Hello River

It's hot. Oh boy is it hot.

Especially as we just came from the wintry southern hemisphere!

Today should reach the high 30's centigrade (100's f)

What to do?

White Water Rafting on the American River.... As you do...

The last time I went white water rafting I think I was about 15 and exploring Australia for the first time, and boy it was fun. This time it's me and Randall, Liana and Liam, my sister and hubby, my bestie Cathy and her boyfriend and other assortment of cousins and nephews....

We have enough for a few raft fulls just us! But many people are lined up for the river ride today. This is the thing to do on a hot summer Saturday! The river is dammed upstream and they let the water out at certain times of the day.... So we wait for the river and enjoy a picnic lunch. Pretty soon the rush and the roar of the river is clear and we are herded down to the awaiting rafts for a briefing. This is pretty standard stuff for our river guides. Randall and the kids get an old salt as a guide while I ended up in the boat with a guide who can't be too much older than Liana herself, but seems very confident....

Let's hope so, because I suddenly have one of my manic mummy moments and can just about see one of my precious children getting thrown from the raft and sucked into some underwater hole, held under by the swift current. Drowning. Oh god. What the heck is wrong with me? How about I put those thoughts aside and listen to the reasonable side of my brain. Which clearly states that a) thousands of people do this every day with no problem b) I've done it before and it's both fun and safe c) they wouldn't take this many tourists if it was in any way unsafe, after all this is America the land of the law suit ya know! and d) my kids are both level headed confident swimmers who are capable of taking care of themselves in the unlikely situation that they get thrown from a boat....

Ok, I really tried to listen. I decide that I need to just pretend I am that 15 year old person that didn't have fear and was interested in experiencing life, not being paralized with fear! Gosh, what happened to me? Do all parents have this transformation????

And so we push off.

It feels so good to be on the river.

It starts off so calmly, floating gently down the river, kind of like a ride in Disneyland! It's easy to admire the golden hills, the blue sky and the clear water. We are a bit baked by the sun and soon we hit a small rapid and the river guide tells us to jump in. So instead of white water rafting our first rapid, we end up white water floating it. All good. The river is freezing. The cold hits your bones!

Keeping us cool for the hours ahead of us.

We do hit bigger rapids. As the river meanders down, the valley gradually gets steeper and steeper, and the rapids get longer... Finally we hit the gorge and it's a series of grade 3 and 4 rapids which have us wet, screaming and laughing all at once! (The three hour build up to it made me forget the silly mummy that started out and allowed me to just relax and have fun, thank god!)

Five hours of wet and wild fun later we board a bus back to Coloma.

As we drag our sun burned selves back to the cabin we realize that someone has done a raid on Costco and that there is more food piled up at our house than can possibly be consumed in the next three days! But never the less. We try!

I don't get a shower till well after midnight that night. I was too busy eating, swapping stories with my family and challenging various cousins to Banangram tournaments. (An absolutely addictive game - something like scrabble, only better!)

But when I closed my eyes all I could see were rolling yellow hills and languid waters that started us off on our raft this morning.

Ah, nature. You can calm anything. Even a mum's loss of herself.

Coloma, Califonia - Family Reunion!

It's been years and years since my mom's side of the family were all together.

As children all of us cousins would have big gatherings over easter and fiercely compete over who was going to find the most Easter eggs. But then we all grew up and got busy with life. But now we are all in the parenthood phase of our lives and it seems only right that we have gravitated towards one another again. And it is so very natural that our kids should all laugh and play together, as we once did.

And so we headed east from the out skirts of San Francisco and through the wide, dry and hot Central Valley of California. Past Sacramento, the state's capital city, and up into the foothills of the mountains that rise up in the east. The foothills here are dusty and covered with oak trees. The rivers that run through it are filled with snow melt from the Sierra Nevada Mountains. And once upon a time those rivers brought something else with them besides the all important ingredient of water... Gold...

