The Big Travel to France update

For the lazy reader: WE MADE IT, we are fine, the weather is great and so is the villa.

For those who want the details, read on.

A bit of a timeline approach is needed

December 29, 2011 - Our departure date to France. We left Guelph at about 2 pm to drive to Pearson and catch our first of two flights.  The first flight is British Airways, from Toronto to London.  Flight departs Toronto on the 29th at 6:30pm, and arrives in London at about 6:30am on the 30th.

The line up to drop bags, was quite long and took us about 45min to get through it, however we got a nice surprise at the end ...UPGRADE ..yup to what British Airways calls "club world", whatever you call it ...the seats recline to become beds.  We didn't tell the girls about the upgrade, until we boarded, the bad news is that they now think that this mode of travel is standard cross-Atlantic accommodation.  Sorry girls at 4x the price of regular seats...hope you enjoyed the ride.

The last Tim Hortons for quite a while...boarding lounge in Toronto.

The lie-flat bed setup we had.

 Sarah at 30,000 feet, grabbin' some zzzz's

 Can you guess where we are?

 After a quick 3hr lay-over at Heathrow, where the car-seat went missing, caught our 45min flight to Paris.  The immigration process was smooth like silk, quick look at the passport, entry stamp and done, even before we got our luggage.  We needed a bite to eat at the train station in the Charles de Gaulle airport (same terminal we landed in but about 1km from where we landed), so what better choice than meat and cheese on a baguette.

 3 hours on the TGV got us from Paris to Avignon,
Now DEC 31, 2011
 and a one night stay in a VERY small hotel.  It served its purpose and we woke up fairly rested and ready to tackle the final leg of the trip.  Eric successfully phoned the Renault dealer and had the people arrive at the hotel and take us to get the Grand Scenic that will be our vehicle for the next 6 months.  |Here it is shortly after delivery (above) and below before the luggage went in.

 AFTER Luggage:

 A drive of about 1.25 hours from Avignon got us to Venelles, where we got the keys to the Villa from the Fieldmans.  Everything seems to be just fine, and we obviously got connected to the internet.  We managed a quick shopping run for wine/meat/bread/cheese/pasta/veg in Venelles proper and returned for mid afternoon snacks.  The weather was very nice, sunny and +15C....yes that is a plus sign!!

 Sunset from the poolside, looking out towards the foothills of the Alps.

 Same location looking down on the villa (that would be the east terrace in the picture).  We had a very nice new years eve, with lamb chops, harricots vert and pasta along with a nice cote du rhones red.  The 9€ bottle is much better than the 4€ bottle.  We rang in the new year with a bottle of Champagne courtesy of the Fieldmans, and then off to bed.

 

Morning of January 1, 2012 about to take our coffee on the east terrace (in T-shirts no less)