Random photos of Toulon from our past trip

As you may be aware, we went to France and Italy a few weeks ago. Besides posting pictures of our farmhouse and the countryside of Tuscany, I haven't posted a thing from France or the rest of Tuscany. To be honest, I didn't know what to do next. I could probably easily do another six posts on our trip but so much time has passed now and I just want to share a bit more and then move on. There are so many other things going on and I'm falling very behind! :( To complete my documentation of our past vacation, I will do this post and one more after this. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I think the best way to share our experience is through some of the pictures we took.

Omg. There are so many pictures! I am just overwhelmed. Over 1500 pictures were taken! This is part of the reason why I have been taking so long with these blog posts. Wouldn't you procrastinate too? How do I share just a few pictures when there are probably 1000 good ones? Omg.

We stayed in Toulon for a long time because Tristan's grandparents lived there, as well as his great grandpa. Our only plan in Toulon was to see relatives and hang out with them as much as possible. We had no plans to go anywhere or do anything in particular. When there was nobody left to see, we actually found ourselves bored silly. We spend countless hours playing with Tristan, going for walks, and watching television at his great grandpa's house. Jean-Louis even went out for runs while Tristan and I sat around home waiting for him.

Tristan got to see his family a lot but most of the time, it was just the three of us alone doing things like playing and walking into town. It actually made us notice even more how the South of France really isn't kid-friendly at all. It's better than Paris perhaps. Besides the beach and playground near the beach, there is nothing much else to do. As far as I know, there are only two public playgrounds. One is a 25 minute walk and the other is about a 1 hour walk. None of them have any shade. Most playgrounds are inside of schools, which are gated and locked. We went to the same playground over and over and I was getting so sick of it. Luckily, it was a nice playground. The lack of playgrounds is one thing and the lack of child-friendly restaurants is another. Tristan is a good eater and is well behaved when we dine out so it isn't ever really a big deal for us. When Tristan's little cousins came to visit though, we almost went to Ikea for a family lunch! It was the closest thing they could come up with that was kid-friendly and that wouldn't cost a fortune. In the end, we decided it was going to be too busy at Ikea so we settled for fast Chinese food in town. Oh, the horror. It was as yucky as I had expected. Seriously.

Tristan got to hang out and bond with his French family and that was the most important. As an added bonus, we also took some great photos of him with his grandparents, great grandpa, and his little cousins. He got along so well with his three girl cousins! It was so cute :) It was also great to see people our age with little kids too who we could hang out with.

What a kid's dish looks like in France

Tuna & pasta

Salmon & fries

3 year old bonding with his grandparents

Tristan got to see his grandparents in France for the second time in real-life. The first time was two years ago when he was just 18 months old. Now he is 3 1/2 years.

Back when he was 18 months old, he didn't really want anything to do with his grandparents. He didn't know who they were really and he refused to sit on them or hold their hands most of the time we were there. He was also very baby-like since he was still in diapers and barely spoke words. My mother-in-law especially was quite sad and disappointed by the experience even though she loved seeing him. She is a very affectionate woman but Tristan wouldn't allow her to be that affectionate with him.

This time around, everything is so different. Tristan is at that age where he loves kisses and hugs. He loves to receive them and he loves to give them. In fact, before we leave for daycare each day, he goes and hugs every single person still left at daycare! He's 3 and he's at such a fun and lovable age. He is great to play with, he talking all the time, and he is starting to be useful too. He helps us set the table for dinner some times and he can even take some decent looking pictures of us with our camera :) Right off the bat, Tristan opened up to his grandparents. He allowed them to kiss him and then he started to kiss them back at night when we asked him to. He got to practice his French more and they were so pleased with him. We skype his grandparents once a week and I think he got to know them more over the video chats.

It was beautiful to see Tristan finally bonding with his grandparents from France. It was also great to see him somewhat cling to them instead of us for a change :) He would constantly run around the house looking for Mami or Papi. When his Mami would go in her bedroom and talk on the phone in private, he would barge in and jump on her bed. We would yell for him to get out but he wouldn't listen. Lucky for him, he is the grandchild and can get away with pretty much anything.


