Here is a picture of the new nephew with his sister, Charlotte.
23 August 2006
14 August 2006
Paris and all that comes after
Ok, so I'm waaaaayyyyy behind on my blog, and I have some time now, so this is going to be a long one. I'll give you a chance to get something to eat/drink, and settle into your chair/couch or whatever you're sitting on!
"Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin.."
So, after Greece, I was back in London for a week getting ready for our board meeting, which was on the following Thursday. Paul found out on the Monday that he had an extra week of leave, so he was able to come to Paris for the weekend with me. I was psyched! So I went early on Thursday morning, did the board meeting, and then Paul followed later and I met him at the train station. (Oh yeah, we travelled via Eurostar in the tunnel under the English Channel (the chunnel). It wasn't really a big deal, just 20 minutes of darkness, and then you were in France!)
We got to the hotel, which was a 2-star, but clean and decent and cheap (£40 per night!). It was in the Montmartre district, which is traditionally very artsy. It was right by the metro station (the Paris subway system), so that was handy. We had a fantastic time - it was romantic and fun and we laughed a lot! We climbed (yes climbed!) up the Eiffel Tower, and stopped at little sidewalk cafes for wine (no coffee - it was sweltering!) and went to the Latin Quarter and Notre Dame and the Champs Elysses and l'Arc de Triomphe. We found a little jazz club with some advice from Will, who used to live in Paris) and sat outside and listened to the music. The food was very nice most of the places we went to but expensive. On the whole, it is an expensive place to visit.
As for the language, I did pretty good with my very limited French. Paul doesn't speak any, so I did most of the talking and was quite proud of myself! I managed to order in restaurants, ask where things were, and pick up croissants and coffee for breakfast from the local patisserie. It was fun "flexing my language muscles", and I'm looking forward to going again with my mom and dad in the autumn.
So, Paris was lovely, and even Paul liked it, despite the fact that it's full of French people!Pictures are here:
http://www.chrisinchiswick.zoomshare.com/1.shtml/Paris
Back to work the next week - Kevin was gone on holidays, so it wasn't too busy. In fact, the summer slow-down has hit (I was warned of this), so it's been downright boring around here! I took on the project that week of hiring an administrative assistant to take over some of the more mundane parts of my job, like answering phones and whatnot, so I can concentrate on more in-depth and interesting thing. She starts on the 21st of August. She's a nice girl, but very young and will need lots and lots of training. Fortunately, for the first time in my life, I actually have time to train someone!!
The following weekend, Paul's twin daughters were visiting - he had them for about 10 days. We took them to the zoo and I took them on a open-top double-decker bus tour of downtown London, and on a river cruise. It was the first time they had ever been on a boat! They loved it all - didn't even get too bored on the bus tour, although most of it was over their heads. They loved all the statues.
On the Saturday, when we went to the zoo, an old friend of mine, James Wiebe, met up with us. We got in contact through our mothers - I've known him since we were little, but we had lost touch. He flies for Air Canada and is London all the time with work. It was SO good to see him again and catch up! He went around the zoo with us, and then we headed down to Covent Garden to eat at the Maple Leaf pub. They wouldn't let us in after 5:00 pm with the girls, so we went down the street to TGI Fridays. Anyway, we spent a lot of time with him, and it was great seeing him again!!
So the next week Paul took the girls up to Lancashire to see his mom and family, and I just kept my head down and worked and enjoyed the time to myself! I love the girls to bits, but they are exhausting. Here is a picture of them with their dad.
"Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin.."
So, after Greece, I was back in London for a week getting ready for our board meeting, which was on the following Thursday. Paul found out on the Monday that he had an extra week of leave, so he was able to come to Paris for the weekend with me. I was psyched! So I went early on Thursday morning, did the board meeting, and then Paul followed later and I met him at the train station. (Oh yeah, we travelled via Eurostar in the tunnel under the English Channel (the chunnel). It wasn't really a big deal, just 20 minutes of darkness, and then you were in France!)
