Some Paris Photos

Le Mont St. Michel

My mom and step-dad were able to visit us in France for a week, and we had a great time exploring the area. One of the places we went to was Mont St. Michel, this beautiful tourist-trap of a city that is situated in a unique spot in which the height of the water around it fluctuates by more than 40 feet with the tide. On the day we went the tide was completely out. Here are some pics of our trip:

Here's a picture of the "island" completely surrounded by water. Notice that our parking place doesn't exist.

Beaches of Normandy

One week after the 65th anniversary of D-Day and the visit of President Obama and President Sarkozy, we were able to visit the beaches of Normandy. It was a beautiful and humbling experience. On d-day itself I ran more than 10 miles through Rennes, on streets named after Winston Churchill and General Patton, among others. I learned that Rennes was liberated by General Patton in August of 1944, a couple months after D-Day. It's interesting to consider how all these events have affected my life. Would Sarah's dad have ended up in France and doing graduate work in Canada where he met Sarah's mom? Would there have been a Sarah to come to Montreal where we met?

Funny videos

Rennes!

Olivia and I in front of our summer home/my office. We live at the French school of public health where I am doing research on pedestrian/bicycle safety issues in Rennes. We're having a ton of fun and feel so lucky to be here. Everyone at the school has been so great to us. Here's a picture of our living room/our bedroom. There is another bedroom with a double bed, but it's not the most comfortable, so we actually sleep on the trundle beds in the living room and put Olivia's pack 'n play in the "master bedroom."


The comforts of home...baby signing time. Anyone that's visited us knows what an important part of her daily routine this is. I wish we could capture on video all the signs she currently knows and uses, she's incredible.

When we first got here we really didn't know how to best feed Olivia. She's a very big girl, but not quite old enough to sit in a chair on her own yet. Fortunately the school had a high chair they lent us (like I said, everyone has been so nice to us here). As you can see though, sitting her in a high chair doesn't mean she stays clean.

Rennes is a beautiful city with many buildings and facades preserved from as far back as the 1600s. We have just barely scratched the surface of all the parks and beautiful areas in Rennes and Bretagne. It's hard to believe we only have 5 more weeks until we have to leave.

Family Reunion

EVERYONE came to Toulouse for a Sacuto family reunion, including two of Sarah's sisters who live in eastern Canada, a sister in eastern France, a brother in Hong Kong, and us in the US, as well as all their spouses, fiances, and children. Not a single person was missing. As you can imagine, we had a blast! Here is just a sample of photos:

We took a boat ride on Le Canal du Midi that runs through Toulouse. It's a pretty impressive Canal, built in 1667 to connect the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

Olivia LOVED being with her older cousins

Guillaume and Estelle drove the metro for us; they did a great job.