Our Family Adventure

After dropping off our car in Nice, we took a 3 hour bus ride to Genoa and then the train to Monterosso, the first of the five villages that make up the Cinque Terre. 

A. and D. had been there in the summer of 2004 in the village of Vernazza, and it made such a positive impression that we wanted to return as a family. Monterosso is one of the larger villages and has stretches of beach where you (or your kids!) can enjoy playing in the Mediterranean. 

Our Airbnb was small and perhaps the dampest place we have ever stayed. In fact, the laundry we washed never truly dried during our time! However, the yard was full of lemon trees and we could pick as many as we liked. We were also fortunate to be next door to an incredible bakery that made farinata, a flatbread made from chickpea flour that A. was able eat (and thoroughly enjoyed). 

One day, we took the train to Manarola and hiked to Corniglia and on to Vernazza. Unfortunately, due to landslides(several years ago, the walking trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola and Manarola to Corniglia were inaccessible. We took an alternate route higher up the hillside which allowed us to walk to Corniglia with impressive views. We had a wonderful meal of seafood risotto in the quaint village square in Corniglia.

The views along the hiking trail were as beautiful as we remembered. We were grateful it was a semi-cloudy day, so we didn’t suffer too much from the heat. 

We capped off our trek with gelato in Vernazza, then hopped on the train back to Monterosso. Unfortunately, the ticket agent gave us (and about 30 other people) the wrong information, so we boarded a train for Levanto. We looked around the train in confusion as we barrelled past the Monterosso train station. Fortunately, there was another train back to Monterosso shortly after we arrived in Levanto. 

Surprisingly, due to the popularity of the Rick Steeves’ guidebooks, we were surrounded by many North American tourists. More so than we had encountered anywhere else on our trip. 

We enjoyed the rest of our time in the Cinque Terre walking the shore and through the streets of Monterosso.

Next stop: Parma!

We deliberately picked Parma for the next portion of our trip for the gastronomic opportunites from the area: Parma ham, Parmiggiano-Regiano cheese and Balsalmico de Modena vinegar. These were all foods that A. could eat without having to worry about her dietary issues.

Our first adventure was a day long food tour with a guide and driver. While not cheap, it was a worthwhile investment to have someone to knowledgeably explain the process as well as provide access to family run places that wouldn’t normally be open to tourists.

The guide picked us up at 8 am and we drove immediately to the cheese factory. After gearing up, we entered the factory as the cheese master and his team of four were slowly warming the milk that had arrived that morning in large copper vats. The cheese master walked between the cauldrons looking at the thermometer and testing the texture of the milk with his hand.

At a certain point, the milk started to come together in little grains and the workers started to use giant wisks to facilitate the process. Then, the milk needed to rest to allow further coagulation.

As the milk rested, we looked around the rest of the factory where the cheese rounds were slightly dried, then salt bathed, stamped and tested for quality. The oldest rounds would stay for up to 30 months, making a sharp-flavoured, slightly crumbly cheese.

The consortium of Parmesan cheese producers send inspectors to every factory with a special hammer to test the quality of the cheese. Based on the sound the cheese makes after bein hit with a hammer, the inspector can tell if there are any internal cracks that would make the cheese wheel second quality (still good but generally used for grated Parmesan or discount chains).

We then returned to the main room where workers used wooden paddles to lift up the ball of cheese that formed at the bottom of the cauldrons. The base of the cauldrons are actually below the floor and end in a slight point. Then, the workers used layered cheese cloth to suspend the cheese balls and drain the liquid out before cutting them in half and putting them in molds for salting and drying.

Then, we had the chance to sample three types of Parmesan: 12 months, 24 months and 30 months. They were all delicious and unanimously our family preferred the oldest cheese.

Then we hopped back in the car and drove to the Parma ham factory, another smaller family run enterprise. On the way there, we stopped for a photo in front of Torrechiara castle. Apparently, this castle was the site of a torrid love affair between one of the Dukes of the area and a local woman (who happened to be already married to someone else).

We arrived at the ham factory and watched the large pork legs being salted and hung to dry. A team of workers then rub a paste of lard and salt onto the exposed part of the ham by the bone.

And then, they hang. And hang. Usually for at least a year and even longer.

Then, we went for a delicious lunch at a local vineyard. We had the entire restaurant to ourselves as it was a Monday afternoon. We started with a generous appetizer of Parma ham and other cured meats, as well as Parmesan cheese. Then fresh pasta (mushroom risotto for A.), followed with home baked cakes and fresh fruit. The food went well with the local sparkling wine and A. and D. also had the chance to sample some of the vineyard’s red and white. We also enjoyed talking more to our guide and learning about the region and her background.

