to Wake Up! London Hostel. We took the double decker bus back to our place and gave Stew an idea of what it was going to be like driving in Ireland.

The next morning we hopped on the train to Salisbury for a day out to Stonehenge, Old Sarum Castle and Salisbury. It was a great day and we had a nice pic-nic within the old walls of Old Sarum Castle so it was quite an experience. Salisbury Cathedral was the first Cathedral we've been in that allowed picture inside, but Corey still didn't take too many. I think he's been in too many already. The train ride back was uneventfull and we played a card game to pass the time.

Sunday morning, they were off to the airport for their trip over to Ireland. Hopefully all goes well as we won't see them again until we're all back in Canada.

Copenhagen, Denmark

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 12:31:44 GMT

So this past weekend we flew off to Denmark for three days as Monday was a bank holiday here in the UK. We decided to rent a car so we could easily go out to Roskilde for the Viking Ship Museum and then out to Trellborg to see the round Viking Fortress.

Saturday we arrived in Copenhagen in the morning, got the rental car and made our way to the hostel. We checked in then headed to the bus stop to catch the bus into the centre of town (parking was free at the hostel). We grabbed a sandwich and some cash then hopped on the bus. Downtown we found the tourist information office and tried to catch a tour of the city, but just missed it so we'll have to do the tours around Copenhagen on Monday. We decided to then head to the museum, but the Viking exhibit was under renovation so we just wandered through the rest of the museum and checked out the gift shop. We were exhausted from the early morning flight so we wandered over to a park for a nap then headed to a kebab place for an awesome dinner. It started intermitently pouring rain during dinner so during a break we headed for the bus back to the Hostel.

Sunday morning we were going to hit McDonalds for breakfast, but they didn't serve breakfast at this McDonalds so they didn't even open until 10am. We decided to continue onto Roskilde and find somewhere for breakfast. We found another McDonalds and since it was after 10am it was open, but again didn't serve breakfast so we just had an early lunch. Then it was off to the Viking Ship Museum. There is a whole new part beside the museum where they demonstrate various viking crafts such as weaving, bead making, blacksmithing, coin stamping and, of course, ship building. There are full size replicas of all 5 ships they found and a few others that have been found in other parts of the Viking world. The museum itself hasn't changed much since I had been there all those years ago with my folks, but there is now a really cool room for the kids to try on viking clothes and armour and stand in replicated parts of 2 of the ships.

Next we headed to the other side of Zealand to see the Viking Fortress of Trellborg, which was about an hour drive. Finding it was a bit tricky because the directions in my tour book were so vague and pointed us to the wrong starting point. We decided to try to find it ourselves and eventually found a sign pointing us in the right direction. It's a pretty cool site with a reconstructed long house and the museum has models of what the fortress would have looked like. We had a late lunch at a pizza place in the more major town nearby on our way back to Copenhagen.

There was a mix up with the flights back to London and I had manage to only book one ticket back for myself. We found another airline with some seats on a slightly earlier flight so we had to adjust our plans for Monday so we could get to the airport on time.

Monday we checked out of the Hostel, but left the car in the parking lot and headed into town for a bus and boat tour of Copenhagen. It probably would have been a more enjoyable time if we didn't have to worry about getting Corey back to London. We cought the bus back to the Hostel then dropped the car off. We arrived at the airport, got Corey his ticket (eventually) then off he went. I managed to check in, get through security, and to his departure gate before his flight took off so we got some more time together. Not like we need it, but it was a cute story and the gate attendants thought so too.

Venice, Italy

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 13:03:20 GMT

This past weekend we went to Venice, Italy. We flew out Friday evening on RyanAir (totally do not recommend it) and came back late Sunday night. With all of the delays we ended up getting home at 3:30am rather than 1:30am so we both took the Monday off of work to recover some lost sleep. We slept until 2pm in the afternoon!

The weekend in Venice was nice. Corey really liked all the little passageways and bridges over the canals. We went on a walking tour of Venice and a boat tour, but no gondola as they are just too pricey. We did take one of the ferries across the Grand Canal which is an old gondola so we technically rode in a gondola. It just wasn't as fancy.

Sweden for a week!

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 13:02:10 GMT

On August 5, 2006 we flew to Stockholm where we spent the next 4 days then flew over to Visby on Gotland Island the evening of the 8th for 3 and a half days then back to Stockholm the afternoon of the 12th and back to London on the 13th.

That’s the trip in a nutshell, but we did sooooo much during all that time and we’ve made a bunch of new friends. I’ll try to get back to this one to fill in the details when I get a chance.