This trip was overall much more pleasant than the last trip to France. Tristan got along so well with his grandparents and as a result, everyone was in such a better mood. They would kiss him a gazillion times a day since they missed him so much. They would also shower him with gifts and food treats. It wasn't just Tristan's grandparents, it was also his great grandpa, great aunt and second cousins (?) and others too. Gifts were pouring in from friends of the family too who we didn't even get to see. It was as though it was his birthday the whole trip! Seriously. We were on vacation so he got to eat great food nearly every day and we took full advantage of French pastries, desserts, and ice cream. What a lucky little boy :)

Overcoming obstacles to arrive in France in under 23 hours

It seems like we just got back from vacation not too long ago but here we are taking off again. This trip was more stressful than exciting. At least that is how it all started.

What a journey it was! When they changed our flight to 2 hours later, we started to freak out about missing our train connection in Paris. The next train, if there was room, would be over 6 hours later. The thought of waiting 6 hours after a 12 hour flight and being on the road for 16 hours was pretty much unthinkable. No way Jose. I would have preferred us to stay the night at a hotel at the airport and then take the next train in the morning. The problem was that it was a long weekend and there weren't many trains left to take. Unless of course you don't mind taking a train for 10 hours or so to get to the south of France. All the options were bad if we missed our train.

Half way through our flight, a guy collapsed to the ground one or two rows behind us. He wasn't moving at all but someone checked and I heard "he's breathing." At that moment, Jean-Louis and I were thinking the same thing. We're so screwed. There goes any chance of our connection. I mean we felt sorry for the guy but we knew he would have to leave with the paramedics first and there would be more delay. An announcement was made to see if there was any doctor on board. It was like one of those scenes straight from a movie. Of course, Tristan kept fighting me to see the man lying in the aisle. His curiosity went wild.

When we arrived, we had to take a bus to the terminal, then line up to go through immigration. Like always the airport was so disorganized and probably under staffed. The lineup was out the door and there were only three tills open. Typical. Then we had to wait for our checked-in bags. After about 40 minutes, the bags have still not arrived. It's as though they only had one guy bringing in all the luggage. If I could, I would have given him a hand myself! All the previous delays did not matter anymore when we still had to wait for our luggage. Ridiculous. It's as ridiculous as it was over 10 years ago when I first came to France. Nothing has changed.

When our luggage finally came, we grabbed them and we just ran. Jean-Louis' aunt was meeting us at the terminal and she knew the exact route we had to take to catch the train so that was helpful. We ran with all our lugguage: 3 check-ins, and 2 carry-ons each, Tristan's included. We had a push cart but when we had to cross the road, Jean-Louis dropped his luggage and lagged behind us. I swear we dropped luggage at the same place last time! I warned Jean- Louis about that as well. Then when we arrived at the elevator, we couldn't take the push carts anymore and we had to carry everything by hand. Oh god. We totally hogged the elevator and then we pressed the wrong button and didn't move for the longest time. Oh god. We made sure to avoid elevators after that. They took too long anyway. Then came more running and lugging luggage while pulling Tristan up and down escalators. It was so painful and dangerous and we were all sweating up a storm. Oh god. I almost had to drop all the luggage altogether. We finally got to the train and climbed in the first open door. It wasn't where our seats were but we just wanted to get on that train. The train controllers on the platform were asking us where we were going and where we were sitting. We told him and then he said that we were in the wrong section of the train and had to move. We asked if there was time and he said yes so we grabbed our stuff again and ran. Then he blew his whistle for the train to leave. What the hell!? So we just hopped into the closest train again with our massive load of luggage. There was obviously no time. The guy was probably just mean. We were all soaked in sweat and huffing and puffing. Five seconds later, the train took off.

We were on the train but it didn't end there. At the next stop we had to get off and move everything into the part of the train where our seats were. The train doesn't stop for long and we had to walk all our belongings about 80 meters. The TGV train is super long. It was our last run with luggage and once again we made it just in time. Omg. I was dripping in sweat and my shirt was soaked through. Our hearts were all pounding but it was finally over. We made it and we felt like champions. Oh yeah, did I mention that Tristan and I were recovering from the stomach flu from just few days ago and I didn't sleep at all on the plane? Champions.

A must blog post about "Julie & Julia"

I have been meaning to watch Julie & Julia for awhile now but then iTunes took it down from their movie rentals. You can only purchase it for $19.99. When I found out that Julie & Julia was on sale for just $7.50 at Walmart, I snatched it!

