Donna - Kline Family Visitors

What would be a trip in the Kline family without a few visitors? Our trip to France was no exception. In August Eden, Rick, Alexander and Hannah came to Eguilles on their way back to Dubai from Toronto. It was so nice to have them at the house and for the cousins to play together. The highlight for the kids was going to Zoo de Barben to celebrate Alexander's fifth birthday. Alexander loved seeing the elephants (his favourite animal) and going on the train ride. The highlight for the adults was drinking a few glasses (or bottles) of wine while lying at the pool. And for Eden and I, a day of shopping and a great lunch in Aix.

Mom fell in love with Paris years ago and demanded (and guilted) all of us into meeting her and Steve there. Like good daughters and grand daughters we did! Mom could not wait to show her grand daughters around Paris and take them on a shopping spree. So, in early September, Deb and Natalie along with our family of five met up in Paris. (Unfortunately Eden could not come and we missed her) I have such great memories of the boat ride down the Seine, having dinner on rue de Buci and at Cafe Lipp and walking for six hours with Deb (and Sophie) while Mom and Steve had a day at the Musee Dorsay with the girls. And of course, who could forget the shopping spree!

We left Mom and Steve in Paris and ventured to Eguilles by train with Deb and Natalie. It was just two nights and a bit of a whirlwind visit, but so much fun. We lunched in the quaint village of Lourmarin and shopped at the markets in Aix. I have such good memories of Deb and Natalie walking with Andre, Sophie and I as we dropped the kids off on thier first day of school in France. Deb was in tears as she watched Samuel cry and struggle to say good bye. And I will not forget the sight of our beautiful daughters in hysterics on the Cours Mirabeau as we tried to take a nice picture of them.

Mom and Steve arrived in Eguilles from Paris. Steve really wanted to explore some of the wineries in Provence and Mom humoured him and came along for the ride. I never thought my Mom would survive three nights in our tiny village, but to everyone's amazement she did. We kept her busy enough, touring the town of Chateau Neuf du Pape (Steve got his wish), having a drink at the Set Club and lunching by the Mediterranean sea in the village of Cassis. After three days, Mom was dying to get back to Paris for an extra week without an entourage.

So another Kline family vacation ended full of visitors. We will add it to our many wonderful memories and recount our adventures over Sunday dinners to come.

Gabrielle - Julia and Rachel

From Septemer 20th to 27th Rachel and Julia came to France for a vacation. When I saw them coming off the train it only took me 5 seconds to get down the stairs and give them a hug. I was that excited! The plane and train pretty much tired them out but even so, we still went out for dinner that night in Aix. All of us had so much fun. Even Sophie was out late with us.

We can't forget the fun we had at Accro Passion. The excitement and nervousness together made it exhilarating. That was one of the most fun times I've ever had. Also, the spinning tea cup in Salon de Provence was crazy. I thought we'd be going round and round for ever. That was so funny. My head is still spinning. Whoo.

The rainy Cassis day was a thrill. Especially when we ran out into the rain and got all wet. I still can't believe we were considering going on a boat ride in the rain. I think we were a little bit cuckoo.

I had a great time in Paris too! What I loved was playing sweet or sour on the tour bus and also the best steak frites place when Rachel, Mom and I sent a text to Jessica saying we were shopping for shoes. We were really just getting there late because the taxi dropped us off at the wrong restaurant. We were running singing..."We're late,we're late, for a very important date." And, we won't forget the giant dessert. Yummy!

On one of the nights, we went to see a show at the Moulin Rouge. We didn't eat there but we did have drinks. The waiter laughed at us when we jumped at the opening of the champagne bottle. We all wore the same hats that we got in Salon de Provence. It was so fun.

At Notre Dame there were birds eating out of a girl's hand so Julia and I tried to do it with a Zone bar, but it didn't work. A man came along and gave us a piece of bread and some rice grains and there were so many birds on our hands. It was crazy but so cute.

What I considered an amazing experience was climbing the 624 steps to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. Too bad we couldn't take the steps to the top. That would have been quite a leg exercise! Oh well. We wouldn't have had the mad rush to get Pam in the elevator if we took the stairs the entire way.

Thanks for coming to France. I really liked it. It was one of the highlights of my 7 months here. I will look forward to doing fun things like that in Toronto when I get back.