After lunch, we made our way to a traditional acetaia, or vinegar “loft”. The acetaia originally was started by a chef who wanted quality basalmic vinegar for his restaurant. Two generations later it is still going strong!

The number of barrels indicates how many years the balsalmic has been fermenting. The more barrels, the longer the time. The barrels are in different shapes and different wood types, each providing a different impact on the flavour profile of the vinegar.

Each barrel has a hole on the top, covered by a muslin cloth. As the liquid in a barrel concentrates, the balsalmic maker decants an amount into sequentially smaller barrels. The final barrels are the smallest, with the oldest and most concentrated balsalmic.

We sampled a range of balsalmic, from very young (a year old) to incredible old (over 30 years). We even got to compare the taste of the plain, old balsalmic and the same on fresh custard. Quite a difference! The acetaia even exported their vinegar to Canada.

Having someone else do all the driving meant that we could concentrate on the scenery and talking with our guide rather than navigating. The area we travelled through was very pretty, with rolling hills and poppy fields. We returned home, stuffed with delicious food and with a better understanding of how some of our favourite food is made.

We enjoyed the rest of our time in Parma. It is a very walkable city and our apartment was close to the centre via a short walk through the city’s main park. The park had a large pond in its middle with giant carp and turtles which we liked to watch swim around.

We visited the Palazzo della Pilotta, which is a collection of museums and the Teatro Farnese. The theatre is amazing with an intricately carved wooden stage and interior. It is a hug space and was built to welcome dignitaries to Parma.

We also visited the National Gallery of Parma, with some impressive sculptures and historical art. We even took a quick tour through the Archealogical Museum where we saw Egyptian mummies beside Greek and Roman statues. We were there in the afternoon when prices are half price. Unfortunately, it is also when they close the part of the museum with the da Vinci paintings we had wanted to see!

Our apartment was very comfortable and the first time we needed to use air conditioning. The weather in Parma truly felt like our first taste of summer. Our Airbnb host even provided A. with the best coffee of our trip – Nespresso Roma!

We also got caught up in the latest global toy fad when the kids bought their first fidget spinners. The spinners helped to keep them occupied when the internet at our Airbnb stopped working due to the global malware attack that disrupted the internet service provider.

Next stop – Florence!

We left “the big stink” and made our way across the south France to a much better smelling place! Our next stop was on Pont du Loup, just a short drive away from Grasse, the French perfume capital.

On the way to Pont du Loup, we made two stops: the L’Occitane factory and headquarters in Manosque and Chateau La Lieu, an organic winery near Brignoles. We all enjoyed having a tour of the skincare factory, especially seeing the care with which the products were made.

A. and D. appreciated visiting the vineyard (our favourite French wine) and learning more about the history of the Chateau and their commitment (since 1998) to organic wine-making. Sadly, we had room for only two bottles!

Our arrival in Pont du Loup was met with squeals of joy from the kids as they learned our Airbnb had a small pool. And the parents squealed with fear at the wildly steep, narrow driveway with a blind corner leading on to the highway! The location was at the bottom of the valley near the mountain villages of Goudron, Vence and Beaulieu. We had beautiful views down the valley and up to the mountain top fortress village of Goudron. We picked the location deliberately to be away from the crowded Côte d’Azur and to get more value for our money. It was a true breath of fresh air after our stinky Cavaillon Airbnb property!

We enjoyed the area very much, in particular we hiked up the Chemin du Paradis, a somewhat misleading name for the 1.5 hour hike from Pont du Loup up to Goudron. The views were spectacular although well-earned after hiking on a very rugged path in hot weather. Goudron was a lovely cobblestoned village with cute shops and restaurants to go with the dramatic views.

The kids were thrilled to discover Confiserie Florian (a sweets maker) just a few hundred meters away from our Airbnb. We had a private tour of the factory and learned the family began their business growing flowers for the perfume industry in Grasse and then refocused into producing candied flowers, jams and bonbons. The unique characteristic is the inclusion of flower petals and/or floral essential oils in many of their products. We sampled crystallized rose, violet and verbena petals, as well as “mandarines confites” (basically preserved mandarine oranges in syrup) and chocolate coated puffed rice. All in all, very tasty and interesting to see the process.

