Bonjour à tous

This is our fourth Christmas letter from Paris. How time flies. Paris continues to be a wonderful city to live in even as we are facing the reality of expat life in the turnover of friendships. We have made many good friends here, working with the OECD, and as their contracts end, they move onto another job, or perhaps into retirement, but away from Paris to their home or another country. The upside is that we have a growing pool of friends in different parts of the world, including some in the Ottawa area. Fortunately, new people appear, and there remains plenty here in Paris to keep us interested.

It has been an incredible year of travel for us as we have taken advantage of every opportunity to see more of France, more of Europe, and even more of Africa which is closer to us here than in North America. We've enjoyed having family and friends visit us, and more frequently now, that includes friends made in Paris returning for a visit.

Of particular note, we took our winter vacation in Egypt. We were concerned about safety in planning our trip as the Canadian government is still warning against non-essential travel. On the other hand, our guiding company assured us that would not put our safety at risk, and France and Britain both offer a more nuanced approach, mapping out the areas of the country that can be enjoyed with reasonable caution. So considering that terrorists can strike anywhere (as we have seen in Europe) and our strong belief that as global citizens, we need to meet each other more, not less, we booked. And we are so glad that we did. It was a truly memorable trip with a capable company that had wonderful guides. We learned much about Egypt and Egyptian history and had the pleasure of getting to know two guides in particular; smart, knowledgeable men who share their passion for history and their country. If Egypt interests you at all, we would encourage you to consider going. Egypt needs the tourist dollars, and currently, prices are good and sites are not crowded. Look to Egypt Fun Tours for a well-organized, worry-free trip. More here

Leslie's father, Hugh David, and his partner, Beverley, arrived in Paris in April. This was their first trip to Paris since our move and we were delighted to show them our favourite places. We celebrated Beverley's 80th birthday with a dinner cruise on the Seine and helped Hugh David tick several items off of his bucket list, including a trip to Ronchamps to see Notre-Dame-du-Haut, a unique chapel designed by Le Corbusier which was an important architectural inspiration to him. We were also able to take him to see the grave of his Uncle Donald Taylor, shot down 70 years ago over Holland, and now buried at the military cemetery in Jonkerbos. Hugh took advantage of our travels to re-discover the perfect Dame Blanche (at a hotel in Breda) where we discovered that it is the addition of advocaat that makes the difference.

Leslie took a trip home to Canada in June to help Meghan celebrate the completion of her degree. She worked in an additional week in Iceland, a small country which exceeds the capacity of the English language to describe its beauty. For anyone who is a fan of rugged landscapes...well...this is an exceptional experience. Leslie met her friend, Joan (met in Paris, now living in Washington), and her sister, Andrea (who has gotten well into wildlife photography, especially birds), for a gals' trip around this wee island nation. Iceland Air permits a one-week layover at no charge, and while once could easily spend a few weeks here, it worked well into Leslie's return from Canada and Joan's return from a trip to Norway. June is a lovely time to go as the weather is relatively warm (keeping in mind that it is near the Arctic Circle), the lupins are in bloom (we learned that they are planted to recover degraded, deforested land and eventually make way for native plants) and the puffins are ashore to mate (the spend July-April at sea). Andrea brought her camera equipment so in additional to all kinds of great experiences, we have lots of great photos to remember them by. More here

Andrew continues to enjoy working for the Nuclear Energy Agency. His current contract runs to February 2018. Work continues to be interesting both in and out of the office as he is afforded some additional opportunities to travel for business. It's most fun when Leslie tags along. In addition to trips to lovely Aix-en-Provence and elegant Vienna, she joined him on a trip to Tokyo in July. It was a chance for Leslie to catch up with Yuko, a friend made in Paris, who was expecting a baby shortly, and to dedicate herself to exploring the city. Andrew, of course, had to work most of the time, but was able to squeeze in some site-seeing and some wonderful meals on our own, or with colleagues. When not travelling, Leslie still spends her time learning French history, trying to learn the French language, visiting museums and galleries with friends, looking after guests and taking the occasional trip back to Canada for family & home maintenance. She doesn't spend nearly enough time in her sewing room, but the rest of her activities are really great, so she's not really complaining. More Japan

The girls arrived in late July for what has become their regular summer trip to France. We took advantage and planned a driving tour of Britain (England, Scotland and the Isle of Man). Andrew's parents emigrated, so he still has family there and we have many friends there as well. So, we planned our trip around friends and family and found lots of great site-seeing options nearby. An unusual destination was the Isle of Man where Andrew's cousin Martin and wife Jacquie live. It is well off of the beaten path, requiring a ferry trip on the North Sea, but turned out to be one of our favourite destinations of the trip. More here

We had an additional impromptu trip to Nairobi in November when we were invited to help our friend, Deborah, celebrate her 50th birthday. Her husband, Pierre, did the inviting and we managed to surprise Deborah completely. Pierre and Deborah are Canadian friends that we met when they were living in Paris. Pierre booked us several nights at a resort called Olerai House which is on a wildlife preserve. We were the only guests and wandered among the well-habituated and tolerant animals at will, as long as we were indoors by dark when the dangerous stuff came out (hippos, hyenas, maybe a leopard). It was a very special experience. We also visited the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust near Nairobi where we saw orphaned baby elephants being fed and frolicking around like a pack of giant puppies. More here

We are really looking forward to seeing all four of our kids in Oakville this Christmas. It's been some time since we've all been together. From the top:
- Meghan is living in Montréal with her boyfriend, David. She wasn't accepted into either of the high energy physics programs she had applied to, so is continuing to study at McGill while she plots her next move.
- Gosaye continues to live in Ottawa. He has been steadily employed at a variety of jobs as he works out his plans for the future. He is a help to his grandfather & Beverley where he enjoys the occasional home-cooked meal.
- Biniyam has re-located to Melfort where he is doing a variety of things. We look forward to catching up with him and his news at Christmas
- Lauren continues to study psychology at Trent U in Peterborough. She and her boyfriend, Collin, have already booked their spring trip to Paris in May 2017.

We hope that all is well with you and yours as we close 2016 and head into 2017. We look forward to hearing your news and perhaps seeing some of you in Paris in the upcoming year.