The Portuguese/Croatia game was so exciting--Ronaldo saved the day in overtime and so they will advance to the quarter finals. The square was so crowded last night that we could hardly get a spot. It was fun to be part of the excitement but we left at half to watch the rest on our TV. (a better view) Being in Porto this past week is the best--George planned well. Porto is about the size of Regina and is in the top 5 of my favourite cities.
And so to Paris--our hostess talks a mile a minute. This time we have a bedroom, bathroom and use of the kitchen in her apartment which is huge. We are in the area of Montparnesse which is less of a tourist area and very interesting. George climbed to the top of Notre Dame Cathedral and I visited the church part. I happened along to a choir singing in the church which was lovely. I finished reading a book while I waited for George. He really enjoyed the views from the top and was exhilarated when he returned. I don't like closed-in spaces and probably would have a hard time with all those steps. We walked and walked--a grand day. Here is something cool: Celine is performing in Paris tomorrow night but alas there are no available tickets and more shows have been added. We visited the book shop called "Shakespeare and Company". A very old, interesting place--the top floor has old books and many places to sit. There were young people sitting in every spot, reading away--so young people are still reading! Yay.
While visiting the Luxembourg Garden, we were watching many children playing with small sail boats on a large pond. The boats were rented and each child had a stick to push them around and each sailboat had a flag from a different country. We watched two small girls whose boat had a Canadian flag so we asked them if they were from Canada. They said no but they had lived in Toronto. Their father said the girls had chosen a Canadian flag boat so no one would connect them to Trump--they live in Tennessee. Mondays in Paris are when lots of museums are closed.
Wow, Iceland has beaten England in the EuroCup. What a shock, especially to England. We will try to watch the Portuguese game on Thursday.
Our day didn't go as planned today. George went off to the Catacombs but after waiting for 1 1/2 hours, decided that he wasn't going to get in this time so he came to our meeting place. I have no interested in walking in tunnels so I went to Montparnasse and scouted around. I visited the Montparnasse Cemetery which was way more interesting than I expected. I have to say my expectations were pretty low as I don't enjoy cemeteries but I was amazed at the monuments and the family mausoleums-there were some really old grave stones and some as new as 2015. I wonder what they do with the old bones. I also sat on a bench there and read, as I think I want to read and relax more frequently. I bought a small black purse at a market. One would think that I like purses as I seem to be drawn to buying them. We will go out for dinner and then get packed up for our flight tomorrow.
Here we are on Argyle in Ottawa--our bodies know it is six hours later than the clocks and sunshine here. Got settled in and went to bed. Early morning rising, George has a small surgery booked for this afternoon so we prepared for it and sorted out our stuff. We are travelling with cabs as our car is still with Sheryl and Neil. I am working on changing my attitude toward cab drivers--seems I always expect to be ripped off and often my expectations are met. We often talk about not owning a car anymore so I better get a new attitude. George's surgery went well--eight stitches--all is well and we got home safely.
Had a lovely dinner with Grant at Datsun--Asian Infusion food. Food these days involves so many textures and flavours. It was fun to hear about his new position as a Procedural Clerk in the House of Commons. He is learning lots and getting settled.
And then it was Canada Day. We joined the group participating in the Living Flag--about 600 people. When we were leaving after the photo, we noted a banner near the Chateau Laurier of previous Living Flag photos and there in the right hand corner, were George, Frank, Brenda and I from a couple of years ago. Pretty cool. We walked up to the Hill but there were so many people that we didn't stay for everything. The Snowbirds were amazing as usual but the schedule was changed and we needed a hotdog before the speeches got under way. We went on home to watch the Wales/Belgium game and Sheryl and Neil joined us. We had a fine time and then had dinner at our favourite Chinese restaurant on Elgin and it rained.
We are still waking up early but always seem to fall back to sleep. Today we had brunch with Grant, Sheryl and Neil at a lovely spot and then hung out until we had to leave them at the train station. Their flight leaves from Montreal--it is always hard to say good bye but it was so special to see them. We are back to facetime until next time.
Sunday we visited with Linda and Larry and sorted through some stuff we had left there. I felt badly as we hadn't remembered that it was Larry's bd--maybe we will have lunch together later. Anyway, we had some lovely cookies and checked out their garden. Then we went to Cirque de Soliel--an anniversary gift. It was fantastic--we enjoyed every second of it. The special effects were so dramatic--there was a volcano eruption, a flood, a landslide, a waterfall, and an earthquake. The performers were superb. It was an adaption of Avatar and I won't mention the blue, Spandex bums! After the performance, we had coffee and dessert with C and M. What a day.
We have started our days of coffees and lunches--today's lunch lasted for 5 hours. I wanted to watch the Iceland/France football game so I tried to record it with Fibe but only got the pre game part. I am disappointed. After another lovely lunch with M & W, we watched the end of the Portugal/Wales game--Yay Portugal and Ronaldo. Today the stitches are out and George is fine. Now for a coffee date and then the Germany/France game, yay France.
Today marks our 44st wedding anniversary--imagine!--and Claire's birthday. Time flies. To quote Sheryl, "...happy that you got married and got the three of us". Us, too. We did have a wonderful celebration. Our lunch at the "Pure Kitchen" was
really good with former neighbours. I am so
glad we met them and keep in touch. I guess I can thank FB
for that. The parents are lovely and the girls are sweet—we told them stories of when they were little. Parliament Hill was great.
