Vancouver.... All Business

So after just a night at home from my awesome trip to France it was off to Vancouver, BC.  Vancouver is one of my favorite location for work.  Our office is right in the heart of downtown.  We don't need a car, it's all walkable.  This trip I am on my own here.  The project I am auditing is actually located in St Johns, Newfoundland, but I am here in Vancouver auditing the related project activities run out of this office. 

Unfortunately, due to the intense work load, I don't have much to talk about on this trip.  I spend my days working some long hours, working out in my hotel room after, and then hitting dinner (usually at The Keg next door).  That's it.  Jenn didn't come up here this trip (understandably due to her hectic travel schedule), so nothing exciting happened.  Therefore, I will leave you with some photos from my last trip, when Jenn came up, in April. 

France Day 8-9: The VERY long road home

On Sunday, I had to get Jenn to the Nice airport around noon and then had to be back at my aunt’s in Auribeau around noon for a lunch.  I said goodbye to Jenn knowing that it was going to be a sad 5 weeks before we would see each other again (sniff).  At the lunch, it seemed like everyone from the wedding was at the house the next day.  The sun was beating, the food was flying off the buffet and some dared to drink more.  Wow!  However, at 2:45pm, our caravan (my car and parent’s car) had to start the journey to La Tonnellerie.  Along for the ride were my godfather, his wife and Gaude.  The road was long.. and dark eventually.  We made a couple stops for gas and food, but eventually we rolled into La Tonnellerie around 11:30pm.  The journey was finished for some people (mom, dad and Gaude).  My godfather, his wife and I still had about 1 ½ hour to Paris.  We left La Tonnellerie around 12:15am and were at my godfather’s house around 2am.  No messing around; I went right to sleep. 

The alarm went off at 6:45 am and my godfather took me to the airport shortly after.  I checked in no problem and we hung out having a coffee and letting the traffic die down for his return home.  My flight to Minneapolis took off on time, but strong headwind estimated a late arrival.  That wasn’t good for me since I only had 1 ½ hour layover in Minni (and had to go through immigration and customs).  I slept the entire 9+ hours to Minni (the trip had taken its toll on me).  We landed at 1:30pm (my next flight was at 2:15) and I raced through immigration and customs no problem.  The security line agent took me to the front of the security line and I was at my gate at 2:10.  I had made my flight, but I doubted my bag would. 

Sure enough, upon arrival at DFW, my bag never came through on the baggage claim belt.  Damn, I needed that suitcase for my trip to Vancouver the next day.  I filed my report and they put a rush on it.  It would probably be on the next flight to DFW landing around 7:30pm.  I got home without my suitcase and just relaxed for a few hours.  My bag came around 11pm and I started a load of laundry.  Tomorrow I was off to Vancouver.

France Day 7: My Cousin’s French Wedding

Saturday came with clear blue skies, and heat.  We met up with my parents at their hotel around 10am.  The women all went to Fragonard (perfume region) to max out credit cards, while the boys stayed by the pool (and in it thanks to me).  Once the women returned it was a scamper to pick up lunch (everything was closed on Saturday in the area).  We managed to find some food at the local boulangerie and we downed it asap.

By 1:30pm we were back at our hotel getting all dressed up for the wedding (Jenn looked HOT!).  We made it to Auribeau’s city hall at 3pm as requested for the civil marriage of Aurelie and David (different than the US of course).  As expected the bride was beautiful.  At 4pm we entered Auribeau’s church and experienced a nice 1 hour catholic wedding mass.  It was HOT.  Shortly after the mass, and before the reception, a few of us headed to the cemetery to say hello to my grandparents, who are buried there.

At 6pm it was cocktail time at the reception location.  It lasted some 2 hours with champagne galore and appetizers.  Around 8pm it was inside for a long dinner with speeches and music.  Seating arrangement are a little different in French weddings; Jenn and I had the honor of sitting at the wedding couple’s table (thank you Aurelie!).  Again, with the weather, it was extremely hot inside the reception hall (no AC around here).  I was sweating bullets and made frequent exits to get fresh air.  Around 11pm the dining room turned into a dance hall and everyone was dancing.  Jenn had the wonderful experience of dancing with my uncle and cousin.  My uncle even swirled her around his back. 

