August 2010
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La Petite Auberge
John picked a really great restaurant for our last meal in the Ardeche region. I am really going to miss all of this outdoor dining when we go home.
Starter of escargot and mushrooms in puff pastry. NOM NOM NOM.
La Bastide de Virac, France
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Scenes from a Sunday
On Sunday afternoon we did some wine tasting at La Chateau Sainte Roseline. The dogs and the dress were part of an exhibition by an artist called William Sweetlove.
Les Arcs, France
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France - Week 3
Another week in France draws to a close. We spent this week in (another) old stone farmhouse. The second floor renovation is um, how shall we say, a little rickety. I fear for my life when I walk on the floorboards. I can actually see down into pthe corner of the kitchen from my bedroom. The rest of the house is lovely with exposed stone throughout the house.
Our next door neighbour...
Things that make me happy.....
Experiencing new things with Charlotte.
This time? A proper swim in the pool.
Not just a dip of the toes. But a ‘whole body in the water’ swim.
After all that action, a nap was in order.
St Saveur de Cruzieres, France
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A typical day
Every day there is a farmers market in a different village. Even though they all mostly sell the same things, I don’t get tired of seeing them. Yesterday we drove to a local village about 10kms away. It was yet another medieval walled village. We parked our car outside the village and made our way in by foot along the twisting cobblestone streets.
We found the farmers market where...
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Meals in France
Breakfast
Every morning John (and his Dad when he was here) heads to the local boulangerie to pick up croissants, French bread, and pastries. I eat two croissants with jam every day. Not one, but two. EVERY DAY.
Dinner
We have eaten nearly all of our dinners outside - whether it be in a restaurant or at home. A couple of nights ago I cooked (yes, it happens!) and we ate dinner at the...
Two stories from a Tuesday night
Story One
By now John is used to, and understands, all the Australian and English phrases that litter my vocabulary. He has even taken on some himself, probably without realizing. Yesterday I heard him on the phone saying he would ‘ring’ someone as opposed to ‘call’ someone. But sometimes he doesn’t quite get it right.
Tonight at dinner we had a very interesting...
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Charlotte Rose
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An afternoon by the pool
After the failed attempt at ‘swimming’ in the sea last week, we attempted a dip in the pool.
I dipped in her feet and although Charlotte didn’t cry this time, she still doesn’t love swimming as much as Winston does.
I’m sure that will change in time. Growing up in Australia, I spent nearly all my free time in our swimming pool. We didn’t have a fancy...
Dinner at home
John’s parents arrived on Monday night so we made use of the Summer Kitchen again on Tuesday and ate by the pool.
Roussillon, France
Dinner in Roussillon
The village of Roussillon is known for its ochre, the bright red dirt everywhere. When the sun hits the ochre just before dusk, is when it looks its best.
We selected a restaurant where we had a fab view of the ochre mountains and the rest of the Luberon valley.
Roussillon, France
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A Day in Provence
My cousin Denise and her husband Vincent have a home about one hour from where we are staying this week. They drove down on Sunday to spend the day with us. We headed straight into the town of Roussillon for a late lunch, followed by a walk through the village to browse in the shops and admire the views.
We headed back to the house where the guys (and Winston) enjoyed a dip in the pool while...
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Monaco
One day last week we drove to Monaco. We were ravenous so as soon as we arrived we sought out a cafe and ordered some lunch. I was going to play it safe and order the Croque Monsieur but at the last second opted for something that sounded quite strange. It was a toasted baguette filled with cheese, onions, bacon and potatos. Yeap, a potato sandwich. I can’t even describe how delicious...
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Roussillon, Provence
We left Antibes on Saturday and arrived at our next destination in the Luberon region of Provence. We are staying in an old (but completely renovated) farmhouse. It is so pretty! This is the front of the house.
The house is three storeys and our bedroom is on the top floor. We slept with the window wide open and when the sun rose it woke me up. I turned over to look out the window and was...
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Traveling with Winston
Winston is a well traveled dog. San Francisco, Miami, Puerto Rico, Canada, Vail and now France. I know it may seem a bit weird to bring our dog to France but there is good reason. We are here for 4 weeks. That’s a long time to ask someone else to look after my dog. It would also be mean, not to mention expensive, to leave him in a kennel for that length of time. So there was only one...
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Charlotte's first dip in the sea
Earlier this week we spent a couple of hours on a small beach in Antibes. It is a sand beach but as soon as you hit the water the sand turns into pebbles. Big pebbles. Big pebbles that are slippery and hurt my feet. Needless to say, I did not go in very far.
As soon as we arrived we brought Charlotte down to the water. We dipped her toes in and she immdiately started to scream. The poor...
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Charlotte
Charlotte not only sees Winston now (she used to pointedly ignore him - it was weird) but actively smiles at him, grabs onto his fur and kicks her legs at him. After months of trying to get her attention, Winston excitedly reciprocates by attempting to lick her face!
Today we went into a French children’s clothing shop filled to the brim with the nicest clothes I have ever seen. John...
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St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
On Tuesday we drove to St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. The best way to describe it is as the Hamptons on steroids. The houses were phenomenal in an oh my god who can afford to live in them kind of way.
We opted to do the 6km walk around the headland. Here we are at the beginning before we realized what we had gotten ourselves into.
Unfortunately the walk really isn’t made for strollers. We...
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