The Patrick Family: August 2008

Time in Adelaide

Time in Montreal

Time in London

Hi everyone,

A sightly bigger blog than normal as we’ve been on our holidays now for 4 weeks. While we’ve been having a great time, our health has not been great and we have both been fighting bad colds and coughs which has ended in a course of antibiotics. Typical!

We arrived in New York to see Charleen after a very long journey. Amelia was great on the plane, much better than we expected. The Qantas staff were great and seated us in a bulkhead seat and blocked out the one next to us so Amelia had her own seat. She met a little friend on the flight called Alexia and they played with their little toy bags that they get on the flight.

New York was fun. We went specifically to see Charleen so we didn’t do too much touristy stuff as both of us have done the tourist sights in NY before. We walked through Central Park where a big free Bon Jovi concert was taking place that night so people were queuing right round the park to be able to get in. We took Amelia to the big toy shop FAO Schwartz and she had $20 spending money from granny and grandad Cursley. She chose a lunchbox with a sunflower on it.

Iain took Amelia to the Museum of Modern Art, I passed on this after seeing some of the modern ‘art’ at the Tate Modern in London. Iain did report ‘art’ such as the pink wooden plank and a piece of string, so I was glad I passed and went make up shopping instead (my art!).

After NY we drove to Washington DC to see Auntie Joan, Uncle Shaun, Jeff and my cousin Simon. We planned to have a few days in Washington, but we did break this trip to drive to Hershey in Pennsylvania to go to the funeral of Sylvia’s very dear friend, Penny, who many of you may remember from our wedding, who died of cancer while we were over here. We drove through Gettsyburg on the way and saw the many memorials and graveyards of some of the people who fought to save the Union and emancipate the slaves in the American Civil War. We left Washington and drove back to NY – it was interesting to note that while it took us about 4 hours (with stops for Amelia) it took us about an hour to go the last 10 miles off the New Jersey Turnpike through the Lincoln Tunnel and into New York City amongst people who really CANNOT drive at all. Lane markings really are there for fun not to be obeyed.

We then got the train to Montreal. That took ages. It takes about 11 hours on the train to go as far as you could go in the car in 7 hours but we wanted to take a form of travel that Amelia could move about. She met a little friend called Batisse who is French Canadian and they spent many hours together wrapping up their toys in blankets and reading both English and French books, and running up and down the train. We talked to just about everyone in our carriage and met a nice man from Adelaide who was over for a conference.

We have mainly spent the time in Sylvia and Ken’s house outside Montreal relaxing not chasing about seeing everything which has been nice. Sylvia and Ken have a beautiful house and garden and swimming pool and Amelia has become a real little water baby. Everyone has gone to so much trouble buying, borrowing and sourcing toys for Amelia and she’s been spoilt with gifts and clothes.

We need an extra suitcase just for Amelia’s clothes! She has enjoyed running around all over the place usually with no clothes on, it’s been fantastic for her. She's also got to know her cousins as they have been here and stayed and we have visited them. I have celebrated my birthday here which was fantastic and have got to know the local beauty place that Sylvia goes to quite well as I've been there for a haircut and also a facial that I was given for my birthday. I found when I got here that the humidity (high) and longish hair that is curly don't mix, even my straightener couldn't help me so off it all got chopped!

We have taken trips into Old Montreal which is beautiful and Iain, myself and Keith, Iain’s brother spent an evening at La Ronde, the amusement park in Montreal with brilliant rides. We went on all the good ones including Goliath, a BIG roller coaster with a humungous drop and it’s fast. I went on it twice! We bought a 'flash pass' to skip the queues which worked brilliantly - although Keith did make the observation that we wouldn't need one if the fashion police came along and and arrested people for crimes against fashion the queues would have been almost non existent.

We had also booked Gold class tickets to see a round of the World Firework Championships. It was the US that night. Many countries take part including Australia and it’s amazing. If any of you ACC Councilites are reading this – take note, an amazing event. Each country does 30 mins of fireworks on a designated night. I have never seen such amazing fireworks, all set to music (the ones at are wedding were spectacular mum and dad by the way!!) these went on for 30 mins and just blew us away.

We have also been to Ottawa to see Iain’s sister Lindsey. Her and her husband Claude both work in Ottawa for the government (for those who don’t know Ottawa is Canada’s capital and was chosen as such by Queen Victoria who’s advisers advised her to choose somewhere that was not close to the US border and the only town of significant size between the two parts (French and English) at the time.

I have been learning a lot about the influence the Quebecois have with the French language. To preserve their language and heritage there are very strict rules they have imposed, such as, if you live and work in the Province of Quebec unless you went to an English speaking school in the Province you have to send your kids to a French speaking school. All signs and packaging of products has to be bilingual and the French wording has to be bigger than the English. And here’s an odd one. Women have to change their name by deed poll if they want to adopt their husband’s name after marriage – it doesn’t happen like we do it - the Quebec government have taken this step so French surnames don’t die out.

We are off to Quebec City tomorrow, just Iain and I – Amelia is staying with her grandparents for 5 days. It will be lovely to spend some time alone doing pre baby stuff that’s hard to do now! Quebec is celebrating it’s 400th anniversary and there’s lots going on including another set of magnificent fireworks which we have tickets for (yippee) and street parties. I shall have to brush up my French this afternoon! Iain has booked a magnificent hotel, we're splashing out a bit and going to make the most of the time on our own. He's organised the fireworks because I love them so much and a couple of other surprises so I am looking forward to it.

That's after the BBQ we are off to at Iain's schoolfriend Mike's house this afternoon. Mike, Iain and Keith spend the day together yesterday at the Nascar racing in Montreal. It rains a lot here because of the humidity. It seems that the morning are sunshine and just beautiful then the humidity builds and late afternoon there is thunder and lightening and a rain shower. Quite different to home. Here are some photos of our trip so far.

Sylvia and Ken (Iain's mum and her husband)

Iain and Amelia in Sylvia's pool

A very hot and sticky day in Washington D.C. (hence the hiding of the hair and loose clothing!)

Iain and Keith on Mont Royal overlooking Montreal City

The Patrick Family l-r Keith, Daniel, Lindsey, Alexandre, Iain and Amelia

In the garden

The Orange Julep in Montreal - the place to go for poutine and an orange julep - poutine is the a popular French Canadian fast food dish which is French Fries (usually home made), cheese curds all covered in gravy. Sounds disgusting, tastes delicious, but definitely a one time 'treat' for me. Orange julep is a bizarrely delicious drink made with orange juice and ice cream which miraculously doesn't curdle.

Iain, Amelia and Sylvia by the pool

Amelia in Washington D.C. eating a 'Patriot Ice'

Amelia and Grandpa