Quiet Month in London

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 13:00:55 GMT

July was a quiet month for us travel wise. Corey got a job with Emcor Rail working on the St. Pancras station in preparation for the high-speed Channel Tunnel Rail Link. We went to Hampton Court Palace for the day and Kensington Palace on a day one other weekend.

Brian & Char come to Visit

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 13:00:01 GMT

Brian & Char were arriving in Manchester then driving down to London on the Friday, but things took quite a bit longer than they had originally planned. They were planning on staying with us for the few nights they were in London so they were going to take the Underground to get to our place. With their late arrival, Corey went down to Earl’s Court station to see if he could catch them as the line running from Earl’s Court to our place stopped running after 11:30pm. He found them in the massive crowds and guided them to our place on foot.
Saturday we met up with Rick and Lisa (and the young ones) at the London Eye as they were all set to go on it that day. Corey and I had been on it before so we went and got an ice cream while we waited. Then we all went on one of the hop-on-hop-off tour buses to see a bit of London then hung out at Hyde Park for a rest in the afternoon.
Sunday they all headed off to France for a week then went back to Canada via London, but we didn’t see them again.

Canada

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 12:59:06 GMT

June 16th saw us fly back to Canada for a week of mayhem! We arrived in Calgary in the evening, were picked up by Carmen from the airport then stayed at Corey’s mum’s house that night. Saturday morning we got up and headed to Edmonton for Amelie’s bachelorette party and it was game 6 (?) for Edmonton in the Stanley Cup so we had to head out early to the bar as it was on Whyte Ave before the entire city of Edmonton showed up to celebrate the victory. We stayed with Chris & Lynn who had just recently gotten married and they have a cat as well. Sunday we met up with a bunch of people for Dim Sum then touched base with Amelie before heading out for dinner with Patrick.

Monday we headed back to Calgary for our eye check-up and to meet up with friends for dinner. After dinner we headed over to where mum and dad were staying so we could stay with our cats in the motorhome. Tuesday during the day we met up with Walker, did some shopping and I got my hair done. We then headed over to the NE to hit Bhatia’s cloth house (it was closed) and met up with Brian for dinner. After dinner we took our car over to friends who we were selling it to and finalized the paperwork. Brian gave us a ride back to the motor home and said hi to our cats. Mum was just about done my bridesmaid dress and finished it the next morning. Isn’t she awesome!

Wednesday morning we packed up the motor home (& cats) and headed off to Bhatia’s cloth house for some fabric on our way out of town to Carstairs. We spent the night in front of Shawn & Eve’s place so we could spend some time with them and get some things out of storage while putting some things away that we realized we didn’t need in the UK.

Thursday morning we were on the road up to Edmonton to rendezvous with my Mary Kay Director for lunch. She got busy with other things so we went for lunch with Amelie, the bride to be, who had the flu. We did some more shopping and running of errands for the wedding. When we got back to Amelie & Kevin’s house I went to work making a purse for Amelie. And I made the 4 shawls for the 3 bridesmaids and a junior bridesmaid late into the night. Corey was helping out where ever he could, but I know he was playing on the computer and reading comic books when he had the chance.

Friday was more running around then out to the hall in Lamont then to the church for the rehearsal & dinner. When we got back to the house I set Corey to work making a nice table layout picture and putting the guest / table assignment into a nice format for reference at the hall. The boys came by and decorated the motor home with blue and yellow pompoms. We had to get to bed at a reasonable time as the girls had to be up early for our hair appointment.

Saturday we got to the hair dresser for like 7am and all got our hair done pretty and Amelie went and got her makeup done in the department store. When we were all done we headed back to the house to get ready. Corey did a lunch run for us to Subway so we wouldn’t be starving. The photographer was there taking pictures of all sorts of things and probably helped to slow things down, but we eventually got loaded into the motor home to go to the church. We were running a bit late, but all was good. The ceremony went well and then we loaded in the limo to go have pictures taken at the legislature grounds. After pictures we headed back to the house where we loaded up the motor home (cats and all) to head out to Lamont for the reception. Corey drove Amelie’s car and Kevin drove the motor home. It must have been quite a site!

