September 30

 Yesterday was a blast!  Half the members of our tour went to a French restaurant for a 3 course meal. Most of the people in our group are Americans and Aussies. They are going to be a fun group to spend time with on our tour. There was a guitar player and an accordion player leading a sing song during the meal. We had a ball. After the meal, we had a night time bus tour of Paris. Of course, the highlight was seeing the Eiffel in lights. Today, we had a bus tour of Paris in daylight. After the bus tour, Linda and I walked the streets of Paris and crossed items off the bucket list…eating croissants, sipping coffee in a sidewalk cafe, enjoying a lunch of crepes along with cheese in pastry, and sipping French wine. Today’s step count was 25 581. 

London was impressive, but I have to say Paris is at a whole new level for architecture, culture, cuisine, artistry, and imagination  wow!

Tomorrow, we have to be on the bus by 8:30 for a long journey to Lucerne, Switzerland. 

September 28

 Another full day in London. Our hotel was only a short walk to The Natural History Museum and The Victoria and Albert Museum so we started our day taking in a very small fraction of the two museums. London ‘s museum quality and quantity is off the charts. It would take decades to do justice to all the displays. 

Linda and I became quite comfortable using The Tube so we travelled to Soho District where we people watched and enjoyed a half pint at one of the many pubs. Tourist advice: never pass a toilet if you have been drinking beer. From Soho, we walked down to The Thames and purchased a London Boat Tour from Westminster to The Tower Bridge. The guide was humorous as most guides are, but his best line was “The Tait Modern Art Gallery has free admission. When you visit the museum, you’ll know why admission is free.” 

Our plan was to have dinner at The Borough Market on the south shore of Thames. Even though end of September is not peak season, the crush of humanity at Borough Market was overwhelming so we settled for a pub meal off the beaten track. There were two soccer matches on The Telly so we enjoyed the full pub experience. 

After our dinner, we took the subway back to Kensington. We stopped at a market to use up all our British money and returned to our hotel for wine and cheese before sleepy time. 

It is now September 29 and I am on The Eurostar Train zipping through the French countryside at 300kph. The trip through The Chunnel lasts only 20 minutes. It hardly mattered we were 300 metres below the surface. Tonight, we will enjoy a 3 course meal in Paris before we spend Monday touring Paris. 

September 27

 We flew out of Saskatoon on Wednesday. After a layover in Calgary, we flew through the night to London. Sleeping on a plane can hardly be called sleep. 

We arrived in London just after noon on Thursday and took The Tube to our hotel in Kensington. After regrouping, Linda and I walked around Hyde Park. The highlight for me was seeing Princess Diana’s Memorial near Kensington Palace. Nicely done. Evening dinner was fish and chips with a pint at a local pub. Sleepy time came early last night. 

Today, we took The Tube to Tower of London and walked our way back to Kensington, a mere 22.4 km…31 000 steps. We just took in the sights: Tower of London. Globe Theatre. Borough Market.  Tate Modern Art Gallery. The Shard. London Eye. Westminster Abbey. Big Ben. Trafalgar Square. Piccadilly Circus. Whitehall. Covent Garden. The Mall. Buckingham Palace. Harrods of London. 

We finished the evening with a delicious Indian meal at Dishoon Restaurant. 

September 16

 Linda and I are back in Saskatoon now after a very enjoyable summer spent at Elk Ridge.  I made great use of my membership at Elk Ridge as I played about 35 rounds.  We also spent our days kayaking the lakes and rivers near Waskesiu, hiking, biking, and playing a little bit of pickle ball.  Over the summer, we made a lot of new friends and had a few guests stay with us at our townhouse.  On the September long weekend, we had Linda's oldest sister and her husband at our place to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary and many of Linda's relatives joined us for a Dawson Family Reunion.  For three nights in a row, we had about 30 people in our place for meals and merry making.

In other news:

1.  I just had a date with a little red head.  Linda was okay with the whole affair.  I picked Luvisa up from school at 3 pm.  Luvisa's grade one teacher is a gal that grew up on our crescent and played with Mary from time to time.  She is an exceptional teacher and she appreciates Luvisa's special talents as a lover of nature and the arts.  

After school, we picked up our Tim's and drove to Saskatoon.  The plan was to tour a large hotel (one of Luvisa's favourite activities) and play a round of mini golf before enjoying a meal at Fuddruckers.  We were a little sidetracked by a stop at Kinsman Park so she settled for about 20 repetitions on the zip line, 30 trips down the giant slide and follow the leader over the jungle gym.  We skipped most of the planned agenda and went straight to Fuddruckers for a meal before I took her to her jazz dance lessons.

2.  We had Gunnar for two evenings last week.  He still keeps me on the go watching monster trucks, playing with the train set, playing catch, batting balls of the tee, and raiding the pantry.  Gunnar is enrolled in Ukrainian dance lessons this year, but he hasn't really warmed to the idea.  He's still searching for his "inner Kolach".

3.  Mary and Morgan celebrate their 12th wedding anniversary tomorrow.  Morgan and Mary are single handedly stimulating the economy by buying new vehicle this summer.  Morgan has a new half ton and Mary has a new Lincoln Corsair plug in hybrid.

4.  Haley and Dustin are moved into their new house on Spadina Crescent.  They have put a lot of effort into the design and functionality of the house and let me tell you, the house has a lot of "wow"!

5.  My 50th high school reunion on August long weekend was a huge success.  I believe there were 22 people in attendance.  A majority of the people who attended were classmates that I had not seen in 50 years.

6.  I have already been playing hockey for two weeks in the Saskatoon Plus 60 Hockey League.  Our league is the largest and best run league for 60 plus players in all of Canada.  We have one player in our league who is 90 years old and is still playing...amazing!

7.  Linda and I are leaving for a European vacation in 8 days.  We will be in England, France, Switzerland, and Italy.  We are both super pumped about the vacation.

That's all I have for now.  Forgive and be peace makers.  Love your neighbours, even the ones who drive you nuts!