Day 52 - Friday 24th June

Ian here.

The last few weeks in France have been such a contrast to the first month in Turkey.  There we were all about being tourists and seeing all the sights.  Here it has been more staying put in a peaceful countryside setting -  and letting the tourists come to us!

Anti clockwise from the right, Ian, Jane, Tom, Jan, Loren, Larry.  Alix took the picture!

We have enjoyed the Aussi contingent and the UK family, and now we have the USA team over from Florida.  Photo show us at (yet another!) wonderful meal at a great restaurant in Bergerac.  Alix and Larry have come over from Florida, and Jan and Loren are friends from Canada who now live up the road in France.  And Tom has flown in from Aussi for the celebrations, thanks!

And all the time Jane's 60th birthday is celebrated with good food and wine and tales from the past and talking about plans for the future, particularly for all the cousins who are now in their 20's and some in early thirties.  The older generation, (that's me and Jane) bemoan the lack of weddings and grandchildren, and the nephews and nieces smile and change the subject, to the next job or last promotion or good holiday.

Tiny, tiny bowl of soup!

We have ventured into some more Grottes and seen more prehistoric art from 25,000BC this time, as well as looked around some so, so, pretty French villages such as Beynac.  Had another great meal here, see soup photos.....

St Cirq La Popie.  Picture perfect, perched above the Garonne River. I'm going to make this into a jigsaw!

  Harvest time has started, and the sunflowers in the fields look quite fabulous.  Wimbledon is on the TV, the nearest winery is 2km walk away and the temperature is warming up finally, 28C today perhaps 35C but NO HUMIDITY, on Monday.  And the pool is more inviting each day.

A gate to the medieval city in Bordeaux.

Jane has had two birthday meals so far with one more to come, and we are all looking a little more plump than when we arrived, but we have the rigours of Russian cooking to come so we have to prepare ourselves.

Son Tom has been here too which is great, although Simon and Robin could not make this trip.

May add some more photos  soon.

Bordeaux Place in the mirror pond - invert to see right way up.

Jane's post: 18 June 2011

Brisbane girls en France

The France part on the trip involves visitors and meals and relaxing. Can't believe that we've had 7 (soon to be 9) houseguests from Australia. People come and go, and the car tootles to the tiny airstrip or the railway station on a regular basis. The house is plenty big, and the pool is providing exercise options. Not too many people taking up the mountain bike opportunity; but plenty of takers for wine tasting.

Dordogne winding

 We've had mixed weather and some days revolve around going to the daily market, eating and working on a massive jigsaw. Other days we have taken trips to the amazing grottoes and Cro-Magnon cave paintings of the Lascaux region, and the pretty medieval Bastide towns that are peculiar to this region. Aquitaine was given as dowry when Eleanor married the King of England. There followed several centuries of the French trying to get it back, hence all the fortified towns.

Lazy afternoons

It's been great to have my family here as well; the "Ozzie block" have been and gone, and we're in the "UK block" now. Tom has joined us as well, and tonight we are having a 60th birthday dinner in a local hotel for 11! The younger UK cousins will leave us after their long weekend. We've got 4 days remaining with my sister and husband before they go, and then Ian's sister and husband arrive from the USA. Lovely reunions. I feel blessed.

Day 45 - Saturday 18th June

Ian here.

Its been weeks since the last blog.  And we have traveled from Istanbul to the UK and over to France in that time.

The main gates to the Domavachie Palace, can you imagine what the palace was like. So big I could not get it into one picture!

Our last few days in Istanbul were as hectic as the first. We managed to see more  of the "10 things to see in Istanbul before you die" list,  which included Suleiman Mosque, exquisite,  and the wonderful 19th century confection of the Domavatchie Palace and the glowing 12th Century frescoes and mosaics in the Kariye Muzesi, a very old byzantine church.  

Jane inspecting the goods in the Grand Bazaar.

As well, a few good meals, including meals from old Ottoman recipes.  We also walked through the Grand Bazaar 4,000 shops in a 700 year old "mall",  and the Spice Markets,  and whizzed by taxi to the old Roman City walls (5th C) that still largely stand, to the west of the Golden Horn.








 


We also managed a great meal at the Museum of Modern Art which has fabulous views of the Bosphorous from the restaurant deck, but a cruise liner was docked so all we saw was a ship - my are they BIG!

12th C mosaics on the ceiling of the church.

And so the week in Istanbul finished and we hopped on a plane to France via Budapest and London.  In Guildford UK, we had a birthday celebration meal for brother-in-law Nigel in the restaurant Simon worked in last year, (no-one there remembered him - entire staff had turned over!), a quick days shopping, and we managed to fit in a trip to the magnificent Wisley Gardens.

Bonsai tree in Wisley Gardens.

Back on a plane on 1st June to Bergerec airport in the south of France, pick up the hire car and drive to the house Colouma, the middle of nowhere in the Lot et Garone Department.



I will add some more picture later when we have a better connection.

Now over to Jane for the latest update. 

Lunch at the Museum of Modern Art + cruise liner!

In France - Watch this space.

Hi all,

We are now in France in a cottage in the middle of nowhere - so no internet connection.  No blog update with photos possible just now.

We are currently in a cafe in Duras that has some very slow WI-FI - I'm just putting up this post to say we may not be able to do much on the blog in the next three weeks.  But keep watching ..............

Cheers  Ian