Blogs from Aquitaine, France, Europe - page 68

Hi all, Not going to make any apologies about the lack of a blog over Christmas.... we were relaxing fully for the first time in ages!!! Been a wonderful break from everything, we do however hope that you all had a good holiday and wish you all the best for the forthcoming new year.... We downed tools just before Christmas to run to the airport and pick up Helen's mother who was joining us for the festive period, we managed to just finish off the first room for here visit, literally put the hammer in the tool box, picked up the keys to the landrover and off we went!!! We spent most of the time relaxing, had a few visits to local attractions, such as Bayonne, a beautiful town near the coast, huge fortified walls and ... read more

Hello to all. Hope everyone is starting to get into the festive spirit!! Weather here has turned again - very, very cold first thing and in the shade, but really nice and warm around midday and in the sun, bit like being back in the UK when you go out you don't know what to wear! Also the snow is growing everyday now on the mountains - looks fantastic! People have been asking for more photo's so here they are, these are more views from around the town and of the mountains - hope you all enjoy. Also the decorating is going well, now have fiber glass to add to splinters in my hands, plus we had to evacuate the house yesterday as the floor varnish was so strong we were both starting to see double!! ... read more

The two most wonderful things about Bordeaux for me (Matt) were the wine tasting and the football match (soccer for the lay American). So, I figured I would give a compare/contrast of the two events. Football Match: 1. Cheerleaders US = cute girls with pom poms leading cheers Them = drunk guy with megaphone leading cheers and songs that EVERYBODY knows (except us of course) 2. Start of game US = flashblubs everywhere Them = first two rows set road flares on fire 3. Fan Passion US = lots of cheering and booing Them = From Stephan - our friend/guide for the game "A fan was shot and killed by a cop in Paris last night during a game, but these two teams are friendly, so I think it should be okay." Also, they closed off ... read more

The Best Place in France...so far... I think I am a little bit in love with Bordeaux. Can you tell from the title? I just spent a WONDERFUL three days there with my friends Dorothy and Janine, and even during the rainiest month of the year it was fabulous! What a beautiful city...dating back to pre-Roman Iron-Age times...full of ancient history, beautiful medieval buildings, bustling pedestrian shopping streets and a magnificent river that arcs gently towards the Gironde and the Atlantic Ocean. And who can forget the hundreds of thousands of vineyard acreage that distinguish Bordeaux as the wine capitol of France (of the world???) Dorothy and I 'flew' down on the ultra-speedy TGV train on Friday morning to arrive in Bordeaux at about 11:30 in the morning. The worst part of the whole trip ... read more

It is amazing how the small things matter - for the last three weeks we have been perched on two capming chairs and two particularly nasty orange poofs (which is alright if there is only two of you but with five the poofs start complaining!) Anyway back to the beginning... We arrived in France on a particularly foggy morning ...which will be nothing new to those of you who know Northern France... but meant that we spent an intersting 30 mins attempting to determine where we where. Once that small obstacle was over come - we were trucking - all be it at Cadbury's top speed of 100kph. We reached Arcachon, just south of Bordeaux by 6 and decided to stop for a night in a bed - having slept on thenight on the floor of ... read more