We arrived in Cannes and somehow we feel at home here. Our ability to communicate in French allows us to connect with people on a personal level which creates a feeling of family and community. Georg doesn't really speak French but he does communicate using broad arm gestures and animation oh, and like sister Diane, he also gets creative and pronounces English words with a French accent. If nothing else, he makes people laugh or smile.
The weather here is about 20 - 25 degrees although today it's overcast. Because we're so close to the Pyranees (mountains) the air smells like Banff. We especially love the tranquility as the population is considerably less dense than Barcelona par exemple.
We've had considerable difficulty trying to keep our blog updated because the menu and instructions have all been in Spanish. And even now, the internet disconnects us if we take too long composing messages on the blog. As a result, we have relied on our dear friend Wes Stevenson to post our messages to you. Wes (and no doubt Kristy has been involved as well) have tidied up our messages and posted them from their home in Kelowna, British Columbia Canada. Wes is also responsible for the creation and maintenance of that map, detailing our travels AND they added the terrific music to our blog too! When we're so far from home and the world seems, sometimes cold and sterile, we especially appreciate YOU, our friends. Your warm thoughts and kind wishes are like warm blankets on a chilly night.
I'm sure this appears unusualy sentimental today and it is. We had a very bad experience yesterday and are grateful to have learned an important message at a small cost. Today we are different people than we were yesterday.
Yesterday morning during our breakfast at Aparthotel Guttenburg in Barcelona we met a lovely couple from Sweden: Kirsten and Kenneth. I recognized the Scandinavian singsong in their dialogue and Kirsten resembled very much my Scandinavian relatives. As I'm always seeking any opportunity to use one of my few Norwegian phrases, I told them "Ja ike svense, ja i norske." As my father taught me I told them - I am not Swedish, I'm Norwegian." We were not surprised to hear they'd toured around Barcelona on foot the previous day (yes, this is a typical stereotype that the Swedes are the most physically active people in the world, but in this case it was true). We were happy to provide them with our unused DAY 2 for the double decker tour bus.
Note: this was another of our language faux pas. We were actually trying to buy a pass for 2 adults and 2 children for one day but ended up with passes for 2 days! The list of language inadequacies continues to grow! Anyway, we exchanged addresses with our new friends and hope that one day we'll see them again. We were kind of basking in that happy euphoria of meeting almost relatives in Barcelona. Their warm smiling faces and laughter just made us feel good.
We checked out of our hotel and thanked and said goodbye to Malcon from Argentina, who worked at the hotel. Malcon is the reason we chose to stay another night in Barcelona. Our first night arriving in Barcelona pre-cruise was less than positive for the children and we think they'll need counselling as a result of our ordeal where we were lost for 3 hours in downtown Barcelona. When we told this to Malcon he was a good listener and tried to be as helpful as possible. In the end, he told us great places to eat and things to do. He was attentive to all our needs for parking and even printed off directions on how to get to our hotel in Cannes for us. We were touched by his kind offer to have us stay with him in his apartment if we ever return to Barcelona. What an exceptional human being that Malcon!
So with all those warm feelings we left the big city of Barcelona (population 1 million and with greater Barcelona population is 3 million). We drove out of Barcelona towards Cannes.
Driving along highway AP7 just before La Rocha Des Vallees, around 2:30 p.m. we were passed by a Black Audi station wagon. The passenger drove up to our car and pointed frantically towards the undercarriage of the car. It took us awhile to realize he was trying to tell us something. Finally we got the message and pulled over.
Remember we're travelling on a freeway with 3 lanes and a speed limit of 130 km. It's noisy and the traffic is frighteningly FAST.
Georg got out of the car and went around to the passenger side. The man banged loudly on my door causing me to open it and see what he was pointing at. He was shouting loudly in arabic and we couldn't understand him.
The next thing I knew Erik shouted HEY in a very loud voice that I didn't recognize. When I turned my head I was face to face with another man who had a hold of my purse and was trying to pull it out of the car. Luckily I had a lot of clutter by my feet: a bag of toiletries, a garbage bag and my backpack-type purse (which was tangled in my feet).
The sound of Erik's LOUD voice - I keep thinking about this..
The man had his arm across my legs and was reaching by my feet but I never heard or felt it because I was too distracted by the banging and the shouting and the sound of the traffic.
Both men fled and the car sped off and it was over within 30 seconds.
Georg got back in the car and it took Erik and I 15 minutes to explain what we realized had happened. Georg was completely oblivious to the whole thing and really couldn't comprehend what we were telling him.
The reality of what might of been will haunt us forever.
Our passports and everything were in that bag.
Our friend Chris would have seen this coming but he's a trained RCMP officer. We did not see this coming at all.
To combat the stress we did what any self-respecting people would do. We stopped at the next garage to buy chocolate and strong coffee.
We did see the car on the highway a few km down the road and we do have the plate number and have documented the incident. Right now we're not sure what to do with this information.
As we reflect on the whole unbelievable incident we realize that those highway hijackers were professionals and we were typical targets - tourists. We know that if there had been anything wrong with our car, a light would have ignited or we would have heard something clanging.
We know NEVER to stop for anyone. We know WHERE we need keep our passports and identification AT ALL TIMES (even during travel in the vehicle). We will be extremly cautious about all stops including stops for gas.
Thankfully the children are fine. We still have all our documents. Nobody was injured.
Our pride is maybe damaged as we thought we were smarter than that.
Later in our trip I saw an elderly man stopped on the side of the road and his wife, in the passenger seat, looked troubled. I worry about those other unsuspecting tourists and hope they don't fall victim to this sort of incident.
Today we are in our lovely apartment in Cannes. We intend to take it easy today because our spirits are slightly wilted. We're okay and we will be fine because we learned something - a cheap lesson.
Our friend Wes has an e-mail "Spirit helpers" and today I think it is truly indicative of what he/and you - our friends - are to us.
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