June 6 - June 27 Vancouver
I went to Vancouver the beginning of June.  Charlie joined me later. 
One of my first duties was to join Glenn, Krysty, Nathan, and Kayley on a ferry ride to Vancouver Island to pick up their new puppy, Riley.  Glenn rented a larger van so we could all squeeze in comfortably, and off we went.  We managed to get the front row on the ferry over to the island.  I never had such a great seat before!

Our front row ferry seat.

Below are some views from the ferry.  Rather than getting out and running around the boat, we sat and watched from our great viewing position

The ride's almost over.  This was a great trip.

Kaley meets Riley and his mom.

Nathan, Glenn and Riley

Krysty gets a chance to hug the puppy.

Nathan, Kaley, Riley, Krysty, and Riley's mom

Riley goes home

Holly meets the new puppy.  Hmmm. Not as enthusiastic as the rest of the family.

A few days later, Nathan graduated from Nursery school.  Wow!  He's going to go to kindergarten

in the fall!

A twilight view from the condo.  June evening before we go home

Sunday, May 20, 2018
A wander about the markets near Notre Dame.  We went on another one of my favorite walks, past Notre Dame to the Ile de la Cite.

On Sundays they sell lots of colorful birds.  

A craft fair and street market is close to Notre Dame too

View of Note Dame from one end.

From Tour de l'Horloge (clock tower) close up

Views of Paris from the island

A local wine bar

We finally decided to go back into Saint Chappelle which is also on Ile de la Cite.  A beautiful day, so the sun makes the stained glass even more beautiful.

Photo of the Chapel while waiting in line.

A few views of the stained glass from the inside.

We ended our day at Luxembourg Gardens - we'd done lots of walking 

May 19, Saturday in Paris
Charlie had the day off, so we decided to redo some of my favorite walks.  Montmartre is/was a favorite.  The weather was lovely, so was our walk.


                                     

On the way to the metro we ran into this march? protest?  They seemed to be carrying religious symbols, but......?

Murals on French buildings are very nice.

The Montmartre cemetery.  A bit delapidated  

Starting the walk up the hill to the chapel.

Getting closer

Charlie outside the last winery in the city of Paris.

View from near the top

MAY 18, 2018 PARIS
I decided I hadn't seen the Louvre in a while, so it became my 1st destination.  It really is an enormous place, and I got turned about.  I never did see the paintings.  Different door?  Entrance?  I set about trying to find the Egyptian things.  After a lot of circling, stair climbing, and map checking, I discovered that the Egyptian section was closed.  There wasn't much notice.  I finally found a tiny sign explaining the closure.  I DID find atria that I didn't know existed that were quite lovely.  I also wandered into Napolean's quarters that I had never seen before. 

Looking toward L'Orangerie from the Louvre

Best view of the exterior was from the interior

Babylonian art - I kept wandering past it searching for the Egyptian art.

A few rooms of Napolean's quarters

There was some wonderful art from the Middle Ages.

One of the atria inside the Louvre.

MAY 2018

We went to Paris in May.  Charlie was working with Harsha, and I had a chance to wander around Paris again.  It was an odd trip.  When we got to Charles deGaul airport, we got a taxi to take us to our hotel (Le Petit Paris).  It really is a nice place located in the 5 arrondisement.  The taxi driver was quite chatty, and we discovered starving to death.  He was in his 60s and a muslim.  Unbeknownst to us, it was Ramadan.  Muslims don't eat or drink from sunrise to sunset.  It was close to 5:30 when we began our trek to the city center,  The traffic was awful, and our driver began to really suffer.  He drove more and more erratically.  He started by telling us he had all the makings of a meal in his trunk, and that he would prepare it at 9:30 (when it was dark).  By the time we got close to the hotel, his meal time had moved to 7:30. The traffic was almost at a standstill, we drove into left turn lanes and bus lanes.  But we made it.  I hope he got his meal quickly.  

VANCOUVER CONDO

Last summer Charlie and I decided to buy a condo in Vancouver.  We had a bit of trouble finding one that we liked - or that we could get.  The owner of the first one we tried to buy decided she wanted more money.  The second was using our bid to up the price of someone else.  Sigh.  Finally, we found our condo.  We're on the fifth floor of a building called the New Yorker (they all have names).  The views from our windows are lovely, even in dreary weather. We're in an area called the Arbutus walk.  Arbutus is a North South street, and one of the main thoroughfares through the Kitsilano section of Vancouver (south of the downtown area, north of the airport).  Too much information?  Suffice it to say, we're only 3 blocks from our son's home.  Great for visits, easy for babysitting.

Here are some photos.  The first three are taken from the condo windows.

View to the north.  Our peek at the Canadian Rockies

View to the west.  On exceptionally clear days, we can see Vancouver Island mountains.

View to the south.  Not much to see in this direction, except lovely layers of clouds

Our living room

More of the living room (patio door to the right)

Spare bedroom

Master bedroom (main difference - we have a micro patio and sliding glass door in this room)

Dining area and kitchen.  The window in the kitchen is gorgeous.

Another view of dining area and kitchen.

We've done most of our furnishing with Ikea.  That and our comfy Lazy boy sofa.  After several trips getting the place set up, it's downright comfortable now.