But more on that interestingly shiny phenomenon later in the week. For now our family was happy to be transversing the Central Valley and finding our way to the small river resort of Coloma California. The town sits on the sight of the happy incident of the discovery of the first Gold Nugget. It's been deemed a historic site and is part of the national park system. Old remnants of the mill and miners equipment lie along the river, reminding us of the gold rush of 1849.....

My sister has been the instigator of this family reunion. And it was the perfect choice for our families all to come together in as we all share the summer memories of gold panning from our youths. I suppose it is natural when the generation before you passes on the balance of power shifts and a new shuffling comes about. My sister brings her quiet matriarchal mark to the family and if it weren't for her there wouldn't be 50 plus people coming from all over the United States to descend upon this sleepy little camp sight. Quite a feat really, especially when you think of the logistics of where everyone is coming from. Even though we get the award for longest distance traveled, a good many US states are represented: Utah, California, Texas, Arkansas, Georgia, New York.... 

I have always envied families that live close together and enjoy Sunday roasts and can watch every soccer match and ballet show. But fate didn't give that to me, and I supose that is what I am creating in my own lovely little family unit. But then I supose the grass is always greener and for me the idea of coming together after so long apart has such a charge that it must come from my childhood. Look out if there are any Cadburry Chocolate eggs!

Once we cross over the American river via a narrow one laned cement bridge we find our campsite sitting right on the river. Sweet! We are booked into what I think is just a cabin, but in reality when we get there we find it is actually an old care-takers house - complete with air conditioning, full kitchen, two bedrooms and a huge living room and wrap around porch! We have just scored "the" place to be for the weekend. Enough room for everyone to squeeze in and jostle around in good humored comradery.

And no sooner had we dropped our bags than we hit the river and start finding the cousins.... There is something very special about blood links, and within oh, about 20 seconds everyone had found friends and were busy in their "getting to know you". Commence a black berry picking good time!

And so the family reunion begins.....

Arrival... Sensing California

The Sense of Feel must be one of the most overlooked senses we have. And when you travel it suddenly pops out into the foreground of your consciousness.

If you think about it you'll agree - every place has a different feel. And you can't just say the sensation is wholly in the temperature! The tropics in summer are not just hot, they are humidly hot and clammy and you feel like you are enveloped in a soup of thick fragrant air. And the mountains in winter are not just cold, they are a unique crispy cold, with the dry tanginess of snow. Each and every place, has it's own distinctive "feel" to it.

And that is what I was pondering in the airport terminal after finally arriving in San Francisco airport. As you do while waiting in the interminable line through customs!

That and how the air at the airport always has the same, mechanically sterile feel, complementing the grainy exhausted feel of your body that comes from an all night flight.... 

But once you step outside SFO the first hints of the cold San Francisco Bay air hits you, mingled with the hot dry inland hills. Both marine and dessert at the same time. Ah, coastal California, how I have missed you!

We are planning to spend the first two nights of our California trek with our friends who live in Danville (east of San Fran) so in due course we rent our car and start the drive. The kids are exhausted, and half fall asleep and the other half bicker during the car ride. Standard stuff for long haul travel with kids, it's not for the faint of heart, that is for sure. We drive the hour and a half through the ticky tack housing complexes, seemingly endless shopping malls and up through the rolling yellow hills that, despite the ever expanding population of the Bay Area, are still dotted with oak trees.

Our friends have a lovely house in a gated community and we arrive just as the temperature is hitting the high 30's Centegrade. The dry, oven like air is a fire blast when we open the car doors and a reminder of the scorching interior of the Central Valley of California. It's not long before we find our way to the pool to cool off. The lovely cool water cleaning off the grime of the travel from the last 24 hours. 

We end up staying up well into the night BBQing with friends that Randall has only ever told me about. I feel a bit drunk with lack of sleep so that I wonder what my first impression was, but then I was too tired to care. And it's good to have faces to names and feel the connection to our California community. 

The next day I embarrassed myself by sleeping until 10 - leaving the four kids to our amazing hostess to entertain - although my hubby took the cake by sleeping until well after 11! 