Samuel - Les Hiboux D'Aubagne

On the first week of September we drove to Aubagne to see if I could play hockey with Les Hiboux D'Aubagne. The first thing I realized is that the Aubagne Arena is located in beautiful surroundings. The picture above is the view right outside the "patinoire." Once we got there, we met the people in charge of the league and they were all very nice. The President of the Aubagne Hockey Association played all over France and even played in Quebec with l'Universite de Laval. Even though I can only play until I leave on December 1st, everyone welcomed me to their team.



It was very nice to put on the goalie equipment once again. It felt great. Once I got on the ice, I realized that my teammates were good. In fact, it turned out that they are actually very good skaters and skilled hockey players.



There is another goalie on the team, his name is Leonardo. We also have a goalie coach. He is teaching me how to stay up more and how to cover the puck without going down. There aren't many differences between Skelly and my goalie coach here except that Skelly tells me to go all out and my goalie coach wants me to stay back a bit.






I will be the goalie for the team in my age group as well as for the older team. I am going to play six or seven games with the teams before I go back to Canada. Our first game is on September 28th in Nice.

Gabrielle - Vivian

For two weeks including my birthday Vivian was in France to visit us. We arranged the trip for her and everything. When we picked her up at the airport in Marignane I was so excited to see her. I had been counting down the days until she came. When I finally saw Vivian in the flesh it seemed unreal.

Once we were at the house we showed Vivian everything.I didn't let go of her in case she was going to leave. She saw how Sophie had grown. Something that no one was expecting happened. Sophie remembered Vivian! It took 5 minutes max. Vivian surprised us then with a box of Canadian goodies when she arrived. Starbucks coffee, Goldfish, Movies, Lipton noodle soup, sports cards for Samuel,sticker books for Sophie, and Kraft Dinner. I want to thank Vivian again for all of the treats and let her know that we haven't finished them yet. We are using them sparingly. She gave us Canadian food so we made Vivian try Baguette and all the french breads that we like. We went to many new towns and places we like with her too.

One of the places was Nimes. It is a regular place except it has a huge, old Roman Amphitheater. We took an Audioguided tour of it. I found the whole thing amazing. When we finished the tour we were looking for a place to eat because it was 2:30 in the afternoon and we found a SUBWAY sandwich shop. We ate with joy. I found it so good to have a sub again.

Nimes wasn't the only place we went to. We took Vivian to Aix en Provence and Salon too. No one could forget Paris. That was something to remember.

When we took Vivian to Paris it was remarkable. We saw the Louvre, the gardens, Notre Dame, L'Arc de Triomphe, and the river Seine. I was so happy to have Vivian there to experience it with me. It was perfect. I loved it. I am sure she had a great time and thank her for coming. I had an amazing time from staying up and watching Herbie Fully Loaded to the Eiffel Tower.

Andre - L'Ecole de Surville

Andre - Ma Soeur et Francis

Anybody who knows my sister will realize what a momentous event it was for her to come visit us. But her visit to Eguilles was the last stop on a fantastic journey through France. First, she went to Nantes to visit her penpal. Helene has been corresponding with her for 34 years - no this is not a typo - and they met for the first time. That must have been something. And next, Paris!

After five days in Paris, visiting all the great spots; Le Louvre, The Eiffel Tower -which was Francis' favorite - La Seine, Les Champs-Elysees, it was time for le TGV en route towards Eguilles. I finally realized I was not dreaming when I saw my sister and Francis get off the train. I was happy to see them and quite proud of my little sister (actually she is my older sister).

While Eguilles is not Paris, my sister and Francis got the Grand Tour - La Mairie and its amazing view of Provence, the village, Samuel's patisseries, the local stores. New on our list was a visit to the local doctor and the 2 local pharmacies - Francis got some kind of infection in Paris. Helene also visited Gabrielle's Club Hippique.

My sister and Francis also went to Aix-en-Provence. My highlight was to take both of them to Lourmarin and then drive up the mountains. We also went to Cassis.

When my friend Robert left, I was a little bit worried about the local merchants. I thought his departure would hurt the local economy. Little did I know that Francis eats even more! I expect the owner of our favorite patisserie to buy himself a house in Cannes or Nice within the next few days. Francis will also be happy to realize that despite all his efforts to avoid being photographed, his picture is now on our blog for everyone to see - and this, for eternity!



But it was time to go. Too bad, but I knew my sister and her son were in good hands with my cousin Monique and Celine waiting for them at the airport in Dorval.