The reception was a great time and the food was spectacular. We ended up getting a ride with Amelie and Kevin to our campsite and they headed off to their hotel room somewhere. The next morning we let the cats out on their lines for a bit, but they were scared back into the motor home by the big, bad, scary cows that were grazing in the adjacent field. We realized we’d left some things at Amelie & Kevin’s house so we hoped we would catch them (or at least break in via the garage) on our way through town back to Calgary. They were just about to head on their way to the airport for their honeymoon so we grabbed our stuff and helped clean up a bit so it was a bit less of a disaster when they returned. Then we were on our way to Calgary to meet up with my folks in Carstairs to give back the motor home and the cats. We had dinner with Corey’s family then headed over to do one more drop off at Shawn & Eve’s before my folks arrived. We said our good bye’s and then headed to the airport for our trip back to London. I think I slept the whole way back.

off to Canada for a Week

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 11:54:50 GMT

We leave London tomorrow (16th) at about 4pm heading straight to Calgary where we'll arrive at about 6pm. (got to love time zones) We'll be staying with family in Carstairs or Crossfield that night then heading up to Edmonton Saturday (17th) morning for Amelie & Kevin's wedding shower and Amelie's bachelorette. Sunday (18th) we'll be hitting the Oriental Noodle House for Dim Sum at about 11:00am then hanging out with friends that afternoon and probably doing some shopping.

Monday (19th) morning we'll be heading back down to Calgary for our eye appointments at the Chinook Laser Eye Centre then it's off to Tanya for a massage while Corey goes to the comic book stores to stock up. That evening we'll be heading to the Market Mall Moxies for dinner and to catch up with friends.

Tuesday (20th) mum and I will be finishing up my bridesmaid's dress and we'll be running around doing various errands.

Wednesday (21st) we'll be out in Carstairs going through our stuff in storage before heading back up to Edmonton.

Thursday (22nd) Another day in Edmonton helping Amelie and Kevin with wedding stuff and picking up what ever else we have left on our list.

Friday (23rd) time for a manicure and pedicure in preparation for the wedding and what ever else needs to be done.

Saturday (24th) the wedding!

Sunday (25th) head back to Calgary to say good bye

Monday (26th) catch our flight back to London)

Paris & Other Things

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 11:42:04 GMT

So we headed to Paris on the evening of June 8th taking the Eurostar through the Channel Tunnel. We have now crossed the English Channel 3 different ways (under ground, on water and in the air.)

We arrived at Gare de Nord and hopped on the Metro to our hotel (Hotel des Communes) in the 3rd arrondisemont over by Place de la Republique. It was a great little hotel not too far from a few different metro stations (unfortunately the one closest was closed for repair). We had a sink and shower in our room with a double bed and our window overlooked the central courtyard. The toilet was just down the hall.

Friday morning we got up and headed out in search for breakfast (that didn't just consist of bread and sugar) and ended up at the McDonald's by the George Pompidu Centre. That's when we realized that I'd left my wallet with the Euros in the hotel room so we made our way back to the hotel. Next we walked down to Bastille then over the bridges to the Musee du Cluny (the Medieval Museum) and sauntered through there for a couple hours. There was a medieval music concert going on so we had attmosphere while we viewed the many tapestries, carvings, stained glass pieces, and artwork. Next we went for a late lunch at one of the cafes along the way back to our hotel and spend a fortune on a burger, ceasar salad and pop. It was a pretty hot and sunny day so we decided to make our way back to the hotel for a nap before heading to the Paris Hilton for the American School of Paris 60th Birthday cocktail party.

The cocktail party was pretty good, I only knew a handfull of people, but at least it was really fun chatting with some old friends I'd lost touch with. Corey even seemed to enjoy himself and my friends got on great with him.

After the party we headed to my old digs where I showed Corey the route I used to always take from the nearby metro station (Javel - Andre Citroen.) After wandering around there for a bit we headed back the hotel to rest up for another day of hot weather, sunshine and walking.

Saturday we headed out to ASP for the June Fair where all sorts of activities where going on. They had an international food fair, games for the kids, book sale, video sale, bake sale, and many more things. They also had a room (the Lower School Cafeteria) set up for the Alumni to come and take a look at all the yearbooks. Dr. Guse took us on a tour of the school as a lot of things have changed and there had been a flood that damaged a large portion of the Lower School and the Performing Arts Centre.

That evening was the dinner where we all had a great time even though we were roasting. The food was excellent when it finally came (over an hour late.) The evening went by rather quickly so we had to leave not too long after the dancing got going in order to catch the last metro to our hotel.

Sunday we went to the catacombs as we knew it would be nice and cold down there and it was something I didn't get to do when I was living in Paris over 10 years ago. By the time we were making our way back out of the catacombs I had goosebumps, but those went away as soon as we hit the hot air at the surface. Next we headed to the Pierre Lashaise Cemetary for Corey's benefit as I had been here before with my folks on Father's Day many years ago. He took lots of pictures which I hope to have up soon at www.flickr.com/photos/no1di.