We got to the hotel, which was a 2-star, but clean and decent and cheap (£40 per night!). It was in the Montmartre district, which is traditionally very artsy. It was right by the metro station (the Paris subway system), so that was handy. We had a fantastic time - it was romantic and fun and we laughed a lot! We climbed (yes climbed!) up the Eiffel Tower, and stopped at little sidewalk cafes for wine (no coffee - it was sweltering!) and went to the Latin Quarter and Notre Dame and the Champs Elysses and l'Arc de Triomphe. We found a little jazz club with some advice from Will, who used to live in Paris) and sat outside and listened to the music. The food was very nice most of the places we went to but expensive. On the whole, it is an expensive place to visit.
As for the language, I did pretty good with my very limited French. Paul doesn't speak any, so I did most of the talking and was quite proud of myself! I managed to order in restaurants, ask where things were, and pick up croissants and coffee for breakfast from the local patisserie. It was fun "flexing my language muscles", and I'm looking forward to going again with my mom and dad in the autumn.
So, Paris was lovely, and even Paul liked it, despite the fact that it's full of French people!Pictures are here:
http://www.chrisinchiswick.zoomshare.com/1.shtml/Paris
Back to work the next week - Kevin was gone on holidays, so it wasn't too busy. In fact, the summer slow-down has hit (I was warned of this), so it's been downright boring around here! I took on the project that week of hiring an administrative assistant to take over some of the more mundane parts of my job, like answering phones and whatnot, so I can concentrate on more in-depth and interesting thing. She starts on the 21st of August. She's a nice girl, but very young and will need lots and lots of training. Fortunately, for the first time in my life, I actually have time to train someone!!
The following weekend, Paul's twin daughters were visiting - he had them for about 10 days. We took them to the zoo and I took them on a open-top double-decker bus tour of downtown London, and on a river cruise. It was the first time they had ever been on a boat! They loved it all - didn't even get too bored on the bus tour, although most of it was over their heads. They loved all the statues.
On the Saturday, when we went to the zoo, an old friend of mine, James Wiebe, met up with us. We got in contact through our mothers - I've known him since we were little, but we had lost touch. He flies for Air Canada and is London all the time with work. It was SO good to see him again and catch up! He went around the zoo with us, and then we headed down to Covent Garden to eat at the Maple Leaf pub. They wouldn't let us in after 5:00 pm with the girls, so we went down the street to TGI Fridays. Anyway, we spent a lot of time with him, and it was great seeing him again!!
So the next week Paul took the girls up to Lancashire to see his mom and family, and I just kept my head down and worked and enjoyed the time to myself! I love the girls to bits, but they are exhausting. Here is a picture of them with their dad.
They were back the following weekend, and it was more activities...these will follow in the next blog (because I haven't downloaded the pictures yet!)
On August 2, 2006, the newest addition to the Penner family came into the world. Davis William Penner was born at 12:46 weighing in at a whopping 10 lbs! And he continues to grow. I would put pictures here, but they still haven't sent us any! It's a bit of a sore point! lol
03 August 2006
The Past Month - Part II
So, the next day, we fly off to the island of Kos. We get to the airport there - which is in the middle of the island and not close to any town - and it is hot and dusty. I go outside to get a cab, and I see a dog lying on its side by the kerb. So, I'm thinking it must be dead or something and how gross is that. Then a taxi comes flying up, swerves around the dog and stops. The dog doesn't move a muscle. It must be dead! I go over. No, she's very much alive. I find out from the cabbies that she lives there at the airport! She's very friendly and loved the petting, but didn't try to follow me or anything. And the cabs and buses just drove around her! It was rather funny, and a good intro to the laid-back life in Kos.
