Brussels and Luxembourg

Bonjour. I might just have time to do one entry. Then I'm off to school and I'm going to stay with Claudine, one of the teachers, for the weekend. So.... back to last Wednesday. I got the train to Brussels - another one of my First Class trips, but I have yet to see what we get for the privilege! In fact there was a 'perturbation' and the train was one hour late in leaving, and the dining car was closed too. But it was OK. Arrived safely, was met by Louise and we toddled back to her place. The next morning we caught the train to Luxembourg. To me the very name - Luxembourg - conjures up visions of fairy tales and things romantic. I thought it was a little country a bit like Monaco, but in fact it is much bigger than that, and has other towns in it besides Luxembourg City - the biggie. We had a bit of excitement on the train, when the nice young couple sitting opposite us had some sort of drama and were sitting there staring straight ahead with tears in their eyes. We just couldn't work out what was going on at all, and I guess it will forever remain a mystery! The young man was actually wearing a T-shirt with a map of NZ on it, although he hadn't realised he was! (It was very subtle. We do subtle so well in NZ I think!:-)) Anyway, we arrived in Luxembourg and did the usual touristy things. Got a hop on hop off bus, went on le petit train - oh yes indeedy!-
walked round and round, went into an underground warren of passageways,
ate an icecream... It was all good. Luxembourg is apparently quite a wealthy country and I should probably have re-read my info before writing this. But you can look it up! It seemed very green and lush, and being built on a promonitory it had some spectacular views.

Now usually I ramble on at some length, but this is my effort at a shortened version of events. I hope it's acceptable! I will continue when I get home on Sunday.

A First!

No, I am not away yet. So yes, my first visit to a doctor in Poitiers. Well, that's not strictly true as I saw a few in the getting-my-you-know-what process. Where you had to wait for considerable lengths of time to see a doctor only to discover that his job was to give you an appointment to see another doctor on another day. When you waited for... But anyway, that's in the past! I was supposed to register with Social Security which has something to do with going to the doctor, but when I went along they were closed. Although in fact they weren't. But the woman on reception said they were. It was all too hard, coming so soon after the other debacle, so I just left it. And hoped that I wouldn't get sick. Well, I have been trying to ignore a spot which had become infected, but it started to give me quite bit of grief. I went to la pharmacie yesterday and asked for some cream but she said I really had to go to a doctor. I had visions of having to go and register with Social Security etc etc, as I said before, then enrol with a doctor... (In fact, they told us at uni this is what we had to do.) But no, the chemist told me that as long as I didn't mind paying I could go to any doctor just like that. And rang up the doctor just along the road and made an appointment for me. Just like that! So fancy that! This morning I went and saw a lovely youngish woman called Dr Sarah Guilloton-Autuoro, (and waited for 45 minutes but never mind), and she said she wasn't surprised that I had been feeling a bit under the weather for a while. The spot had become pretty disgusting actually, and it took her a while to sort it out. Are you enjoying the story so far?? Anyway, Dr Sarah's surname was a little bit too close to guillotine for comfort, but she didn't cut off any bits she shouldn't have. I think.
So then I went back to la pharmacie and was given half the medicaments in the shop. As they do. People go in regularly and do their medicament shopping, like grocery shopping.
It cost a lot for the appointment and the medicaments, which I hope the AFS medical insurance will cover.
So that was pretty much my morning. I did have an abortive trip to the Post Office after that, to check out boxes for posting things back home. It was closed for refurbishing! So I walked home again. Good exercise. I had school this afternoon, and I continue to really enjoy going most of the time. I love it when I see students out of school and they speak to me. I feel like a local! Today, for example, I passed some kids in the street who said, beaming, (and you have to imagine the gorgeous accents as they speak to me in English), "Hello Alison. How are you?" I do have some pain in the neck classes, but most of the kids I work with are great and I like them a lot.
And so I'm off to Brussels tomorrow on the TGV. Do you get a 4 day weekend too, for Ascension Weekend? :-) Lol. In fact I'm away for a week. As I think I might have mentioned. See ya soon!

Social Butterfly.