Ah, jet lag, it's a wonderful thing. It left us a little time short for the big tour that we were planning on, but in the end we took a nice car tour, not into San Francisco itself, but up to the north of the Bay, to Muir Woods, a place near and dear to my heart and a place that the kids will love!

Muir Woods, a place that I have some of my earliest memories of. My dad just loved this place and always brought us here when he was in the Bay Area on business. I couldn't help but think about all the times my dad told me stories about these legendary trees. 

The giant redwoods of California! While these may not be the largest of their species - the very far north of California has that honor - they are, perhaps, the most accessible specimens of Giant Redwoods. Just think, trees that have been living here for a thousand years, or more!

Muir Woods was designated as a national park in 1908 and was dedicated to one of the world's first conservationists, Mr John Muir. A man who I may never have met, but who was my absolute hero for most of my childhood.... but more about him later in our trip when we go to Yosemite. 

Muir Woods is a humbling place. The trees are so big and so old. 

With all the technology and amazingness of humanity we tend to get caught up in our own importance, so it's refreshing to find yourself humbled by something much older and larger than yourself. I don't think anyone will dispute the fact that trees are alive, and that they have been standing in this sheltered valley since the time of Christ (and before!) gives a good perspective on life itself. Maybe we aren't the bees knees of all species, just because we are the most successful at the moment! Maybe we should keep the earth with a little more respect. 

I think back to the days as a little girl walking through theses woods with my dad, the most non religious of persons, in the traditional sense. But I will never, ever forget the time he stopped me and told me to look up. Just look up. Doesn't god live here? In this most beautiful of places. Look up and believe that there is a beauty to this world that will always keep you believing in a higher power. Whether it is a god, a spirit, a force of nature, or simply that some place like this exists. All you need to do is look up at the trees and you will feel connection.

Muir Woods is a natural cathedral. 

I love sharing this place with my family and friends. It reminds me of my dad and my spiritual connection to this world.

And after the stale air of the airplane walking for hours in the cool and moist shade of the trees reinvigorates all of our senses.

We finished our day by driving through the touristy town of Sausalito, and then over the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. It's certainly one of the worlds most recognizable sights and the kids were pretty thrilled to see it. But we were tired and the full effect of the bridge was not really consumed. 

We ate mexican for dinner, and fell into bed, happy with our outings and full stomachs. 

In some way for both myself and Randall this feeling will alway bring a part of home to our hearts. Whether it is the magical mix of salt, desert and fog, or the taste of the mexican spices mixed with fake culture, it's the place that started us on the journey of who we are. And for me it means a lot to show the kids a bit about it so that they can piece together who, what and where their parents came from....

 "This is the best tree-lovers monument that could possibly be found in all the forests of the world." John Muir about the newly designated Muir Woods in 1908

And We're Off Again..... California Bound!

It's been a year and a half since the last time I traveled to California. The last time I boarded a states-bound Air New Zealand flight it was on a compationate fare to deal with my unexpectedly dying father.

So I must admit that I had some mixed feelings when we loaded up the car and headed to the airport. It has been a year and a half, and we've been on several trips since then, so traveling wasn't the issue. It was returning to the land that I grew up in, but this time without my parents to give me a homecoming. The weeks leading up to the trip saw me either stewing about past events or busily trying not to think about the trip. Not my usual prepared self. 

But real life is always a good reality check. The "quiet moments" that I got to sit and stew are few and far between. I am hardly alone in this world, traveling with my loving husband and four kids in tow and they surround me with a love that will break through any malaise. 

And, for the first time in my adult life, we are heading to California for a family reunion, so I'm not entirely sure why it was so hard for me to see past the pain and not realize the good! With all the loss in the previous year this new generation has decided to make a claim on our family and reunite for some long overdue bonding time. Cousins galore for my troupe and hopefully the closure that I didn't even realize that I needed. 

So here go the jet engines. California here we come!

Learning the Lessons of Technology

We've just returned from time away. America! Land of technology and commerce. Where time is money and connections mean the world.

So imagine the shock and surprise to find myself at a huge family reunion and be completely "off the grid". No phone. No internet. No Facebook. No TV. Not even a computer with which to write my stories onto.