We got to the hotel, which was one of those big resort complexes. Uncle Jac called it The Institution and kept making jokes about Matron! It was full of kids and they played music all day by the pool. The beach was just gravel, so we gave it a miss. It was a ways out of Kos Town, about a half hour walk, so not terribly convenient. Plus, the restaurants only served meals at certain times! We really didn't do much at the hotel as it wasn't our scene.
By now it was quite late in the day and we hadn't eaten lunch, so we started walking back towards town, jumped on a bus that came along and jumped off at a nice little "taverna" by the sea. It was like something out of the movie, "Shirley Valentine". We could see the coast of Turkey across the strait, and we had a light meal, a light wine and enjoyed the scenery. It was fantastic! We must have stayed there for an hour after we ate, just enjoying the scenery, sun and talking.
Headed back to the hotel and relaxed for the evening. I went and had a swim after a while, since all the kids were finally gone. The water was lovely, but a bit cool. Nice mild evening, spent a good chunk of the evening sitting on the patio reading.
The next morning we decided to rent bicycles and use them to get around. The bikes were cheap (only about $10 for the day) and we had a blast riding around on them. Parked and locked them by the port in Kos Town and looked around. Found out it was only a 15 minute hydrofoil ride over to Turkey! We didn't have time to go, and if I had been staying longer, I would have, but I had to leave the next day to get back to work. :(
We went into Old Town and looked around at the shops. It was my last day to purchase gifts, so I needed to get on it, as I hadn't got anything for Paul's girls, or for Paul! We found a wonderful spice market and I got some whole nutmeg and cinnamon and some dried chives. All quite inexpensive and very fresh! Also got some honey with nuts marinating in it. MMMM! Honey is one of Kos' specialties.
We ran into a colleague of Uncle Jac's, I shall call them Jennifer and Mike (mostly because I can't remember their real names!). Jennifer works with Uncle Jac at the university in Sydney, Australia, and they were there for the same conference. We made plans to go for dinner later. Uncle Jac headed off shortly thereafter because he was tired of shopping (typical man!) and wanted to hit a beach.
I kept walking around the streets and stumbled upon this amazing archeological site! There were lots of old ruins, and you could just wander around them to your heart's content. There were some dating back to the 2nd century BC, and amazingly intact mosaics and frescos! I've discovered that it was quite common over the centuries to build a new building on the site of an old one, using the same stones from the old building. Some of the more delicate mosaics and frescos were covered over by a roof and had railings around so you couldn't walk on them, but I couldn't believe how it was just out there to wander around in. There was amazingly sophisticated drainage and piping for water and sewage. Everything was so solidly built and so well preserved. It was so, so cool!!!
Eventually I decided to head back to the hotel, so I went and got my bike and started riding back. I took a wrong turn and ended up on this back road touring rural Kos! It was quite interesting seeing things away from the tourist areas - farmyards with chickens running around, people living in stone buildings that looked hundred and hundreds of years old. I found my way back and headed back to the hotel.
We met up with Jennifer and Mike at about 6:30. I forgot to tell you that they are both Greek descent, although they were born in Australia. Everything in the movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is true - they both had to go to Greek school while they were growing up. So, they were invaluable at the restaurant. We went to a restaurant that was recommended in my guide book. It looked pretty tacky when we got there, but the food was amazing. We were there for 5 hours, eating and drinking. It was some of the best Greek food I'd had the whole time. It was aboslutely brilliant! We finished off the evening with Greek coffee (which looks and tastes like coffee-flavoured mud) and baklava. It was a lovely evening.
The next day I had to leave. I packed up and we sat on the grass in the sun for about an hour until it was time to catch the taxi. I had such a lovely time and I really want to go back again. It was so great to be able to spend all that time with Uncle Jac and we plan to go travelling together next summer in Europe.