Yep, that's me! Just a little gadabout. To start at the beginning - I hadn't been feeling all that well on Thursday and Friday, although I managed to go to school. But things were in a bit of disarray in mon petit studio, so I spent most of Saturday morning having a big clean up. Including a hands and knees floor wash. I would have made a good early settler. Or perhaps not - I am not partial to long drop toilets or worse. Dommage! At 1/4 to 4 Valérie came and picked me up and took me to her place, which turned out to be in Montamisé, a little village not far from here which you may recall from a previous blog entry. (Famous for its Boulangerie - remember?) Valérie is one of the English teachers at the Lycee, and like all of them really, she is just lovely.
She invited me for tea and to watch rugby beforehand with her husband Franck. Who is also just lovely! Really keen on and knowledgeable about sport, but also with a wide general knowledge about almost everything. And, like so many French people, a huge fan of New Zealand. I gave him a key ring with a silver fern and flag on it, and he was so excited you would have thought I had given him gold. He was really keen to take it to work to show it to his friends, who were going to be so jealous, he said. Amazing! We watched the rugby and saw Toulouse beat the Parisian team. I think I have seen more of Byron Kelleher here than I ever did in New Zealand. Oh yes, Franck is a great fan of Andrew Mehrtens too, which kind of cemented our life-long friends status really. He knew about Frank Bunce, Laurie Mains, teams and matches from yester-year..... It was all good stuff. He speaks English very well, but we talked mostly in French so it was really good for me. We also watched the tennis and saw a really close game in which Nadal almost got beaten. And I almost forgot - Franck thought that I had a 'l'air Française' which kind of meant that I seemed a bit French. I was very excited about that indeed! The meal was good, and Valérie had gone to the trouble of making something which is traditional in the Savoie region, where she was born. Wine from there too - a nice white.
After tea we watched some of the Eurovision Song Quest. Although Sandie Shaw was not there singing Puppet on a String, she could well have been, as it looked like it had popped up from a time warp somewhere. It was quite strange.
Anyway, that was my nice time with Valérie, Franck and their two children Valentine (13) and Paul (11).

The meal might have been just a bit rich, as I woke in the night and felt terribly sick. I really needed to do the two fingers down my throat trick, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Yuk! I managed to get back to sleep, but struggled a bit this morning. It could just be that I am suffering from an overdose of socialising. Lol!
Anyway, at midi I walked down the road to a meeting point and was picked up by Rose, another English teacher from the Lycee. She took me to her place which is about 20 minutes south of Poitiers in a village called Smarves. Which doesn't sound like a cute little French name at all to me, but never mind! Any had also been invited. Remember - I went to her place for lunch one time and she had her gorgeous little granddaughters there who wanted to learn the haka? Since then Any's husband has died, so she has been battling a bit. I also met Serge, Rose's husband, who is a Physics teacher. In the photo: Rose, Marie-Alison and Any.
Another lovely meal, then we gals headed back into Poitiers to an Exposition. There, after spending absolutely ages looking for a car park, we met Any's two daughters and those cute little granddaughters again. It was kind of like Show Day. There was a big display of things like machinery, cars, washing machines etc, there was a large fun fair, and there was the bit we and most of Poitiers had come to see. It was a display about the Inca civilisation. The French have a huge love affair with things African, I have found, and it would seem they are quite partial to South America too. It was quite good. Some of the things were incredibly old and I do find the Inca civilisation interesting. But it was amateurishly displayed and overall a bit ordinary. There were shops selling South American stuff at the end, and I picked up a cute little poncho thinking that it might be good for Sienna. The man there snapped, "Ne touchez pas s'il vous plait!" Well how on earth would you know if something is going to fit, or even if you really like it, unless you look at the darned thing? So he lost a possible sale. Anyway, what I was leading up to saying, in my roundabout way, was how well a New Zealand expostion would go down. Everyone loves New Zealand, and especially the All Blacks. They really do. (And there are people lke Franck who also know about the Evers-Swindell twins, Kiri Te Kanawa etc etc!) As I walked round I was envisaging what we could have on display, and how we could bring a Kapa Haka group over, and they could perform, and we would have really classy stuff on show and for sale,(and you would be allowed to touch it.) Some of things that people seemed to really like in this display were some really large photos of the landscape. Well, can you imagine how impressively we could do that?? A few Craig Potton photos here and there.... Hmmm..... I would really like to organise something like that and take it to France and do a bit of a tour, but of course it would be impossibly expensive and on a scale which would require an Events Management group, and I suppose I am only dreaming. But I like organising things. I wonder.... Any ideas?
So that was the weekend. Any and her family stayed on to visit the Fun Fair, and as the rain had stopped and the sun had come out they are possibly still there as I speak. Rose dropped me back here, and that was that. A lovely weekend with nice people.