Then it was off to the park by the Eiffel Tower (Champs de Mars) to meet up with some new friends from the reunion. They were having a piknik. We ended up playing some cards instead of tossing around a frisbee as it was just too hot to leave the shade. Before we knew it it was late and we had to get back to the hotel to pick up our luggage then head to the train station to catch our Eurostar back to London. We were in 2nd class on the way to Paris, but it worked out to be not much more expensive to go 1st class back to London (I found a special 2 for 1 offer.) so we got a really nice meal (not great, but nice), free drinks and a hot towellette. Our train was about an hour late leaving Paris due to some children playing on the tracks along our route, but they made up a bit of time and got us in 45 mins late.

Back in London Safe and sound and back to work on Monday.

A beautiful weekend in London

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 10:35:50 GMT

Saturday was hot! Corey and I took it easy, but we decided to do a bit of market going and hit the Family Records Centre to do some research for my uncle. We crashed back at home in the early evening and didn’t make it back out again.

Sunday was a day of grocery shopping and we went to see X-Men in the local Cinema. Then we headed out to Iver for fight practice.

A nice relaxing weekend after so much craziness is what we needed, but it just wasn’t long enough.

Finally some rest!

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 10:35:06 GMT

Corey went off to work, Eric showed up at our place to sort out his stuff and bags for his trip to Australia, and Carmen packed up the remainder of her stuff. Eric and Carmen headed out the door on their way to different airports to destinations in different directions. I called in sick as Carmen had given Corey her ‘non-contagious’ cold who had then given it to me. I also ended up getting a migraine that afternoon so it was a good thing I took the day off to rest.

Just another hectic day in London

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 10:34:25 GMT

Corey’s second day of work and Carmen just went to explore a few more places around London, did some shopping and went to see The Producers. We then all met up at our place then headed to the Beaconsfield for dinner and drinks. Eric’s friend’s dad Paul met up with us there since Eric was going to stay with him tonight as we just didn’t have enough room for everyone at our place. The next day Eric was heading off to Australia for a couple weeks and Carmen was heading back to Canada.

Corey's Birthday

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 10:33:43 GMT

It’s Corey’s Birthday and he gets to go to work, finally. Carmen headed off to York for the day. We were thinking of going out for dinner to celebrate Corey’s b-day, but Carmen didn’t get home until really late and she didn’t take a phone or key with her so we had no idea if we’d have enough time to go to the pub before she got back or anyway to give her directions to the pub. Besides Eric wasn’t coming into town until the 31st so we put off the celebrations until the next day.

A few hours in Paris before returning to London

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 10:33:06 GMT

This morning we had breakfast at MacDonald’s again then headed off to the train station stopping to get gas on the way. It was interesting trying to figure out how to get to the train station with Carmen giving me one direction, but the directional signs saying I should go the other way. Eventually we just went with the directional signs and used a traffic circle as a good opportunity for a photo (we went around it 3 times; once to figure out where we were going, twice to get a good look at the cathedral, and the third time was for Corey and Carmen to take pictures.)

We dropped the car off and found we had lots of time until our train was leaving. There was a large group of tourists from the US all trying to get out to the beaches, but I don’t think they realized just how hard it was going to be to get out to the beaches without a vehicle of their own or a tour bus. I tried to help them, but who knows how it turned out for them in the end. We didn’t even realize it was Memorial Day weekend back in the US. That explains all the US visitors and the group we ran into at the grill the night before who asked us if we were out for the memorial service.

We got on our train back to Paris and were thankful we had reserved seats as it would have been a hard battle to get the three of us on the same car. It was a quick trip back to Paris then we were off to see as much as possible in the few hours we had before we had to be at the CDG airport. We hopped on the metro to the Champs Elysee where we popped up to see the busy road and the Arc de Triumph up the road. Then back down to take the metro up to Charles De Gaulle Etoile where we popped up to see the Arc de Triumph up close. Then back down onto the metro to go over to the Eiffel Tower. We made our way all the way to the top through many line ups. It was a windy day on the ground so it was really windy when we finally got up to the very top, but at least it was a nice day with only a few clouds in the sky. I was able to point out everything from up there so it was like the fastest tour of Paris. After getting down from the tower, we made our way over to Notre Dame Cathedral then walked along the north side of the Seine towards the Louvre. We wandered through the courtyards of the Louvre towards the glass pyramid in the centre then we were tired and hungry so we decided to make our way to the airport instead of hanging around central Paris.

We should have stopped to get something in Paris for dinner as there really wasn’t any selection for food at the airport especially after you enter the passenger only area. Thank goodness we’re Canadian as it meant we could go back out through customs, grab some McD’s then go through customs again. So Corey and I have two stamps for leaving France on the 29th of March.

