Last day of school

The kid's class is in the top floor right hand corner

The kids had their final day at french school on Friday. When we picked them up we said goodbye to Monsieur Lanas, the school director and Monsiuer Baldayrou, their teacher. They wished us bonne chance and bon voyage. Monsieur Lanas praised Samuel and Ella’s behaviour and said he hoped that they would remember the French they’d learned when they were older. They received a goodbye card which when you open it a big Eiffel Tower pops out. And they had a little party with gateau and softdrink.

Last day in Cavaillon

We're leaving Cavaillon today. It's been good here. The kids have been happy and they have loved running around and playing in the big yard. The last two days the kids have had canteen lunches so Andrew and I could pack up everything and clean the house before we go. So we have 7 nights before we join the cruise in Savona. We plan to drive along the coast road from Marseilles to Nice spending a couple of nights at a few different places so we can enjoy the beaches along the way.

Trois bisous

Today I said goodbye to my wonderful Boulanger, the lovely man who we’ve been buying our baguettes from since we’ve been in Cavaillon. I don’t know how I will survive without those divine baguettes. No-one else’s bread is as good as his! He and I have had some awkward conversations where he has been very patient and understanding with me trying to speak French. When I left he leaned over the counter for trois bisous. As far as I know, 3 kisses are usually reserved only for people you know well and very good friends so I feel honoured. He's a nice man.

Picnic

Samuel picking cherries off the tree at Daniela's gite

Today we went to visit Daniela and Frigo at the gite they've moved into at Isle sur la Sorgue. Darren and Daniela were our neighbours until a week ago. We’d organised to have a picnic along the river. Isle is one of the prettiest places we have been to. The river winds right through the town and there’s lots of places to sit and eat and relax.

It was a beautiful day but a bit windy which was painful trying to put things on the table without them blowing away. We packed our normal picnic food of baguettes, ham, salami, tomato, camembert, cheddar and some fresh cherries off the tree for dessert. Daniella brought a rosé to drink and we sat and had our picnic on the banks of the river and watched the ducks squabbling.

Colis économique International

Well the three cartons were finally sent today. 24 kg's of mainly children's treasures which we've accumulated. The cost was still quite ugly (€240) but anyway they're gone now. 24 kg's less of luggage we have to cart around Europe/UK for the next 2 1/2 months. The cartons should be there in 10 days or maybe 3 months, not sure really. I didn't understand a word the La Poste guy said and he didn't understand a word I said either so we're even.

Meeting Penny (aka soupedujour.blogspot.com)

On Thursday we met up with Penny and David and their two children Lily and Jasper. Penny's blog soupedujour is my favourite blog which I've been reading long before we even left Mount Isa. It has been an invaluable source of information about moving to France and the ups and downs of what to expect on the way and also when you arrive.

We actually bumped into Penny on her way to the shops before we were due to meet up for lunch which was funny because I saw her walking toward us and thought to myself "That has to be Penny!" and it was. It was nice. I'd seen photos of the family on the blog and real life is usually different but I recognized her when I saw her and she recognized us.

Meeting friends for lunch was lovely. Penny made raclette which we hadn't had before. She had this nifty little appliance which has little tiny shovels to put the special raclette cheese on to melt and then you tip it on your potato and it melts over the potato and is really yummy. Dessert was chocolate mousse which was scrumptious.

We spent a very pleasant afternoon chatting on the balcony overlooking the beautiful canal and the kids played happily together. We were looking over at a restaurant on the other side of the canal and we thought to ourselves I bet those people are looking over at us and thinking how lucky we are to have friends with a balcony apartment in the centre of Annecy to sit and enjoy. It was pretty special.

Tuesday 26 May 2009

Andrew is out for his morning walk. Lots of people stop and ask Andrew for directions when he's out walking. Usually he can't help them but once we were asked for directions to the Dechetterie (rubbish dump) by these people in a car and we were right beside it when they asked. Kind of funny that they didn't realise they were already at the dechetterie.

Today we have to ring Credit Agricole in Carcassonne to find out why our internet banking still isn't working. These sort of little problems are difficult for us without speaking french. We just have to persevere until we can find someone to help us.

Also we're sending our cartons back to Australia today. So that will be interesting to see what they charge us. I wanted to send them by Sea Mail but I don't think there is such a thing in France.

We'll pick up the kids for lunch today. There's no school tomorrow and then we've got two days left of school on Thursday and Friday and they'll have canteen lunch. We'll be able to finish packing up and cleaning so we're ready to leave on Saturday.

I think I'm losing my mind. Today I left my handbag in the change room at the shops. We bought the few things we wanted and walked out and I thought "Sh*t, where is my handbag?" We walked quickly back inside (can't run yet) and raced up to the security desk with total panic written all over my face and thank goodness it was there and the nice man handed it over pas de problem. Phew!