Isabel thinks Grant’s name is magic because he had requested tickets for us and
as soon as we mentioned his name, we were treated like important people.
Quite cool—also if he hadn’t arranged for tickets, we would not have gotten to
go as the tickets were all gone. Our dinner with Grant, complete with a
lovely card with all the names on it , was great. “Fauna” was the restaurant
and they gave us complimentary champagne to help with the celebration. It was a
lovely meal and lively conversation including memories of our wedding day.
And Portugal won the EuroCup final game. What excitement and also concern as Ronaldo was injured at the beginning of the game and didn't play the rest. We went to the Royal Oak and wore our Ronaldo shirts. Yay. We visited the Service Ontario to extend our time away and now we can be out of Canada for another year to August 2017.
And to Montreal for four nights. We are staying at a Boutique Hotel on Sherbrooke East called Armor Manoir Sherbrooke. It is part of three large mansion houses that has lots of old wood and furniture and charm and a great location. There is a four day street circus happening on Rue St. Denis which is a couple of blocks away. It covers about four blocks. The first night we watched a tightrope walker cross St. Denis in the clouds and tonight there was a group called Fracas which was spectacular. The performers dressed like acrobats walked down St. Denis and encouraged everyone to follow them. So we did--it was like the Pied Piper. We walked to a park nearby and then they put on a marvelous show-what skill and talent was displayed. It was like Cirque de Soleil. Then we had a hotdog and went on home but not before getting caught up in a truck food bank line. We had spent the morning in Parc La Fontaine reading and enjoying the duck pond.
Walked to Musee des Beaux Arts--first time there but certainly not the last. George has a guide book that mentions the top ten things to do in Montreal and it is one of them. There is a list of 10 paintings to see while there. This was my task but I couldn't find one so I asked a security guide who was very interested and tried to help me find it with no results. So a minute later two art gallery employees appear and wanted to help. They were using goggle to find the painting. Anyway we found it and most of the others and had a wonderful day. I even got to attend a water colour workshop in French--introduced to water crayons which seem perfect. Mexican food for dinner--as well as a Margarita with a bottle of beer turned upside down in it. I only had sips because I like tequila but not beer and --voila day 3 is gone.
Last day was a sleep-in, a lazy breakfast and then to the lounge to practice drawing Eiffel Towers and George sorted photos. The lounge is like an old fashion drawing room--we spent most of the day there--delightful. Then we walked to a pedestrian street, Prince Arthur, had dinner at Else's, a bar type restaurant which probably hasn't changed since the 50's. The owner was Norwegian so there are many trolls around. There was little park with a fountain in the middle which was a relaxing place to sit and watch people. Today is Sheryl's birthday. She is celebrating with Neil and other friends in Franschhoek, SA.
And so VIA will take us to Ottawa and then a drive to Prescott. We are in the country, along the mighty St. Lawrence for two weeks. We have spent a relaxing time: watching the River and the ships going by, sitting on the dock, listening to train whistles, seeing plays and concerts, gardening which included getting rid of potato bugs Bob McLaughlin style and eating peas in the garden, reading, visiting, painting, taking care of stuff and mowing the lawn. We got the kayak out but it made me nervous to be in it alone. So we carried the canoe down to the River and had a lovely paddle. There are many big ships on the River. Our nephew is playing Roller Derby in Calgary so while the cats are away, we are playing. I am delighted that I have now completed lesson 13 in wc and also painted a few Eiffel Towers. We had a lovely evening with our niece and her partner--lovely food and great company.
Today is Grant's birthday. Part of his celebration will be a dramatic reading of his favourite play, "The Importance of Being Earnest". There will be 10 readers with food and cake afterwards.
Jack and Judd arrived home after a long day in the car. We had a fine visit and met some of their friends. And now we are in Sandy Hill cat sitting. Robbie is a fine cat--came out to check us out. He and George became pals. This place is on three levels with a back staircase that goes down to the ground. We need to close and lock two doors when we go. Robbie likes to spend time in the stair well so one would trick him into coming into the kitchen while the other closed and locked the doors. He figures us out so George would go down or up the stairs and herd him into the kitchen. The cat is very well behaved. He also follows George up stairs to the bathroom George uses and when George pats him, we hear purrs and it is the cat! We had a fine but busy time in Ottawa. We had a lovely bd dinner with Grant at Belmont, a small plates restaurant, the food and company was excellent. Is it possible he was born 28 years ago! We visited with Karen's grandsons, had tea with M & W, celebrated a bd dinner with friends. George had lunch with a friend and I had coffee with another.
Company of Fools was performing in Strathcona Park--enjoyed the performance but first had to buy two lawn chairs that weigh a ton but were comfortable to sit on. Then we went to the Oydessy Theatre production the next night but first a picnic with friends. Both were delightful.
I got new glasses which need adjustments and I got a new iPad mini. We started our shopping at the Apple store at the Rideau Centre but they didn't have the keyboard to fit the one we wanted. There was some discussion whether to buy a 2 or 4. Next we went to Staples, they had the keyboard but no 4's. So I was ready to give up. We texted Sheryl and Neil and chatted with Noah and Claire and the consensus was best to buy the newest. The next day we went to Best Buy and found exactly what we wanted including a wonderful technician who didn't roll his eyes once at my questions. Yay Us.
Tomorrow we will go to church, have lunch with a couple there and then on to Belleville and Sandbanks for a couple of days.
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