Blogs from Aquitaine, France, Europe - page 6

Today, we will be going to tour a French boulangerie, escorted again by M. Garnier, Agathe’s Dad. This is the traditional French school half-day, so we will have the whole rest of the day with our host families. Since the blog is not allowing us to see the photos that I’m uploading, I’ve created a private Facebook page for us. Please find the link, below: https://www.facebook.com/groups/302304033796386/?ref=share Hopefully, everyone will gain access, regardless of whether you have a Facebook account. Worst case, you might have to create one. I will also send the link via email.... read more

Tag 1 #Eine reibungslose Reise mit Hindernissen & Illuminiertes Bayonne Am Vorabend hatten wir bereits alles gepackt, die Pflanzen in möglichst verdunstungsarmen Positionen in der Wohnung aufgestellt, und Namid hatte überall Klebezettel verteilt, die der Gießbeauftragten Andrea Hinweise auf die Vorlieben der einzelnen Individuen hinwiesen. Dann hatten wir den Wecker auf 4.44 Uhr gestellt – da würden wir wohl nicht besonders viel Schlaf bekommen. Genauer gesagt so gut wie keinen, denn Namid stand nachts fünfmal auf und ich konnte auch nicht besser schlafen. Bald mussten wir dann schon wieder aufstehen, schnell gefrühstückt, die letzten Sachen eingepackt, und dann ging es zu Fuß los zur Bushaltestelle. Der Ringbus kam zu dieser frühen Stunde pünktlich und wir waren fast eine dreiviertel Stunde vor Abfahrt am Bahnhof – man will ja schließlich nicht riskieren, gleich den ersten ... read more

It's been seven weeks since we left our home in Les Sables, and apart from a few days staying with relatives this little van has been our home throughout that time - officially our longest motorhome trip ever! Another lovely peaceful night on a French Aire (for which we willing paid 3€ via the "honesty box" on the wall of the Mairie!). Our Austrian friend, Igor, had left later in the evening, so we had the place to ourselves. We'd arranged to meet Tony's sister in Bordeaux, so we headed for the car park in Allées de Chartres, where we knew motorhomes could park during the day (but weren't welcome overnight!). A fair trek for the morning, but we'd had a good breakfast (almost "brunch" - scrambled eggs on toast with lots of coffee). Setting the ... read more

Took a look around Marciac this morning, and had a coffee in the square. SO different from when we were last there, for the Tour de France, when they also had their Jazz Festival. Today the place was so quiet - and we were the only ones who'd spent the night on the Aire (which in summer had been packed with motorhomes). Eventually set off, via Super U for diesel and a few groceries. Later on, still made ANOTHER supermarket stop, as we'd forgotten several essentials! Anyway, rocked up at the Aire at Layrac, near Agen. The plan now is to visit a few people over the next few days (including Tony's sister, who's currently in Bordeaux), then head for home. We'll see! 119km today, making 3255 to date ... read more

I usually like to take a holiday before the winter but this year because of other obligations, we didn’t manage to get away until November. I have to admit that I have developed quite an obsession with internet weather sites. Now I can tell you definitively that they are mostly wrong. We were trying to choose between Italy and France. We leant toward France even though the weather in Italy was supposed to be much better. After a very hot summer we were ready for a bit of cooler weather and rain. What we actually got was unseasonably cold weather and quite a lot of rain and what Italy got was a national disaster with floods, storms and wind. We arrived in Bordeaux at 10 at night. It was about 2 degrees and we were wearing ... read more