The drive to Azay-le-Rideau last night was an easy but slightly monotonous one with a detour through Chartre to find a restaurant recommended to us (but sadly closed last night) followed by a stop at the most enormous Carrefour supermarket I have been to. We ended up buying a hot roast chicken and other bits and pieces to consume in the car en route, as it was getting late. A quick phone call to Patric at the lovely Hotel Biencourt reassured us that we would have a room when we got to Azay-le-Rideau and sure enough, when we pulled up outside well after 10pm, he actually came out of the house opposite in pristine blue striped pyjamas to show us where to park, and to help us get settled. He had clearly been asleep yet was ... read more

The church bells rang this morning as I ran towards the town of Misery. I waved to a solitary farmer, then made my way down the lane and past the chateau. Here and there, lone poppies poked through the wildflowers, and I think I found those almost as poignant as the rows and rows of white gravestones we saw later in the day at Villers-Bretonneux. 46,000 Australians died on the Western Front, and as I ran along the roads they would have marched, it was as though each poppy represented one of them. Back at Maison Warlop, we had a lovely chat with Neil and Vicky and another couple from England over a very festive breakfast of fresh bread and preserves, brioche with young goat's cheese and great coffee. Hugo was thrilled with his pot of ... read more

Finally, Paris. It is so nice to be here. We had a very easy flight overnight, as we had 2 large rows of seats and could really stretch out to sleep. I managed 6 hours! The new cameras on the outside of the plane which captured our take-off and landing were lots of fun. We had a bird's eye view of it all happening, live! One of the co-pilots took Hugo into the cockpit while we were still on the ground so that he could see it. I remember on our honeymoon, Frank and I were invited up into the cockpit as our plane flew over The Olgas at sunset. It was just fantastic, but that was in 1996 - things have changed. I suspect Hugo was very lucky. Anyway, getting back to our current trip, ... read more

Our next big adventure to Europe began today as we arrived at Tullamarine airport, having been chauffeured in luxury by mum (Thanks, Mum!). As always, the check-in queue was enormous, but it really did move more slowly than usual and I began to see the lovely lunch that we had planned at Mo Vida in the International departure area slipping away...... I was quite nervous in the line and couldn't quite explain to Frank why. We had passports, wallets and everything else we expected we would need. However, as we checked in our bags and chatted happily with the lovely woman at the counter, I noticed her face suddenly go grave as she tried to seat us together. Multiple phone calls later, she had to tell us that our flight leg from Kuala Lumpur to Paris ... read more

I can't believe Hugo has managed to get his Auskick footy from Rome to Paris in 5 weeks without kicking it over a cliff somewhere, or losing it in 6 lanes of traffic! It dawned a beautiful sunny day today, and we had not too much to squeeze in, so off we went to the gardens around the Louvre for a kick. Frank thought it was hilarious setting up shots of Hugo marking off the sculptures. I'm not so sure it's something that's encouraged. Having said that, some of the photos are quite funny. I swear one of the statues looks as though she's ducking the ball! Every time we go to the Louvre I notice something different. Today it was the detail on the buildings - I wonder how many hours some artisan spent carving ... read more