May 7, 2012 - Th..th..th..that's all folks

Finale. Saturday in Paris was busy. We set off for the Louvre. We had been before in the 70s but didn't really remember much and it was well before they built the glass pyramid which we thought was just fantastic, in particular from the inside where there is a huge space with light marble floors and it is like daylight. This pyramid was built in 1989 and was very controversial. Nor does it matter how often you go to a gallery especially one of this size. We followed Lonely Planet's guide to the Louvre in half a day with a couple of their...

May 4, 2012 - PARIS!

PARIS We drove on Wednesday morning, to Bordeaux, past wineries that we didn't have time to visit. We had given ourselves extra time which turned out to be a good idea as we used most of it up going around in circles trying to find the Europecar place at Gare de St Jean. Eventually Mark went in an 'authorised entry only' spot and stopped and asked a taxi driver. We found it. Very glad to give the car back - driving in foreign cities full of one way routes is no longer our thing. We were quite early anyway but to get an earlier train would...

May 1, 2012 - In teh Dordogne - in the rain

May 1st a public holiday in Europe. Apparently France has about one public holiday a month. This month they have two as May 8th is also one - VE day. Today is the last day of our week in the Dordogne so we planned to have a lazy one anyway although a lot of the tourist spots are still open. Some see it as a good thing, that the French know how to kick back and not work too hard. It probably is healthy to start work at 10.00am, have a midday break and Sundays off, it's just not what we're used to. Our little house is right in the middle of...

Apr 27, 2012 - In the Dordogne

Sometimes it's easier to let the pictures do the talking and this place is one of those times. But I'll fill you in a little. We hired a car in Lyon and although we were a little nervous at driving out of a city on the wrong side of the road, it was easily accomplished. Our little Ford Fiesta zipped in and out with the best of all the other little cars. It didn't do so well on the freeway but it did go up to 130kmh, just not up the hills. We freewayed all the way at a reasonably great expense - they don't muck around with tolls in Europe....