Friday:
Today my mom wasn’t feeling so hot so Marie brought out the crochet project she had started in Canada so that my mom could keep occupied while resting up. Marie and I went to Bordeaux and went down one of the busiest shopping streets and I was in heaven with all the wicked awesome hippie shops and even a shop similar to Blame Betty. I had a hard time not buying everything I saw and managed to be reasonable with a few choice purchases and a few gifts. I have decided that if I ever have need to replace my entire wardrobe, I would be able to do it on this street alone and the places I went were quite reasonable in price too. I gave in to my horrible craving for french fries so we went to McDo’s, sadly they have discontinued the Royale with Cheese that Samuel L Jackson spoke so highly of in Pulp Fiction. Also, it’s insane how much people eat here, I’ve been eating more than usual and was asked if I was on a diet. Marie and I got home and I got Nintendo thumb from playing Wii. Then we ate with the boys staring at the TV for the first world cup game then went back to playing Wii until I got tired of smashing Diddy Kong’s motorbike into walls and falling off cliffs in Mario Kart.

Saturday:
Went to the street market near the house and had the best Churro’s ever, (called Chi Chi’s in France) my mom says they’re even better than the ones in Spain. We all had lunch and said our goodbye’s and as usual, wished we had more time. Marie and Jeremy drove us to the train station, past the prostitutes which are usually out only at night but seem to be out during the day now to help with the recession. We arrived at a town near our destination where my aunt Genevieve picked us up and an hour later were at her chalet in Noirmoutier. Noirmoutier is an island or peninsula depending on the time of day due to the tides. Every 6 hours the road is either cleared or covered by the sea. The chalet is beautiful and very close to a quiet beach and I even managed to score my very own room, first time since my apartment in Seville. We had dinner at the chalet where my cousin Frederic and his sons, Paul and Thomas, joined us and were once again stuffed to the gills. The boys were near asleep during dinner and went back to their own chalet to bed and I went to bed early too (early here is before midnight) and left the grownups to stay up late chatting. It’s wierd that I feel very much like a 14 year old now that I’m traveling with my mother, maybe because I was 14 the last time. I keep having to remember that I’m 30 something with a husband, job and mortgage :)

Sunday:
Today we went to the fish market to get supplies for dinner. So shiny! Probably the fanciest one I’ve seen in all my travels and we picked up some crabs and fish for the cats. Afterwards we went to watch the tide come in and cover the road and saw all the dummies try and go when it was too late and they had to turn around. My poor momma was beside herself worried that the people walking about wouldn’t make it to safety in time but there were fortunately no fatalities today. We went home for lunch and while my mom rested, Genevieve and I went on a hunt for some kittens who were on the lam with their mother so that we could take them to the shelter to get adopted. They were pretty angry as soon as they saw me with the cat carrier and put up quite a fuss and they only managed to catch one of the kittens, I was completely useless but the two ladies managed quite well on their own. One had been abandoned earlier so it was at the neighbours house, leaving us with three kittens and the momma to catch. We put the new catch with it’s sibling and watched them explore their surroundings and play a bit before Genevieve took me and momma on a tour of our little island. It’s only 15km long and 1-7km wide and very picturesque. Went back to the house to meet Christianne who is the mother of my twin nephews who had come to pick them up from my cousin Frederic’s. We had originally counted on 7 for dinner instead of just the girls so we had a massive amount of mussels to go through which we gladly did. We caught some photos of Frederic, Christianne and the boys (16 year old giants, Paul and Thomas) before they left back home for school the next day. The day ended with all but Genevieve exhausted. I had heard rumours of her massive quantities of energy but she has to be seen to be believed. Besides today’s shopping, cooking, driving, cat hunting adventure; the day before, she had driven all over Paris and then to Noirmoutier (4-5 hours) and then to pick us up. The day before that she was jetlagged from the plane coming back from Peru after being stopped by a blockade post Machu Pichu, slept on a bus, and had to walk 10km at a high altitude to her hotel. I should also mention that she is 75.

Monday:
Went to town for more groceries and my mom wanted something for her cough, the rain almost every day that started in Bilbao was taking it’s toll on her. (she’s much better at the time of this writing). We had another fantastic lunch after which I got smacked in the head with my first full-on migraine this trip. My head has hurt a little most mornings but this was the disorienting, dizzy making, sound sensitive, bitchy making, ear ringing kind so I went straight to bed. I got woken up to help at the neighbours with their computer which was a shock to the system, 6 people talking all at once, ouch! I did my duty and went back to bed. Fortunately when I woke up the second time, it was nearly gone, my shortest one ever! After the hell I had in my head most of December and January, I was quite pleased. Also turned out that while I was sleeping there had been a big storm which was likely the trigger. For dinner we ate the giant crabs we had gotten the day before and went to bed stuffed. Seriously, it’s curious that there’s no obesity epidemic here! Every meal is huge with a minimum of 3 courses, I’m usually full after the first but I have to keep eating, first to be polite, second because everything is so good! Most of the food is really fresh with elements from their own and nearby gardens.