By 1am we were beat, and decided to head back to the hotel since tomorrow we had the long drive back to Paris.  Evidently, the party went on until 5-6am and many of my cousins and the groom jumped into the pool at the reception.

France Day 5-6: Nice, Monaco and Cannes in 2 days

Jenn and I woke up in Nice without a plan (quite unusual for us when visiting a new place) on Thursday.  By 10am we were out of the hotel and walking along the waterfront of Nice.  Jenn absolutely had to dip her feet in the water, so she did just that; a slightly larger wave than expected caught her by surprise.  After the quick dip, we headed to a recommended open-air flower/food market at the edge of Old Nice.  We found a small little creperie for a late breakfast so that Jenn could have her requested crepe (special request #1).  After enjoying that and trying to figure out what to do, we decided to walk around the tiny streets of Old Nice.  We walked at our own pace and enjoyed the window shopping and wonderful little courtyards.  I think Jenn was in heaven.  She snapped more than a few photos of the picturesque streets. 

Old Nice was all that was really recommended to us, so we decided to go to Monaco for a late lunch (we could do more Nice tomorrow morning since we were sleeping here).  While walking around Nice I had noticed that scooters were a very common mode of transportation.  We decided that we would rent one ourselves.  We found a tourist information office that showed us where we could get one and did just that.

Around 2:30pm we were on our scooter and took the beautiful coastal route to Monaco (some 20 km).  Jenn wanted to stop for some scenic pictures, but I recommended we do it on the way back; I was hungry.  We got to Monaco and parked in the harbor for a typical lunch at a small café.  We both had pizzas; which I love in Europe. 

After eating, we decided to head further down the coast to a small town, recommended by my mom, called Menton.  Unfortunately, the skies were darkening and just short of 5 km to Menton, I made the decision to head back to Nice.  Getting caught in the rain may not be fun.  Well, the rains came quick.. and hard.  The entire 30+ km back were nothing short of soaking.  We got back to our hotel around 6pm drenched.  We got out of our soaked clothes and both fell asleep.  Jenn was not feeling too good, so at the end of the day, we didn’t get to have our 1 year anniversary dinner (planned in Antibes).  We just slept the night away.

Friday morning we felt better and jumped back on the scooter to ride the coast.  We took a different coastal road and snapped pictures along the way.  With breathtaking views, it was truly a delight.  Having only rented the scooter for 24 hours, we rode back into Nice to return the bike by noon.  As we walked back to our hotel, we noticed plenty of cafés serving Moules and had to stop (Jenn’s special request #2).  Jenn enjoyed a large bowl of Moules while I downed my usual pizza; all the while people watching on a pedestrian street.  Jenn was obsessed with all the guys wearing capri shorts.  After lunch we headed back to our hotel to check out and head toward Cannes.

I decided on taking the coastal road to Cannes in order to drive through Antibes.  It was a slow drive (the drive to Monaco is better by the way), but scenic.  We finally got to Cannes around 4pm and again parked in the harbor.  Cannes had a very large exposition going on so tents were up all around the harbor.  We walked down the waterfront enjoying the water on one side and all the “chic” shops on the other.  We stopped in a small creperie for an afternoon snack.  Having had our fill of Cannes, we made our way back to Auribeau.  My parents had arrived and there was an evening planned with almost the entire family in Auribeau. 

We checked into our little hotel outside Auribeau, L’Aiglon.  Words can’t describe how small our hotel room was.  Put it this way, our 2 suitcases were difficult to put in the room.  We quickly changed and met my parents at their hotel down the street.  Once there we all headed up to Auribeau for the family meal.  We ate, drank and hung out all night laughing and looking forward to the wedding tomorrow.  It was very late, or early, by the time we got back to our hotel.

