The free phone I was given has already died. Apparently it has had this problem of not being able to access the network before. I'll have to buy another if I don't want to lose my call credits. Was going to buy one online but we'll be away from home so better to wait until we return so I'll be here (mostly) for the mail.
Not much else has been going on - tennis, trialling the osteopath for my hip ...Getting a bit fed up with French lessons. We changed to group lessons but it's hard to get the level right. One is too hard and the other not challenging, which is probably why I'm losing interest. On the plus side, we have met some different people to talk to.
We're off to other parts of southern France for two weeks: exploring, walking, camping, eating (always an important par tof the French experience).
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Wildlife
We only see these cute little guys in the warmer months and they are pretty shy. In winter I spied one hiding out in our stair cupboard with the hot water heater! Apart from them there are cheeky magpies with a loud "chukka-chukka" call. They will tease any cat they can get close to. There are some other small greeny-spotted lizards, pigeons, seagulls overhead (a mysterious fishfin-like slimy object appeared on the outside table one day), cicadas, bumblebees and a few other birds if you look hard - woodpeckers, hoopoes, tits of some kind. I really miss the Australian birds.
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Auvergne Trip
Pat's company closed down for French National Day (Bastille Day) and the two days between it and the weekend. We have just come back from the Auvergne area (le Massif Central)- about 500kms from home.
14/7 We parted from the A7 motorway towards Le Puy-en-Velay. The first campsite was in Gaudet, a very small village on a river, just near the start of the Loire. We walked to the only hotel restaurant and had a decent menu. We were persuaded to have marinated strawberries and cream even though we were both full, probably the best bit!
15/7 Explored the Loire valley and the Livradois-Forez area. Went into Le Puy-en-Velay.
Above Le Puy-en-Velay
The cathedral has Oriental and Byzantine influences and was built in the 12th century. We walked around the old religious centre and up to the huge red painted Notre Dame statue.
Drove through La Chaise-Dieu with another pilgrimage church. Even small villages on the St Jacques de Campostelle (Portugal) routes have large cathedrals! Campsite on small Plan d'eau (reservoir) amongst pine trees near Champagnac-le-Vieux. No dinner as Pat was still recovering from a virus that gave him a fever and aching muscles.
16/7 Tried to find a geocache in the forest off a mountain bike trail from St-Germain-l'Herm, near a cascade but had no luck after searching for 20 minutes. Also managed a short walk to a dolmen in a field near Issoire. Campsite above Chambon-sur-Lac. We found the nearby St Nectaire area, an old spa holiday town, to be a bit dead so ended up in a pizzeria by the lake. We tried Forme d'Auvergne and cantal on our pizzas. However, the tourist office in St Nectaire had earlier been helpful with brochures in English.
17/7 Interesting visit to a chateau at Cordes. Bussed up the top of the Puy de Dome after visiting the Parc de Volcans exposition on, you guessed it, volcanoes (and man, since men have been here thousands of years). Campsite above Mont Dore after taking the cable car up to near the summit of Puy de Sancy (1885m). Lovely dinner in town at a traditional Auvergnate restaurant. Lots of local cheese featured. For entree, I had a feuillette with Bleu d'Avergne then a steak with wine sauce, Pat had a porc and cabbage dish "pottée". We finished off with fromage blanc and tarte and creme brulée. The restaurant was entertained by a traditionally dressed woman with a medieval instrument, singing and playing.
I was bitten all over by tiny midges as I got undressed outside the tent in the dark. And I really mean all over - between my legs, bottom, small of my back, arms, feet, next to my eyes - ugh! I only discovered they were there when I shone the torch inside the tent and started to squash the ones I could see.
18/7 Rain began during the morning. Pouring as we left so we set off south, past Lac Pavin, a volcanic lake. From Condat we encoutered a "fun run" going up the hill in the pouring rain! Stopped in Egliseneuve d'Entraigues for the Maison de Fomage and found a market fête going on despite the rain. Stopped in St Flour for lunch and a walk around. The Tour de France had been there a couple of days before. This perched town looks better from a distance as close up it's a bit colourless. After a short stint on a free motorway we drove down the N106 through some lovely countryside and ended up in Nimes held up for twenty minutes by the end of the Tour de France road closures. Made it back home at 8pm.
Spending some time now annointing my midge spots with antihistamine cream. Also Pat has passed the feverish virus onto me so not feeling too chipper today (Tuesday 20/7).
14/7 We parted from the A7 motorway towards Le Puy-en-Velay. The first campsite was in Gaudet, a very small village on a river, just near the start of the Loire. We walked to the only hotel restaurant and had a decent menu. We were persuaded to have marinated strawberries and cream even though we were both full, probably the best bit!
15/7 Explored the Loire valley and the Livradois-Forez area. Went into Le Puy-en-Velay.
Above Le Puy-en-Velay
The cathedral has Oriental and Byzantine influences and was built in the 12th century. We walked around the old religious centre and up to the huge red painted Notre Dame statue.
Drove through La Chaise-Dieu with another pilgrimage church. Even small villages on the St Jacques de Campostelle (Portugal) routes have large cathedrals! Campsite on small Plan d'eau (reservoir) amongst pine trees near Champagnac-le-Vieux. No dinner as Pat was still recovering from a virus that gave him a fever and aching muscles.