Tuesday:
We packed up and said goodbye to Noirmoutier. It wasn’t a terribly sad goodbye as it had been quite chilly so we weren’t going to miss out on the beach, just the beauty. It took us a while to get going because we found out the momma cat that had been taken in to be spayed had to be put down because she had aids. I didn’t even know cats could get it and the neighbour was quite upset about it. We got going and a couple hours in we stopped near Le Mans to visit my cousin Isy, painteuse extraordinaire. Last time I was here, she lived in this super modern flat in the middle of Paris, with crooked walls and doorways. Now she lives on a beautiful lot in the country with a big garden and a massive yard. We had a delicious dinner and a good session of goofing around and catching up before we hit the highway to Antony, a small city on the outskirts of Paris where my aunt Genevieve lives when she’s not at her chalet. We finally arrived just past midnight to several messages from my sister. The papers have been signed and she and the family will be moving to China the day after I arrive from Amsterdam. Also heard news that my very sick in-law is now walking a bit and will be out of ICU soon, though he still has a long road ahead to recovery.

Wednesday:
Woke up to more bad news about the cats, the kittens had aids too and had to be put down. Boo! No more kitties. I got a hold of my cousin Chris’ lady Betty and we made plans to see eachother the following evening. This cousin is from Calgary but living in Paris, no complicated family tree connections for this one, our dad’s are brothers. I saw him last in Mexico for his sister’s wedding, first time in many years. The trick to seeing this mystical cousin of mine is to be abroad. Genevieve took us on a tour of Antony, first to her favorite park, this elaborate location was built as a picnicking and hunting location for the royal family. From there, to her favorite mall where a girl that helped me when I bought a brush that wouldn’t destroy my hair spoke to us in perfect Castillian and loaded me up with samples of French perfume. Time for dinner so we went to my cousin Katrine’s (Frederic’s sister) for dinner at her lovely home with a gated entry. It was my first time meeting her and her husband and we had the privilege of spending the evening of their 31st wedding anniversary with them. As they both work for IBM, there was a laptop that we were able to use to book the next leg of our journey, next stop Newcastle! Got home to call my sister and my mom spoke to a very excited grand-daughter who was confirming her attendance to her 7th birthday party. Her next birthday in Canada might not be until she’s 12!

Thursday:
Last day in France, a great way to start it was to wake up stupid early and not be able to fall back asleep. Did my last load of laundry for a while, including my long pants and hoodie, before realizing it was going to be chilly and rainy all day, oops! Fortunately had a bit of a snooze after lunch before Genevieve took us on a whirlwind tour of Paris by car and there was some kind of protest that made the roads difficult to navigate reasonably but we still managed to drive by all the major sights and take a few token photos, like the pyramid thingy that’s just like in that movie The Davinci Code and there’s a big tall pointy thing that I saw on some t-shirts and stuff. As I’d been here before it wasn’t a big deal to see everything for the sake of seeing things but I’d like to come again and wander for a few days at my own pace in the future, hopefully with a little sunshine. Genevieve dropped us off with plenty of time to meet Chris and Betty, but not enough time to get any interwebs access which we’re starting to feel quite desperate for at this point since we need tomorrow’s flight and terminal info and we’d like to line up a place to stay in Newcastle tomorrow night. It was much easier for me to find Internet cafe’s in India, this last month has been brutal as we’ve had none where we’ve been staying and there have been no cafe’s nearby so it’s just been a couple minutes here and there at someone’s house which is kinda awkward when you’re trying to visit and isn’t really enough time to do any kind of research. Anyways, met with Chris and Betty for a lovely reunion and went for Columbian food, nearly everyone was speaking Spanish and cheering for the Mexican team that was playing France, much to the disgust of the one French couple sitting next to us. My mom and I have been speaking more Spanish in France than we did in Spain and I can tell it’s all starting to blend together for her now as I busted her translating my English into her English to my Spanish speaking French aunt, we switch back and forth without even noticing half the time. We said ‘hasta proximo’ to Chris and Betty with besos and took the train home. I prescribed her Ativan before bed as the day had been rather overwhelming, for me the traffic chaos isn’t so bad as I was in the backseat and I’ve been in India, but for her she was hitting her invisible brakes from the passenger side for a large part of the day and it’s hard work with Genevieve at the wheel :) hoping for some calm in Newcastle for her to recoup a bit before we start doing the stuff we planned.

I now have a lot of chill time in my future as my plans for Kashmir are kaput due to instability in the region so I’m just going to chill in Goa, get my yo-groove back and read some books, I’ve got a list of them to pick up once I’m in English land. Next challenge, find a hotel/hut/hostel during monsoon…