Andre, Gabrielle, Samuel - Robert et Nadine

At the end of July and for the first few days in August, we had special visitors from Montreal - Robert and Nadine. We have come up with the 10 best things about their visit:

1. While we can't manage to see each other in Canada, I got to spend some time with my best and longtime friend Robert.


2. Finally meeting Nadine and finding out what a great and nice person she is.


3. Going to Chateauneuf-du-Pape


4. Going to see the Roman ruins of Glanum


5. Realizing that Robert no longer sleeps until 2 pm, he is down to 11 am now.

6. Realizing that Robert needs a nap before dinner

7. Gabrielle and Samuel got to show off their new French-speaking abilities

8. Showing them around Eguilles, especially the patisseries and the Set Club.

9. Seeing how much they love France

10. Having fun in the pool with Robert and Nadine.

Now, since this was such a special visit, we could not stop at 10.

The 11th best thing about their visit - and maybe the most unforgettable - was watching Robert eat a gigantic piece of a cake called Tropezienne!
(we wish we had a picture but the piece was too big for our camera)

All - Tour De France

On July 27th, we all got up early and jumped on the train to Paris to watch the last stage of the Tour de France. We got to Paris early, had lunch and found the perfect spot to watch the cyclists go up and down the Champs-Elysees eight times. Although we have watched the Tour on TV for many years - it is impossible to appreciate how fast those guys ride until you see it live. We were all amazed to see that after 21 days and over 3000 kilometers, each rider was still going all out, riding at over 50 km/h on the cobblestones of the Champ-Elysees. We saw all of our favorites - Carlos Sastre in the Yellow Jersey, Valverde, Voigt, the two Schleck brothers, Hincapie... A great day we will never forget. (Click on the videos below)

Gabrielle - Italian Voyage

Before leaving for France the Hunts and Turcottes organized a trip to Italy. Since then I have been waiting and counting down the days until our trip. The departure from France came faster than we expected. To drive to our rented villa, Poggio Martino, in Tuscany is 8 hours direct so we separated it into two days.

The first day, we drove 4 hours, through tunnels, to Genova. We stayed in the Bentley Hotel where we met a nice man who was a big help to us. We took a walk around the 4 level city although we couldn't go to the top and bottom levels because they were too far. We found a park and the area where the designer stores were, for mom; Back at the hotel we had a very delicious dinner and a good night's sleep to get ready for our next day's adventures.




Next morning we packed up and headed for Poggio Martino. It was stressful. It took us 9 hours to get there and we had to ask about 6 different people for directions. One man who we will never forget works for the city fixing the sewers. He only spoke Italian so he explained where to go using few words and many hand signals. We asked two more people after that but if the man who works for the city hadn't given us the main idea on where to go we wouldn't have got there that night. As we arrived I saw Julia and knew we were in the right place.

In Italy we had lots of fun. We went to a rustic town called Montepulciano and tourist filled Siena, but in Montelcino we had a surprise. We met a 13 year old boy named Grayson who looked exactly like Samuel. First I noticed they had the same shirt on, then when he and his mother sat down at the table next to us we saw Grayson's face and he and Samuel looked like brothers. Everyone was laughing. It was hilarious.









Another town we went to was Cortona. It is 10 minutes from Poggio Martino. We hiked up high to Santa Margherita Church and the views were amazing. We did it twice once with Angela and once with mom;





At the villa we went swimming, twice at night, and played pool and Foosball. We would play on the hammock and run around at night. We met the owner, Jacopo, who is very nice and helpful.

Julia's birthday was great. We hung around the villa for some of the day but we went to Cortona too. Samuel and I gave her gifts of a bracelet, notepad with her name on it, horse towel and a horse bookmark. We tried to arrange a horse ride on her birthday but it ended up being on Friday.

On our last full day together was the horse ride. We had a great time. I rode a former steeplechaser named Pepe. And Julia rode a former jumper. Instead of a trail ride that we want we ended up staying in the ring doing whatever we want. The lady instructing us said we were very good riders.



On Saturday it was hard to part but we, the Turcottes, headed for Florence. We stayed at Hotel Villa Belvedere recommended by Paul and Angela. In Florence we went to the Duomo which was amazing. It was designed partly by Michelangelo. We saw the David in the Academy along with other statues made by Michelangelo. Sophie had previously spotted carrige rides so while mom went shopping in the designer stores we went on a ride. We saw the river and went through a beautiful little alley. It was a shame to leave without seeing all of the other sights but we will come back soon.




We drove to Genova the next day and back to France the next day. It was great to be in Italy but time to come back.


I loved seeing Julia and had an amazing time. I miss her so it was great to see her in person. It was great to catch up and I can't wait to see her again in Toronto.