I must admit that I found it a bit unsetting at first.   

At first I had a sense of unease about "falling behind" and not being able to connect with people. It took a few days before I was able to relax and get into the swing of things. Something that the kids were able to do with much more ease than I was, by the way. 

Isn't that opposite of the usual Hollywood cliche? Bored new age kids feeling disdain for the common joys previously associated with childhood. Not here. The kids were immediately switched on to the outdoor activities available. Making friends and connecting with family. Learning to skip stones in the river and roast 's'mores over the camp fire. 

And here was me the first few days feeling petulant about the disconnect, "Oh that's a great photo.... but what's the point, it will take me, like, forever to get it uploaded on Facebook".... 

Luckily it was only a day or so before I was able to follow suit with the kids and share in the simple joys that come from being unplugged. Back when life was simple and people were not accessible 24/7. It was a big family reunion and it has been many a moon since I just sat and relaxed with all my cousins and extended family. Letting the immediate and unconditional acceptance wash over me. And the fun of "winging it" came crashing back.

Without the distractions of all our "helpful" technology it was so much easier to concentrate on a conversation or to watch a dragonfly buzz along the river. 

Good times, peaceful times. Something that I highly recommend we all try once in a while. Just getting away from it all and switching on the senses, instead of the apps. 

But in the days since being "back in touch" it has also made me think and reassess my relationship with the big, fast world that we are heading into at breakneck speeds. And, no, I am not advocating the standard anti-technology line of: "chuck it all, we were better off without it." 

I really don't think so. 

It's in the moderation of it all that the real secret lies. 

The world is a much smaller, and larger, place than the simple days of my youth. I don't live just across town from the relies anymore. We are spread out over continents and even hemispheres these days. Things like email and Facebook allow us to still be connected and in touch on a daily basis so that when we do all get together and switch off our devices we are not strangers. We still have that common thread that allows us to pick up from the last time our flesh was face to face. 

But point is, to have a happy medium. Do keep in touch with all the modern marvels that we have today. But please, please, please feel the luxury once in a while in switching off so that you can appreciate what you do have in life. Create the space for you to breath in both worlds.

True balance is beauty.

Namaste my friends.

xx

The Journey to OZ...

One of the most amazing parts of traveling can sometimes be the people you meet...

And we're off on another adventure!

getting to know the locals

While we were traveling through the red sea last year we met up with a family from Australia, who were similar to us in many ways, not least of which is that our kids are just about the same age. Somewhere between experiencing the Bedouin of Petra and the great haggling sessions of Cairo we became friends.

So when some cheap-as flights to Sydney popped up on my computer this summer it seemed only natural to jump across the ditch for a catch up.

As we drove north out of Sydney towards their home the kids worked themselves up into an almost frenzy like condition of excitement. Not just for the excitement of seeing our friends, but the experience of getting to know a new continent. The excitement of travel runs deep in all of us now. And it seemed that in every tree a koala was spotted, or some rare snake and of course they saw heaps of kangaroos.... well, neither of us grown ups were lucky enough to see them, but you know, maybe we've just lost some of the imagination of childhood!

But within about oh, ten seconds of arrival the kids had all forgotten about the wildlife and were busy re-established their earlier friendships and happily exploring the farm-let that our friends live on just north of Newcastle, NSW.

We knew it was going to be warm traveling to OZ in the summertime. But what we didn't plan for was the extreme heat wave that we collided with. And yes, I mean collide with! The heat was building like a vast wave of oppression as we drove north and our friends looked a bit nervous when they imparted the weather forecast for the next day. Luckily they live close to the beautiful Port Stevens peninsula and the next day we were beach bound and heading out for a ride with the dolphins.

On the dolphin boat in Port Stevens

The blue water of Port Stevens is dubbed Australia's dolphin spotting paradise and the commercially minded companies keep the dolphin cruises go non stop all day long. Which on a hot day like this is such a blessing! After only a few moments of being on board the captain lets down the nets on the side of the boat and everyone pops in. Cool and refreshing, the water was better than mana from heaven, with the added bonus of being right next to the dolphins, who are swimming around us. What better way to beat the heat!?








That night as the thunder and lightning light up the sky, and the oppressive heat has us sweating out all the sunscreen of the day we heard on the news that today had been a record breaking day -  47 degrees centigrade (117 Fahrenheit)!!! And no air con. That's much hotter than Egypt by far! Thank god for the ocean!

As the temperatures lessened over the next few days we hauled ourselves out of the farm's billabong (complete with pretend croc!) and found the time and energy to hike the Tomaree headland, take in the views around and even try our hand on the quad bikes. Liam got his testosterone buzz by being allowed to get on the motor bike and whiz around the farm, having the time of his life, even if it didn't impress the jaded hot cows looking on from the shade of the trees!

Looking down from the top of Mt. Tomaree

Vegetarians avert your eyes!

Too soon it was time to say good bye and head south to the second phase of our discover New South Wales trip. Not that you could even scratch the surface of the old land in a mere ten days. But we'll give it our best shot!

More about Katoomba and the Blue Mountains next time!

Waimarino, does summer get any better?

It doesn't take much. Some sunshine, climbing temperatures and cool water, and voila, a happy summer experience.

To be honest, if you look at Waimarino, it doesn't look like anything out of the ordinary - few diving platforms, home-made water slide, bunch of kayaks and a river/estuary to put them all together. But what makes the perfect summer afternoon is the fun to be had with all these things combined. And don't forget the community spirit. That is what really makes it. We're all having fun in the sun together. And challenging each other.

Me to jump off the five meter high dive. (Have I ever mentioned that I am terrified of heights?) Or the boy who learns to let go of the rope swing - only after swinging back and forth for 10 minutes. Or Juliet who masters the art of paddling a kayak. Maybe she's finally found her sport!

And then there are the boys, of that certain age, who need their testosterone rush for the day. They can kamikaze at great speeds off the water slide, dropping meters into the cool green water. It's such a need for the boys at that age to understand the reality of facing fears and learning to be sensible, and it's good to find a place where they can do it in relative safety. 

Ah, the joys of summer, and the enjoyment of the simple things. It's basic, but the stuff that makes life go from good to great. Enjoy it while it is here. Carpe Diem and enjoy the moment. These are the good old days.

Best ever water slide!

Go Clara.

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” 
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Homecoming

"If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a track, that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life you ought to be living is the one you are living." Joseph Campbell

Home.

The place of the humdrum, routines, laundry and the longing to be off traveling again.

But then comes the flip side, the after-effect of so much traveling through foreign lands and cultural experiences. Suddenly your old home town is seen through the eyes refreshed. The old landscape a joy to see and old routine suddenly a happy responsibility.


How can you assimilate the things learned along the journey if you don't have this downtime to pause, reflect, and enjoy the moments already there for us?
For isn't that the one thing that we all do when we are completely caught up in the race of life? We leave our bodies to carry on with the mundane tasks of life, while the brain seeks stimulation elsewhere. For me it's traveling and learning and experiencing, for others it is in global politics, and even more common it's in tv shows and video games.

None of those things are in themselves bad, in fact the majority are very good. But the key is very much to keep those fly away moments in perspective with the amazing gift we have each and every day. In the back yard, the new shoot of a tomato plant. A car that has been cleaned and shines. A school report that is finished with pride. Or the friend that is there with a smile and a wave.

If you only ever learn, you never have the chance to apply, and therefore grow.

I know that I will travel again, and hopefully soon! But for the moment I plan to do a little growing. And for me, that is something that must be done while staying in one place.

Namaste ~

The beach that I live on. Free to walk on everyday. Life is good.

Epilogue - Malaysian stop-over - elephants and bat caves

Leaving Paris at noon and arriving into Kuala Lampur just as the dawn was breaking into the misty, humid air didn't really create the mood for sight seeing so much as sleeping.

Of which we did plenty of in our three night stay in the city.