We also were fortunate to tour the Fragonard perfume factory in Grasse. This in one of the most well-known perfumeries in France. The main building has the factory as well as a small museum dedicated to the art and history of perfumes. We learned about the amount of flowers it takes to make the distillations used for perfumes, as well as the amazing number of smells that their master perfumier (the “nose”) can identify. We were impressed at the purity of the ingredients as very few artificial ingredients are used by Fragonard (only for a small number of smells that cannot be naturally made). Their perfumes are available at their factories and a small number of Fragonard boutiques so it was a unique experience to visit their base in Grasse.

We also drove into Beaulieu sur Mer (close to Nice) to visit the Villa Kerylos, built to replicate a 2nd century BC Greek villa from Delos. The villa is on a small peninsula that juts out into the Mediterranean, overlooking Cap Ferrat (and the Rothschild’s Villa Ephrussi). The villa was built in the early 1900s with the best materials to replicate the lifestyle of a wealthy nobleman. The mosaics were incredible to see, as well as the murals, ceilings, metalwork, furniture and statues. The owner, Theodore Reinach, lived there with his wife during their holidays. It really was the best of Greece outside of Greece.

Sadly, we had to drop off our car in Nice. Renting a vehicle for our time in France was a great benefit that provided a lot of flexibility and opportunities in our travels. While it wasn’t perfect – our GPS clearly hadn’t been update to reflect newer road construction which made some parts of southern France more of an adventure than we counted on – having a car was well worth the expense.

Next stop: Cinque Terre!

Our time in western Provence was filled with exciting different day trips in the area. Two outstanding places remain in our memory:

The Pont-du-Gau Bird Sanctuary (Parc ornithologique de Pont-de-Gau)

This bird sanctuary is located in the Camargue Natural Regional Park a short drive southwest of Arles. The landscape is flat, marshy and unlike the rest of Provence. The area is known for its rice growing (something we never knew about France!), as well as its white horses (one of the oldest breeds in the world) and black bulls (raised for fighting in bull rings). But, we really wanted to explore the Camargue for its wild flamingos!

As a child, A. often visited the Calgary Zoo and one of her favourite parts were the pink flamingos. When we heard about the flamingos at the Bird Sanctuary, it made our list of places to visit. We loaded up on mosquito repellent (they are present at all times of the year!) and went for a day trip.

We were not disappointed! The bird sanctuary has an unassuming entrance and parking area, with a few buildings housing a small cafe, toilets and maintenance tools. The remaining 12 hectares of swampland house an incredible variety of animals, including flamingos, herons, cranes, swans, various other birds, as well as swamp rats, snakes, lizards, carps, coypu (like beavers but without flat tails) and many other creatures (including the aforementioned mosquitos!). We rented binoculars for the kids and made our way through the sanctuary.

We took a picnic lunch and were able to eat overlooking hundreds of flamingos eating their own lunches, grooming themselves and sleeping while standing on one leg. It was incredible to see so many in one place and the variety of colours (from white to reddish-pink) and sizes. We also saw their nesting island, covered in small mounds of dirt. And most spectacular was watching them spread their wings and take off, revealing the darker colours of the feathers under their wings.

We were all surprised at how interesting we found the sanctuary; we easily spent most of the day there. We did feel somewhat out of place with our camera, though, as the bird sanctuary attracts bird watchers with their massive telephoto lenses (covered in camouflage even).

Arles and the Museum of Antiquity

We visited Arles and the Museum of Antiquity to make connections with the Roman ruins we’d already seen in Bath and at the Pont du Gard. The museum was expanded a few years ago to accommodate an incredibly well preserved barge that had been discovered at the bottom of the Rhone river. It also houses the oldest known bust of Julius Caesar.

They have done an excellent job in providing an accessible exploration of the barge, as well as context about life, trade, business and politics in the local region over two thousand years ago. 

We were impressed by the extent of the collection. Not just the barge and its contents, but a vast selection of vases, armour, amphoras, coins, statues, glass containers, jewelry, buttons/fasteners and more. It was, in some respects, a little overwhelming, but the collection was well presented with explanations in French and English.

We also visited the historic centre of Arles, with its extensive Roman ruins, including an outdoor theatre, as well as a large arena. In the arena, we were able to watch French high school students get lessons from “gladiators” in combat techniques as well as Roman relay races.

The theatre is not as well preserved as the arena, but they have installed a new stage and rigging to enable performances and concerts. At one time, the theatre was an abbey and then local residents used the stone to build their homes, so not much was left to rebuild from the last few hundred years. 

We also enjoyed walking through the old town and we followed several signs the city has posted about views/sights that Van Gogh captured in some of his paintings when he lived in Arles. There were also some great shops with unique handicrafts, as well as a wonderful organic and raw food cafe where A. was able to get a treat for herself.

