May 2013
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Our grandsons, Atticus and Roman, were on spring school holidays in
early May 2013. Erica’s vacation time at her job at the University of
London in Paris didn’t coincide, so Ray and I offered to take the boys
for one week. Eurocamp, a British run system of self-catering camping
parks in Europe, was suggested. It sounded like a holiday the boys would
appreciate. We found one on the internet at Esterel, near St Raphael, in
the south of France that sounded good. We could take a train from Paris
to St Raphael and rent a car for the duration. We booked a three bedroom
pre-fab cottage for six days. In the meantime, Erica found if she took
just a few extra days vacation she could accompany Andrew to his
conference in St Kitts in the Caribbean. The timing worked perfectly,
especially since Ray and I had reserved places to join friends on a two week bicycle and
barge trip in the Netherlands, starting mid-May (see
As they say, the best laid plans go astray. In mid-April, just two
weeks before we were scheduled to fly to Paris, Ray and I and our friend
Morris Davison went for an early season bicycle ride in anticipation of
our forth coming bicycle holiday. There were a few patches of ice on the
bicycle path that had not melted yet. We managed to avoid most of it,
but one patch caught Ray’s bicycle and down he went. To make a long
story short, Ray had fractured his pelvis. It was a clean fracture that
didn’t require surgery, but he was to be restricted to crutches for the
next six weeks. His trip to Europe was no longer possible.
What
were to do? We didn’t want to disappoint our grandsons or our daughter.
The answer came from our friends, Ric and Joan Potter. They had moved
out of their condo so that their son and family could live there while
their own house was being extensively renovated. We had offered our
house to Ric and Joan for the month of May. Joan immediately offered to
take care of Ray if I wanted to go to France myself. I contacted the
owner of the biking tour company to see if there was a single woman
willing to share a room with me. There wasn’t. The night before I was to
leave for Paris, I asked Joan if she would like to join me. She quickly
agreed. We booked a flight to Amsterdam to coincide with my arrival. The
husbands would be just fine on their own. It was settled.
I flew
to Paris the next day, spent a few days with the family, took the two
boys on the train to St Raphael and drove to Esterel Caravan Park. We
had a great time. Our cabin in the extensive park was very comfortable.
There was an inviting pool complex on the camp site and the weather was
just warm enough to spend part of every day swimming. The boys played
ball in front of our cabin and we discovered a good soccer and
basketball court to use. We did take one excursion to the Meditteranean
about 10 km away, but we prefered the facilities at Esterel.
Erica and Andrew were waiting for us back in Paris, having enjoyed the
sun in St Kitts. I stayed for the weekend in Paris before boarding a
train to Bruges, where I spent a few days before continuing on to
Amsterdam.
To read a short writeup and see photos of Bruges,
click
Bruges 2013 .
To read a short writeup and see photos of my
bicycle trip click
Netherlands 2013 bike tour.
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