We arrived back in Heathrow airport with no issues, but I had to get a Tube ticket to get home as I had forgotten to bring my Oyster card.

Bayeax Tapestry & Mont St Micheal

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 10:31:51 GMT

This morning we were supposed to wake up at about 8:30am, but I must have still been suffering from exhaustion. I had set the alarm time correctly and even remembered to change the time on the clock ahead by an hour, but in the end I forgot to turn the alarm on. So we woke up about an hour late, but it wasn’t like we were scheduled to be anywhere that day. The alarm clock was taken away from me at that point. We hit MacDonald’s for breakfast then the road to Bayeux to see the tapestry. We went through the tapestry exhibit and grabbed lunch and ice cream then on the road again to Mont St. Micheal. The reaction by Corey and Carmen upon seeing MSM was worth that little bit farther drive. It really does stick up in the middle of no where. We spent quite a few hours here and went through the Abby and checked out many of the little pathways that wove back and forth up the mountain. We even picked up a few souvenirs then hopped back in the car to make the drive back to Caen and our hotel.

We had dinner at the grill that was just next to the other hotel by us (we noticed it having breakfast) and discovered just how different food really is with the same name in different parts of the world. It was an adventure figuring out what you were really getting based on the name and description.

Going to Normandy (a bad travel day)

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 10:30:55 GMT

This is a day we all wish went a little differently and I don’t really want to talk about it, but it should be written down somewhere…

We were supposed to wake up at 1:45am to catch a city bus over to the Green Line to head out to Luton airport for a 6:05am flight from London to Paris. I set the alarm as I usually did since it was on my side of the bed. Having stared at 24 hour clocks all day it did not occur to me in my exhausted state (see yesterday’s entry) that I had to make sure the alarm was set for 1:45am. I woke up somewhat rested and turned to look at the clock and saw 4:33am! Oh shit! We all jumped out of bed, I phoned a minicab with the dispatcher giving me the idea that it should only take 45 minutes to get out the airport and a cab should be at our place in 10-15 minutes. We had a chance! The taxi driver we got (arrived at 4:55am) must have just started his shift or was just ending his shift as he was under the impression we needed to be at the airport by 6:05am when he was the one who asked ‘What time is your flight?’ He also didn’t seem to drive all that fast except when I pointed out to him we were in a rush. And to top it all off, he missed the turn off to the airport even though I was pointing it out to him and saying ‘I think we want to go off on this ramp’. Well he got us there for 6:00am after a scenic tour of Luton. There is no way in hell they were going to hold the plane for us at that point. Maybe we could have made it if we had 10 more minutes, but not with only 5 to check-in and go through security. So off to get booked onto the next plane from London to Paris and we won’t mention the taxi driver ever again…

We got on the next flight to Paris for an additional charge for the difference in ticket price, but it wasn’t until 9:40am so we hung out at the airport. I now had to do something about our train tickets from Paris to Caen, which we would now miss with not being on the earlier flight. Since they were special fare train tickets, we couldn’t exchange them so we would just buy some tickets when we got to the station. These tickets turned out to be about half the price of the original tickets we purchased so that was a nice surprise. We also had enough time to grab some lunch before getting on the train. We found a little corner grocery store so we got some cheap eats and snacks for the rest of the weekend.

We arrived in Caen at about 4:30pm (instead of about noon if we had done everything by the original plan), but at least the Juno Beach Centre didn’t close until 7pm so we were able to pick up our rental car and head to the Centre. I ended up having to drive because Corey didn’t have his driver’s license with him and Carmen navigated. With a crappy map of Caen, Carmen managed to get us out of the city and to the Juno Beach Centre with little incident. It only took about 20 minutes to get out to the centre so we had plenty of time to walk through the exhibits and check everything out. We then went for a walk on the beach and checked out a few of the bunkers. Since we still had some daylight we made our way west towards Point au Hoc and the memorial to the US military. We stopped in at a few other beaches along the way, but Point au Hoc is still the most memorable even from the last time I was here about 10 years ago.

Now we had to find dinner and the hotel. With me driving it was very hard to help sort through all of the papers I had with various bits of information on it so Carmen was trying to find the hotel based on the few directions (in French) provided by the hotels website (Etap). She did an amazing job and we even found a little bit better print out of the map in the stack of paper the next day. Now to find food…

There was a MacDonald’s right next door, but we were all thinking something else would be better so I said I would be willing to go for a drive to see what else we could find. We went a long way down one road and nothing was open as it was 10:30pm so we gave up and went to MacDonald’s then headed to bed.