School tomorrow and Tuesday, then on Wednesday I am off to Belgium for a week. It's another Pont weekend here. Louise, Suzanne (also in Belgium) and I plan to go to Amsterdam for a couple of days, and Louise and I also hope to get to a few other places. So you may not hear from me again for a little while, but don't think I've forgotten you - oh no!

Drama on le Petit Train!

Drama indeed! As you may recall, les petits trains have featured in previous blog entries. The one in Menton was my first and certainly the best thus far. The one in Monaco was quite good and would have been much better I'm sure, had it not been for the heavy rain, general discomfort and pools of water on the seats wetting one's bottom! The Besancon petit train was, as Tiffany so accurately described it, a rip off. A quick hurtle up the hill to the citadelle where we sat for 15 - 20 minutes. Back down the hill and to a car park where we sat for another 10 - 15 minutes. Then back to base. It was bizarre. Well, just as well we didn't go on it a week later. I was shocked to hear that yesterday it crashed! This off the net - I have deleted the French and just left the translation that was with it.

Besançon: 11 injured in a toy train accident
According to first reports, the train was in a very winding down and was traveling at "excessive speed". The last car would hit a wall.
Eleven people were injured, 6 seriously, Saturday afternoon at the Citadel of Besancon in the crash of a small tourist train on tires whose driver was taken into custody.
The accident occurred at around 14.30 while 43 people were on board, according to firefighters. The train was in a very sinuous descent lined with high stone walls with several hairpin turns, according to police.
According to a police source, citing the testimony of passengers, the train was traveling at an excessive speed. " The last car of the convoy reportedly hit a wall before overturning and then get back on its wheels, according to the same source.
The train conductor was placed in custody to be heard and to make screening of drugs and alcohol, according to a police source. The initial results are negative, it added.
Eleven injured were evacuated to the hospital, according to firefighters. The shocked passengers were gathered in a city hall to be comforted, it added.
According to the Mayor of Besançon, Jean-Louis Fousseret only two people were still hospitalized late in the day, including fractures and hand injuries.

So, all joking aside, that was a terrible thing to happen and I hope that everyone is now OK. Tiffany and I were intrigued however by the mention of 43 people being on board. When we went there were only 4 of us!
So, I still have a few places to visit. Will I ride in any more petit trains? I will let you know.
I was most reluctant to publish this photo of a girl who looks a lot like me but has a much fatter stomach. However, in the interests of current events, here it is. A picture of the Besancon Petit Train. :-)

Bordeaux

Yesterday I did two things. I bought a Seniors' Rail card and I went to Bordeaux for the day! Sarah, a young friend from university, and I had talked about going there before our time was up, as it were, and if it had to be just a whistle stop tour then so be it. And indeed, so beed it!
In fact, I bought the train card the day before when we went to get our tickets. We could have done that on line but it was a bit complicated for reasons which I won't trouble you with, so we went to the station. Sarah convinced me that it was worth getting a Seniors' Card even at this late stage, as after just one more trip it will have paid for itself. Apparently you get very good fare reductions. And I have used the train so much!! I just can't believe I didn't get one 8 months ago. No one had told me about them, and then when I did find out a little while ago I couldn't face all the form filling and thought it was probably too late anyway. But the young woman only needed to see some ID and she sorted it for me then and there. Just like that! At no stage was I required to provide information on my father's previous cricket clubs or name all my teachers from primer 1 onwards. (But I can, you know! Well, the teachers. Dad may have played for one or two other cricket clubs besides Dunedin and Telgineers that I didn't know about. Dunedin used to practise at Tonga Park and I remember.... oops! Sidetracking 101.)
As I was saying.... I hope I get good value from the flash new pass anyway.
So yesterday Sarah and I met at the station just before 7.30am and TGVed off to Bordeaux, world famous for wine and the 5th largest city in France. It straddles the Garonne River and is the capital of the Aquitaine region. We hopped off at the station, a lovely atmospheric station which looked as if Monet might have wanted to paint it.
We caught a very modern looking tram into Centre Ville and our first stop was the Information Office, where we found that we were just in time for a bus tour which was about to leave. It was actually a darned good value bus tour. 1 1/2 hours in the bus and 1/2 hour walking round a few places. Frommer's France (like the Lonely Planet) says that Bordeaux is slightly seedy looking, but that some renewal projects are in the works. We saw evidence of both. Driving along beside the river many of the buildings were in a very sorry state and were almost crying out for redevelopment. (And I don't mean aluminium window frames!)
London's Docklands area sprang to mind of an example of what could be done. I guess it's all in hand. (Actually, a large part of the city of Bordeaux has been listed as a UNESCO World heritage Site, with many listed buildings, classified monuments etc.) We saw an interesting old submarine base which the Germans had built during the war.
Unfortunately the bus didn't have open windows, so in the photo you get a bit of bus as well. The drive around had good views, especially looking back across the river.
We saw the usual churches and sculptures and also the open square where a spot of guillotining took place during the French Revolution. Just to provide a bit of entertainment.