It was the perfect way to break up the hellishly long journey home, and get just a taste for this new oriental culture. In our brief time here we shopped, ate new foods, rode on elephants, explored a huge hindu cave and rode on Asia's longest tram lift. It was all pretty thrilling. The volume of the huge shopping centers, and the timeless sights of a hindu temple. To have bats fluttering around your head and monkeys snatching food from your hand is pretty amazing. To ride through the rain forest just above the tops of the trees and up into the cool mountain air is refreshing. But to visit an elephant sanctuary and meet up close and personal these displaced mammals was certainly my highlight. Even riding through the river with them. And these big guys smiled away when the kids came up to wash them in the river. They were happy to be saved and loved, and, like most mammals, have a purpose to their life.

I'm sure I could write up many a good story but I will leave you with just a few photo's of the time here. And Asia will have to be one of the places that we return to and do a large exploratory journey into.

Hindu bat cave temple

A photo says a thousand words: So what do you think we thought of Malaysia?

it's crawling with monkeys

Riding on Elephants at the Elephant sanctuary 

Liana rides one of the elephants in the river!

Jungle river swim

Not sure what's in the soup, but YUM

up, up, up across the dense rain forest

Sleeping beauties!

Night view of the petronas towers from our hotel window

Liam checks out the flash train from KL to the airport. Sweet ride!

Just a sample of the souvenirs and things we picked up along the way! No wonder I couldn't enforce my four bag rule!

Fondue, Phantoms and Farewell to Europe!

This trip has been, in a way, a pilgrimage for me. With the death of so many of my loved ones so close together at the beginning of the year I needed this time to journey and reconnect with myself, with my family, with my husband and with the world abroad. To confront my past with memories from places shared with my young self, and to share it in the way I choose with my own future; my children. To watch each of my kids take something different from it, and know that I am able to allow them the freedom to choose their own path whether it is what I would have picked or not has been the affirmation I needed. Liam and his architecture, Clara and her devout religious side, Juliet's love of people and Liana's reconnection with our French families have all come across loud and clear. What a marvelous experience it has been - sickness, stolen train tickets, tantrums and all!

And today is our last day - apart from a layover in Malaysia. It's amazing how much stuff we managed to acquire from our trip. My careful packing from the start of the trip has expanded to an overload of stuff. Six suitcases all packed up, with overflowing backpacks and plastic bags of nicknacks and souvenirs galore. Oh dear. I guess at the end of almost two months it would have been hard not to accumulate so much stuff.... Now all I can think of is how are we going to get it down the stairs tomorrow!

After two months on the road and constantly changing cities, hotels and countries I must admit that I am looking forward to a few things, like cuddling with my cat and my own fluffy bed. And as the rabbit of the family I am looking forward to eating nothing but salads for a whole week! But today is for enjoying the last of the amazing cuisine that Paris has to offer. After a sweaty morning of stuffing suitcases we treat ourselves to a cheese fondue lunch in the Latin Quarter. Mmmmmm...

A salad started us off and then come the cheesy, gooey carbs. Iron pots with melted cheese and long skewers to dip the bread, mushrooms, potatoes and other starchy goodness into. Oh my, time for a walk to burn it off as best we can.

First up, walking through the lovely latin quarter with it's interesting shops and book stores. Randall and Clara finally find a book store that has a small English bible. (They have been on this quest since they visited St. Katharine's monastery in the Sinai peninsula!) Her love of religion has flourished on this trip and it's important to feed the dreams before they whither on the vine, so to speak. So, karma steps in and delivers us to a Canadian book store that has just about every book under the sun. A beaming Clara finds her mini sized bible and Liam discovers a latin/english phrase book, as his new goal is to learn to read latin. Ah, the things that spark the mind while you are traveling.

So with the purchases wrapped up in a little bag we follow the Seine to a metro station. The kids have begged us to check it out at least once, so here we go! Once you get the hang of changing stations it makes for a very efficient way to cross a big city with little fuss. Although, just buying the single tickets I thought it was overpriced. But hey, it's all in the experience.

Destination: Palais Garnier! Otherwise known as the Paris Opera House - which is one of the many resplendent symbols of Paris, especially if you've ever fallen under the Phantom's spell....

