A Surprise Day Away

It’s rare for me to not teach on Saturday… which made last Saturday all the more special.

Most know that I teach at a couple of French post-secondary schools during the school year, but I also do some online tutoring as well. Most are regular students that I’ve been working with for about a year. Among them, I have a number of Asian students, but don’t have many options for tutoring them, given the 6h time difference… Saturdays & Thursdays are typically my only options.

Last Saturday, I took a rare break.
Let me tell you about it…

A Bible School Saturday

Last Saturday was a Bible School day for Dominic. He & Melanie typically drive up early Saturday morning and back that night. He attends class and Melanie tries to occupy herself the best she can.

Meanwhile, Liz’s brother had been wanting to meet in Paris at some point as a way to surprise Liz and extend her birthday celebrations just a little further (her B-day was back in March).

After some back and forth, May 11th was chosen and we made plans to accompany D&M, spend the day with Liz’s family, and have supper with Dominic before all heading home (Liz was none the wiser.) In the end, however, her family’s plans changed and the trip was no longer possible for them.

We decided to stay the course and still enjoy a family day together… just with a smaller version of family.

Early Departure / Early Exercise

We hit the road at 4:00am, had dropped Dominic off at Bible School by 7:15 and then headed down to Fontainebleau to walk Pollux and visit the grounds. If one must walk the dog early in the day, there’s no reason not to do it at the palace most associated with Napoleon.

We started by walking the length of the grand canal (1.2KM / 3,900′) with Pollux before heading up to the perimeter of the grand parterre garden where we saw several families of geese & goslings and even a pair of swans with their six 2-week old cygnets.

We also had a bit of fun with the iPhone’s panorama function which allows subjects to move part way through.

*Looking through ‘the gang’ you can see the grand parterre and the château.*

Old Friends re-Visited

In the early 2000s Sylvain was a student at the Université de Poitiers (where I now teach), but was on an exchange at the University of New Brunswick (where I was teaching French). He corrected my students’ tests and homework but soon became a great friend… he had a regular place in our home.

Since he & his wife live under an hour’s drive from Fontainebleau, and given the change in plans by Liz’s family, it was the perfect opportunity to re-connect. A long drawn out picnic, conversation, reminiscing and painting, all under a sprawling canopy made for a perfect afternoon.

(there may even have been one or two short naps taken by older members of the party. You know you’re good friends when you feel comfortable enough to ask for mini-nap space!)

Supper as the Fab-6

We picked Dominic up and head to a nearby Turkish restaurant for supper: a treat in and of itself for two reasons:

Usually, wanting to get home at an early hour, we’d either not have anything or simply grab a quick McDonald’s take out to eat on the road. This time we wanted to mark the occasion and include Dominic in our unique day.
It’s Turkish… something completely different from what we can get in Châtellerault. We ate there once last year and it was ab-so-lute-ly delicious… an easy YES for a re-do!

Meze appetizers, a lamb skewer, pistachio baklava, and Turkish tea, in the company of family… the recipe for a delightful meal, itself the crowning top-off of a lovely day. Nothing left but a 3h drive home and quick bedtime prep before we hit the hay in preparation for church Sunday morning.