Next stop — Provence – Alpes – Cote d’Azur!

We left Carcassonne and traveled east to Provence. The further south we travelled in France, the more “flexible” drivers were with the rules of the road. It took 2 of us to drive- one at the wheel, obviously,and one on full-time navigation duty. We also noticed that our Peugeot’s GPS system ( nicknamed Mathilde) hadn’t been completely, accurately updated for the south of France. Sometimes, the navigator had to override Mathilde, as well as always being ready with coins for the countless tolls on the autoroutes.

On our way to Cavaillon, we stopped in the town of Pezenas. Another fantastic surprise!!! The old town was filled with artisan shops and galleries, and we spent several happy hours wandering. On the way out of town, we saw warehouse after warehouse of antique & brocante stores. It’s a good thing we can only bring along 1 suitcase each, or it would’ve been very tempting to stop and browse the antique stalls as we used to do on weekends in Helsinki before we had kids.

We selected our Airbnb on Cavaillon based on our usual criteria, but also based on it’s location and the numerous positive reviews it had had. While sewage odour was mentioned in a review 2 tenants before us , the same person said,” Just plug the drain of the shower and it ( the sewage odour) becomes imperceptible.” That’s WAY understating reality!!! Our Airbnb in Cavaillon constantly smelled of raw sewage, no matter what we did ( keeping windows open, & keeping all drains plugged with water at all times). To add to our Cavaillon Airbnb experience, we also had a fresh infestation of ants in both bedrooms and in the bathroom.

Leaving our Cavaillon Airbnb to explore our area was a pleasure. And what adventures there are in that part of France! We did persuade the kids to accompany us to a fantastic Sunday brocante/ marché aux puces ( flea market, antique and vintage stores) in Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, and bought 3 vintage, indigo linen and lace pillowcases.

The next adventure was a visit to another amazing UNESCO heritage site: the Pont du Gard, near Nîmes. The Pont du Gard is an intact aqueduct that dates back nearly 2000 years when the area was like a retirement village for wealthy Romans.

We chose the option of a short guided tour of the museum before being led across and INSIDE the aqueduct. While our guide did an excellent job of the explaining the Roman retirement village for which the aqueduct was constructed, we all remember the sidebar discussion about Roman communal toilet use the best.

We learned that going to the toilet was a social experience in Roman times. There were no individual stalls. Rather, neighbours would happily catch up on each others’ news as they sat on their respective toilet holes. Since the retirement village was one for wealthy, older Romans, the retirees would all benefit from a whole group of toilet slaves. There were slaves whose job it was to sit and pre-warm the (naturally cool) marble toilet hole area. Other slaves rinsed out the toilet ‘brushes’ that were passed openly from one person to another to wipe. ( Can you IMAGINE???!! No germaphobes there!)  Other slaves were there to clean the facilities after users.

It was a desirable job, if one was a slave, to work in the communal toilets because it wasn’t a particularly physically taxing job. The communal toilet cleaning job would be made easier due to the never-ending flow of fresh water, brought by the aqueduct. One last point linked with the fresh, never ending flow of water: all of the luxurious villas had flowing water, flowing right through them. They all could have had toilets at home, but they preferred to use the toilet all together because they valued the social connections this communal activity provided.

After the inside explanation, we had the opportunity to join our guide and walk through the actual aqueduct. She explained that, surprisingly, this was the longest aqueduct ever constructed by the Romans. The fact that it is still perfectly intact, 2000 years later and in sound condition to walk across is a tribute to the remarkable engineering capabilities of the Romans.

While it seems unexpected to find such an architectural wonder in such a small out-of-the way centre, we learned that the area around Arles and Nîmes was a very important trading centre for the Empire in that part of the Roman world. ( We would see further impressive ruins in Arles a few days later.) It seems amazing to think that, in the Middle Ages, the significance of the aqueduct was lost. Apparently, peasants in the area sincerely believed it was the creation of the devil. Entrepreneurs in the Middle Ages saw the intact Roman aqueduct as a moneymaking opportunity and actually hewed out significant chunks of the tower bases to charge tolls to pedestrians to cross the river!

The inside of the aqueduct was extremely narrow in parts due to calcium build up over years of use, but still passable. We had the mandatory security bag & backpack check, then began to walk through to the other side. The guide explained the special terracotta treatment they applied to the surface of the huge stones to ensure impermeability. After she left us to make our own way back to the museum, she suggested we look for the still-visible Roman numerals on the huge stones that make up the base of the second level of the arches. The Roman numerals indicated to the slaves in which order to place the huge stones, one stacked on the other.

