Blogs from Aquitaine, France, Europe - page 67

St EMILION to BIARRITZ - 9th May 2007 (Wednesday St Emilion 23º Sunshine& Biarritz 27º Sunshine) We are not keen to depart Chateau Franc Pourret but it is time to move on. St Emilion matches every expectation that one might associate with driving in the south of France - it is with regret that we leave people and places that we will never forget. My savvy navvy points us in the direction of Bordeaux but we skirt the City and take ‘périphérie’ (ring road) and head towards Archacon, which is on the coast (this is the way recommended to us by Catherine Ouzoulias). We drive through any number of small coastal villages that would be full to bursting had it been peak season and emerge on the other side of civilisation into pine forests that are ... read more

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

Fist internet access so far, but cannot publish photos and full entry. We are now at St-Jean-Pied-de-Port in the French Pyrenees. Wall to wall sunshine so far. First night at a pleasant village in Normandy, then on to St Severin in Charente to stay at L'Etang, Gary and Linda's beautiful retreat. So far everything working fine on the van, which is much admired. Today, we cross the mountains into Spain.... read more

Untitledzacandsof We will start this blog by saying in advance that french keyboards suck, so apologies for the typos... So substitute 'q's for 'a's, 'z's for 'w's and most ','s for 'm's. qnd vice versq. Our lqst entry zqs fro, Lqgos; (can you read that?). After soqking up the beqch qt,osphere; ze hqd THE BEST chicken of our lives: So,e of you ,qy hqve received qn e,qil telling you qbout this: (dont worry, we are also in stitches about this typing) Fro, Lqgos ze spent q dqy in trqnsit to get to Vqlenciq, or should ze sqy Valenthia, qs the Spqnish speqk zith the best lisp. Valenciq hqd q reqlly zicked mqrket qnd ze indulged ourselves, living off cheese, salami qnd the best stazberries. Ever better than those in Portugal! AND so cheap! Valencia zas qlso ... read more

Today we went with our program to the town of Bayonne, just past Biarittiz in Southern France, but still in the Basque Country. Although we were only there for a couple hours, we really enjoyed this adorable town!! We walked around on a little tour given to us by our professors and learned about the churches and the barriers built to keep enemies out of the city limits. Then, we learned the real reason the teachers had brought us to this town -- chocolate! This city is known for its amaaaazing chocolate, and we spent the rest of our time in France wandering the cobblestone streets, going in and out of the family-owned chocolate stores, admiring the perfect, delicious creations. We also sat at a cute French cafe as the owner brought us chocolat chantilly, a ... read more