Oui, Oui, Paris!

So my big trip this year was a river cruise on the Seine, Paris to Normandy return; a 7 night cruise again with Amawaterways. We flew into Paris two days before the cruise and stayed in Paris for 4 nights after the cruise.

I was a little disappointed by this cruise, we had selected the itinerary because of an excursion in Normandy to the Juno Beach Centre, Juno beach, one of the British beaches and a Canadian Commonwealth War cemetery. After we had already selected our excursions, Amawaterways combined the Canadian/British excursion with the American one. We never even received notice of the change although some guests did get an email. The official Normandy Beaches excursion was now just to an American cemetery, Omaha beach and Juno beach; although on our cruise they did make it to a Canadian cemetery as well. My sister and I opted out of the Beaches excursion and did the other full day excursion to the Pay d'Auges. 

We enjoyed our time in Paris, although I have to say Paris did not wow me like other cities did. We visited the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Sainte Chappelle, and Notre Dame before going on the cruise. The day after we got back from the cruise it was the free museum Sunday and we visited the Rodin museum and the D'Orsay. We also wandered around Monmarte, Sacre Coeur and the Pere Lachaise cemetery. 

Eiffel Tower

Arc de Triomphe

Tomb of the Unknown

The day after our arrival day, we happened to wander by the Odette cafe after visiting Sainte Chapelle and Notre Dame, so we had to stop for some chou pastries and coffee. We ate up by that third storey window. 

View of Notre Dame from Odette

Our cruise was on the AmaDante. It was a slightly smaller ship than we had sailed on before, it can carry a max of 144 passengers. We had nice weather and the rivers in France were not affected by low water conditions that affected the Rhine and Danube this year. 

AmaDante in Rouen

My favourite stops on the cruise were to Rouen and Monet's Gardens. Rouen is a medieval city where Joan of Arc was burnt on the stake. After our morning excursion in Rouen where we had a chance to try Normandy cheeses and chocolate, we opted out of an afternoon excursion so we could stay in town and wander around a little.  

Chapel of Joan of Arc

Exterior of the church

Monet's Gardens

Monet's Home

On our return to Paris, we docked for the day at one location but then did a technical move to our disembarkation location. The Captain takes the ship as far up the Seine as he can before turning back to dock. This was our view on that last evening. 

Eiffel Tower from the AmaDante

Our first day back in Paris, we went to Sacre Coeur and Monmarte as it was only about a 20 minute walk from our hotel.  

Sacre Coeur

Montmarte

Passe Muraille

Our next day was the free museum Sunday, I had booked tickets for the D'Orsay for the afternoon so we went to the Rodin in the morning, where unfortunately we found out they only participate in the free museum Sunday during the winter months. I enjoyed the Rodin but my sister didn't care for it. We both enjoyed the D'Orsay. If you only go to one museum in Paris, I would pick the D'Orsay.

Rodin's The Thinker

Gates of Hell

D'Orsay Museum

Our next day was a day trip out of Paris, most people go to Versailles, but we went to Chateau Chantilly where there is a large house with gardens but also Europe's largest museum to the horse. Unfortunately the horse demonstration was given all in French so even for me some of it was difficult to understand. The Chateau is about half an hour walk from the train station, there is supposed to be a bus and a shuttle but the bus only runs about every 40 minutes and we couldn't find out any information on the shuttle so we walked there and back.

On our last day in Paris we went to the Pere Lachaise cemetery, where many notable people are buried. A lot of websites say you'll need a guide to find tombs of the famous people but Google maps actually did a pretty good job. We spent much of the morning wandering around and then had lunch in the area before heading back into Paris where we had one last look at the Eiffel Tower.

Jim Morrison's Grave

Chopin's Grave

George Bernard Shaw's Grave

Even though I was a bit disappointed with not seeing the Canadian landing beach at Normandy, we still enjoyed the cruise and we bought future cruise credits so will be doing another cruise between now and 2029. We haven't picked a cruise yet and next year it's a rail trip in Portugal and Spain. 

Farewell Teddy

This is not what I'd planned to write as my next post and not a post I expected to write this soon.  On Wed, 30 Sep, my Teddy, who you might remember had a heart condition, had what I think was a heart attack or stroke and passed over to the Bridge.