Some say it's gaudy, some say it's a reflection of the perfection of opera, and then there are some who walk by and don't look up from their iphone to notice the grand building that has featured in so many movies.

Enjoying the cool marble

Interior Palais Garnier

Now, you must have gathered this far into the story that I love my history, and architecture can be a wonderful tool, a sort of barometer of the feelings of the day. Think stark, gray cement block buildings from the cold war era, or the Colosseum as standing testament to the might that Rome represented at its bread and circus' heyday.

So here we stand in front of a building dripping with gold and ornate statuary depicting all the famous composers of the western musical world. I have to say I am not very familiar with this time period in France. It would be the time of Napoleon III, who was both the first president of France as well the last monarch. (And in that order!) It was a time of restoration and putting France back on the map after the wars with Napoleon the first diminished the country in the eyes of the world. Under Napoleon III most of modern Paris was rebuilt and the city gets it's prosperous and well planned look from this rebuilding. The people of the time would have felt proud and happy to have their dark days behind them and looking forward to the future.

Charles Garnier, architect of the building

So here we are. The kids are all ready for the interior tour. They've heard the sound track from Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom", and know the storyline. Did you know that the real chandelier did partially fall into the audience in the 1890's and killed one person, so even that part of the play has some base in history. Someday I would like to come properly, all fancied up with a spot of champaign in my hand and listen to one of my favorite opera's here. But for the time being I'm happy to be coming in the mid afternoon with the family and exploring the golden splendor that permeates every room of the Palais Garnier.

The view down the Avenue De L'Opera from the opera house balcony

We manage to escape the opera and ballet store that we had to exit through, not as easy as it looks with a budding Opera Diva (Clara) who has vowed to someday sing on stage here, and a prima ballerina (Juliet) who dances everywhere she goes. But seriously, the prices were beyond outrageous! Bribery usually works well in these circumstances, especially in the way of the cookie store across the street.

But we are heading back home, via the Jardin Des Tuileries, so the munchkins can blow off some kid-like steam - as only kids can do. A good game of chase can blow any cobwebs away, especially when you can jump in and out of perfectly trimmed Parisian hedgerows. The fits and giggles make the heart happy! And the pictures will make us all laugh for years to come.

And with all the cooties run out of the legs we make our way past more Wallace Fountains (where we must stop and drink) and along the quant little book stalls that line the River Seine. The kids INSIST that we pick up a lock so that we can be like all the other lovers who have cemented their love with a padlock chained to the bridge. So for 1 Euro we are all happy. Liana proudly takes the picture while we lock it on. Not that we are worried about our relationship, but the kids just love all the pomp and circumstance!

Mum and Dad cement their love with a lock, courtesy of the kids :)

late afternoon nap, all this sightseeing is tiring work!

Back at the apartment the girls nap out while we pack the remaining souvenirs (more!) into our back packs and then head out for one last evening of decadent food. Our family has invited us to celebrate their Friday night with a cheese feast. I think Liana has died and gone to heaven. At least I will know why she moves to France to become a chef in a few years time! It's a lovely and late evening with all of our children (they have two boys) having a grand old time, playing music and performing magic tricks for each other while us adults can discuss the cares of the world and the differences and similarities in lives on opposite sides of the globe. A perfect way to end the day, and the trip.

In the taxi home that night I look out at a sleeping Paris and reflect back on our trip. We've all gotten things out of it. Different aspects to take away. Traveling has always been a true love for both myself and Randall and it feels elementally right to share it with the children. They are kindred spirits when it comes to the road.

I was once asked what animal I would most identify with, and I answered completely spontaneously "a great sea bird, like an albatross"... Only now do I realize how true that is for me. I love the openness and freedom of life on the road. To weather a few storms and enjoy the rainbows and sunsets. But I also have a great need for a rookery where I can raise my young, enjoy a stable and steady life and take time to reflect on the journeys that have been and are yet to come.

Taxi ride

I may not pray to the same god as my daughter but I know that the divinity of the universe is smiling down.

Blessed be.