Corsica Part 2: A Corsican overview

We're home!  It was a very lonnnnggggg 24 hour trip home, but Juniper was as good a little girl as you could ask for, I had 3 people to help me, and there was only one crazy major incident where Clark and Juniper and I were almost not allowed to board the plane from Paris to Montreal.  So really, what more could you ask for?

Perhaps before I launch into some of the details and highlights of our two week adventure, I thought it might be interesting to first give a more general overview of Corsica, and the trip as a whole. 

I've said this already, but Corsica is a stunning island.  I asked one woman I met along the way if she'd ever been to Canada, and she replied  (paraphrased and translated, that is) "no - not many people from Corsica travel that much - why would we?  We've got the mountains and the water, and all four seasons - the sun and the snow and the autumn leaves.  Life is good here".  I can understand the sentiment.  The mountains are truly this massive backbone that winds its way from one tip of the island to the other, smack down the middle.  Some of them are almost as high as 3000 metres above sea level, boasting snowy, glacial tips. 

The water is the Mediterranean sea, which is just as clear and beautiful as you would expect, and can be accessed from any number of sandy beaches. 

 
There are many towns, of course, that have been established along the coastline, but I was surprised by the number of towns that also exist, as if by magic, clinging along the steep, rocky mountainous cliffs.  Much of Corsican architecture, especially in these smaller, mountainous towns, consist of what appear to be centuries-old stone buildings, still in use - making it feel as though you have truly stepped back in time as you wind your way through their narrow streets from one crazy mountain pass to the next.

 
The history of Corsica is incredibly rich, and long.  Though it is currently part of France, it has passed hands more than once, and consequently been under siege a number of times. There are constant reminders, for instance, of the time it spent under Genoese rule, in the form of distinctive Genoese defensive towers that pop up all along the coastline, many dating back to the 16th century. Certainly, however, the history dates much farther back than this.  For instance, Clark and Juniper and I visited sites that have ruins dating back to 2000 BC, and all five of us made the trip to a town called Bonifacio, which is thought to be one of the places described in The Odyssey (more on these adventures later).

Genoese tower

There is clearly an independence or "freedom fighter" undercurrent that runs through the island, both in organized form - ie, the "National Liberation Front of Corsica", and also in more vernacular forms. For instance, all the signs indicating town names are written in both French and Corsican, but many of these (especially in the smaller towns), have the French spelling either blacked out with spray paint, or shot through with bullet holes, or both.  (I really should have gotten a picture of one of these, but didn't).  There is also a fair bit of "freedom"-related graffiti around, and some clearly sympathetic/hero-worship attitudes towards one relatively famous contemporary independence fighter named Yvan Colonna who allegedly shot and killed Corsican prefect Claud Erignac.

In terms of language, I spoke almost entirely French the whole time I was there.  I am not nearly as good as I used to be, but evidently good enough that I could understand and be understood.  It was actually refreshing to not have people respond to me in English, as is inevitably the case in Quebec.

I hadn't realized this before we got there, but Corsica is actually a very popular tourist destination - particularly (and unsurprisingly) for French mainlanders and Italians.  One of the towns we stayed in, for instance, goes from a population of 7000 to 80000 in peak tourist season. November, however, is NOT tourist season.  This is likely weather related - It was relatively chilly the whole time we were there (it averaged about 15 degrees),  and it was often rainy and foggy.  As I will describe in greater detail in subsequent posts, this was both a blessing and a curse… it meant that we didn't have to battle tonnes of other people to see sites, and things like accommodations were significantly cheaper.  But it also meant that there were many many things that just weren't open.  We'd wander into the town centre, with all these lovely looking shops that had "fermeture annuelle" in the window.  You'd go to a restaurant - closed.  Museum?  Closed. That got frustrating pretty quickly.

Also frustrating is the French custom of closing everything between 12-2pm.  Or 3, or 3:30, or basically whenever they feel like opening again.  So the stores and sites that were, in fact, open in the off-season were often not open when we were wandering around.  This often also meant restaurants.  You would find very few restaurants open at lunch, and then the ones that opened for supper usually only opened at 7:30pm…. ie, when Juniper had gone to sleep.  Consequently, we ate out only twice the entire time we were there.  Seriously - twice.  Good thing we had booked apartment-style accommodations!  Also, I thought I'd be eating lots of fresh, local cheap seafood the whole time I was there - wrong again!  The supermarkets didn't even carry fresh fish, and when you found it (for instance at the market), it was ridiculously expensive.  Perhaps that is also different in the peak 
 season.  

