France on Kelvin Nicholson

One Month as a Stay-at-Home Dad in France

Fri, 04 Mar 2016 22:18:00 +0000

Today marks one month since I stopped being the main breadwinner, giving me some time to reflect on life as a stay-at-home dad.

The last few weeks have been absolutely packed: travelling and moving to Nancy, finding an apartment, arranging electricity and fast internet, and keeping our daughter healthy and happy.

Here is a brief update on the journey so far, followed by a few goals for our time here.

Paris to Strasbourg to...

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:30:00 +0000

Today was not the best of travel days.

I woke after my large dinner needing to pack, shower, and reach Gare de l’Est before 10am. Luckily, my bags were light and easy to pack, with few things that did not have a regular place. M gave me a ride to the Metro after my obligatory coffee and croissant, and I rode Line 7 to catch the TGV.

Paris, Together

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:30:00 +0000

My flight arrived in Paris slightly ahead of schedule. I passed through customs and security without delay, then ordered an expensive but worthwhile “little breakfast” of coffee, orange juice, and a croissant.

Our host for the Paris trip, James, instructed us to take bus 183 to Camille Groult, then walk a few blocks to the house. I called to say that I had arrived on time and was on my way. Moments later, my phone ran out of power; three days of maps and Wi-Fi without an opportunity to recharge had drained the battery.

Top of the World

Sun, 07 Sep 2003 10:30:00 +0000

It has been a week since I last wrote in the journal, so you can imagine that I have not had much time. Let me take a few moments to record what I have been doing. I no longer remember the exact days, but I will write about the events as I recall them. Let’s start with leaving Prague, a beautiful city. After spending a wonderful few days there, Ana and I caught an afternoon train to Berlin. We arrived late that night and, after getting somewhat lost on the S-Bahn, found the Generator hostel. It was huge, but check-in went smoothly, our room was comfortable, and we fell asleep. The next morning, we wandered around and found an interesting tour company. Our roommates arrived later, another couple from Seattle. On our second day, we again woke rather late despite going to bed earlier. Ana had kicked me out of bed while having a bad dream, but at about 2:30 we joined a tour called Insider. It was excellent, one of the best tours I have ever taken. We returned to the hostel at about 8:00 and went out for a few drinks: only one and a half each, but they were large. We bought them from a small place around the corner and talked about all kinds of things. We really were falling in love. That night, we fell asleep with our roommates in the room again. The next day, we wandered around the city, found Ana a new bag for the things she wanted to send home, and mailed them. Unfortunately, on one of our train journeys, we accidentally bought discounted short-term tickets that we were not eligible to use. We did not understand the mistake because everything was in German, but the inspectors caught it and fined us 40 euros each. I had 65 euros; Ana had none. That was not much fun, but there was little we could do. After mailing everything, we boarded a long overnight train to Brussels and barely slept the entire way. We arrived at six in the morning and soon caught another train to Bruges, just north of Brussels. Our hostel there was far from appealing. We slept through the afternoon, then wandered around town for five or six hours. We got lost a few times, visited many of the sights, and enjoyed the city. Bruges is home to the relic of the Holy Blood and is an old town filled with tourists. It is charming, though. My parents should visit. The next morning, we eventually made our way to the station, caught a train through Brussels to Paris, and took the Metro to our hostel. That first night, we went to the Eiffel Tower and sat together beneath it. I had seen the tower before but had never walked right up to it. It rained, we were soaked, and we walked home together before falling asleep. The next day, we wandered some more, saw the Louvre, walked along the Champs-Elysees, and visited the Arc de Triomphe. Eventually, we returned to the hostel, made dinner, and fell asleep. The following day brought more exploring: the Opera, Notre-Dame, and finally a trip up the Eiffel Tower. Now we are sitting here as dusk approaches. The clouds are surreal, and Ana is drawing the tower. Good times. Sep 9 2003 8:30

Best Three Days of My Life

Thu, 28 Aug 2003 10:30:00 +0000

These have been the longest three days of my life, and I have a few stories to tell. I suppose I’ll start on the 25th.

July 25: I made two decisions that day: first, to see the Tour de France, and second, to go to Greece a few days later. At 7:00pm, I was at the train station making a reservation for Paris when I ran into Nicole, whom I had met on the pub crawl. She had just graduated from Stanford. Lucky her! I got her email address and also met Ash and Sibyl there.

A Portuguese-Language Film in Nice

Mon, 21 Jul 2003 10:30:00 +0000

I’m in Nice at the moment, and yesterday was quite grand. We arrived rather early in the morning yesterday, at about 8:00 a.m. We found our hotel pretty quickly, and I ended up sleeping for the most part of the day. Much needed! At about 5:00 we set off on our cross-town adventure where we wandered over to the Russian Cathedral on Nicholas Avenue, which Nicholas II gave to Nice many years ago, and then wandered down to the beach. We walked along the beach for quite a while, crossed into Old Nice and wandered through the little narrow streets. We got a little turned around in the streets and ended up seeing some pretty awesome memorial plaques from the world wars, I think. Eventually we ended up at Garibaldi Place, where I bought an ice cream cone from a rather unfriendly woman. It was one of my first interactions in France, although many of the other people I met were much warmer. We wandered over to a movie theater and watched a movie, La Cité de Dieu, or City of God, a Portuguese-language film with French subtitles, so we were all totally lost. I will say that it was one of the better movies I have seen, although it was extremely violent. The theater was small, cute, and looked as though it came from the 1970s. The walls were orange fuzz, and the seats were covered in red felt. The screen was about about three arm lengths across. Quaint. That movie was sooo violent! We all left with the interesting feeling of having seen a movie that we only partially understood, although I had fun trying to make out what the subtitles actually meant. We then wandered home and fell asleep at about two in the morning. It is now nine, I just woke up and I’m going to find some sort of pastry. Hmmmm.

Nice is Nice

Sun, 20 Jul 2003 10:30:00 +0000

We are in Nice now and have been for quite some time. We arrived this morning and quickly found our hotel. We are getting good at reading maps and finding our way around new towns. The hotel is all right. It is fairly run-down, but it is a place to sleep, so I can’t complain. I have spent most of the afternoon sleeping and recovering from several days of very little rest. Soon I am going to walk around with Sibyl and Ash, visit a Russian cathedral, and find some pastries. Speaking of pastries, I met an attractive Hungarian woman named Anna on the train. She invited me to stay at her flat in Paris, although I already had a place to stay. In hindsight, it was early and I wasn’t quite thinking. Hopefully I will meet more people like her on my travels who will let me stay with them. For now, I’m off to walk around!