BON JOUR FROM PROVENCE

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Hi all

Weve had an amazing time in France which I've gotta tell you about!! Highlights for me are Eiffel Tower at sunset - we got to the top whilst it was still light and waited for sunset - this aint easy cos its about 10.30!!! It was spectacular to see Paris in light of day then with a bright orange sunset THEN with lights coming on all over the place! On top of that they turned on the "sparkly" ones just above us! An unforgettable night for us all! The next night is right up there for me too as we went to Moulin Rouge! A fantastic spectacular - more than a show! The guys spoiled us with a special dinner first - at Corcorans Irish Pub, just down the road, where we had "bangers and mash" a sensational meal, trust me, after some pretty repetitious Italian meals!

Last weekend we were travelling the Cote dAzur - hoping to celebrity spot for the Packer wedding, but alas it didn't happen! Visited Nice, Cannes, St Tropez and Monte Carlo. Actually we had an "incident" in the car you should all hear about!

We have been travelling with the guidance of our GPS "Sheila" who has been doing a fantastic job. When she gives instructions such as "turn left in 50 metres" etc Trev responds with "thankyou darling" or something similar. Well we were cruising along when we discovered an inbuilt GPS "Claudette" in the Renault. We ran both at the same time for a little while, I might add we couldnt understand Claudette except for an occasional "gauche" which we knew was "left"! Well suddenly Sheila started to get very confused, dropping out on us every now and again, changing her mind etc...
but she came good ONLY when we turned Claudette off!! All we can think is she threw a "hissy fit" totally out of jealousy - or maybe it was English/French rivalry! Either way we'll get Sheila some therapy to address her insecurities when we get back!

Our friends Leonie and Pete left us on Thursday to fly to London, so Trev and I have been on our own since then. We got the TGV to Avignon, collected a car and stayed in Gordes, Provence for the last 3 nights. Another interesting and beautiful part of France! The region is known for lavender fields (and an industry to go with it) and it's also Tour de France territory, so you can see cyclists all the time on the narrow roads winding up hills. In fact we went to tour an Abbey one day and there was a sign that indicated "No cycling clothes allowed!" We visited several small villages from here, mostly perched on the side and tops of mountains which affords magnificent views, specially with lavender fields scattered amongst the very orderly green fields and wineries. A beautiful part of the world where we've not stayed before. Another funny story from the Abbey was told to us by a lady in a gallery: the Abbey is a working one and the residents have taken a vow of silence, as monks do! Well apparently they have discovered the internet thus a whole new world has opened to them, they can sell their wares and "talk" on email without breaking their vows - and their lavender oil, books, produce etc is being sold worldwide! Who says commercialism is dead!!

We're presently in Aix en Provence en route to Madrid tomorrow - Spain will be a whole new experience for us as we haven't been there before either!

Will try to Blog next week from Espanol!

Love to all, Anne and Trev xxxx

PS Anne is feeling very saintlike as she's up to 8 GFD's (Gelato Free Days) as opposed to AFD's - we'll worry about that when we get home :-)

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