Sunday 9th January: Paris

After an unsuccessful attempt to visit Le Corbusier's Maison Roche this morning (closed on Sundays) we headed off to the Catacombs. This was by far the most dramatic of any of the sites we have visited on the trip. In the late 18th Century the cemetries in and around Paris were considered to be failing and unsuitable so the government decided to remove all the remains from them and bury the bones in disused limestone mines under Paris. The bones were not just dumped, but rather they were carefully stacked in ornate patterns which can still be seen today. After going down over 100 steps we walked through over 2 km of underground passages passed stack after stack of skulls and thigh bones arranged in precise patterns. This was one exhibition I was truly glad to see the end of.

Saturday 8th January: Paris

Spent the morning at the Rodin gallery, a beautiful sanctuary in the middle of Paris

And the afternoon at the Eiffel Tower where Darcy & Sarah went ice skating on the first level.

Barb and I considered lunch at the restaurant Jules Verne but the 300 euro per head price tag without wine seemed a little steep, so we opted for a cup of soup while we watched the police intermittently race through the crowd chasing the eiffel tower souvenir sellers

Friday 7th January: Paris

Maccas for lunch..... 'Royale with cheese' followed by the Louvre

Then a stroll through thr Place Vendome and surrounds

Got home to find somebody was charging their car out the front

Thursday 6th January: Paris

Our wandering around Paris today included a visit to an excellent exhibition by the photographer Andre Kertesz at the Jeu de Paume.

Wednesday 5th January: Paris

After catching up with Olivier for lunch we made a quick reco of Galleries Laff before a walk down the Champs starting at the Aerc de T much to Barb's delight

Then dowm to the Peugeot shop

Followed by a little shop for Saz

Ooops. Sorry about the bridal reference James

Tuesday 4th January: Paris

Last night Tom turned up on our doorstep and so we are a family of 5 again.

Today after a slow start we managed a browse through 'Shakespeare & Co' the infamous bookshop of english literature on the left bank before a visit to Notre Dame

Monday 3rd January: Paris

Literally rolled out of Nantes early Monday morning. T'was a day after scheduled but we couldn't get on a train on the Sunday cos it was all booked. Fast train to Paris but was too dark to see until the dawn and the most wonderful sight of the Eiffel Tower in the distance. Back in Paris again and feeling just fine....

Our apartment was, to say the least, well beyond expectations. A comfortable neighbourhood, spacious, good heating, plenty of hot water, in fact everything you would need including a bookcase full of holiday reading reminiscent of an old beachhouse. What's more, we had Sacre Coeur in our backyard!

Thankyou & Merci

What can we say that expresses our thanks to Olivier, Florence, Alex, Celia, Giles, Marie-Christine, Dylan and Meven? We have had the most amazing days in Bretagne, have eaten the most delicious food and drunk the most beautiful wines, have walked the roads of William the Conqueror and traipsed up the stairs of monks.We will never forget our time with you all and you have a home with us in Melbourne when ever you call. Your generosity of spirit has been wonderful and we say goodbye to you all with love.

Sunday 2nd January: Nantes Farewell Again

Another day of farewells. Having said goodbye to the Barillots yesterday, today was the day to farewell the Jegous, but not before lunch! Again another fine meal, but this time with a difference. There is some French tradition that I am not quite an authority on that says that 2 days after NY you have to eat the Gallette de Roi. Far enough, but while the host is standing at the head of the table cutting up the cake the youngest member of the party (Sarah) must sit under the table and nominate who is to receive each slice. At the end of it all Sarah and I received the preferred sliced and won the treasures buried in the cake.

Lunch over it was time for us to go to our special low cost low star hotel near the station so we could get the early morning train to Paris tomorrow. But on the way I wanted to see one of Le Corbusier's buildings in Nantes that I had heard of. Turning up late on a Sunday evening to an occupied apartment builing was probably not the best plan., but we were befriended by one of the residents and invited to her apartment for an in depth recital on the development. Probably a bit more than we had bargained for but it was informative.

Afer that it was a sad farewell to the Jegous.

Friday 31st December: Nantes New Years Eve and Farewell

We spent the day of New Years Eve trailing behind Olivier on his trips to the market and various shops, gathering together the goodies for the next stage of the food feasts...New Years Eve Dinner. Giles, Marie-Christine and Mev arrived in time for pre dinner drinks and then it started.
Put simply: Lobster with a beure blanc sauce on a bed of sliced potatoes, duck a l'orange, mushrooms with broad beans, small roasted potatoes followed by salad and a platter of nine cheeses the likes of which we have never tasted before, fruit and then the special NY ice cream cake (pistachio and chocolate) with, as per normal, a spectacular selection of wines.

New Years Day lunch was equally delicious, this time with salmon, venison, the potatoes, vegies, cheeses and the special cakes. It was also the day we had to say goodbye to our dear friends from Pornichet, Giles, Marie-Christian and Meven. We had spent such a wonderful time with them all, seen some amazing things and shared some great music and wine, it was so sad to wave them on their way.

Thursday 30th December, Nantes

Back in Nantes, awaiting the celebrations for New Year we headed off with Olivier to check out some of Nantes attractions....firstly the Castle, dubbed King Bruce's castle for the rest of our time there. Beautiful traditional French architecture, lovingly restored to its former glory.
Lunch was some traditonal Nantes Gallette (crepes) at an amazingly small but jam packed restaurant in the old quarter of Nantes...Beautifully light, tasty, savoury morsels of various tastes followed by what we would call crepes of the sweet variety. By the way, the dessert is Bruce's, not mine, mine was a simple Grand Marnier Crepe.

After lunch we decided to walk the couple of km to visit the elephant of Nantes. Yep, that's right..an elephant reaching 12m high and lumbering around at 5kmph. I do not exactly know how to descibe this wondrous creation based on the imagination of Jules Verne but there it was, a mechanical elephant, trunk twisting slowly from side to side, squirting steam from it's trunk and winking it's eye at me as it wandered slowly into the building, children and adults alike in smiling awe of it and laughing at it's magic! There were other amazing adaptations of Jules Vern's imagination but in my book the elephant reigns supreme!!

After the magic of the machines, a walk through the centre of town and a beautiful arcade with some lovely things just caught our eyes.