St EMILION - 7th May 2007 (Monday 22º Partly Cloudy) Catherine Ouzoulias is not only a great homemaker and interior decorator; she is also a great cook. Cooking aromas entice us downstairs from our room. We arrive to be seated at a lovely table for two, which is made up with antique linen tableware and crockery. The smells that drew us were the homemade apple pies, freshly baked baguettes and ginger breads. These are competing for attention with the muesli, as well as 8 different varieties of chutneys, jams, relishes and freshly brewed café au lait. After breakfast we drive to nearby Lebourne to get some digital pictures copied from SD card to CD. The guy in the Kodak shop talks about Australia and in particular the recent drug use allegations against Ian Thorpe. Of course ... read more

LA ROCHELLE - 5th May 2007 (Saturday 25º) Wake up at 8:45am. Heavy drapes, earplugs and red wine last night ensure we sleep in - the day is half gone! We wander down to the breakfast area where we are served by a lovely little French woman who is a busy as a blue arsed fly. The room is so quiet that the normal clinking and clanking of cutlery makes you wince and noises that would normally be absorbed (e.g. conversation) bounce around the glass and tile enclosure. Stirring your coffee can be compared in relative decibels to those generated by a Boeing Jet Engine. Two women at an adjoining table are whispering surreptitiously. I suspect they are planning the election of a French woman as President - but after finetuning my eavesdropping I realise they ... read more

TOURS - 3rd May 2007 (Thursday 26º Sunny) Up and at em - for today we go to Chenonceau! But first we seek out somewhere for brekky for I am not inclined to provide the Hotel Turone with one more cent of my hard earned. We find small local café where they dish up two wonderful 3-egg omelettes with the type of aromatic coffee that smells good enough to drag tea drinkers in off the street. We navigate our way 17 kilometres out of town to visit one of the many chateau that are sprinkled liberally throughout the Loire Valley. We arrive and after buying our tickets we walk a half kilometre along the driveway. It is easy to imagine elaborate horse drawn carriages (having made the trip from Paris in a week - it took ... read more

PARIS - 1st May 2007 (Tuesday 24º Sunny) It’s May Day and a Public holiday in France. Many shops are closed and even the Buskers and Beggars are having the day off. We walk past a building where a chap has been hanging out every day and he is not there - but you can see where he has been! This morning we jump the Metro at Les Gobelins and head towards the vicinity of the Louvre. The intention is to walk the Champs Elysee from La Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe. It is one of those walks that YOU MUST DO in Paris - the goal is always in sight and at various stages along the Champs I play chicken in the traffic to get the best photo. We make good time and walk ... read more

PARIS - 29th April 2007 (Sunday 28º Sunny) What a fantastic day! What does any warm blooded Frenchman do on a fine spring Sunday? Rumour has it he would take a bottle (or two) of Moet & Chandon Champagne to the Park and get sloshed. When in Rome (or Paris) one should do as the Romans do……… Armed with a makeshift esky (which comprised a garbage bag full of ice inside a backpack) we pinched two glasses from the Hotel and headed to Le Jardin du Luxembourg. We found a nice spot in the sun with a reasonable view and set up camp. Me to paint, and Deb to drink & look good and expound on the virtues of French Champagne. After a few friendly comments from locals we realised that perhaps the strawberries, aged goats ... read more