I loved the movie :) Jean-Louis was surprised to find that he liked it too. We had some good laughs and the movie really hit home with me. I related to Julia Child. When she mentioned that wives in France seemed to do nothing all day, I nodded and laughed. I was just like her. I lived in Paris while Jean-Louis worked. I was bored and cooking was my way of keeping busy. Well, it was one of the big things I did there anyway. For a period, I would "think about cooking all day" and then at night, I would think about it some more and even dream about cooking. Jean-Louis would tell me to talk about something else either than cooking, eating, or grocery shopping. Really, it was more like an obsession than a hobby. He enjoyed eating all the great food at least :)

Now, I blog. Not about cooking so much but about life as a mommy. I related to Julie Powell in the movie. She enjoyed cooking and she would go out of her way to do well. It was incredible that she cooked that many different recipes in a year. I think about it and it must have been so very exhausting for her to cook all that and blog while working full time at a job she hated. I definitely admire her.

The movie was shot back and forth from Julie in the current time to Julia in the past and it was nicely done. Jean-Louis and I both enjoyed it not only because we are both bloggers but also because we could relate to so much of the material in the film. If you love cooking, blogging, or even eating, watch Julie & Julia! Because of all the takes, some of the actors would not eat anything all day just so they could eat while acting on set. What a fun movie that would have been to make!

Plane ride back to Vancouver

We are back in Vancouver! Hooray! We also live to tell about our plane adventure :) Bring on the champagne!

I already told the tale about our 23 hour travel there. On the way back, we didn't have to take a train since we were already in Paris. That saved us at least 5 hours! We all hopped on a taxi to the airport and then took a roughly 12 hour flight back home. We had to order a taxi big enough to fit all of us since my parents-in-law wanted to see us off. We requested a car seat too but there wasn't one. Big surprise. The taxi sure was big enough and we also paid for it big time at a whopping $80 Euros. Then when we checked in, we found out we had to pay $144 for being excess 12 kg in our luggage. Damn. I knew we were over but that was a lot! The guy checking us in wasn't very nice too. Some times you get a nice person and they end up letting these things slide or charge you less. Nope, no mercy from this dude! They don't even take into account that we did not bring a playpen or car seat, which we could have easily check in at no charge. I guess even though we were not paying for Tristan's airline ticket, we were actually still paying for it through overweight luggage and crammed sitting space. But honestly, 23kg each for Jean-Louis and I was just not enough. I remember a time not too long ago when we were able to bring along 2 x 30kg each! Tristan's stuff took up most of our luggage space too. We barely bought anything. We were transporting tons of gifts back for him.

When we got on, we realized we had no aisle seat. I swear if we had a girl check us in instead of a guy, we would have definitely gotten an aisle seat. With all the commotion about the excess luggage, we totally forgot to request an aisle seat. Luckily, the passenger in the aisle didn't reject too much when we asked if she could switch seats with us. She wasn't very friendly though so we were a bit scared of her. The switch also split her up with her husband who also had an aisle seat across from her. Oops :( She may have been a grouchy senior but during the trip she actually complimented us by saying that "Tristan is lucky to have such nice parents." Grouchy lady was actually a nice lady after all :)

The second plane ride was much better. Tristan napped for about an hour in the beginning and then for about another hour near the end of the flight. When we noticed signs that he was super tired, we started to walk him up and down the aisle. As a result, he didn't go insane on us. He cried on and off but there was no vicious jerking and kicking like what happened on the flight to Paris. Eating was more of a challenge, especially because our airline, Air Transat, was less accommodating this time. They said we couldn't eat separately and we had to take all our food now or there might be none for us later. As a result, it was really crammed and challenging. Every time we had beverages, it was risky. A full glass of water got dumped on my lap and then at a later time, a hot tea spilled on Jean-Louis' lap. No fun at all!

This time around, there was no TV nearby to distract Tristan. There was also no annoying light from window shades nearby :) Once again, we had prepared a few newly wrapped toys and snacks for Tristan. He did so well that we even came home with some of the gifts unopened. In the last hour of the trip when we took off from our Calgary stop, he was in great spirits. We played and let him stand on the seat and he was goofing off with the passengers behind us. Since many passengers got off in Calgary, the lady at the window moved to sit with her husband and we had the window seat too. Tristan watched out the window when we took off and when we landed. He was more fascinated with opening and closing the window shade though :) I have to say the extra seat really made it more comfortable and spacial for all of us. Next time we go to France, Tristan will need his own seat and it should be much nicer. That and the fact that he will be older and more easy to handle :)

Boy, I cannot tell you how happy I am to have survived the trip and to be home. There is nothing like being home, especially when that home is in Vancouver :)

New milestones Tristan encountered on his first trip to France:

• First plane ride, first trip to France
  
• First train ride with his own designated seat
• First bus ride, first underground subway ride
• First meeting with his French grandparents, great grandfather, first cousins once removed, second cousins (according to the cousin's chart)
• Getting baptized at l'église Saint-Antoine de Padoue in Toulon
• First visit to Toulon, Nice, and Paris
• First visit to the zoo
• First white sand beach and foot dip in the Mediterranean Sea
  
• New French words spoken: non, bus, encore
• New Chinese words spoken: Gong, Ma
• New English words spoken: boat, help
  

Trip to Paris

It was a relief going to Paris. Paris is almost the opposite of Toulon. The city is always bustling in activity and there is almost too much to see and do. I wanted to go there for a few days to shop and sightsee with Tristan. I also had a friend I wanted to visit. Since it wasn't too far from Vernon, Jean-Louis' cousin and family took the train down to see us one afternoon as well. With so many plans, we didn't have a chance to do or see a lot :(

We stayed at a hotel by Montparnasse. My parents-in-law came along with us. They were still living in Paris the last time we visited but now they just come to visit every couple of months. When we arrived in Paris on the TGV, we had to take a taxi to the hotel. We had 2 big suitcases, maybe 5 carry-ons and handbags, plus a stroller. We waited to take the biggest taxi so that we could all go together but it just wasn't possible. The other problem is that none of the taxis have a car seat so I was upset. When we realized all of us wouldn't fit in one taxi and my father-in-law wanted to take two taxis, we said no and we told them we would walk to the hotel instead. I felt safer doing it this way since the French drive like mad and I really wanted a car seat. We ended up walking half way across Paris in probably 1.5 hours. It wasn't too bad except that we were carrying heavy bags and it was hot out. However, any walk in Paris is a lovely walk :) Unlike Toulon, many of the sidewalks are nicely paved and very wide too.

Our hotel stay included a buffet breakfast and dinner. It was nice because there was always something that Tristan could eat! Eating was fine for me but really stressful for my parents-in-law because we let Tristan eat on his own in the highchair and he would make a mess each time. Of course he will! He's only 18 months old. He may make a mess but a lot of the food actually ends up in his mouth. They were embarrassed because we were in a public place and thought we should have fed him instead. Here is the thing. Tristan was brought up eating on his own. He has been doing it since probably 9 months old so needless to say, he won't want us to feed him. He wants to do it all himself. We also tried to feed him things we knew he would eat too to minimize the mess.

We went to Ladurée, a fancy salon de tea, in Printemps with the family. We munched on delicious macaroons and had espressos. There, we also found out that it costs 1Euro to pee without a restaurant coupon. If you want to change a baby's diaper, it will cost you 2Euros. What!! There was no way we were paying 2Euros just for a clean diaper room. We took a stroll in the Parc Monceau and changed Tristan's diaper in the stroller there. For FREE! Take that Paris!

We soon learned that Paris is just not baby-friendly. Sure, they may have tons of beautiful baby and children clothing stores but it's no city for parents with small children. Buses are ok to take but they are slow and the subway is brutal for strollers. Unfortunately since we were pressed for time, we had to rough it in the dirty subway. I would carry Tristan in my arms and Jean-Louis would carry the stroller down or up the stairs. A few of the big subway stations had a stroller access once you are inside the station but most of them don't. We had to disassemble our bugaboo stroller into two parts and slide it through the gate at the top. All this while juggling Tristan and bags in our hands :( We were really sweating it too. I forget how hot it was down there!

Walking through Paris, brought back so many memories. I sure miss the shopping paradise. The elegant shops, great choices of styles, restaurants etc. What I didn't miss was the cigarette smoke and I smelled it almost everywhere we went. Yuck! The longer we stayed, the more I realized I couldn't live in Paris anymore and am so glad we live in Vancouver. It's hard to believe we lived there for so long. I was unhappy when it was just the two of us but now with Tristan, it would be a nightmare! I couldn't wait to go home :(

Tristan gets baptized at l'église Saint-Antoine de Padoue

From the moment Tristan was born or maybe even while I was still pregnant with him, Jean-Louis' mother (my mother-in-law), had wanted to get him baptized. She is Catholic and everyone in the family has been baptized so she needed Tristan to be as well. We went along with it to please her.

Jean-Louis was raised Catholic and I was raised Buddhist but neither of us practice religion at all. We know how his mom is like and if we objected at all, we would be in trouble! However, we did make it clear that we wouldn't be raising him Catholic and that we're only doing this for her and Jean-Louis' late grandmother, who passed away last year.

The event took place at l'église Saint-Antoine de Padoue in Toulon. There were two babies being baptized at the same time. The other was a little girl named Stella. Normally, parents get their children baptized when they are around 6 months old but they had to make an exception for us since we lived out of the country far away. 18 months old? Maybe a bit strange but no problem :)

The ceremony took about an hour to complete. I did not even try to listen and understand what they were saying or singing since I was focused on keeping Tristan quiet and happy. There were lots of church choir singing and passage readings. The priest applied oil on Tristan's forehead at one point but the climax of the event was when water was poured on Tristan's head. That was the only thing I expected to see. They did the baby girl first since they thought Tristan would be more difficult. The baby girl was sleeping at the time but then cried anyways. Tristan was remarkably quiet and didn't even whine. He just had a confused look on his face like what the heck is going on? We walked around the church and read more passages and listened to the priest. Then we all signed papers. After that we all walked outside the church.

Everyone was so surprised and pleased with how well-behaved Tristan was during the whole ceremony, including myself. The event took place when he was suppose to have lunch and it ended around the time he should have been napping. Once it ended and we were outside the church, we gave him his milk right away. Moments later in the car ride back home, he passed out. Poor little guy :(

Later that afternoon, we all reunited at Jean-Louis' grandfather's place and had dessert and champagne. With many of us dressed up and wearing white, the ceremony at the church, and then the champagne, it really did feel like a wedding. I would call the day a success and I hope my mother-in-law agrees with me too :)

Day trip to Nice through pictures

Nice is a 1.5 hour drive from Toulon. The views of the beach are really eye candy down there. If I lived down there I would run along the Promenade des Anglais every day! It's just beautiful. Since it's so close to Italy, it's also a great place to have real wood oven Italian pizza. Yum! We sort of went down there for lunch :)

Family time and touring in Toulon

It took five days for Tristan to recover from jet lag. It was kind of horrible. There is a 9 hour difference between Vancouver and France. Typically, we can adjust to the new time zone in a day or so but we found out the hard way that we could only adjust as quickly as Tristan could. When he would wake at 2AM several days in a row, we felt like we were back in the newborn days. We were so tired! He had a hard time adjusting to the changes too and he had trouble sleeping and would cry more often too. For the first five days, we basically didn't do anything aside from visiting with Jean-Louis' grandfather.



This was a family trip. We knew that it would be so we didn't expect much fun from it. The plan was for Tristan to meet his family on Jean-Louis' side and to get to know them a little better. But two weeks of just that is a long time. We found ourselves very bored. This is usually the case anyways when we visit France. Toulon, in particular is pretty boring. Sure there are beaches and shops but after two days, you just get bored. Nearby Toulon is much more interesting but we have to drive out. My favorite part of Toulon is definitely their farmer's market. Strawberries and cherries were in season and Tristan couldn't get enough of them!



Tristan was in new territory and was fascinated. He would run everywhere, touch and grab everything in sight. He learned quickly where things were and when we would release him in the morning, he would go to the same places and start pushing buttons and turning knobs. He would climb where he could and when we wouldn't let him do something, which was often the case since my parents in law's place was not baby proofed, he would some times throw tantrums. He acted out on us because we imposed too many boundaries on him and he was turning into a terrible two before our eyes.

It was great for Jean-Louis' parents to finally meet their only grandchild. Tristan was mostly scared of them since they were like strangers to him so we never left Tristan with them. They are also not used to being around small children and we weren't sure if we could trust them with Tristan's safety. Just from our observations, we didn't think they could last more than 5 minutes alone with our hyper-active toddler :)

In terms of having lots of family time, this trip was a success. We got to see everyone in the family. Jean-Louis doesn't have a very big family so it wasn't too hard. His two cousins and their kids came to see us. One drove into Toulon from Orange and the other took the train and met us in Paris from Vernon. It was great for Tristan to be around some children during the trip, even though it was only for a couple of hours at a time. I think it worked well because everyone was looking forward to meeting Tristan for the first time. Of course, that also meant that he was spoiled! It was great though :)