Gabrielle and Samuel - Cirque Phoceen

On July 6th there was a circus at the skate park in Eguilles. It was small but the performances were amazing. The clown was not good at all but that was the only bad thing. One circus actor did 5 different acts. He was very good. He did tricks with horses and a camel and 2 acrobatic shows. In one of his shows there were 2 little kids about 4 years old. They did simple acrobatic tricks but one kid did a handstand on a man's arm. It was cool.

Closer to the beginning of the show a woman named Sabrina did ballet on a rope. She was phenomenal. Sabrina's tricks were really sophisticated and you would need lots of balance to do what she did.

Gabrielle's thoughts about Cirque Phoceen are "There are not many circuses that size that are so good. I loved it and could see it again. The clown wasn't the best but overall it was fantastic. The horses and the rope ballet were my favourite although the camel was sort of freaky. I am happy to have gone to the circus and will remember the experience."

Samuel's thoughts about Cirque Phoceen are "It was really good even though it was small. The acts were great but my favourite act was when people took turns doing handstands and tricks on imbalanced chairs. I also liked the camel even though it was kind of scary sized."

Samuel and Andre - Studying in French

I was very proud to see Gabrielle and Samuel going to their first French classes in France. The week of Summer French School was held at a bilingual school called CIPEC, located in Luynes, France. This was about a 15-minute drive from our house. For a whole week, Gabrielle and Samuel spent three hours each morning improving their French. One thing they learned was that they were pretty good already.

We knew that Gabrielle was already very good and even though there were kids at that school that had spent the previous academic year studying French, no one in the class could keep up with her!

Samuel was surprised to realize how good his French was becoming. As he kept telling me every day, there were "a couple of annoying guys" in the class that had been in France for a year and did not know a word of French. Nice to see that Samuel can be as "charming" in French and in English...

On top of going to French lessons every day, Gabrielle, Samuel and I also went to see the movie "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull" in French at the local community centre cinema. We all loved it and more importantly, every one could follow the story. All and all, a very good French week.

All - Rick and Michelle in Eguilles

It was a very good surprise to hear that Rick and Michelle decided to take the TGV from Paris to Aix to visit us. We picked them up at the TGV station and drove them through town to our house. We pointed out all of our favourite spots on the way to Eguilles and showed them around town. That night,we took Rick and Michelle to the Set Club and then, Donna cooked a great salmon dinner and we had a great time hanging around. The next day we walked through Eguilles, stopped at our favourite bakery - Banette - and decided to go to Club Hippique.

Gabrielle showed them around: " I told Rick and Michelle all about the stable, my recent experiences and introduced them to my instructor - Alain - with whom they had a good conversation. They talked about the differences between having a horse farm in Canada, the climate, and hay prices. The kind of conversation I am always interested in. I was really happy to show Rick and Michelle my stable and to hear what they had to say about horses. It is nice to talk to other horse people once in a while. It was great to see that Rick and Michelle had a great time and really wanted to know what I had to say."

We came back home and Andre went to get some molten hot lava bomb Baguettes for everybody. Samuel was, of course, particulary pleased:"It was really fun having Rick and Michelle over. I liked showing them everything about our town. I was amazed at how many interesting things Rick knows. I enjoyed talking to him. Michelle took great pictures with her super-cool camera and we uploaded them onto our computer. I am glad they came."

Donna, Rick and Michelle went to Aix: "we walked around and stopped for a cool drink. It was a beautiful, hot summer day in Provence. Rick treated Andre and I to some fresh coffee where the beans were roasted on the premises. After 7 weeks in France, I was happy to have a full mug of non-espresso coffee. We were recalling the first time we met and realized that it was likely 18 or so years ago. It is so nice to have long standing friendships like these and it was wonderful to catch up and create new memories for ourselves and our children. The kids were sad to see them go and so were Andre and I."

Everyone got back home where Andre and the kids were waiting for another good evening: "I kept thinking about how amazing it was for all of us to be together in Eguilles of all places! We have such a hard time getting together in Canada but somehow Provence brought us together. The last evening was lots of fun. First, we had to talk about Sophie and how much she loved going to Rick and Michelle. It is comforting to see that she is already a good judge of character. We had so much to talk about - future plans, funny stories, memories, crazy ideas. First thing we knew, it was 1:30 in the morning and Rick and Michelle had to catch a train at 6:18 am. Too bad. I tried my best to convince them to stay until Tuesday (or Wednesday, Thursday) but as always, Rick never listens to my advice... I really appreciated that Rick and Michelle made the long trip to visit us, and we are grateful for their continued friendship."

