On retrace les pas d'Amélie à Paris!

One of my favourite movies is Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulin (released in English under the title Amélie). It was the movie Eric and I saw on our visit to France in 2001. At the time we were looking for something to do and stumbled across a movie theatre not far from Montparnasse. We asked the person in the ticket booth for a recommendation on the movies showing. This was when we first met Amélie. For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, it is a must rent/download. Whatever you do, just see it.

On our recent trip to Paris with the girls, I started to get some ‘Amélie’ flashbacks! During our daily walks, I started snapping photos from the different locations I remember from the film.

On the steps of Sacre-Coeur

Sacre-Coeur and the carousel at the bottom of the funiculaire. The girls got to ride on the carousel after our visit to Sacre-Coeur one Sunday morning. We also stopped to admire the busker ‘statues’ on the steps of Sacre-Coeur.

Making our way back down the hill towards the metro, we walked by several tourist shops and boutiques. It was a beautiful Sunday morning and there were lots of people out and about. 

(On a side note, this particular Sunday was the final day of the Tour de France. We had weighed the possibility of making our way to les Champs-d'Élysées to watch the end of the race. However, we quickly (and wisely) decided to avoid the area.)

La carousel à Sacre-Coeur (Montmartre)

Canal Saint-Martin

Canal Saint-Martin. In the movie, Amélie is skipping stones on the canal. She obviously got special permission to be on the locks (for filming purposes) because one is really not allowed to cross the canal other than on the footbridges (and not on the locks like Amélie). We had a nice Sunday afternoon walk down the canal. One thing that is very different in France is that stores do close – daily around lunch hour. Many stores are closed on Sundays and quite a few close for the month of August for holidays. For us, this meant a limit to the shopping we could do – a good thing for the pocketbook! We did stop to watch the tour boats go through the locks.

Canal Saint-Martin

Amélie travels to Blois

On our last morning in Blois (Loir-et-Cher), we stopped to have our morning café crème outside the local bar-tabagie-café near the hotel. As I waited for Kyra, who was using the WC, I happened to look up and take in the whole scene from inside the shop. The two ladies were behind the counter. One was drying some coffee cups and putting them away next to the espresso machine. The other was closer to the door at the cash register, with her display of cigarettes behind her! Even though it was not even in Paris, it was still quite funny to get an Amélie movie flash!

Je veux jouer au parc!

Maman, le parc est juste là!

We were blessed with the opportunity to travel as a family to France this summer. We had several activities on our 'must do' list, a few hotel reservations made, a car rental booked and plans to visit friends while we were in France. Other than that, we left everything else up to the adventure. We figured it was a good time to go: the girls are now old enough to remember a trip like this, they are open to trying new foods and they have the stamina to walk and visit the sites.

We were also reminded (in a good way) that the girls are still young enough to want to play and have fun every day. In the hustle and bustle of being a tourist, it is just as important to enjoy the moment and be a kid. I have to admit that the times relaxing on a park bench, sharing a Nutella crêpe and watching the girls play in the playground near the Eiffel tower are just as memorable (and more meaningful) as our visits to the châteaux, monuments and museums.

Sourire!

Regarde moi!

Escalade

Plusieurs semaines avant son anniversaire, Kyra nous a dit que pour sa fête, elle désirait aller faire de l’escalade. Et bien, le 30 avril nous sommes allés faire de l’escalade en famille.

La montée

La grande soeur participe

Birthday Traditions

Bonne Fête Alia! Bonne Fête Kyra!

The long weekend is coming to a close and the fireworks are going off in the local park. There are some large ones going off in a nearby park and I can see some of our street neighbours setting some off too (well at least I can see the reflection of them in the neighbour's window). Seems that's what people do here: Buy fireworks at Walmart and then set them off in the street or park!

We spent the holiday weekend in Montreal, celebrating with friends and family. We had perfect weather for the outside party on Saturday. The drive is long but definitely worth it! Eric had to drive back to Quebec City so the girls and I made our way back today. Hats off to Alia and Kyra. They travel so well. Merci les filles!

Tomorrow is Kyra's 7th birthday. 7 years ago tonight, the Szollosy's, Eric, Alia and I enjoyed a visit to Dairy Queen, only hours before heading to the hospital to welcome Kyra into the world! It's a fun tradition that we try to keep every year. So tonight, the girls each had a vanilla cone dipped in chocolate and I had a mint oreo blizzard. I probably should have had the brownie explosion to truly recreate the moment, but that was too much chocolate and ice cream for me to eat by myself!! (7 years ago I had help!!!!)

Happy Mother's Day

I have been blessed with a sunny day to pull weeds in the garden and watch the girls play outside, enjoy an tranquil coffee this morning and a relaxing 'happy hour' this afternoon.

I have been blessed with flowers and gifts and lots of hugs and kisses.

Happy Mother's Day.

New Discoveries!

On March 11, 2011, Eric and I took the girls to see KODO play at the Sony Centre downtown. Sadly, it was also the day of the massive earthquake, tsunami, nuclear disaster. A moment of silence was observed just before the concert.

Our view at the KODO concert

Before the concert we went for supper at a japanese restaurant. We had some time to spare so we walked through the gift shop of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Alia wanted to buy something with the Oilers logo on it and I said should couldn't buy anything other than items with a Montreal Canadiens logo. (joking) Realizing that the store was closing, we hurried out of the store (not buying anything of course). We thought we were in an ordinary office building/shopping centre. Little did we know what waited around the corner. Just goes to show us that you never know what you may discover when you turn the corner...

Old facade of building - outside yet inside!!

whoa!

HOP

Yesterday afternoon was raining and cloudy. Eric and I decided to take the girls to see HOP. We don't go very often because it is a pretty pricy family outing. The girls were excited when we told them what we were planning.

Thank goodness we arrived early at the theatre! Two birthday parties and many other families with the same idea as ours (rainy Sunday afternoon = movie theatre). The theatre was packed. We were one of early ones in so we had our choice of seats (gave ourselves a good distance from birthday party row!)

The movie was cute. I liked the candy factory on Easter Island! The girls liked the dancing chicks and the Pink Berets! Eric and I got a chuckle at how a movie can identify the ages of people in attendance. When David Hasselhoff tells E.B. that he is not surprised to see a talking rabbit because his best friend is a talking car, you can hear the Knight Rider generation chuckle spread through the theatre and sense kids staring at their parents with a look of confusion in their eyes.

Overall, it was a cute movie. BTW, it always pays to stay until the end of the credits. 95% of the movie theatre goers missed the last punch line of the movie!