Next — part two of our time in western Provence!

Our next stop was the medieval walled city of Carcassonne. It was also our first introduction to the distinct Southern French accent, which was charming to listen to and intellectually fun to take an extra millisecond to process what was being said to us in a way we’d never heard French spoken before.

Wow! What an amazing sight to see the walls high on the hill above the main town. Again, we didn’t know what to expect (other than from pictures) and its expanse was very impressive.

We stayed in a fabulously spacious, recently-renovated apartment near the foot of the hill leading to the main gate into the walled city. We inadvertently made friends with a waiter at the restaurant across the street when he rescued us from a near impossible urban parking situation in a historical centre.

The view from our Airbnb balcony!

We had had an introduction to what it’s like living in the centre of a historic tourist town 20 years ago when we lived in Bruges. But, at that time, we had bikes, not a car. Finding parking, or even stopping for a moment on streets that are only 3 m wide is just not something that you do in Carcassonne!

Our kind waiter friend and neighbour arranged with another neighbour for us to use her courtyard garage while we waited for the property manager to arrive. The waiter’s kindness was in sharp contrast to our other neighbour: an art gallery owner who believed it was his calling to share his jazz music with the entire neighbourhood from 9:30 am- approx 5:00 pm each day. He even ensured maximum reverberation off of the neighbourhood walls by tilting his outdoor speaker up towards our living room window (just meters away) where our kids were trying to do their homework. Nonetheless, Artsy JazzSchmazzman’s attitude and awareness of living in close quarters with his neighbours was by far an exception of our trip so far.

Our highlights from Carcassonne were:

Historic paper mill

About half an hour northwest of Carcassonne, the paper mill was recommended by our Airbnb host. Getting there was a bit of an adventure, with the car GPS leading us through the most incredibly narrow streets, barely big enough for the vehicle.

The mill, operated by the seventh generation of paper makers, gave us a glimpse into the history of paper making in the area, how the production process modernized over the years and the kids got to make their own paper!

The mill owner himself gave us a tour and fully involved the children, asking questions and encouraging them to ask. It was very interesting to see how cellulose (from many different sources including old clothing, animal dung and, of course, trees) is turned into paper.

Canal du Midi

We didn’t get cycling out of our systems in the Loire, so we rented bikes for the half a day to cycle along the Canal du Midi from Carcassonne to Trèbes. The Canal is a UNESCO World Heritage site and links the Mediterranean to Bordeaux. It is a historically significant shipping route and is still in regular use (with the addition of many pleasure boats).

We had the chance to see the locks in operation (several points had multiple locks in a row) and marvel at the Canal’s construction. At one point, it passes OVER a river as it continues its path! While the Canal itself was interesting, the landscape in the Loire Calley was much more picturesque (in our opinion).

Old walled city

The old walled city dates from Roman times, with many sections restored and rebuilt about 200 years ago. We joined a walking tour with a somewhat eccentric, but passionate guide whose unexpected shrilly-posed questions made sure we carefully listened to her explanations (or else!!!!).

At the end of our walking tour, we went into the church and learned about the comprehensive Bible stories described in the impressive stained glass windows. This was set to a beautiful backdrop of a group of visiting Russian singers (“à la Four Ténors”) who sang a layered, acoustic version of Ave Maria.

The walled city contains many of the tourist  souvenir shops you would expect in such an environment, but also a number of smaller artisan shops. We thoroughly enjoyed wandering around the cobblestoned alleyways, buying a few items, exploring quiet lane ways, and sampling gelato.

Carcassonne was the first larger centre we had been to for several days since Brussels a month before, and we took advantage of this to get caught up on tasks like haircuts, going to the post office, the pharmacy, stocking up on organic, gluten free/ corn free foods for A. and buying a cutting board (to go with the decent knife we had to buy in the Loire) because we couldn’t handle using the grungy ones provided in our Airbnbs. We also spent many days catching up on the school work that had taken a back seat during our week of day-long bike rides in the Loire.

Next stop: Provence!

Leaving the Loire Valley, we headed south to the Périgord region to the town of Montignac where the Lascaux caves were discovered. We didn’t have any real expectations, as all we knew was that the site consisted of caves where prehistoric drawings could be seen.

We were very pleasantly surprised and extremely impressed. We found ourselves entering a brand new interpretive centre that had just been opened in December 2016. The architecture was incredible and the curators had done an excellent job with the exhibits and guided tours.