One of the two restaurants we ate at. The fish was fresh, but I'm not used to getting it whole.

There were, however, always cafés and boulangeries open, with beautiful baguettes and pastries, and we took full advantage.  Chocolate croissants and fresh warm baguettes were often a daily occurrence. 

 Also ubiquitous were a large range of local cheeses (usually sheep cheeses) and local charcuterie (smoked meat).  One of the most popular of these was Figatellu, or pork liver, which, to me looked as gross as it sounded.  Charcuterie was one of the few things I was just not interested in trying.

Our day-to-day involved a lot of driving to various different towns and sites.  This was not as easy as it sounds.  First off,  here is a picture of our car - mom booked it from Canada, with the intent of getting something big enough for all five of us (including the car seat) and our luggage.  Though it was big by European standards, what we ended up with was, in truth, a hatchback only slightly bigger than our little Suzuki Swift at home.  That meant that those of us in the backseat (ie me and mom, with Juniper's car sea in the middle), were squished in so tightly that we couldn't move, and had no hope of doing up our seat belts.  Mom and I both got very used to lifting ourselves up and over just in order to get the door closed.  

Secondly, driving in Corsica is more than a little ridiculous - both in the city and in between towns.  Ajaccio, for instance, (the capital city where we stayed for the first week), was built long before cars, and therefore the streets are very narrow with no real places to park.  This does not stop the locals - the cars are parked bumper to bumper all through the city streets at all times of the day, and often you'll find multiple cars on the sidewalks, and double parked in the middle of the street. This makes negotiating traffic especially difficult. 

  
Driving between towns is another thing altogether - due to the mountainous terrain, the roads are… insane.  They snake their way up and down cliffs - these tiny narrow roads with solid mountain on one side, and sheer drop-offs on the other. Guard rails?  Only if you're on one of the "major highways".  Usually it is just a few bricks between you and your death.  The turns are all hairpin, and therefore also blind, and the Corsican drivers, to quote our guidebook, "drive with a panache that verges on the irresponsible".  I couldn't have said it better myself.  Here is a little video - don't watch it if you get motion sick!

OK - that's enough for now.  I'll do at least one more post (maybe two?) with some pictures and stories from our actual travel adventures.  Stay tuned!

Corsica Part 1: the ridiculous travel story

Here we are in Corsica - in fact, we are on our last few days.  There is, of course, much to blog about, so I'll just start with the first few days.

So, let's start at the beginning.  Months ago, Clark got accepted to do this special workshop for PhDs and Post Docs doing work in internal waves.  It was taking place in this tiny little town in Corsica (a French island just north of Sardinia), called Cargèse.  Of course, I was dying to go.  The problem: I didn't want Juniper and me to go with Clark and then twiddle our thumbs for two weeks in a tiny town while Clark spent the whole day in lectures, but I also didn't want to wait until Clark was done and then do the entire crazy voyage alone.  Then my mom had a brilliant idea: she and my dad would come with us… that way I'd have help for the journey, and we'd meet Clark after his course so that we could all vacation together.

Hah.

The day arrived, and we had an elaborate plan whereby mom would drop me and and Juniper at the airport with our luggage, then drive all the way back to the city to drop the car off and have her cousin Carroll drive her back, so that she didn't have to leave the car at pay and park.  We got to the airport at 1pm, for what we thought was a 2:30 flight.  This was actually really pushing it, as driving to Halifax and back would eat up an hour.  Mom decided to risk it.  Then, after she had gone, I looked at my ticket - the flight was boarding in 20 minutes.  They had changed the flight to 1:40pm.  I hustled me and Juniper through security, and on to the plane; dad waited outside of security for mom.  The short ending to this predicament:  my parents didn't make the flight.  I cried as we took off.

On the way to Montreal (first leg of the trip), I started reassuring myself "certainly, they'll make another flight before we have to board for Paris", "everything will be fine - I won't be doing this alone!".  When we landed, however, and I called, mom broke the news that there were no more flights to Montreal for THREE DAYS.  Then I really cried - enough that some nice woman asked if there was anything she could do for me.  No, no there wasn't.