Teddy loved toys

I'll spare you all the worst of the details. We had a normal evening, dinner, a little play time, bed time cookies and cuddles on the couch. I went up to bed early as Liam was to have had a hoopers class the next morning. Teddy came up to bed with me and plunked himself down in the middle of the room.  I got up later to go to the bathroom and he was still lying on the carpet at the end of the bed. I got back into bed, then I heard what I initially thought was Teddy trying to roll over onto his back. But I quickly realized it sounded more like flailing or thrashing. I turned on the lights and sat up in bed. I could see Teddy lying there, I called but he made no movement. I got up and went to him, he regurgitated his dinner, I had to hold his head up for him. I got a blanket to put on my bed and carried him over to the bed, while I cleaned up, he never moved. I thought perhaps I should get dressed and take him to the emergency hospital. The nearest hospital is about a half hour drive from me and I didn't think he would make it. I was right, within about 20 minutes of me getting up Teddy had passed.  I laid with him in bed for about 10 minutes, telling him he would be all right as his breathing got slower and shallower. Later that night I moved Teddy to a chair in my room and called my vet's office as soon as they opened in the morning and brought him over where they could take care of him. 

Teddy's 3rd Birthday

COVID Lockdown

For those that haven't followed our story, I adopted Teddy just before he turned 3. He belonged to a friend's cousin and there was an issue with allergies so they couldn't keep Teddy. My friends brought him to me for a trial; they brought Teddy on 9 Mar 2020 and were supposed to come back in May. Well, on 13 Mar 2020, COVID lockdown happened. Teddy and my dog, Keltic became my COVID isolation crew.  Teddy celebrated his third birthday with Keltic and me. As COVID restrictions went on, my friends couldn't come back as planned but by May, Teddy was with me to stay. Later on that summer, a puppy would be added to our crew and Teddy became a good big brother to Liam

Teddy Video Tribute

Teddy was a quirky dog. He was reactive with other dogs on walks but fine with them when we went to events where there were many other dogs. Teddy was noise sensitive, smoke detectors were understandable, but he also hated power drills, electric knives, squeaky drawers, whistles, heart monitors beeping (on TV) to name a few. Any of these noises would cause him to bark nearly endlessly. Over time though he did begin to recognize there was nothing to bark at when I said: "It's on TV". I'll miss saying that now. Teddy couldn't do stairs when he arrived, I taught him to do stairs quickly and then he loved doing stairs. I think going upstairs to bark became his refuge when he was upset. And boy, Teddy could bark. I let him bark once just to see how long he would bark for; it was 45 minutes before he stopped barking but that only lasted about 5 minutes before he started again. You had to go up and reassure him with some belly rubs or cuddles before he would stop.

Covid Crew

Teddy dabbled in dog sports. He never earned any titles. We started with agility. He took to it quite quickly, he had confident teeter and was a fish in the weaves. At his very first trial, he got two qualifying scores but after a few trials Teddy decided he didn't want to do agility. We gave scent detection a try. Teddy did quite well and did a little jig with his back feet to let me know that he'd located the odour.  I loved watching him looking for the scent when I let him loose to do a practice room searches. Unfortunately, there weren't many scent trials near us and they were more expensive to enter than agility. We also gave ratting a try, Teddy again learned quickly and did his little jig when he found the rats. Teddy developed an interdigital cyst that kept coming back like a blood blister so I worried about infection with him having to search for the rats in straw so his ratting career didn't go far either.

First Agility Trial

Teddy learned to like travelling and camping in the trailer. We went all the way to Alberta one summer and down to Nova Scotia on another.  I'm glad that I was able to take Teddy down east to PEI this past summer where he got to go wading and sleep in the trailer. Teddy loved to wade and bark (of course) at waves. I took a last camping trip after getting back from France. I'm glad now for Teddy that I made that trip. There was no wading but there was a couple short hikes where Teddy led the way. He got to see deer and sit by the camp fire. He also had his first pupcup. 

Last Camping Trip Hike

I've had two dog pass over to the Bridge younger than Teddy but since I only had Teddy for a little more than 6 years, it's seems like he's the youngest. It's not fair that they when they don't even get to see double digits.

I always used to ask Teddy if he was happy with me. I hope he was. I hope I made the right decision for him in the end.

I'll miss those eyes!