You cannot view the cave drawings without first taking a guided tour (available in French or English) which explains the history of human habitation, development and capabilities 40,000 years ago. The tour involves videos, explanations from the guide and a visit through a meticulous recreation of the caves and the drawings. The real caves are still nearby but were ordered sealed several years ago to prevent further degradation from humans and environmental factors. They spent years creating a replica of the caves which are so accurate that archaeologists and anthropologists study the drawings in the reproduced cave.

The guide was very knowledgeable, providing great insight and context to the drawings. The caves themselves are tall enough that the original artists needed to create some sort of scaffolding. There are some narrower places to move through but generally accessible.

After the tour, you enter the interactive portion of the interpretive centre. Every visitor is given their own tablet which interacts with the displays. The tablets provide information and short videos about the drawings. The displays were incredible 3D sections of the cave that allowed you to study the drawings in more detail.

There was also a theatre showing a 3D movie about the drawings and a short theatre-type performance about the discovery of the drawings.

We were all amazed at the sophistication of the drawings, as well as the number and variety. The artists had rudimentary animation, as well as perspective. It was incredible to think of the amount of work needed just to start drawing!

Our prehistoric ancestors took time, after all of the work they had to do on a daily basis just to survive, to draw, which underscores its importance. There is speculation that it had a spiritual significance but it certainly showed the importance of creative expression.

We would happily return to the Périgord region. It was very picturesque with quaint villages and rolling landscapes.

Next stop: Carcassonne!

After our intense Vimy experience, we were happy to spend the day making our way to our rented Normandy farmhouse near Villedieu des Poêles. As we drove there, we made a slight detour to Blainville sur Orne (near Caen) to see the home where A. lived for six months in 1993. Fortunately, it was also close to the Pegasus Bridge (a strategic D-Day paratrooper landing spot). The kids found the history of the site very interesting and laid the start of our Second World War focus with the Normandy beaches.

Our farmhouse was exactly what we hoped for: a quiet, picturesque base that was fully stocked for comfortable week of exploration in Normandy and Brittany.

Our highlights for this time are:

Bayeux Tapestry

The kids had read about the tapestry in an issue of Youpi! (their French language magazine) and were excited to see it in person. The museum does a great job of explaining the tapestry through an audio guide as you walk along beside it. There is also a fantastic museum and film that explores the historical of the tapestry. It was interesting to make the connection between Willam the Conqueor and the Tower of London. We also had the chance to explore the lovely town of Bayeux and replicate a photo A. had taken 20 years ago with her friend!

Juno Beach and the Canadian Second World War Cemetary (Corseulles-sur-Mer)

It is hard to imagine the feeling of Canadian soldiers scrambling over the sand at Juno beach. The dunes are high and gave the German bunkers an incredible advantage. T. had read a lot of the books on WWII that were in our Airbnb, and he had a surprising amount of information about the heavily artillery guns on the beach. Clearly, it is a topic that fascinates him. We were also able to explore the bunkers and briefly visited the interpretive centre.

The Canadian cemetery was moving but in a very different way than Vimy. It was very calm and quiet, with few other visitors. Fortunately, we were there the day after the Trudeau family had visited (we passed their motorcade on our way to Normandy). The cemetery is very symmetrical and the architecture adds an element of visual calm and beauty to a sacred place.

Mont St Michel

Even though A. had been here twice before chaperoning school trips, she was generous enough to support another visit. The old town is full of tacky tourist shops, but the views from the walls are vast, overlooking the muddy flats where the tide has reversed. The kids had also read about Mont St Michel in their Youpi! magazine so were quite interested in the historical background of the place.

Cancale/St Malo/Pointe de Grouin

We originally went to Cancale at the recommendation of our Belgian-Finnish friends. Three weeks previously, in Brussels, we learned they would be in Cancale at the same time and we agreed to meet for lunch. It far exceeded our expectations of what a Brittany port town would be like. The quaint homes along the water, the oyster farm cages and the huge piles of oyster shells from the vendors who sell them fresh from their stalls all combined to make unique seaside experience. You can buy a dozen oysters for EUR5 and eat them with fresh lemon on the breakwater wall. Apparently, the Cancale oysters are among the best in the world and Napoleon insisted on a daily delivery of Cancale oysters while on his military campaigns. We had a delicious seafood lunch with langoustine, shrimp, two types of oysters, whelk, periwinkles and crab. Delicious and washed down with some chilled Muscadet. It was a spectacular lunch with excellent company!

The oyster farm cages

Visitors eating fresh oysters on the sea wall


And the resulting pile of oyster shells!