Sunday 24 May 2009

Ahhh bliss!!!! The hottest day we've had for months and we finally arrived home at Cavaillon and after dumping everything inside all jumped in for a dip in the pool. What more could you want! This morning when we left Besancon it was already 28 degrees. When we arrived back at Cavaillon after 2 pm it was 37 degrees. Just perfect. We're all really enjoying the warm weather.

Besancon Photos

Buildings along le River Doubs

Doubs River

The grand entrance to University Hospital Saint Jacques

Basilique Saint Ferjeux

Front steps of Basilique Saint Ferjeux

Laneway leading to the Chateau

Building in the courtyard of the Chateau

Chapel of the village St Laurent

Outside wall of Chateau

Entranceway to courtyard of Chateau (and the window Madame D.

was looking out of when we spotted her)

Domaine St Laurent

Front view of Chateau

Domaine St Laurent

Cathedrale Saint-Jean Horloge astonomique

Place du 8 Septembre - lots of cafes and restaurants

This photo was taken out an upper window of the Musee du Temps

Massive tapestries in the Musee du Temps

Besancon

The main reason we returned to Besancon is that I was interested in seeing some more of my birthplace and also finding the chateau where Mum worked and also the lady who Mum worked for. It has all been a bit mysterious because I didn’t have any proper address to go to but we tracked down some people who used to be our neighbours in Montboucons where we lived for 2 years before we left France to come to Australia. My brother and I played with them as little kids. The woman I spoke to had never heard of the chateau or Madam D.

The addresses and numbering of houses in the villages is unusual. Houses are built in a random fashion not often in straight rows with the odd and even numbering system. We drove around the area where we thought the chateau was located but there was so many high rise apartment blocks and big shopping areas we were getting disheartened until we found the street where one of Madame D.'s children lives and then we found the chateau.

It is a very old and stately looking property. Madame D. just happened to be looking out an upper window as we drove by. Andrew spotted her so we stopped and told her we were looking for Madame D. and it was her. So we had a very short conversation and had a look around the grounds and took a few photos of the buildings. She gave me a red rose. I would have loved to go inside and have a good look around but we weren’t invited.

After leaving the chateau we went to St Ferjeux to look at the church where Mum and Dad were married and my brother and I were baptised. One of Mum and Dad's wedding photos shows them standing on the steps of the church with Madame D. so it was nice to see that in real life.

We did other things in Besancon besides tracing my family history. We ate out at restaurants every night, sat in cafes in Place du 8 Septembre to have coffee and people watch and managed to do a couple of tourist things. Like visit the Musee du Temps and the amazing Horloge Astronomique in the Cathedrale St Jean.

The city was so alive. It was an amazing transformation from January when it was death-defyingly cold.

Annecy Photos

In front of Pont des Amours (Lovers' Bridge)
The kids enjoying icecream in front of the Canal and Palais de L'Isle
Canal and buildings alongside

Ella ogling the Helly Kitty stuff
Samuel helping the street performer
Playground at a rest stop on the way to Annecy

Annecy

Our visit to Annecy started off badly after Samuel spotted our hotel not too far in the distance as we drove into Centre Ville but we couldn’t work out how to get to it. The one way streets and pedestrian only streets nearly got the better of us. We drove around in circles for ages even with me holding a map. (We won’t go into my map reading skills here.) After about half an hour I said I’ve just about had enough of this and Ella said that she’s just about had enough of us too arguing and we all started laughing because it was funny.

Annecy is absolutely gorgeous. It’s bustling and pretty and full of tourists. We were happy for the sunny day and so was everyone else judging by the crowds everywhere. Annecy is made for walking. Lots of little cobbled streets and old, old village buildings. There’s a beautiful park right next to the lake with grass which you’re permitted to walk on and gorgeous big old trees. We wandered around the park then along the canal and had to stop for beer by then and afterwards we kept walking along the streets faire du leche vitrine (window shopping – or window licking as they say in France).

There was a street performer making balloon toys for kids and Samuel and Ella really wanted one so we hung around and she ended up doing a magic show and lots of people gathered round and she kept telling everyone we were from Australia and we had come here just to see her show. It was very funny.

Wednesday 20 May 2009

Today we're driving to Annecy for two nights and then to Besancon for two nights. Back Sunday.

Le Mas Du Coq - Villa Tamaris

The backyard which the kids have really enjoyed

Our villa

The view from the back door

Lacoste

Statue of Maquis du Sade

We spent the day wandering around the pretty villages of Menerbes and Lacoste. The castle in the photos once belonged to the family of Marquis du Sade but has been bought by Pierre Cardin who has begun restoration work.

Photos of Menerbes