Blogs from Lower Normandy, France, Europe

Day 13 Out of our B&B and off to Mont Saint-Michel. Well organized tourist site - big car park with Free bus transport to the island. And better still - no queues. Just lots of steps up to the Abbey. Finally in and with our Audiologues we walk the abbey. Beautiful day (28 degrees) so the steps have got the sweat happening. In the Abbey it is much cooler. We sand outside and then the bells start to peel - Mass is about to start. 4 or 5 monks and 7 nuns start the mass with lots of singing - really impressive sounds - sorry Mike Mc, but they can really make the singing in this huge abbey sound fantastic.... The tour takes us through big halls, little rooms that are built to hold up walls ... read more

Day 12 Starts well with a hearty breakfast at our B & B but then it turns not so good. Finally get Stella (or is it Sylvia) -our GPS voice back. That is the good news, bad news is that I suff up the location and don't quite follow Stella's instructions and end up a long way in the wrong direction and have to do a U turn to get back on track. Finally back where we wanted to be and have a very nice time by the beach and the English Channel (very warm and sunny day). Lots of really old buildings to see, along with a few castles/forts built on rock outcrops guarding the entry to the port. Also see some guys getting trucks onto the beach to cross a low tide road to ... read more

Day 11 Early start for the train to Paris, along with all the workers who commute (just like the Geelong train I reckon). We got good seats and the train only stopped at 1 other station so we reckoned we were good - haha - not to be - the carriage was full after the 1st stop. Ticket inspectors got another one so we have been good by buying and stamping our tickets appropriately.... Into Paris and then onto Charles de Gaulle airpor to pick up our new car. Off without a hitch and we are now proud owners (albeit for a fixed time) of a brand new Renualt Megane 2 door Sports Coupe... Really slick looking unit and even got a hot bum from the heated seats while being given the run through.... Had to ... read more

Because of my cracked rib or ribs as the case may be, I did not sleep all that well, but it did allow me to get this great picture of Chateaux Chambord at 6 am. I am not sure the picture does it justice; it was a pretty amazing site with the low fog surrounding the Chateaux. We skipped breakfast and opted for food on the go, which was a great plan as there was a small patisserie in a village on our way back to the main road. We got croissants and café filled éclairs. It was the best éclair I have ever had. On the drive back to the main road we passed another chateau that is vacant, perhaps the Vaughn’s good buy it as a retreat. Might open up the European market for ... read more

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO MY DAVY- 3 YEARS TODAY! going home in 5 days daddy coming France tomorrow! Feeling a little sad about leaving here tomorrow, not because its been my favourite or the area has been fantastic but because i feel like the work we have done here has actually made a difference to Marians life and helped her, instead of working super hard for lazy people. Fred actually seems happy for us to be here now and has decided to permanently call me Suzy, he will drink the tea i make and understands that when i give him his tablets im not trying to kill him. I would come back here and would love to bring some friends to stay in their 12 people gite! that would be amazing! also tempted to do the bungee ... read more

hello We have arrived at our next placement and here live a retired couple called Fred and Marian. Fred has alziemers and can't do anything for himself so Marain cares for him 24/7 with no help at all. This placement is a little difficult because Im pretty sure Fred doesn't know who we are of why we are here and is constanly calling us different names and if im honest i don't think he wants us here. Earlier i was having a shower and could hear him shouting 'why is she in there - tell her to get out!!' and it was a little awakward, yesterday a lady came to visit and he insited she was here to arrest us and forced us out the front door with no shoes or socks in the pouring rain ... read more

I liked spending easter 2012 here,the suprise wispa and mint aero bubbles easter eggs that were left on our pillows actually made it feel like easter and more importantly like home as thy don't have cadburys here but Jayne got them sent from England. The Jones family celebrate the day different frm home, when i rang my mum it was noisey and the room was overflowing with family and laughter and I have no doubt that Bens collecion of easter eggs would have been pilled on top of eachother to form a cadburys tower. Here, however 8 year old Fin received one easter egg which he got to choose and ate the day before and the only people who popped by to say 'Joyeuses Paques' were cusomers collecting easter cakes we had made for their loved ... read more

Hello beautiful people, So a week has passed by very quickly here and the cupcakes have been baked and sold in their hundreds! after a full day of being shown how to decorate them and with deep concentration and a little frustration i managed to decorate many of them and am vey proud of my efforts! due to an unusual burst of desperatly wanting to be organised i found a notepad and pen and wrote all the colours, flavours, decorations, prices down so we was able to keep track and bounced off a few of my own ideas which were all mega girly and involved vast quantities of edible glitter but looked great and sold well. I actually REALLY enjoyed making them! and can't wait to make more when i return! if only i could find ... read more

Refering back to an entry about a week ago and i said that everything was going really well and im expecting something bad to happen! I knew it and i was right! My iphone and my 'emergency' phone have both broken! wont even turn on! and have no idea why! i turned them both off and charged them for many hours incase it was the charge but still nothing! So possible lost all photos, songs, numbers!! and am not contactable and am in a different country! not to mention fuk all money to buy a new one and will be a long time until i can afford one! bloody hell xxx... read more

We have arrived at our next host in a small town called Sourdeval in Normandy and are now living with a lady called Jayne, her husband Nigel and sons Cameron (19) and Finlay (8) the husband lives and works in England alll week so we won't get to meet him until Friday evening, the house is nice and surrounded by coutryside and our first view in the morning is of cows eating grass but luckily these Cows dont belong to the Jones's family so are just for looking at but dont need feeding 4 times a day by us. Seperate from the house and in the front garden is a gite, which is almost the size of our old flat and has kitchen, front room, bedroom with 4 beds and a bathroom which they rent out ... read more