France Day 4: 10 Hours to the French Riviera

Wednesday (9/8) it was time to head south.  The French Riviera was awaiting.  Greg, Jenn and I loaded up the car, in the pouring rain I might add, and were off at 9:30am.  The GPS mentioned 904 km.  Off we went.  Greg and I traded spots every 2 hours or so.  The first hour was in a nasty downpour, but soon the skies were lightening up.  Eventually, the further south we got, the clearer it got; darn beautiful for the last couple hours.  The drive was mostly uneventful.  However, we did encounter a nasty accident that caused us more than 1 ½ hour delay.  A truck had jackknifed and was blocking the freeway on both sides.  We were recommended by the news to take an exit before the crash, but that too was blocked by everyone doing the same detour.  Eventually I got the GPS to find us a different detour and we were back.  We finally got to my aunt’s home in Auribeau-Sur-Siagne around 7:30pm (10 hours of travel).  A lot of my immediate family was there with a few more being picked up at train stations and airports.  We were down here for my cousin Aurelie’s marriage to David.  We hung around my aunt’s for dinner and drinks with the family.  Jenn and I left late and were checked into our hotel in Nice just after midnight (only 30 minutes from Auribeau).

France Day 1-3: The Long Road to France and La Tonellerie

Sunday (9/5) it was rise and shine before dawn.  The alarm went off at 4:30am with the taxi pickup shortly thereafter at 5:15am.  My first leg was a quick 2 1/2 hour jump to Cincinnati.  Thankfully, Delta upgraded me to first class for this short trip (I’ll take any upgrade since I used points on this trip).  The plane was on time and I landed in Cincinnati early around 10am.  Now the first of 2 long waits.  My flight to Paris wasn’t until 3:50pm.  In the end I paid $50 for a day pass to Delta’s Sky Lounge in Cinci and killed time there by sleeping, reading and I also walked around the terminal.  The flight to Paris was also on time.  As I first sat down in the plane, I was sitting next to a rather bulky guy.  Thankfully, as the airplane door closed I was able to commandeer an aisle seat in the first (bulkhead) row of economy with no one sitting next to me.   I killed the 8+ hours flight by watching The Karate Kid, Quantum of Solace and sleeping (no personal TV, just old school overhead TVs).  Thanks to the high tailwinds, I landed in Paris (CDG airport) about an hour earlier than scheduled at 5:15am.  Being so early, I was through the empty immigration and baggage claim by 6am and on the shuttle to the other Paris airport (Orly).  The shuttle took about an hour to get to Orly and I was there at 7:15am.  Great, another almost 5 hours to kill until Jenn arrived.  So I took up a bench in baggage claim and watch From Paris With Love.  I received a lot of stares as I didn’t move my legs off the bench when arriving passengers wanted to sit down as they waited for their luggage from various arriving flights.  Hey, I was tired.  After the movie, mom called to let me know dad was almost there.  Woo hoo, I was about to have company.  Dad did get there about 10am and we chit-chatted until Jenn arrived from London around noon.  From there it was another hour or so to La Tonnellerie (mom/dad’s hotel if you don’t know already).  Around 2pm I had finally arrived.  That made it almost 26 hours of traveling.  Again, OUCH!

Mom was there to welcome us at La Tonnellerie with a nice lunch.  After lunch it was nap time for me; Jenn passed out too.  I woke up around 5pm since I had to workout (P90X).  It was tough, but I talked myself into it.  It felt really good to workout; actually woke me up for the rest of the night.  Dad brought us down to "La Cave" for some fine wine drinking.  I had been down there before, but Jenn had never.  He let her choose any bottle from his private reserve (which has been nicely depleted through the years).  The three of us thoroughly enjoyed a 1989 Chateau Margaux.  That evening, mom, dad, Jenn and I hung out.

The next day we were up around 10am.  We had thought about going to visit a castle or two, but for understandable reasons I was dead tired.  So instead I went back to sleep after breakfast and hanging out.  Jenn ended up napping too (why was she tired?  She’d been in Europe for over a week now).  We woke up from our nap and had a late lunch, hanging out with the my parents.  Late afternoon I talked Jenn into joining me for my P90X workout.  Of course it had to be the hardest one, Plyometrics.  She kicked butt though.  We got ready for dinner and were joined by my cousin Greg who had come down since we were taking him to the south the next day.  We all ate and then headed up to the King’s Lair (Dad’s apartment) to watch France win a Euro 2012 qualifying game (amazing I know).  We ended up consuming quite a bit of red wine that night, so sleep was quite easy.  Tomorrow, the travel continued to the French Riviera.