We got back to the Information Office at lunchtime and spent a bit of time wandering round looking for a place to eat that was affordable! We got that sorted and had a very pleasant meal indeed. After lunch we would have liked to have done a river cruise but there weren't any in the offing so we just walked round the inner city and soaked up the atmosphere. I tried on a vey nice looking skirt, only to discover that it was actually one of those sort of skirt-trousers thingees that look like incontinence pants!
We also spent a bit of time in the Cathedrale St Andre. (Imagine some accents there please.) We just sat in there quietly for a little while. Then we walked back down to the river to see the Miroir D'Eau, which was probably our favourite thing. Part of the waterfront redevelopment, it is a large rectangular area filled with just a centimetre or two of water. The buildings behind are beautifully reflected, but also people walk through it, little (and big!) kids splash round in it and it is a great focal point. Then all of a sudden there are fountains of fine spray which delight the little kids even more. I don't think I'm describing it very well, but actually it was quite lovely.


Time for a coffee, then we headed back to the station.
We got back to Poitiers about 20 to 9 at night. Sure, you can't really do justice to a place in just a day, but we got to see a bit, and a day is a great deal more satisfactory than no days at all! So that was Bordeaux, home town of L'Homme Des Toilettes, for those who may wish to know about such things. :-)

Besançon

Last weekend was a long weekend in France. In fact most of the weekends in May are long weekends it seems. May 8 is Victory in Europe Day and May 21 is Ascension Day. That's a Thursday so it becomes a pont (bridge) weekend. In other words they make a bridge from the Thursday to the weekend so the Friday becomes a holiday too. Makes sense to me! And the last Monday in May is a holiday too, for Pentecost. I have feeling that May 1 might have been a holiday as well but I was in London so I don't know. So, as I was saying..... I finished my exams on Wednesday at lunchtime and as I didn't have school on Thursday I got the train to Besançon on Wednesday afternoon to make the most of the long weekend. Had I mentioned the exams, by the way? I made a real mess of the oral. I was even more tongue-tied and stumbling than usual. It was awful. But I digress. I had to go to Gare de Montparnasse in Paris then get the #91 bus to the Gare de Lyon and then get the train to Besançon. All fairly straightforward these days thank goodness. Besançon has a population of about 110,000 and is in the east of France in the Franche Compte region. And Victor Hugo was born there!
It wasn't a city I knew much about before coming to France. It's worth googling it if you want to know a bit more. Tiffany is there for a year and her husband Nev and their two little girls have come over too. They are from Alexandra, by the way. So anyway, Tiffany met me at the station and took me back to their place. They have an apartment attached to the primary school where Tiffany works for some of the time, and where the girls go. Unfortunately, the Maternelle (pre-school) is in the storey directly above them, so from about 7.00am there is a constant scraping of chairs and general noise. I wouldn't want to be at home with a headache!

On Thursday Tiffany and I went into Centre Ville. We had decided to go on a river cruise. J'aime beaucoup river cruises. The people told us that they were just waiting for another group. No worries, we thought, picturing a mini-van from the rest home pulling up. We took our seats and waited. All very peaceful…then……we heard screaming kids!! The group comprised about 70 primary school children who quickly clambered on board and were very excited. Oh YAY!!!! The operators struggled to get the speaker to go correctly without screeches and static but finally it was sorted.
The ride was very noisy, in particular as we went under bridges when the children would yell non-stop until they had passed through. Then we made it to the lock which was at the beginning of a 185m long tunnel under the Citadelle – oh joy!!! Instead of screaming the whole way – it was just at every runner, blader and cyclist who went past.
We even went past Nev on his run around the river so we could actually wave to someone we knew, but we weren't quite up to yelling like the kids!









Certainly some of the vistas were quite beautiful. It is indeed a beautiful city, although when we went to the outer suburbs it was naturally enough a bit of a different story. But that was just part of the character.
We made it through to the other side of the hill when the boat turned around and headed back to the lock!! What? Not even up the river for a bit? Very pointless exercise except for watching the magical marvels of how a lock system operates. And it is a bit of a marvel. I don't think I have ever done the lock thing before and I was fascinated.
We should have expressed our disappointment with the tour but unfortunately I am a coward and don't like confrontation and also my French isn't really up to it. Because apparently the boat IS supposed to go up the river once through the lock. We think we probably had a shorter specialised tour because of the kids, but maybe they should have told us! It was still full price! We also probably wouldn’t have gone if they had told us it was a school group. They were basically nice kids, but it just wasn't how we had imagined it!
Anyway, we met Nev in town for lunch afterwards and sat in the sun in Place 8 septembre. At 2:00pm Tiffany and I decided to do the Petit Train. Big Mistake Again!!!! It was a 50 minute tour but we spent 25 minutes of that at 2 stops with nothing really to look at. Although I did get this nice photo of a view.
The commentary didn’t start at first and then when it did was out of synch, and after one of the stops it just repeated itself! Thumbs down! It just didn't go anywhere really. The Musee des Beaux Arts was next on the agenda then home for tea. Nev has taken on the House Husband role with great enthusiasm and much success. He is a bit of a gem really. So tea and the dishes were all taken care of!
On Friday we spent the day at the Citadelle which is a large fortification, the symbol of Besançon, which is positioned high up on a hill. There are lots of different museums and attractions there. Tiffany, Seph and Hermione went to the Zoo and Nev and I spent about 3 hours in the Musee de Resistance et Deportation. It was possibly one of the most moving war exhibitions I have ever seen. It was very well set-up and covered pretty much all of the war in Europe, with of course lots of authentic letters, clothing, photos, original documents etc. It traces Nazism from its very beginnings, the course of the war (WWII), the Vichy regime in France - interesting!! - and the resistance movement in France in particular and in Europe. There is a lot of information on deportation and "The Final Solution". There were 20 different rooms, so there was a lot to see. Fortunately there weren't many other people around as you needed time to look and you needed space - space to see everything and space to take it all in. It was quite harrowing in parts, needless to say. Man's great inhumanity to man. Unbelievable.
After that we had a bite to eat and looked at a few other exhibits. I rather liked the Insectarium and I also saw some more French frogs. We then walked round the ramparts and as long as I didn't look straight down I was fine. How on earth did they build it?!! Fabulous views from up there.


In the end we spent the whole day there and arrived home about 6:00pm.
On Saturday morning Tiffany, Seph and I went to see the Historical Astronomical Clock – it has over 1500 working pieces. Quite a giant thing really which can tell you the tides, the astronomical sign and where the planets are, the time in over 10 countries, the day, date, year, and leap century ( this only moves once every 400 years; the last time was in 2000!) when to take your cake out of the oven and other things. Well, perhaps not the cake. But you never know - that could have been what the man was saying!
It didn’t have a lovely chime - in fact it didn't chime at all, but it did have moving figurines! I'm not sure which is more impressive - that clock or the Glockenspiel in Stratford NZ! :-) It was lovely, but the talk was in French of course and so we missed out on some info which might have helped. I was intrigued by a woman who kept asking questions and from what I could gather she hadn't known before that it was a different time in different parts of the world. Hard to believe, but I'm pretty sure that's what she was asking about!
We popped into the church next door - the Eglise St Jean. It was beautiful, as they usually are. I lit a candle for John and Sophie - it's the tall one just beside me. I do sometimes light candles in churches and cathedrals. It feels like quite a calm and nice thing to do, and the money usually goes to maintaining the church.
Next we met Nev and Hermione and went off to Chateaufarine on the bus for a bit of a look at the shops. It's either the name of the mall, or the suburb, or both, and it's a long way out. First we had lunch at Buffalo Grill, which unfortunately was another disappointment – we waited far too long for what was expensive and ordinary! Lol! It was good to wander round the shops but I didn't buy anything. :-)
That night Nev and I watched some football on TV - Guingamp playing Rennes in a Cup Final of some sort. And the underdogs, Guingamp won. Very exciting. Oh, look what I just found!
"Ligue 2 side Guingamp upset Rennes in French Cup final
By Clement Guillou
PARIS, May 9 (Reuters) - Ligue 2 side Guingamp stunned Brittany neighbours Stade Rennes to lift the French Cup with a 2-1 victory in Saturday's final at the Stade de France.
Eduardo struck both goals for Guingamp, netting the winner eight minutes from time after he had cancelled out Carlos Bocanegra's second-half opener for the Ligue 1 side.
Le Havre, in 1959, are the only other second division team to have won the French Cup.
Guingamp, struggling in the bottom half of the second division, will go on to play in next season's Europa League, the revamped UEFA Cup." There!
I really enjoyed catching up with Tiff and her family and just hanging out and chatting, as well as doing the more touristy stuff. The weather was great and all in all I had a super time. I left pretty early on Sunday morning, did the station change in the opposite direction in Paris again, and then got back to Poitiers about lunchtime. That all went very smoothly. And here I am again. I have school this afternoon till 6.00pm, and I need to do some supermarket shopping this morning. That's if I plan to eat at all. And frankly, it would do me no harm if I didn't. But I suppose I will give in. :-)
These last little pictures I got off the net and I don't think they will enlarge, but they might help you get a general idea of where Besancon is and what it looks like.

London

I love Paris, and I also love London. I guess perhaps I shouldn't, as it's where Sophie died, but in fact she loved London too. Having had what was basically a British 'old fashioned' education, I suppose I have a sense of identity with the place, and really relish the opportunity, for example, to stand on Westminster Bridge and feel a sonnet coming on. :-) (I have a feeling of deja vu saying that - have I written it before?? Gosh, my memory is a worry.)
Anyway, back a bit. Louise and I caught a bus in Menton early in the morning of April 27th. It was the official bus to Nice airport which we thought was going via the autoroute. In fact it wasn't, and wended its way round the coast. This was really quite a bonus and we got to see several other towns and villages we hadn't seen before. Some of the scenery was quite spectacular. We arrived at the airport and checking in at EasyJet wasn't in fact spectacular. Disorganised springs to mind. But it's worth a bit of mild inconvenience for the lower prices. (And it was much better than Ryan Air on my return to Poitiers.) We chatted in the queue to an English woman who has lived in a village near St Tropez for 20 years. (And Vanessa Redgrave lives in the same village.)She flies back to England about every 6 weeks to see family and says she always flies EasyJet. Worth knowing. Louise was flying back home to Brussels so we said our au revoirs again and went off in different directions.
I had no trouble getting a seat on the plane under the no assigned seating system. (I found when I flew back to Poitiers that I was in the priority queue and got to board the plane first. I must have paid extra for that privilege and I certainly hadn't meant to!)
Anyway, I arrived at Stanstead airport and it was just so good to see Karen again. She is such a lovely friend. We have known each other for many years, but loosely for much of that time. However, when I went to the UK 12 years ago Sophie and I visited Karen, and after that Sophie and Karen stayed in touch. Then when Sophie died, I could write a whole book on how helpful and kind Karen was to us. So that's a bit of background. She and Kevin have lived in Brentwood, Essex for 20 years now.
On Tuesday Karen and I went into London and had a wee wander round. We went first of all to The Plumbers Arms, where my friend Anne used to be the manager, and where Pat and I stayed on our big trip 12 years ago and where John and the boys and I stayed when Sophie died. Lots of memories.

I then went to the afternoon performance of The Jersey Boys - the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It was really good! (Do you know that I once won a Four Seasons LP in a radio competition? And indeed 3 other LPs and a parcel of sponsors' fine products. I had to write a slogan about Janola. Should you wish to hear this very fine slogan let me know. :-))
Wednesday the 29th was a special day. It was very warm and sunny and Karen and I set off to meet Mike, a good old Stoke, Nelson boy who went right through school with Sophie, from Stoke Kindergarten to the end of Nayland College. We met him at the Leytonstone Tube Station and walked round to the house where Sophie died in a fire 11years ago. It might sound like a bit of a strange thing to do, but it felt right. We took some flowers and left them on the porch with a note for the occupants explaining why, and hoping that they would take the flowers inside and enjoy them.
We just stood there for a wee while and chatted and reflected on things and took some photos. It was certainly sad, but just something I wanted to do. I won't need to go again. And having Mike and Karen there too made it just right.

Afterwards we went to a nice little cafe and had lunch, then wandered though an old church and its peaceful churchyard.
It was just lovely. I am so grateful to Karen and Mike.
So that was that. The rest of my time there is a bit jumbled in my mind. We went and visited Karen's sister and her husband who were staying in Karen's father's house about half an hour away. They had flown over from Australia and had both become quite ill. With swine flu at its peak there was a bit of anxiety! We went into London again and walked round some more and visted part of the National Gallery. We met Mayson and his partner Mandy for a meal on the Friday night and had a great time.
Mayson is an old family friend, who also happened to go to school with Sophie. But more than anything he is just part of the large extended 'family' group of friends we were lucky enough to be part of in Nelson when the kids were growing up. Karen and I walked round the Brentwood shops, and we sat in Kevin and Karen's lovely garden in the sun. We also went to a big pinic area nearby one evening and took a bottle of wine to enjoy. We talked a lot and then some more. I have probably missed out some things, but in fact it was the people that really counted. Karen invited me back before my return home, and I'm going to go again towards the end of July. I'm looking forward to it.

Monaco

I have a bit of trouble saying this correctly, as in Nelson we have a suburb of the same name which is pronounced MonARco with the emphasis on the middle syllable. I bet you are pleased to know that! Anyway, on the Sunday before we left the French Riviera, Louise and I decided to get the train to Monaco for the day. It had rained on the Saturday, and whilst it was quite nice just pottering in Menton we didn't want to spend another wet day there. And Monaco is not far away at all! I can't remember exactly how long it took us to get there, but I think about 15 minutes. We hopped out at the station and took a stab at which exit to take. (More on this later!) We emerged at the top of a hill which gave us a great view, through the rain, of Monaco, that quaint little country which should really be a town!
The rain eased and we walked down the winding road and eventually came out at the bottom. We wandered round a bit then figured that most people were walking up another hill. We assumed it was to the palace, and indeed it was, but it was also to the old part of Monaco which was really lovely. Touristy of course, but who cares?? On the way up the hill we looked back and saw everything being made ready for the Grand Prix which is being held this month. Lots of temporary grandstands, tyre barriers... all the works. (Actually, that's all I spotted. I am not a knowledgeable car person. And it would not be an exciting day for me to sit and watch cars going round and round and round.....) We also had more great views of Monaco itself. And some very expensive looking boats.
Speaking of spotting things, apparently Ringo Starr lives in Monaco, so we kept an eye out for him. I must admit that I would just have been using him to meet Paul, but you have to seize your opportunities, and I'm sure he would have understood. But anyway, I think he was inside watching English football on the tele, as he was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't a day for venturing outside.
We got to the top of the hill and decided to take a trip on the Petit Train, as, just as in Menton, it was a really good way to get an overview and see the main sights. It became slightly crazy, as the longer we waited for the train to start, the more it rained, and then suddenly little rivulets would race across the seat and wet us!! We had tissues, umbrellas and whatever it took to try and mop up the water and keep ourselves dry. And meanwhile, the driver stubbornly waited for the train to fill up, which it couldn't do because the seats were wet... Anyway, off we went, and it wasn't too bad, all things considered. We saw the main casino, but no-one trying to break the bank there.
We saw very expensive shops and car sales places, the Royal Palace, the Cathedral and the well-known(apparently)marine museum. (It's really the Oceanographic Museum, but I'm not too sure how to spell that! Lol.) Monaco reminded me of Singapore - very clean and tidy, lots of lush planting and a general feeling of comfort. Apparently there is virtually no unemployment and I don't think they know about the recession.
We then had a look inside the cathedral, which has several tombs, most notably for me, that of Princess Grace.
We had a walk around the old town and then had lunch at a super little Italian restuarant, where the staff treated us like old friends. Nice! Another walk
and then we headed back to the station. We saw a sign pointing to it and I said that I thought we should go there, although it was nowhere near where we had come out in the morning. Louise thought it was probably leading to where an old station used to be, but I just had a hunch. And sure enough, it led us right to the station. Had we taken the other exit when we arrived we would have come out here - via travelators - at the bottom of the hill. Mind you, we're glad we didn't, as we would have missed the great views. But it was good at this end of the day not having to trudge up the hill. A real fluke! Anyway, we caught the train back to Menton and that was our day. It was good. I liked Monaco, despite the pretty awful weather. It was kind of cute and picturesque. And a place we have always known about for some reason so going there was pretty special. The Garibaldis, incidentally, originally came from Italy. I guess they just turned up one day and one of them probably said, "Well, I'll be King then and we'll say this is our country. Whaddya reckon?" And they're still there.

Menton

Gosh, Menton seems like a long time ago. I kept thinking too, while I was there, that I must take notes in order to write my blog with some degree of accuracy, but of course I didn't, so I quite possibly won't! On Sunday April 19th Christian, Marie-Helene, their granddaughter Chloe (Not Lucie as I had mentioned previously) and I set off, bound for Menton. It was a long trip! Fortunately the Martins' car is really comfortable and the back seats are quite high up, otherwise it could have been quite a terrible trip. As it was, it was interesting I guess.
We stopped a few times, once at a designated off-road stopping place for drivers which was HUGE!! The scenery became more interesting the further south we went, and it was quite amazing to drive past such places as Avignon, Aix en Provence etc. Anyway, we finally got to Menton, after passing through many, many toll booths at great expense, and after almost 12 hours on the road. Phew! We parked the car and walked to the apartment we had rented. It was just amazing - right in the heart of everything. 3 storeys up and on the small side, but full of character, and as I said, about 10 steps and you were on the main walking thoroughfare. Menton is quaint and quite touristy, but with a wonderful ambience and something of an Italian feel to it.
Not surprising really, as it is right on the border with Italy. We did lots of walking round and pottering in the shops and sitting on the beach. (Stony but quite nice.)We did a wee tour in a Petit Train which gave a good overall perspective and also took us to the historic old part of the town up on the hill. We had a look through the Jean Cocteau Museum which left me totally underwhelmed I have to say. Louise stayed on a bit longer in Italy then came on Tuesday night. After we picked her up at the station we went and had a meal that night with Jenny and Laughton Pattrick.
Jenny is this year's Katherine Mansfield fellow, so it was very exciting to visit them. Between them they have also written children's musical productions, including Rats, which I produced at Richmond School in Nelson - it's a great show! Cut Lunch Blues has to rate as one of the best all-time kids' songs!
But I digress! We visited a lovely garden, La Serre de la Madone, which could have done with a good weed, but it was nice all the same, and it was a great day.
And that is where I saw the frogs. Heaps of them croaking away. I haven't seen any frogs for years, so it was very nice to see them, and French Frogs at that. :-) Menton's motto is "Ma ville est un jardin" (My city is a garden) so gardens are a big feature of the area. It's a great climate for gardens. There is a big Lemon Festival each year too.
On Tuesday, M-H, Chloe and Louise went on a tour of some local villages. When we booked there were only 3 places left so we had a draw and I drew the short straw. Never mind. I had a quiet day pottering round, and in the afternoon I sat on the beach and actually did some study for my exams! I also went and had a quick coffee with Jenny at the Katherine Mansfield House - Villa Isola Bella, which was nice.
I walked round the waterfront to get there - it was blissful really. So it was probably a good thing to have a free day. We also all got the train one day and went into Italy to Ventimiglia, to a huge market which could easily take all day to check out. If you felt so inclined. Markets are markets pretty much anywhere! Although I did buy a nice red Italian leather handbag!
Overall, I found Menton to be quite charming. Expensive - Paris prices - and bustling, but nonetheless tranquil and relaxing. A perfect place for a holiday. I recommend it to you! I have just had a look at the photos, and I think I will have to refrain from putting in photos of moi. Either that or I will have to refrain from eating those you-know-whats!! (Tartelettes au chocolat for those who don't-know-what!!)I also apologise for the grainy quality of the photo of me with Jenny and Laughton. My camera has been a bit temperamental lately. I haven't, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know!