C'est parti!

Et voila!

C'est parti!

After more than two weeks into the trip we have finally set up the blog. And what a pain it was, but hopefully worth it because of all you people who will be reading this and enjoying it.

First, thank you all for the great send off. It was nice to see everyone before the departure.

So, here is our first report: After all the madness of getting ready for the trip, we left for France ready to finally relax...

But no. During our flight, Hana was reading a book: Healthy Travel for India and Asia, when she realized that she was missing a very important vaccine. Actually, a stupid nurse at Kaiser travel clinic would not give it to her when she asked for it (twice), saying that she does not need it. Well, it turned out that she did need it.

Miko was relaxed about it thinking we can get it done in France, no problem. It turned out that the US purchased a whole supply of this vaccine and it's not available in France since December 2007. After calling clinics all over France, by the way Miko spent 3 days on the phone trying to find the vaccine (not to mention the silly hours when these places where open 9:30-12 twice a week, you got to love France). Finally, a miracle happened and a clinic in Montpelier had the vaccine available and even further, decided to let us take the vaccine (3 shots total) with us while we are traveling in France.

We were also lucky to be in Toulouse, only 3hours away from Montpelier, so we were able to drive there, get the shot and the vaccine and come back in one day. Since then we've been carring the vaccine with us in a thermos, trying to maintain the temperature between 4-8° Celsius, and looking for nurses who could give Hana the 2nd and 3rd shot in Rennes and Paris.

This wonderful begining prepared us for whatever next might come along :)

After that we were finally able to enjoy the time in France with family and friends.

We visitied a beautiful castle near Toulouse called Château de Laréole,

Then we drove up to Bretagne and stayed in a renovated farm house called Les Roseaux de Callac in Guémené Penfao with Miko's entire family. We've spent days eating, drinking coffee, visiting the area, eating lunch, drinking coffee, playing games, eating dinner, fromage, dessert, talking, drinking wine, having dinner with Miko's family (dad's side), drinking coffee, having dinner with Miko's family (mom's side), eating cheese, drinking wine, visiting grandma, going to a 2 day wedding of Miko's cousin, eating, drinking, dancing until 3am (Hana in heels) with mom Michelle and dad Jean-Paul shaking it with us, then dressing up in funky, colorfull outfits for silly wedding pictures, playing games. We ended this visit with a nice lunch, drinking wine and cider, eating bread and cheese, and then everyone went their own way.

We are now in Rennes, visiting friends and eating pastries either for breakfast or lunch or both every day. The clothes are getting tighter, but we know it's all going to melt once we get to India. Saturday we are taking the train to Paris, where we are going to meet up with more friends. The next destination is Sarajevo.

That's it for now. You can see photos on Flickr, the link is on the right.