16/7 Tried to find a geocache in the forest off a mountain bike trail from St-Germain-l'Herm, near a cascade but had no luck after searching for 20 minutes. Also managed a short walk to a dolmen in a field near Issoire. Campsite above Chambon-sur-Lac. We found the nearby St Nectaire area, an old spa holiday town, to be a bit dead so ended up in a pizzeria by the lake. We tried Forme d'Auvergne and cantal on our pizzas. However, the tourist office in St Nectaire had earlier been helpful with brochures in English.
17/7 Interesting visit to a chateau at Cordes. Bussed up the top of the Puy de Dome after visiting the Parc de Volcans exposition on, you guessed it, volcanoes (and man, since men have been here thousands of years). Campsite above Mont Dore after taking the cable car up to near the summit of Puy de Sancy (1885m). Lovely dinner in town at a traditional Auvergnate restaurant. Lots of local cheese featured. For entree, I had a feuillette with Bleu d'Avergne then a steak with wine sauce, Pat had a porc and cabbage dish "pottée". We finished off with fromage blanc and tarte and creme brulée. The restaurant was entertained by a traditionally dressed woman with a medieval instrument, singing and playing.
I was bitten all over by tiny midges as I got undressed outside the tent in the dark. And I really mean all over - between my legs, bottom, small of my back, arms, feet, next to my eyes - ugh! I only discovered they were there when I shone the torch inside the tent and started to squash the ones I could see.
18/7 Rain began during the morning. Pouring as we left so we set off south, past Lac Pavin, a volcanic lake. From Condat we encoutered a "fun run" going up the hill in the pouring rain! Stopped in Egliseneuve d'Entraigues for the Maison de Fomage and found a market fête going on despite the rain. Stopped in St Flour for lunch and a walk around. The Tour de France had been there a couple of days before. This perched town looks better from a distance as close up it's a bit colourless. After a short stint on a free motorway we drove down the N106 through some lovely countryside and ended up in Nimes held up for twenty minutes by the end of the Tour de France road closures. Made it back home at 8pm.
Spending some time now annointing my midge spots with antihistamine cream. Also Pat has passed the feverish virus onto me so not feeling too chipper today (Tuesday 20/7).
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
SchoolFriends
I find this reunion site rather fascinating: Welcome to SchoolFriends Australia & New Zealand!, but there are hardly any new people from my school years or uni. It's free to sign up but emailing through the site costs but you can disguise your address in the profile text. It seems I missed one of my primary school's physical reunions but maybe contemplation from afar is safer!
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Geocaching
Our front patio coordinates are: N 43° 38.340 E 007° 07.414
With Pat's GPS unit, a Garmin eTrex, we have found some of the physical caches on Geocaching, two here on the Côte d'Azur and two on Corsica. The main motivation is it makes you discover places you wouldn't otherwise hear of if a cache wasn't put there.
With Pat's GPS unit, a Garmin eTrex, we have found some of the physical caches on Geocaching, two here on the Côte d'Azur and two on Corsica. The main motivation is it makes you discover places you wouldn't otherwise hear of if a cache wasn't put there.
Monday, July 12, 2004
New additions
Been adding things like crazy! I now have a blogroll link list and a referring pages script - talk about getting ahead of myself.
Saturday, July 10, 2004
Camping at Gorges du Verdon
Le Tour is on with lots of Aussies riding so good to watch.
I have been trying to organise our mailing addresses as the Post forwarding service runs out in August. It's not 100% anyway - we had problems with ING suspending our accounts.
I have just been back to the Gorges du Verdon for the third time for a camping trip with Judy, Ann, Kathy, Alison and Stephan and 9 assorted-aged children. Unfortunately we got a long series of thunderstorms come through which prevented much activity. Missed out on rafting and hiking but we managed a walk along the gorge road and up to the chapel on the roc in Castellane. We all swam in Lac Saint Croix before the drive home.
We climbed up there - with young children so not as hard as it might look. We also ate a simple meal at the Hotel in the bottom of the picture.
I have been trying to organise our mailing addresses as the Post forwarding service runs out in August. It's not 100% anyway - we had problems with ING suspending our accounts.
I have just been back to the Gorges du Verdon for the third time for a camping trip with Judy, Ann, Kathy, Alison and Stephan and 9 assorted-aged children. Unfortunately we got a long series of thunderstorms come through which prevented much activity. Missed out on rafting and hiking but we managed a walk along the gorge road and up to the chapel on the roc in Castellane. We all swam in Lac Saint Croix before the drive home.
We climbed up there - with young children so not as hard as it might look. We also ate a simple meal at the Hotel in the bottom of the picture.
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Saturday, July 03, 2004
Photos & Mic, Jodie & Chloe's visit
Yay, j'ai photo blog, grace de Hello et accueil gratuit à Blogger!
We had 6 good days with Mic, Jodie and Chloe. They arrived, a bit unexpectedly while I was still cleaning the house, on Friday and left Thursday morning to drive back to Lausanne.
We managed to go to Eze, Cassis (a long drive), Ile St Marguerite and the beach at Antibes. We also tried out the swimming pool (see pic) and shopped the Geant Hypermarche.
House feels a bit empty after a nearly-two-year-old's been around demanding toys, books, songs etc
We had 6 good days with Mic, Jodie and Chloe. They arrived, a bit unexpectedly while I was still cleaning the house, on Friday and left Thursday morning to drive back to Lausanne.
We managed to go to Eze, Cassis (a long drive), Ile St Marguerite and the beach at Antibes. We also tried out the swimming pool (see pic) and shopped the Geant Hypermarche.
House feels a bit empty after a nearly-two-year-old's been around demanding toys, books, songs etc
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