Further along the peninsula is the Pointe de Grouin, a regional park with dramatic landscape. We went to undertake some science observations for the kids on marine ecosystems (based on similar work A. had done with her students almost 20 years ago). The tide pools were full of sea creatures and, thanks to T’s eagle eyes, we saw a sea anemone.

Finally, we reached St Malo and explored the fortified old town looking out over the Atlantic where Jacques Cartier set sail to “discover” the east coast of Canada and the St Lawrence. It was very interesting to see how the architecture of Quebec City imitates that of Brittany. The homes in Canacale and St Malo could easily be found in Old Quebec or Montreal.

One of the overarching educational themes for our trip is identity and exploring our roots collectively as Canadians but also as individuals and a family. The Vimy, Juno Beach, Canadian War Cemetery and Jacques Cartier’s departure point all helped to spark family discussions about identity and what it means to be Canadian.

Next stop: the Loire Valley!

We made our way south to the Loire Valley for our first ever family cycling trip. We approached this part of our adventure with cautious optimism. While our kids enjoy cycling, we had never done any extended trips over consecutive days. We deliberately chose a company to facilitate our trip by planning our routes so that we could return to the same place every night. We knew that we would always be able to cut a day trip short if needed, as we didn’t have to worry about making it to the next auberge!

We arrived at our gîte (bed and breakfast) and were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the accommodation, as well as the family friendly gear (trampoline, ping pong table, scooters, pétanque) and the 10 year old boy who was thrilled to have some additional (albeit temporary) playmates. After getting oriented, we met with our cycling hosts to fit our bikes and learn about our week’s itinerary.

A typical day included a generous homemade breakfast with cakes, compotes, jams and yogurt. Some days we started cycling right from the gîte. Other days we were driven (with bikes) to a predetermined drop off spot. We were provided with all the gear we needed, including comprehensive maps, repair kits, etc. We brought our own lunches and supplemented by picking up fresh baguettes or cheese and fruit from the markets as we cycled along.

The routes often took us through vineyards and along side the Loire River. We were impressed with the very developed Loire à Vélo cycling routes (most of which are well signposted and well maintained). Our hosts had also signposted tricky parts of the routes to ensure we didn’t get lost. We were usually back by 5:30 pm and our cycling hosts would either drive us to the supermarket or to a restaurant. It was a treat for A. to find two restaurants where she could eat a meal off the menu!

Our highlights for the week:

Chateaux (Villandry, Chennonceau and Clos Luce)

While there are hundreds of chateau in the Loire Valley, we were able to visit a pre-curated selection that didn’t leave us feeling overwhelmed and were different enough to keep us interested.

Villandry had the most spectacular geometric gardens (à la française) as well as very well maintained interiors.

Chennonceau (the famous chateau over the water) was both beautiful and impressive, as well as full of tourists! The gardens, while smaller scale than Villandry, were just as geometric. The interiors were more impressive with period furniture and details.

Clos Luce (Leonardo da Vinci’s final home) was impressive for the scale models of his inventions that have been built. Smaller models are in the basement with larger models dispersed throughout the garden. These larger models are available for visitors to test and interact with, which brought the ideas to life for our kids. It was also cool for the kids to see the studio where da Vinci worked on the Mona Lisa (and to compare the sketches there with the final product they saw at the Louvre).

Les Troglodytes

Troglodytes are what the French call cave dwellers. Over the years, wealthy members of the French court needed more and more of the local light-coloured Truffeau stone to construct their chateaux in the Loire Valley. Members of the poorer classes quarried this stone and then were given the excavated caverns as shelters in which to live.  We visited a small Troglodyte settlement that was discovered 50 years ago when its current property owner was a young boy. The actual settlement dates back   several hundreds of years, but was inhabited up to approximately 100 years ago. We had never seen anything like that before! One of the oldest caves was created several hundreds of years ago and included an ambush corridor and a ‘ panic room’ for the women, children and small livestock. This protected the vulnerable from invaders while the younger men were away from the settlement at their worksite during the daytime.

Integrating with our host family.

Our stay in the Loire Valley was unique and special in an unexpected way for A & T. Our gîte host family had a 10 year old son who was a welcome playmate and distraction after 2 months of mostly only having each other for company ( besides our Airbnb in Brussels). As our kids built their friendship with A., the son, we too had a number of very enjoyable conversations with our host family.