Here are the pictures from Kos.
http://www.chrisinchiswick.zoomshare.com/1.shtml/Adventures%20in%20Kos
We got to the hotel, which was one of those big resort complexes. Uncle Jac called it The Institution and kept making jokes about Matron! It was full of kids and they played music all day by the pool. The beach was just gravel, so we gave it a miss. It was a ways out of Kos Town, about a half hour walk, so not terribly convenient. Plus, the restaurants only served meals at certain times! We really didn't do much at the hotel as it wasn't our scene.
By now it was quite late in the day and we hadn't eaten lunch, so we started walking back towards town, jumped on a bus that came along and jumped off at a nice little "taverna" by the sea. It was like something out of the movie, "Shirley Valentine". We could see the coast of Turkey across the strait, and we had a light meal, a light wine and enjoyed the scenery. It was fantastic! We must have stayed there for an hour after we ate, just enjoying the scenery, sun and talking.
Headed back to the hotel and relaxed for the evening. I went and had a swim after a while, since all the kids were finally gone. The water was lovely, but a bit cool. Nice mild evening, spent a good chunk of the evening sitting on the patio reading.
The next morning we decided to rent bicycles and use them to get around. The bikes were cheap (only about $10 for the day) and we had a blast riding around on them. Parked and locked them by the port in Kos Town and looked around. Found out it was only a 15 minute hydrofoil ride over to Turkey! We didn't have time to go, and if I had been staying longer, I would have, but I had to leave the next day to get back to work. :(
We went into Old Town and looked around at the shops. It was my last day to purchase gifts, so I needed to get on it, as I hadn't got anything for Paul's girls, or for Paul! We found a wonderful spice market and I got some whole nutmeg and cinnamon and some dried chives. All quite inexpensive and very fresh! Also got some honey with nuts marinating in it. MMMM! Honey is one of Kos' specialties.
We ran into a colleague of Uncle Jac's, I shall call them Jennifer and Mike (mostly because I can't remember their real names!). Jennifer works with Uncle Jac at the university in Sydney, Australia, and they were there for the same conference. We made plans to go for dinner later. Uncle Jac headed off shortly thereafter because he was tired of shopping (typical man!) and wanted to hit a beach.
I kept walking around the streets and stumbled upon this amazing archeological site! There were lots of old ruins, and you could just wander around them to your heart's content. There were some dating back to the 2nd century BC, and amazingly intact mosaics and frescos! I've discovered that it was quite common over the centuries to build a new building on the site of an old one, using the same stones from the old building. Some of the more delicate mosaics and frescos were covered over by a roof and had railings around so you couldn't walk on them, but I couldn't believe how it was just out there to wander around in. There was amazingly sophisticated drainage and piping for water and sewage. Everything was so solidly built and so well preserved. It was so, so cool!!!
Eventually I decided to head back to the hotel, so I went and got my bike and started riding back. I took a wrong turn and ended up on this back road touring rural Kos! It was quite interesting seeing things away from the tourist areas - farmyards with chickens running around, people living in stone buildings that looked hundred and hundreds of years old. I found my way back and headed back to the hotel.
We met up with Jennifer and Mike at about 6:30. I forgot to tell you that they are both Greek descent, although they were born in Australia. Everything in the movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is true - they both had to go to Greek school while they were growing up. So, they were invaluable at the restaurant. We went to a restaurant that was recommended in my guide book. It looked pretty tacky when we got there, but the food was amazing. We were there for 5 hours, eating and drinking. It was some of the best Greek food I'd had the whole time. It was aboslutely brilliant! We finished off the evening with Greek coffee (which looks and tastes like coffee-flavoured mud) and baklava. It was a lovely evening.
The next day I had to leave. I packed up and we sat on the grass in the sun for about an hour until it was time to catch the taxi. I had such a lovely time and I really want to go back again. It was so great to be able to spend all that time with Uncle Jac and we plan to go travelling together next summer in Europe.
Here are the pictures from Kos.
http://www.chrisinchiswick.zoomshare.com/1.shtml/Adventures%20in%20Kos
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