So here I was, with Juniper and a ridiculous amount of heavy carry-on (three bags), and a stupid umbrella stroller that my mom had bought on Kijiji whose wheels kept falling off, and Juniper refused to sit in.  And I had to find my way out of the terminal, back to check-in to get a boarding pass, then back to the gate.  Then was the loooonnnnng flight to Paris, where I couldn't even get up to go to the bathroom while Juniper was sleeping.  At least I had a couple of empty seats beside me… when I got on at first, they had stuck me in the middle of the middle section, but luckily moved us after the flight had filled up.

So, then we arrive in Paris.  I find my way to the baggage claim, and there comes my bag, Juniper's bag…. and then along comes my mom's bag and my dad's bag as well!  I had been told with absolute certainty (and condescension) from the woman in Montreal that there was zero possibility of this - that my parents' bags would be heading back to Halifax if they had even left there in the first place.  WRONG.  Now, here I was, having been travelling for over 12 hours.  I hadn't slept in over 24.  And now I had Juniper, three heavy pieces of carry-on, a stupid non-functioning stroller and FOUR full pieces of luggage.

The next obstacle was to get from the Charles de Gaulle airport to Orly airport, clear across the city. Though it was 85€, I decided to take a cab, rather than try to negotiate the shuttle. I somehow got everything into the cab, and then spent two whole hours in rush hour traffic  (at 6am - go figure!)

Finally, we arrive at Orly. I desperately wanted to get this luggage sorted out - to check it in and get yet another boarding pass for our last flight, to Ajaccio.  So I stood in line, corralling all this luggage, until finally I got to the front - only to be told I couldn't check in until 1.5 hours before the flight.  Not only that, but I had to figure out how to get an infant pass for Juniper, because they had failed to send us one, and for whatever reason, the guy couldn't do it for  me - I had to find a service desk somewhere.  I couldn't even go to the bathroom or change Juniper's diaper… I couldn't fit everything into the freaking bathroom.

So.... 1.5 hours before the flight, I go to check the baggage.  Of course, I had two extra pieces.  I was told it going to be 110€… per bag (I think.  Maybe it was total).  In any event, my jaw dropped.  "These bags were never supposed to come without my parents - what am I supposed to do with them?" I pleaded.  There was some back and forth and chatting amongst themselves, and consulting this person and that person and bringing out the calculator, and finally we sorted it out for 26€.  Of course, then I had to go stand in another line to pay it, and then FINALLY I was allowed into the gate.  The bags were checked.  I had managed to check my email very briefly (I paid a fortune to access a computer at the airport, only to have the freaking power go out 4 minutes later), but it was enough time to see that Clark was going to try and leave his course early and meet us at the airport.  There was finally an end to this madness in sight.

The flight to Ajaccio was lovely.  Juniper slept almost the whole time, and we had a whole row to ourselves, and the view was spectacular.  We landed, and I had this huge smile on my face… until I realized that Clark wasn't there.  He wasn't there.  It hit me in that moment that I was completely screwed.  My mom had taken care of the arrangements for our Ajaccio accommodations - it was an apartment we were renting from a woman named Caroline.  Not only did I not have the directions to the apartment, it wouldn't have mattered if I did, because I didn't have the key.  I didn't have any contact info for Caroline.  I didn't even have a freaking coin to get a trolley for the four suitcases I was now responsible for.  I just sat down, utterly defeated.  I had made it this far, and I had no idea what to do.

Then, like a knight in shining armour, this man came up out of the blue and asked "are you Tara? My name is Eric".  "Are you with Caroline?" I asked.  Yes, he was.  Up until this point, I had no idea Eric even existed, but at that moment, I could have kissed him.  Eric took care of the trolly.  Then he drove us to this little beachside restaurant, where Caroline was waiting.  They sat us down with a bunch of their friends and ordered lunch (Juniper and I sampled the fish soup).

Caroline took this picture.  Eric is the man directly in front of Juniper in the blue shirt.