Andre - Rockin' in Eguilles

One of the nice surprises about our town is the several activities organized by the city. So far, my two favorites have been "La Journee de la Glisse" and "La Fete de la Musique."

"La Journee de la Glisse" was something to see. It was held at the local Skate Park and it was a gathering of local skaters, rollers and BMXers. They all gathered for a day of friendly and largely disorganized competition. It was an occasion for the locals to showcase their tricks. All of this to the sound of Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and French Alternative Bands.

The following week-end - we attended "La Fete de la Musique." Each year, on June 21st, every small or large town across France hold a music festival to celebrate the first day of summer. In Eguilles, we were treated to a hard rock concert. It started at 21:00 - (or 9 pm) and people from the town gathered to listen to music, eat pizza and dance in the local square across City Hall. While the group was largely unknown to us, the thousands - well, maybe the tens - of screaming fans appreciated the show. As you can see in the pictures, Samuel and Sophie showed their moves...

Gabrielle - Samuel - Handball Tournament

During our second week in France we started playing handball. It is not very popular in Canada but in Europe it is a big thing. Samuel thinks it is like soccer with hands and Gabrielle thinks it is like basketball and soccer mixed together. For the first 3 handball courses we did drills and played games with other people in the group. The fourth week consisted of one of the largest tournaments we have ever been in. There were over 100 teams. Samuel and Gabrielle were on the same team with 4 other boys. Gabrielle was not extremely happy about this arrangement because she was the only girl on the team.

The tournament went really well. Samuel and Gabrielle won 2 out of 5 games. They each scored 4 goals in total. They were very good goals at that. Right in the corners. Samuel was the goalie for half of the time in 3 games. Some of his saves were hilarious. One knocked Samuel's hat off and the other bounced off his head and hit the crossbar. Another hit him in the face.

Here are a few pictures of us in action:

Gabrielle - Zoo de Barben

As I mentioned in my last posting we went to the Zoo de Barben during the second week. Mom and Dad kept it a secret and it was one of the most well kept secrets I have ever tried to figure out. It took Samuel and I about 30 minutes to figure out where we were going. We asked about a million different questions and once I knew that there were any animals at the place we were going, Samuel and I figured it out instantly.... the zoo!!!

At the Zoo de Barben we saw the animals do very interesting things. The hippos were so cool. They snorted through their nose and played around in the water. One of the hippos needed to see an orthodontist fast. His tooth was sideways! We saw a giraffe that was 6 meters tall. There were huge muddy rhinos and beautiful zebras. They actually put zebras in the rhinoceros pen. I was afraid the zebras would get injured or worse.


Another very nerve-racking experience at the Zoo de Barben was walking through a vulture pen. I loved it but at the same time I was worried. You had to be quiet so you don't frighten the vultures. At any time I thought Samuel and Dad were talking too loud, which was many times, I would tell them to quiet down because the vultures were going to get scared. I sure wouldn't want to be the zookeeper who has to get very close to the vultures and feed them. I would freak out!!


The part I found the grossest was the monkeys. They were cute when you look at their faces but let me tell you, it is revolting when you see their behind. I know mostly all behinds are gross but this was just off the charts gross. You eat your meal in the monkey section so I had to look at my family and food because that is the only way you can avert your eyes from the monkey behinds.


I did not have my camera on this trip so I don't have pictures to show you but I promise the next time we go to the Zoo de Barben I will take lots of pictures to make up for this.

Gabrielle - Equestrian Experience

Within a week of being in France, we found a horseback riding stable just 10 minutes from Eguilles. We actually found it accidentally. We were on our way to Zoo de Barben when mom and dad saw the Club Hippique sign. We turned in and 10 minutes later we had horseback riding lessons for the coming Wednesday. The owner is very nice. His name is Alain. He is also the instructor. I was so excited I screamed at the top of my lungs out the car window and scared Sophie.

For the first 3 lessons I rode a horse named Surcoup. He is a chestnut with a blaze and 3 white socks. Another girl is riding him now and I took her usual ride, Zorba. He is a bay. He is on the verge of being unhealthily skinny. You can see his hip bones and his spine popping out. He is patient and listens well for grooming. For riding, doing sitting trot, he kept walking but overall he was fantastic. I can do more jumps with him which I couldn't do with Surcoup because he would go uncontrollably fast.

Here are a few images of my first time on Zorba: