Bits and pieces of interest - perhaps.

Look at this!!!!!
Paul McCarŧney confirmed you as a friend on Facebook...‏
It's true! I'm his friend! (The fact that he has several thousand other friends should not be taken to mean that I am not special. Lol!) See, all good things come to those who sit and wait. Not that I've exactly been sitting quietly since 1962, but hey!

What else? Yesterday I went with Guy to an Old Folks' Home (they probably have more upmarket titles than that these days) where he sang to them. I was the assistant. :-) He actually does this on a voluntary basis most weeks and as the oldies sat there for 2 whole hours they obviously loved it. For the most part, they sang along as well. I remember when we sang at Whareama there were regular loud requests from the oldies to leave or go to the toilet. None of this at Rose Alienor!

Apart from picking up things dropped on the floor, my role as assistant included singing Happy Birthday in English, which I found out I was going to do when it was announced! Guy also said, "Alison might now sing us a song in English." Well, I didn't, but I trotted out my old stand-by, Haere Mai. They all clapped at the end, and no-one died, so that was a relief. There were 45 people there, so it was a full house! Afterwards we went to my local Brasserie and had a beer. I have never been there before as it looks decidedly seedy and I avoid walking past as it's a bit of a retro experience with all the looks etc. And everyone smoking. I am now able to report, having actually been there, that it is exactly as I suspected. Seedy, retro, everyone smoking and betting on the TAB. Lots of great stereotypes including the tarty barmaid! But the beer was good on what was a very hot and sticky day!!

Today I need to get myself into gear as I am leaving before the sparrows fart in the morning. I have to get a bus about 6.30am to the station, from where I will take the TGV to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. And from there I fly to Boston, USA, via Iceland! I am quite determined to win the Most Airports ongoing competition I am having with my boys, as you can see. My friends Kathy and Rodger will be waiting at Boston Airport for me, with any luck, and will take me to where they live in Rutland, about an hour and a half away I think.
So that should be just great. I have just over a week there, then fly back to CdG, and from there to Edinburgh. This time Joan and Bill win me!
Back to Poitiers on July 19th. With any luck I will have time to write some more Blog before going back to London for a week. After that I am back in Poitiers packing up my stuff and doing my goodbyes and so on. But I am getting a bit ahead of myself. My main focus today is to get out of my nightie and get ready to go away tomorrow!
See you soon! Leave me a message! :-) I will of course be checking in from time to time just to make sure you haven't left town.
And oh my goodness - I have just realised - it's July already!

Carcassonne – La Cité

Saturday dawned bright and clear and the three intrepid explorers set forth on yet another arduous mission. Who else would undertake these tasks, we asked ourselves. Never fear. We are the girls for you. We will do it!
We strolled across the bridge, leaving behind the Lower City, and wandered up the hill to the famous Roman and Medieval walled city. Carcassonne is a UNESCO World Heritage site and I read somewhere on-line that it is the most-visited site in France. It is certainly very distinctive and looks amazing from the town below.
It is free to wander round the old city itself, but one pays to see though the castle. So first of all we wandered. The Lonely Planet mentions the long street(s) filled with tacky souvenir shops, but do you know what? After being offended by them in Baux and Gordes, we didn't mind them here at all. Perhaps there was more space for them. Perhaps they were ... well, I don't know. But the atmosphere was good and we had a lovely time just wandering and poking around here and there.
It is quite rabbit warreny and there are more streets than you think, so it took quite a while to wander. We stopped for lunch in a busy food court area with lots of atmosphere. The atmosphere being added to in an authentic French manner by people blowing smoke in our faces!

We then went into the castle and had a good look round. It was great really. At some stage in the relatively recent past - like in the 19th century I think - the whole place fell into a bit of disrepair and the French government decided to knock it all down. Fortunately there was a great to-do and several important people got involved with its preservation and restoration. And now there it is. A most impressive fortress indeed.


So back to the castle. We had a good self guided tour, then discovered a group doing a walk along the ramparts. That can only be done with a guide, apparently. Well, it turned out that it was a historical lecture in French, and we stood listening for an hour, with a bit of moving to the next vantage point every now and then. Not quite what we expected!
So anyway, that was that. We came out of the city gates and saw a petit train about to set off. "What a good way of seeing both the old and the lower cities," we thought. So we hopped on board.
Well, we just did a circuit of the city walls, a little jaunt to the bottom of the hill and back we went. Very short and hilarious really, as we didn't see a single thing we hadn't seen already. Oh well....
Our visit had taken us all day. It was good after all that we hadn't planned a van tour! And nice to have plenty of time and no pressure. We even had time to try on clothes, and I admit that I bought a top!
We walked back to the hotel and Louise and I had a swim. Suzanne wasn't so keen on swimming! (As I'm writing this it's 10 in the morning and already feeling like 28 degrees or thereabouts, and a pool in the back yard would be just WONDERFUL!!)
We had dinner that night in the outdoor restaurant across the road from the hotel, and it was lovely being out in the warm evening air, beside the river, and looking up to the old city on the hill.
And that was pretty much Carcassonne. I have always had a thought that I would like to go there - really since Toby stayed nearby during the 1998 Football World Cup. He sent a postcard which said something along the lines of: Here I am, staying in a chateau near Carcassonne, lying by the pool, drinking red wine. Not much else to say really. It sounded pretty good to me, and indeed it was.
The next morning we got organised and Suzanne and Louise walked with me to the station. I caught the train back to Poitiers, through some interesting countryside full of grapes and sunflowers, and with a train change at Bordeaux. The girls flew back to Belgium that evening.
It was a super week. I'm doing some more tripping about now that I'm officially on my summer break, but that may well be my last real adventure in other parts of France. Yep, it was just great. Hot - in the mid 30s each day. I might have mentioned that. La belle France.







(Remember that you can click on the photos to enlarge them - even the little one at the top which I filched off the net. It's very beautiful!)

Carcassonne Canal Cruises Inc.

Well, we didn't want to leave Avignon really. As I said before - we really loved it there. However, on Friday morning we trotted off to the bus stop and made our way to the station. And off we went. It was actually quite an interesting trip, passing through some well known places and skirting the Mediterranean. Carcassonne railway station is quite central
and we had no trouble walking through the town and finding our hotel. Which was fine, and with a great view of the famous old walled city, high up on a hill. However, we weren't in a great head space and were feeling a bit blah at that stage.
But off we went back into town and to the Tourism Office. Where the young woman had a badge on which indicated that she spoke English, and she even told me she did. She was a bit funny though when I spoke to her in English, so I asked her in French if there were any tours for the next day. (Such as we had done in Avignon.) She almost cried out with pain, winced, turned her whole body round away from me, and proceded to talk to Louise. That REALLY boosted my confidence, I can tell you! So anyway, it transpired that were were no tours the next day. She did at least tell us where to find an internet cafe, as Suzanne needed to check in with her sister who is having a few problems at the moment, and Louise and I are always starters when it comes to checking emails! So we stayed there for half an hour, then walked through the town again. Oh yes, we came across a shop called Otago Rugby! I was quite taken aback! Is it a chain? I haven't seen any others. Interesting!

I wonder if Pita Sharples has vetted the pictures of Maori Rugby - they look more like Easter Islanders to me!
And so to Canal Cruise #473. Nah, just kidding. We had bought tickets to cruise the Canal du Midi, of which we had heard so much. Certainly the young girl doing the commentary was great, and some of the history was interesting, but apart from one lock there wasn't anything to see. Just trees lining the river bank. Nice trees of course! I enjoyed the relaxation, but once again felt as if it was a bit, well.... underwhelming perhaps. Granted, I don't know what I expected. And I don't need bells and whistles. But it lacked something I thought.
But on a very positive note, after feeling a bit wounded by the girl in the tourism office, the commentary girl asked me to repeat what I had said when I spoke to her in French. "Are you French or English?" she asked. I laughed and said that I spoke English, which I was sure she knew, and she said that I had no foreign accent!! I might add that I only spoke about three words, but I still could have hugged her to bits!
Anyway, back to the hotel and a swim in the pool. Oh yes! :-) And a nice, if somewhat sparse, meal. We would have had a starter had we known the minimalist approach was the order of the day!
And that was our first day in Carcassonne. And I'm sorry, because I have accidentally made all the photos medium instead of small. Sorry if they are a bit in-your-face. :-)

The Best of Provence.

That was the name of our half day tour. Doesn't the name Provence just conjure up a wonderful picture in your mind? And yes, we saw lots of beautiful lavender. But first....
I had an early morning swim and we had a leisurely breakfast, outside on the terrace, beautifully presented on a tray by Jean-Paul, mine host. He runs the place with his parents, who are retired farmers. And his brother is the chef. It has a wonderful family atmosphere and we felt part of it. There were even chooks scurrying about.
We then strolled round the road to the local market. We were prepared to say, "Ah yeah, more dead fish", but no! It was really impressive. Indeed there were fish, along with lots of other produce, but also many local crafts and all sorts of things. Most of the markets we have seen up till now have had the same, fairly tired looking things, but his one was just a bit different. I managed to get myself a sunhat, which was very necessary. And I also managed to buy a necklace. I have bought four necklaces since I have been overseas - gosh, I must have been really short of them before! Lol.
We then caught the bus into Avignon Centre Ville where we had lunch and then waited for our tour to begin. There were two others with us - a young girl from Australia, and an American girl. Elizabeth was our tour guide. Our first port of call was the historic and quite magnificent Pont du Gard, a superbly preserved Roman aqueduct.

It was built shortly before the Christian era to allow the aqueduct of Nîmes to cross the Gard river. The Roman architects and engineers who designed this bridge, which stands almost 50 m high and is on three levels, created a technical as well as an artistic masterpiece. It really is amazing. I think also that no mortar was used in its construction - that all the stones were cut precisely to fit. I was also rather taken with the three olive trees close by - each one is 1000 years old! I thought they were beautiful.


Spotted on the Pont du Gard. So tagging WASN'T invented in South Auckland? :-)


So we then headed off to our next port of call, and this is where the tour started to falter a little. Jean-Paul at the B&B, when we told him where we were going, had been a little surprised at the amount of driving we would be doing. And indeed we did cover a lot of road. It was nice in some ways, but we actually spent a lot more time on the road than actually at the places. The Australian girl was pretty upset about it and felt the content hadn't been fully explained. But oh well..... The next place was Les Baux de Provence, a village in the Alpilles mountains. It's a beautiful village set high up on a rocky outcrop, but these days is more of a tourist site than a 'real' village.







It's lovely, but totally infiltrated by souvenir shops and almost felt like a theme park. I mean, I actually quite like all the gift shops that come attached to every attraction these days, but Les Baux just felt plastic or something. Yes, I liked it. But there were too many people and too many shops, all pretty much the same. This strange village, starkly carved almost from the rocks.... But...I wouldn't have been surprised to see a McDonalds there.
And so quite a bit more driving, and I dozed off. We were now in the lovely Luberon region, and on our way to the village of Gordes, also much loved by tourists. It's a perched village I guess. This, from www.provenceweb.fr: Standing on the edge of the plateau of Vaucluse, Gordes is one of the "in" villages of Luberon where many movies stars and artists have made their home.
Its houses of white and gray stone rise up in a spiral around the rock where thevillage is set. At the very top is the church and the castle which face out onto the hills of the Luberon.
Due to its privileged position, its exceptional charm and its typical architecture, Gordes has been listed as "one of the most beautiful villages of France".
While strolling around the tiny streets which climb up between the tall houses, you will discover here and there beautiful old doorways, arcades and walls of flat stone perfectly restored, and on the other side, there is the panorama of the valley and mountains of Luberon.







So yep, quite lovely and well worth a visit. And certainly worth going there just for the view of the village one sees on the approach. But once again, just soooo many souvenir shops. They seemed to jar.
And that was the tour. I was disappointed not to see the ampitheatre at Nimes, which was part of the tour we had originally tried to get on, but not this one. Next time perhaps!
Re-reading this it sounds like I didn't enjoy the trip. I did, but just with those reservations - it might be better to group things together that are geographically closer so that more time could be spent at each place. And I don't know how you get round the tourist shop thing. But I did like all the places, especially the Pont du Gard. It was magnificent!
Back to Avignon and then back to our village. A swim and then a walk back to the town square. We sat outside and favoured Aubergine with our custom once again. We were not disappointed - lovely grub! It was most pleasant sitting there, basking in the warmth of the summer evening and sipping a nice drop of Rose. We also met an American woman who had come over to organise her daughter's wedding. Her daughter is a young lawyer in London, as she told us a few times. :-) She was very full-on and self-promoting, and obviously very wealthy, but quite interesting all the same. I like people with a bit of character and she certainly had that! I love the way different things just happen. You meet different people, go to unexpected places...... It's all good.
And so our time in Avignon was drawing to a close. We really wanted to stay. We loved the B&B and the town and just everything really. In fact when Louise and I had booked originally, we had wanted to stay in Avignon for the whole week, and just do trips from there, but we couldn't get accommodation for the whole week. Dommage.
So that was Thursday. As you know, "Thursday's child has far to go." :-)

Avignon .... sur le pont, and all that.

I think I've wanted to go to Avignon since I first sang about the bridge in the third form! So off we went last Tuesday - Suzanne, Louise and your very own travel writer - Bill Bryson Kroon. We left from Poitiers
and travelled across country by changing trains at St Pierre des Corps (Tours) and turning right. All the other options involved going all the way to Paris, changing stations and then heading south again. We didn't want to do that! So some new territory to see from the train window. It took a while, but was a comfortable trip as it usually is when travelling by train in France.
And there we were in Avignon! We splashed out on a taxi to take us to our B&B, which was quite a good thing, as we discovered it was actually in the village of Villeneuve lez Avignon, just across the river from Avignon. A separate village, but to all intents and purposes just a suburb. The B&B was an absolute delight and a highlight of our stay.
The general ambience, friendliness, proximity to everything in the village, and a swimming pool, made it really special, and the three of us would love to go there again. Let me know if you want contact details. :-) And oh yes, it was quite windy when we arrived in Avignon, so we got to experience the famous Mistral! "It has been going for four days. It will be gone by tomorrow," they all sagely predicted. And they were right!
That night we wandered into the village square and had a meal at a restaurant called Aubergine - far and away the best meal I have had in France so far. And we got to chat to some Australians. As you do.
And so to Wednesday. We got the bus into the city and our first stop was, yes, Le Pont d'Avignon! We were reasonably early and were able to do our wandering - and singing and dancing for some of us! - without too many people around.
The history of the bridge is available on line :-), but I can tell you at least that it's all a bit of a mistake. The people didn't dance ON (sur) the bridge, they danced UNDER (sous) the bridge. On an island in fact. But of course it has all become a bit of a legend now and the ON version has stuck. The bridge no longer goes right across the Rhone - in fact it hasn't done for hundreds of years. But it's still there, and I got a real buzz out of being there. I did a couple of dances, as mentioned before, which the girls videoed, but I think they might be for personal viewing only! I will ponder that one! I couldn't convince Louise and Suzanne to dance. :-)
So that was thoroughly enjoyable, I have to say. Another memory of Miss Prisk, OGHS.
Just as we came off the bridge what did we behold but a petit train ready to set off on a little tour. So we jumped aboard.
It was OK. We discovered later that there are two competing petit trains and so this one didn't go to some places. Petit Train Wars!
Next visit was to the Papal Palace.
In 1309 the city was chosen by Pope Clement V as his residence, and from March 1309 until January 1377 was the seat of the Papacy instead of Rome. Not a lot of people know that! It was very big and took a long time to see through. We had lunch at an on-site cafe which was quite terrible. I don't know how some of these places get away with it. But the whole thing - the papal palace - was really interesting and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We went to the Tourism Office and tried to organise a tour for the next day. Unfortuntely the one we chose wasn't available, or booked out or something, so we picked another one which looked not too bad. Then we went off and cruised the river!
As you know I love river cruises, but it probably didn't rate as highly as some. Not much to see at all really. But we soaked up the sun and the atmosphere and saw a few landmarks. Actually, that reminds me... When we were canal cruising in Amsterdam, a girl said to her mother, "How long is this?" And her mother sang in reply, "A three hour tour!" Gilligan's Island - geddit? So now when I am crusing gently up a canal or river I try and pick out Ginger, Gilligan, etc.
So then we caught the bus back to our village. Louise and I had a swim which was just fabulous! It was just so incredibly hot and a swim was perfect. The temperature the whole time we were away was in the mid 30s. Almost too hot, BUT I'M NOT COMPLAINING!
That night we ate at the B&B restaurant, on the terrace, and we had no complaints in that department either. And so ended Wednesday. Magic.

An Amazing Story

Yes it is. A little while after Louise and Suzanne arrived here, Suzanne discovered that she had lost one of her favourite gold hoop earrings. Trying to track back she really couldn't imagine where she could have lost it, but was hoping that it was perhaps in Louise's appartment in Brussels. Not much you can do about it really.
This morning the girls and I went for a walk down to my local shops where I introduced them to M. Tabac and also took them into the famed boulangerie where we bought some things to take on the train for lunch.
And so we toddled off up the road towards home. We crossed the road and.... "What is this?" asked Louise, bending down. There in the middle of the road was Suzanne's earring!! Well, was that amazing or what? All's Well That Ends Well. (I might make that into a play.)
..... And this afternoon we are off to Avignon. Stay tuned.

Fêtes des Pères

Yes, today is Fathers' Day in France. As I can no longer celebrate my dad or John, I will dedicate today to the two best fathers I know - Toby and Hayden. Toby is the best dad possible to Sienna and Isla (and would die of embarrassment if he read this but I suspect that he doesn't read my blog), and Hayden, who will be a dad very soon - in August! The photos are of Toby reading to his girls, and Plain Clothes Constable Kroon investigating a suspicious fire in Bundaberg! (The photo is from a newspsper report which I whipped off the net. Don't tell on me!) I have such vivid memories of these dads as little fellas themselves, and now they are in their mid-30s. What can I say? It's actually wonderful seeing the boys and their friends moving so effortlessly into their new roles. Happy Fêtes des Pères, all you dads out there. Mothers are cool, but we think you are OK too. :-)

Meet Justine

Justine was born in France to a Dutch/German mother who grew up in France and an English born father who moved to New Zealand as a teenager. And they met in India! Justine was born in France but when she was 8 months old the family moved to New Zealand and settled in Sawyers Bay, Dunedin. They lived there until Justine was 8 years old, but her mother missed family too much so they went back to France. Which is just a little background.
One day last year I was sitting waiting for my uni class to start when I noticed a young girl with a kiwi on her back pack! Those of you who have travelled know how exciting it is when you see people or symbols of some sort from home! So of course I spoke to her and it was all a bit of the old 'small world' stuff, especially with our mutual Dunedin connection.
Since then we have met several times, and today we caught up again - probably for the last time. Although, who knows? We bought a sandwich and walked to Parc de Blossac and just sat in the sun and talked. Justine is quite young - still in her teens in fact - but she is really easy to talk to and we seem to have no trouble connecting despite the fact that, at a pinch, I could possibly be her grandmother!!
It also occurred to me today, somewhat belatedly, that she would have been a great person to have had conversation practice with. Oh well, another time maybe!
So no dramatic tales or funny stories or other tales to relate. Just an ordinary old day. Oh, I have been feeling a bit below par and was struggling to get tidied up this morning. Then I heard a car and saw Xavier arrive. Yay! I leaned out my window. "Have you come to watch the rugby?" I asked. And indeed he had. I hadn't liked to let myself into the Martins' house while they are away in order to watch the rugby, but I was able to see it after all. Which meant leaving my studio looking like a student flat. Never mind. And we won. Not handsomely, but we won. And despite being even more tired this afternoon I have had a big clean up. I don't really feel all that great at all. I hope I am not coming down with anything. Oink oink!

Ladies Who Lunch.

Yep, that's me. (No, not the photo - that's Agnes.) Just a brief letting-you-know-what-I'm-up-to entry. And if you really want all the details, well, this morning I had a wax! It was actually a bit of a miserable morning and trying hard to rain. And by the time I went out at lunchtime it really was raining. Not only that, but it had turned quite cold! Rats! Fortunately it had stopped raining - but was still cold - when I was waiting for Agnes, one of the teachers from the Lycee. Because she was 40 minutes late! She did send a message after 10 minutes saying she was on her way, but she may have done her grocery shoping after that! Lol. But anyway, no problems really. Except that because of the weather I was about the only person lolling about in the square and I probably looked like a woman of ill-repute.
Anyway, we had lunch and chatted, and it was nice. Agnes has had an interesting life. She is only about 43, but after growing up in Paris she went to uni in Poitiers, worked/studied in the UK and USA, met a Greek man and went to Greece where she married him and had two children and lived there for 15 years. He is actually a Greek member of Parliament. However, they are now divorced, so she is back in France. She is tri-lingual and her two little girls are bi-lingual and also learning English - impressive. I have worked with her and her students at the Lycee and she is a nice person. And she gave me some lovely silver earrings from Greece! I didn't know what to say. I actually had a New Zealand pen for her but I forgot to take it!
When we left the restaurant the sun had come out again. Tomorrow I am having a picnic lunch with Justine in Blossac Park, so I hope it stays fine. You may remember that I mentioned Justine earlier - she grew up in Dunedin until she was 8 and now lives back in France, which is where she was born.
Keep cool till after school.

So where would YOU go for a special lunch? :-)

Today Abir came here to cast a beady eye over some of my 'belongings', such as the toaster, electric mixer, electric jug, glass bowl etc etc. Even rubber scrapers and a fish slice! She is getting married in August - you may recall I could have been at the wedding and also I could almost have been her step-mother! Afterwards her husband will continue to live in Tours where he works at the university and she is staying on in Poitiers to finish her doctorate. Weekend catch-ups. Anyway, Abir doesn't have a lot of 'stuff' so I said she could have my things when I go and that could be her wedding present. So she was quite chuffed about that. I was just going to leave them in the studio but they might as well go to a good home.
So, we had arranged to go out for lunch on what was quite probably our last get-together. I had visions of a little cafe in Centre Ville. But no, Abir arrived full of the information that the only place with halal meat was KFC!! Now I'm SURE that there are other cafes and restaurants with halal meat; after all, there are many many Muslims in France. But no, our mission today was to catch Bus number 4 and go to find KFC. Well, I knew where we could catch Bus number 4 so that was OK. Then after we had gone for quite a distance Abir realised that the bus didn't go exactly where she thought. After checking with the driver we hopped off with instructions on how to get to Auchan - a big mall and Warehouse kind of place. KFC is nearby. So there we were, in the blazing sun at 12.30pm, walking round an industrial area searching for the Restaurant of the Year. I was thinking to myself, "I can't believe I am doing this! I don't even especially LIKE KFC!!" Finally, like the intrepid explorers we are, we arrived at Auchan. I realised it was the mall that Jean Ragonneau had taken me to once, back in September. It was spookily empty then, and no different today. But I am jumping ahead. We asked further directions and finally found our restaurant of choice! In fact it wasn't too bad, although they don't do mashed potato and gravy. Dommage!
So that was our celebration lunch. I felt as if we should have had Traffic Lights to drink as well. (I know, I know they are from Cobb and Co. Same difference! :-))
Afterwards we wandered round the mall for a while but did very little damage. Abir bought some toy guns for her nephew. "He loves fighting," she said. "So guns will be good, don't you think?" "Oh, I'm not the best person to ask that," I replied. Which puzzled her, so we then entered into an interesting discussion about the fact that we had never bought guns for our kids, without trying to make an especially big deal about it. "But all boys have guns!" she exclaimed. Well nah, it ain't compulsory..... Abir comes from Lebanon. (And yes, Hayden has a gun now in his job, but I don't think he became a Policeman because he was repressed as a child! However, I will check!)
Anyway, we got the bus back to the Prefecture where Abir's stop is, and I got off too and changed buses to a number 8. And we said our farewells. She has been a lovely friend this year. And she said, "You know, brief encounters can be just the best." Which was lovely.

1.45am

So it's technically Thursday. And I can't sleep. For years after John and Sophie died I couldn't sleep - just quite literally couldn't get off to sleep until I would crash about 4.30am. Not a good look for a teacher with 34 12 year olds! So I started taking half a sleeping pill every night and have been doing that for years. But, since I have been over here, and perhaps not worrying about things so much, I decided to try to be pill-less again. I started when I was in the Emirates over New Year with Sheryl, and it worked! So, with just an occasional bad night thrown in to keep me on my toes, I have been sleeping fairly normally.
But no, my conversations I have with myself in my head have become insistent again, and for whatever reason I am back to just lying there and feeling damned frustrated. Sure it's pretty hot at night at the moment, but that's not it. I try not to churn about things. Why am I not relaxed all of a sudden? Why can I not be like a normal person and get to sleep? Do any of you Bloggers and Blog Readers suffer in a like manner? Your responses will be welcomed. :-)

Giverny and Rouen Day 3

Tuesday dawned fine and dandy. At the slow pace to which I am now becoming accustomed :-) I eased into the day, packing my backpack and generally getting organised to leave later in the day. I then walked a little way to the local church - closed for repairs - to check out the cemetery and Monet's grave. I was probably more moved by the grave of and memorial for seven British airmen who were shot down very near Giverny in WWII.








It was interesting to see Monet's grave, but not sad. For one thing, he died of old age and the flyers most certainly did not. Seven mothers' sons. You just stand there in that beautiful and peaceful setting, and try to imagine what it must have been like being in the midst of a war. And of course it wasn't easy being in the north of France. Word has it that although everyone in France claims to have been part of the Resistance, many, especially in the north, in fact became collaborators. Well, if it was that or your life, who are we to say what we would have done?
And so then I moved on and went to the Impressionist Museum. In fact an Art Gallery, almost entirely full of Monet's paintings. (And schoolchildren!)It was a real highlight. The museum itself was very well laid out and also included photos and history. I went round it twice and drooled as usual over the paintings. Great stuff.
Lunch at the Hôtel Baudy, which was a centre of artistic life in the Giverny heyday, when Monet and his artist friends all hung out there.
It is now still a café and restaurant, and has a beautiful rose garden on the hill behind. You can visit this garden if you eat there. So I did, and I did! It was just lovely. The roses were certainly past their best but still beautiful.
It was a cross between a cottage rose garden and a wilderness and was very quiet apart from the birds. I wandered round for quite a while. All this cathedral visiting must be getting to me - I think that Monet's garden and this one were just as good a setting for peaceful reflections.
And so I wandered back to the B&B, past more lovely gardens.

I chatted to Danielle for a while, then sat on a sunlounger in the garden and read until it was time to go to the station.
All in all, a great trip. I told Danielle that I would promote her B&B, and truly, if you are planning to visit that area then you could not do better than Le Clos Fleuri I would say. The details:
Danielle and Claude FOUCHE
5 rue de la Dîme
27620 Giverny
France
Just google it and it tells you how to make contact.
And remember - Danielle is an Aussie sheila so speaks the same lingo!
And phew, it's hot today! I met Todd for lunch - sister-in-law of my friend Vikki from Oman. The bus couldn't go on its usual route because there was yet another manifestation. This time farmers protesting. We ate lunch accompanied by tractors and assorted farm vehicles driving round and round and horns blaring! Anyway, it's 9.00pm as I write this and it's really hot and stifling. I could do with a swim!

Giverny and Rouen Day 2.

Sure enough, when I awoke on Monday morning it was raining. I felt very pleased that I had done the garden visit the previous day! After a lovely breakfast and some discussion with Danielle, I decided to get the train to Rouen for the day. Lots of history in Rouen. William the Conqueror died here in 1087 and Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake here in 1431. Monet lived here for a time and endlessly painted the cathedral! Rouen was heavily bombed in WWII and much of the city was destroyed, but it has been reconstructed and is now a hub of commerce and a city of half a million people.

When I arrived at the station I set off down the Rue Jeanne d'Arc to see what I could see. I spotted a sign for the Ceramics Museum so decided to go there first. There was a couple in front of me having a few problems with the man taking the money. Then the woman said in a very strong accent, "We don't understand! We're AUSTRALIAN!!" As if the two things were synonomous! Anyway, I tried to help them and showed them what coins they needed, but they weren't very interested and didn't even thank me. There are some people who truly think that everyone should speak English and have no concept that possibly in a foreign country they might come across some people who don't!
The museum was quite interesting. Possibly not for everyone, but I like ceramics - porcelain, china, whatever. There is a great collection here of 17th and 18th century Rouen faïence - sort of the local pottery I guess. There was an awful lot there to see and once again I marvelled at how so much stuff had survived to this day. Who looked after it so carefully?
I then went to the Musee des Beaux-Arts which was just great. Except for the fact that I was busy minding my own business when a man came and told me I would have to move out of this particular area as it was closing at 1.00. Honestly! I innocently asked him why it was closing. "So we can eat!" he replied, surprised. Honestly, I can understand it in the days when the family all went home and the farmers came in from the fields and all that sort of stuff, but in fact that hardly happens now. Certainly not during the working week. Can they not roster lunch breaks? This museum has a repuation as one of France's finest, and it closes for lunch! OK, OK I know I can't change thousands of years of tradition, but ... sigh.... But obviously only Wing One people eat, as the rest of the museum stayed open. So I changed course and continued my viewing.

There were some beautiful paintings, and I got another fix of Impressionism as well. I love looking at art - it generally makes me very happy. Although there were a few large and gory paintings of people with heads chopped off etc, which didn't grip me, you could say.
So I did the two storeys, then at 5 to 2 saw someone open Wing One again. "Can I come in now?" I asked. "Oh no. I must meet with my colleagues first and then we will see." No skin off their nose I'm sure, but I decided not to bother, and left.
Lunch time and I found a little place to eat just under the Big Clock.
I had a Croque Monsieur - a sort of Toasted Sandwich. Ordinary. I then wandered up to the made-famous-by-Monet-painting-so-many-pictures-of-it cathedral. And what should just pull up? Perfect timing! I went for a tour in a petit train!
Do you think I am now the World Expert in Petit Trains? It was quite good, although I was distracted by two American couples in front of me. One woman spent the Whole Tour saying things like, (and you have to do a good American accent here) "Oh, is that the little creperie where we had breakfast this morning? No? Oh! ... Oh, is that the church we visited last night? No? Oh, it looks like it!... Oh look, isn't that the such and such store we visited? It was close by the creperie. I think that MUST have been the same creperie!... Oh, is that the museum we visted yesterday?...." I wanted to say... 'WHAT DOES IT MATTER? JUST ENJOY THE TOUR!!" But of course I didn't. :-) One of the sights we saw was the Place du Vieux-Marche which is where Joan was burnt at the stake, and after which her ashes were throw into the Seine. There is a large bronze cross there marking the spot.

After the tour I had a good look through the cathedral then poked round in a few shops. And then walked back to the station. There were lots of other sights I could have seen, but of course there wasn't time, and anyway I was happy just to have gone there and seen a few things, especially the cathedral.

I got the train back to Vernon where Danielle, who had previously dropped me off, picked me up. Away beyond the requirements of a B&B host I would have thought!
By the way, the petit train was full of school kids, and in fact there were school groups EVERYWHERE over the few days!!! It must be the season for it.
And just a comment on the weather - it was a pretty grey day, but it stopped raining when I got to Rouen, so I was lucky.