 Then they left us there because they had a meeting.  I was relatively bewildered, but happy that things seemed to be under control.  Then Eric came back an hour later, drove us to the rental car place, and helped me get that all sorted out.  Then I followed him through the crazy streets of Ajaccio in the new rental car, trying not to lose him while careening through roundabouts and trying to keep Juniper from crying in the back seat. We snaked our up up some ridiculously steep, narrow, windy streets, and finally - we were there!  At the apartment!  He showed me everything he figured I would need to know, then the buzzer rang - it was Clark.  Finally!!  The crazy crazy crazy adventure was over.

Juniper posing on our wrap-around balcony.

We spent the first couple of days wandering around Ajaccio, buying groceries and getting the lay of the land. Three days later,  my parents arrived.  The rest, they say is history… or perhaps, just fodder for some subsequent blog posts.  Here are a few photos from those first few days. I promise, the next posts will have much better text-to-photo ratio, but as you can imagine, I don't have much photo documentation to accompany my travel story.  Stay tuned!


More views from our balcony:  showcasing the city with the mountains and the Mediterranean, and the phenomenal sunsets.

Yukkin' it up at the town square

Happy Hallowe'en!

A little ladybug waits for her friends to arrive

This will be a short post, but I thought it might be popular to see some pics and videos from Hallowe'en.  Sunday marked the first day I was completely solo (Clark left on Saturday for Corsica).  So what did I do?  Threw a party, of course!  It was a bit dicey in the lead up - both Juniper and I have been pretty sick.  But I felt I was on the mend enough on Sunday to invite some babies over. Really, how could I resist?  Patrick couldn't make it in the end, but we got to see Jolene - she and her mom Sairah are currently visiting Halifax for the week, having moved to BC 5 months ago.

Calla, Juniper, Isabella and Jolene

And finally, I'll leave you with a Hallowe'en video, which *may* include a little dancing. Enjoy!

Autumn goodness

It's been way, way too long since I last posted.... I've got what could be many posts' worth of September AND October highlights.  In my defense, it has been very, very busy around here.  However, in one short week, Clark is heading off to Corsica (France), and then Juniper, me, and my parents will be following a week and a half later.  So I must really post now, before we embark on a whole new adventure.

1. Clark's birthday!
We had a lovely crepe party in honour of Clark's 31st.  Lots of crepes and babies and awesome friends - what better way to spend a day?  As you can see, Clark was VERY excited about the whole thing.

2. Fall orienterring

We have taken advantage of some of the fall orienteering that has been happening around the province.  This picture is from one such adventure, where Theresa came with us (and acted as photographer). This was not actually part of the course - we spied a waterfall off in the distance, and went to investigate. It was well worth it, despite meaning that we came back late.

3. Elizabeth comes to visit!

Clark's sister Liz decided to take a last minute trip to come see us for a weekend before Thanksgiving, which was such a lovely surprise! Here are a couple of shots from the beautiful sunny Sunday that we went downtown for a stroll.

4. THANKSGIVING

It gets all caps, because, as always, it was epic.  Every time we go home for Thanksgiving, it is epic.  We are only ever there for a few short days, and somehow have to fit in five gabillion dinners, and even more visits.  Consequently, I informally swore off Fredericton thanksgivings for a least a little while, but then, at the last minute, off we went.  Why, you ask?  Well, this is the first year that Clark's dad and step mom were hosting a thanksgiving dinner at the Richards family farm, so we felt it was important to go.  Don't get me wrong - it was loads of fun, and Fredericton in the fall is pretty much the best.  But we left even more exhausted than when we arrived.  Here are some highlights.

a)  Down at the farm

Out for a stroll in her beautiful new coat, ladybug boots and matching plaid tam and dress

Helping grandpa pick potatoes

Exploring a washed up tree by the river

Tete-a-tete with Witty the kitty

Hanging with her step-cousin Ciaran.  Check out the matching ensemble!

b) Fredericton visit

Hours of fun was had in this wheelbarrow.

Exploring a bug.  Very shortly after this shot was taken, it went straight into her mouth.

More wheelbarrow fun - with Evan! (My cousin Claire's son)

Apple picking!

I'm not sure how this dreamy lighting happened, but I love this shot (in my parent's dining room)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Back at home

And here we are, back at home, getting ready for our big European adventure.  My mom just left this afternoon, having come up for the week to help with Juniper while I got a bit of work done.  This means that I was absent from most of the adventuring (and therefore pictures)... but perhaps I'll ask her for some of the good ones a get in another post before we leave.  We'll see. Another pretty awesome perk of my mom being here this particular week was that it coincided with the Pop Explosion, meaning that Clark and I got to go on two dates - to a New Pornographer's show, and to a show that featured Basia Bulat playing with the NS Symphony.  Amazing!