We were extremely happy to be able to build these friendships because we shared a common language. Our hosts planned an Easter egg hunt among the grapevines in their vineyard Easter morning and included our children. On T’s birthday, they baked him a cake and offered him some gifts ( a Loire Valley/ Clos-Luce Leonardo da Vinci theme). They invited us down to their ‘cave’ (wine cellar) and shared a recent local vintage with us one evening, and then, our last night, we shared a couple of bottles of wine with our gîte hosts, and our cycling facilitator hosts on the terrass overlooking the vineyard, while our children played with their children on the trampoline and at pétanque. Getting to know our hosts really enriched our stay at Secrets de la Loire.

 

Next stop: pre-historic cave paintings!

After leaving Belgium, we picked up our rental car (which we have for the next five weeks in France) and made our way to Arras in Northern France. While not on the traditional tourist trail, Arras was the base for our next adventure: volunteering at the Vimy centennial commemoration ceremonies. While our previous volunteer opportunities have been the typical events through school, sports and church, this was our first family volunteering experience contributing to an occasion on an (inter)national scale. This would also be the first time volunteering where our French language skills would be required.

For those of you not familiar with Vimy Ridge, it is a First World War battleground where Canadian soldiers collectively fought for the first time as Canadians rather than a subjects of the British Empire. The ridge was occupied by German soldiers and it was deemed an almost impossible fight.
We weren’t even sure if we would be able to volunteer until just a few weeks before the event. Security concerns made it challenging for Veterans Affairs to be able to confirm any details much in advance. After months of emails and phone calls, we finally had confirmation in late February. And while we knew we would be volunteering, we had no idea if we would be emptying garbage cans, cleaning portapotties or being Justin Trudeau’s personal chaperone!

We arrived in Arras and went to meet the volunteer coordinator at the Mercure Hotel, where (it seemed) the hotel was completely taken over by Canadians. He was excited to see us as we were the only family volunteering and he happily gave us our assignment working in the Education Tent with a group of Veterans Affairs employees sharing information about Vimy with event visitors.

We still had to find out how to make our way to Vimy, as the strict security measures in place prohibited anyone from driving to the ceremony. Fortunately, Veterans Affairs had set up an office on the edge of the Places des Héros with helpful maps on where to go. After talking with a few people, we decided to park our car in Givenchy-en-Gohelle and walk into the memorial. Even more fortunately, we were able to meet up for a quick visit with our friend Dan who was chaperoning a group of high school students from Ontario. We hadn’t seen Dan in nearly four years and it was incredible to think that we could meet up in France!

We then went to Givenchy-en-Gohelle to research parking spots. What an incredible sight to drive into a small village and see at least half of the village flying Canadian flags (where did they all come from?!?). In fact, we had never seen so many Canadian flags flying from homes all at once, even on Canada Day in any major Canadian city. It was very moving and set the tone for the following day.  We stopped to ask for assistance to find the designated parking and one of the residents promptly jumped in his car and told us to follow him.

We woke up bright and early Sunday, April 9 to cold temperatures and lingering fog making us all shiver thinking about what it would have been like for the soldiers that morning, a hundred years ago. We easily found a parking spot and made our way to the security point. We were able to flash our volunteer badges and walked the kilometre or so up to the memorial. We were among the first volunteers on site and had a few moments to enjoy the calm before the ceremony began.

Then it was off to the Education Tent to meet the people with whom we would be spending the next nine hours. The Veterans Affairs team was welcoming and had plenty of work to share. Something came over our daughter and she turned into a hostess extraordinaire, handing out pins, applying temporary tattoos (we probably applied over 1000 between the four of us) and collating printed handouts. She was a machine! Our children’s enthusiasm made many visitors smile. Once our children learned their roles and what to say, they were incredibly independent. And they did it all switching constantly from English to French and back again. They made us proud!

Fortunately, we were able to watch the ceremony, thanks to the large video screens by the main stage. This would likely be our first and last time at an event with the Canadian Prime Minister, French President, Canadian Governor General and the Princes Charles, William and Harry. The ceremony was very touching, artistic and beautiful with a mix of formal speeches, live acted excerpts of letters written by soldiers, modern dance, songs from famous French and Canadian (anglo and francophone artists) and short video clips. The whole program switched between English and French which made us feel very much at home. The one hiccup of the event was the lack of functioning toilets for the almost 30,000 people present. Midway through the day, the pumps gave out, rendering half of the toilets out of service. And they couldn’t be repaired or replaced because the perimeter was closed due to security!

After the ceremony finished, it was back to the tent for our last shift of temporary tattoos. Finally, we had to leave the grounds as the security guards were eager to have everyone leave the site. Amazingly, we bumped into Dan again leave the site with his students. We made our way back to Givenchy-en-Gohelle and went home. It was a long day, but an incredible experience for our whole family.

Next stop: Normandy!