London was fun, catching up with my cousin and her boys who made us very welcome. We also caught up with Geoffs Mum and friend and my good friend Lesley. We did the Hop on Hop off Bus tour of London seeing all the main sights and went to a couple of local pubs. We really enjoyed the local market in Walthamstow in North East London and living in suburban London with my family seeing how they live their lives over there and enjoyed riding the Underground in and out of the city each day - what an amazing acheivement building [View Full Entry]

---

---

Heres the Paris photos I couldn't add last time ... [View Full Entry]

---

---

We have just left Paris and still had the sunshine with us, our best holiday ever for sunshine. We loved Paris - how can you not. It was so good to go back this time and share it with someone. Last time, I was on my own and it was hard not being able to share all the amazing sights with someone. We did a Fat Tyres Bike Tour of Versailles Chateau. Interesting having to get about 30 bikes on an already full train but we just had to barge on in and squeeze amongst the groaning tourists all travelling to [View Full Entry]

---

---

Bayeax is another beautiful town which was lucky to remain unscathed by the war. It has a Notre Dame Cathedral I almost think more beautiful from the Parisian one inside if my memory servies me right from 15 yrs ago. We will see in a few days. The D Day memorials from WWII are very moving particularly the cemeteries. We visited Arromanche which still has lots of reminders on the beach of the launch onto it beaches. Also saw Omaha which has an amazing Memorial Museum in the American cemetery with films and lots of stories of individual soldiers. It is [View Full Entry]

---

---

Everyone said to me you must go see Mont St Michel in Normandy. I had seen pictures of it but they do it no justice. If my memory serves me correctly it was first started in the 900's. It was a Benedictine monastery and a fort for many battles throughout the centuries and was added to over the centuries but it was never defeated, the fortress was too strong. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Carrying on fro, yesterday when I lost battery power on the camera heres the rest of the photos from the beautiful Loire Valley, Chateau country... [View Full Entry]

---

---

Heres photos of our stay in the Loire Valley. We visited Chenonceau, Cherverny and the Clos Luce (Leonardo de Vincis final home). We stayed in an amazing Chateau called Chateau Des Ormeau in the Nazelles Negron area close to Amboise. Would highly recommend it to anyone. Loved the Chateaus, just amazing ... Sorry will have to get back to you on these photos, my battery on the camera has died mid stream ... [View Full Entry]

---

---

Here's our photos from the Dordogne region. This was one of our favourite areas as it was very quiet and laid back. The architecture was different again with layered stone roofs on the cottages, the beautiful Dordogne river flowing through and the rolling paddocks with round hay bales. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Heres the promised photos from Avignon & Carcassone ... [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well, its been a while since Provence. We were meant to be heading to Girona, Spain next but due to a train strike couldn't get there. So we had an extra night in Avignon and 1 night in Carcossone which was lovely with the old medieval city. From there we trained to Toulouse, picked up the car and drove 2 and a half hours north to the Dordogne. On finding our B & B we were amazed how beautiful the grounds and house were "Les Charmes du Carlucet". An english and french couple with two children our age and a menagerie [View Full Entry]

---

---