Juniper diligently puts some new shelves together

I'll leave you with a little video - I know I've already posted footage of Juniper dancing, but - well - it's one of her favourite things to do, and I think it's pretty much the cutest thing ever.

Just for fun

Enjoying some watermelon during our 30+ hours without power post-hurricane

I promised some random videos - here they are!  The first includes the various incarnations of Juniper's current favourite song... our musical rendition of Sandra Boynton's book Barnyard Dance.

This second video is just a montage of some of the games and other things Juniper has been amusing herself with these days.

And finally... here is what Juniper looks like after she inevitably takes out her hair elastics.  Her hair is getting out of control!

Half-naked mad scientist!

Naming Ceremony

The guests of honour, chatting it up before the ceremony.
I'm pretty sure I overheard Patrick saying:
"... and then I TOTALLY body slammed the guy!" 

As I said in the previous post, one of the biggest August highlights for me was the naming ceremony.  It started out as an inkling of an idea that we thought would be nice for Juniper, and grew into a wonderful event to celebrate all four little friends who have spent so much time together in the last year: Juniper, Calla, Patrick and Isabella.  Unfortunately, Isabella was sick and couldn't make it, but she was there in spirit!

A lot of work went into pulling this off (mostly because of all the little things Clark and I decided to do for it), but it was well, well worth it.  For instance, here is a dress that I made for Juniper, front and back.  

The design is, of course, a Juniper bush.
I felted it onto the front after it was made.

Check out the pigtails!
Seriously, do you get any cuter than that?

So what is a naming ceremony?  Good question!  We basically just wanted to be able to celebrate the kids; to welcome them into the world, and into this wonderful little community that they have become a part of. Each family prepared their own special "presentation" of sorts for their respective child, and then we all did a few ceremonial things for the kids, and had some readings.  Here is a look at the program:

This is a picture of me explaining all of the ceremonial things we set up on the table.  We had Juniper incense burning, as a means of cleansing, purifying and protecting the physical and spiritual bodies, and banishing negative energies. Next to that was a sweetgrass candle, used to welcome in good influences. Each child was passed through the smoke of the Juniper first, and then the sweetgrass candle. Also, all three kids had their own special blessing stones. Each stone was passed around to everybody at the ceremony, so that they could bestow blessings or well wishes or positive energy or vibes, or whatever they wanted. The idea, of course, is that the kids will have these stones for the rest of their lives.

Sidenote: Kerry and Clark and I (and of course, Juniper and Patrick), went to Crystal Crescent the day before the ceremony specifically to let the kids choose their blessing stones. Juniper, however, found it difficult to stay on task.

Juniper's final pick

The day was absolutely gorgeous - sunny and warm and green and lush.  The kids were also champs - for the ceremony itself, the potluck afterwards, and then the extended hangout after that!  Here are a few pictures from the day:

Tawnya, Jeremy and Calla

Kerry, Kenny and Patrick

Our wonderful guests: Carroll and Stephen, Jane and Mike,
Kata, Bill and Barb.  My mom couldn't make it at the last
minute, but skyped into the whole ceremony from Newfoundland!

For anyone who actually took a good look at the program, you'll see that there was a "Tara, Clark and Juniper surprise".  Out of everything we did in preparation for the ceremony, this "surprise" was far and away the most time consuming, but I'm so so so happy it came together.  For months, Clark and I had been working on a board book - a story about the four kids and the adventures they dream up. We bought blank board books, and labels to stick in them. Then I wrote the story, and Clark did the illustrations, and we both filled in the colour.  It was way way way more work than we had even anticipated, but hopefully it will be one of those things the kids will be able to look fondly back on one day.  Here is an example of one of the pages - this is the Juniper example.

And that was basically it!  We had a scrumptious potluck afterwards, and then later that evening, we celebrated Barb (and my mom)'s belated birthdays with some ice cream and cake.

Juniper, relaxing with a hand-picked carrot, post-ceremony

Stay tuned - I'll hopefully have some random videos up before long!