Orléans

(John) This will have to be quick as we have to tidy up this gite and move down the street to another one for just one night.  After that we may be without Wi Fi for a while.  Yesterday we spent the day in Orléans.    We wanted to find two stores. Kiabi, which is a cheap clothing store recommended to us and A sports store called Sport Position.  (I know a couple of positions but I'm not familiar with this one so I was naturally curious).  We found Kiabi quite easily and managed to get out without buying anything.  I tried on a jacket that made me look very french, but not in a good way. I looked like a french traffic cop without all the clubs and guns hanging off my belt.  Acros the parking lot was Go Sport.  A huge sports store a lot like some we had come across in the UK.  I was looking for a pair of hiking shoes and failed to find anything I liked.  Lesley and Sam found T Shirts on sale.  Lesley had trouble deciding between the light blue one and the dark blue one.  The fact that one had Argentina written all over it and the other one had FRANCE blazened across the back had not helped her to decide.  I was able to help however and she chose the french one.  Then we set about tracing down the Sport Positon.  Lesley inquired in her impeccable french and was told twice that it didn't exist.  This just made me suspicious and even more eager to find the Sport Position.
Without a map of the local area and with only a visual memory of the google map.  I navigated us around the Auchon Hyper Marché, back on to the highway over the railway and into the industrial estate, or Zone Industrielle, (Z.I) as they say over here.  A quick glance at the huge billboard size map at the entrance still did not reveal the Sport Position.  However, we had come this far and like Jacques Cartier venturing down the Fleuve we soldiered on into the heart of the Z.I.  Lesley was sceptical but I was determined.  The road wound around in huge arcs through the Z.I.  Looking just as one would expect an industrial estate to look except of course it was all in french.  Then just as I was beginning to despair the Sport Positon appeared.  White and Blue and Massive, a bold and definitive building that left nothing to the imagination.  Elated I slid through the tiny side door and into the store.  It was all over in two minutes.  I had not found what I was looking for in the Sport Position and I resolved never to try it again.

Then all we had left to do that day was visit the rest of Orléans.  That featured lunch by the car, an art gallery, a hotel, a cathedral, a river, an indoor market an outdoor book market, a used bookstore, a mall, 4 kebabs avec frites et boissons, and a whole pile of walking around a very picturesque old town.

Warm Baguette (Sam)

Today I woke up a little earlier than normal. So when I bought the morning baguettes at the boulangerie, they were fresh out of the oven and still hot! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Châteaux

(Lesley) I decided that because I was asking my kids to do some writing in French, I had better do likewise.  So here is a bit in French:  J’ai décidé d’écrire en français un peu.  Je suis en France et j’insiste que Sam et Mhari écrivent un peu en français alors…  Mais, pardonnez moi mes fautes de français.  J’en fais toujours plus à l’écrit qu’à l’orale et je n’ai pas Odette, ma voisine à l’école, pour relire mon texte et me signaler mes fautes.  (À moins qu’elle m’envoye un courriel indiquant toutes mes fautes.   Non, je crois qu’elle a assez à corriger avec une classe d’environ 26 élèves, anglais, âgés de 8 à 9 ans.) 

Nous sommes maintenant dans la vallée de la Loire.  C’est plus plat ici, comme au Manitoba, et il y a beaucoup de fermes.  Nous avons vu trois cerfs dans un champ, comme on les voit dans les environs de Winnipeg.  Sam a vu un aigle et plusieurs faucons aussi. 

Dans la vallée de la Loire il y beaucoup de châteaux, alors nous sommes allés voir quelques châteaux.  Nous sommes allés voir Chambord.  C’est un gros château.  C’était le château préféré de François Ier pour la chasse.  Il y a beaucoup de forêt ou parc naturel qui l’entour.  Chambord est fantastique comme château.  Il y a beaucoup de grandes salles avec quelques vieux meubles et tapisseries.  L’aménagement des pièces était intéressant, bien organisé, mais pas de façon moderne.  Ca nous a pris plusieurs tours des différents étages avant que je commence à bien comprendre le layout, et que j’étais certaine d’avoir vu toutes les pièces à cet étage sans refaire mon trajet affin de vérifier. 

C’était très froid le jour que nous sommes allés.  Je portais ma tuque dans le château même, il faisait tellement froid.  Chance que quelques un de ses 282 cheminés avaient des feux, sinon je serais certainement gelée.

Quelques jours plus tard, nous sommes allés voir le château du Clos Lucé.  C’est petit pour un château, c’était plus un manoir: le manoir de Leonardo de Vinci.  Il vivait là pendant ses dernières années, et il est mort là, dans les bras du roi de France, François I.  Le manoir était intéressant pour ses modèles des inventions de Leonardo, mais le parc était plus impressionnent parce que nous avons pu essayer les outils, les inventions, les  maquettes etc.  Les enfants ont vraiment vu le génie de ses idées.

Après avoir vu Clos Lucé nous avons marché au Château Royale d’Amboise, pour le voir. 

Mais nous n’avons pas fait une visite à l’intérieur parce que nous n’étions pas loin de Chenonceau et nous avons décidé d’aller le voir.  J’ai beaucoup aimé Chambord mais Chenonceau est également beau, fantastique, old world, French!  

Quel lit extraordinaire!

Chenonceau est un château qui a été habité plutôt par des femmes, des reines et des femmes puissantes.  Le château est bâtit sur la rivière Cher, sur des arches ancrées au fond de la rivière.   Ca fait un beau château.  À l’intérieure il y avait beaucoup à voir: les tapisseries, les meubles, les peintures de grand maîtres.  C’était un château meublé, pas comme Chambord, ou les meubles venaient avec les personnes pour chaque visite.  La cuisine à Chenonceau était pleine d’outils anciens.  

Tout le château était bien organisé pour des tournés.  Et clairement ils reçoivent beaucoup de touristes; nous sommes arrivés vers 4h30 et il y avait encore beaucoup de monde qui entraient.  Dehors les jardins aussi était impressionnants.  J’aurais aimé les voir pendant l’été.  Nous n’avons pas vu la ferme en gros détails il commençait à être tard, et nous voulons arrêter chez Leclerc avant de rentrer au gîte.

Chenonceau

Nous sommes aussi allés à Chartres pour voir la Cathédrale (lundi).  John est allés à l’âge de 17 avec ses parents mais il était tanné de voir des églises et des cathédrales alors il est resté dans l’auto avec sa sœur.  Il est content d’être rentré cette fois ci.  Nous avons monté dans le clocher jusqu’en haut.  La vue de la ville était exceptionnelle.  À l’intérieure Sam et Mhari ont pris beaucoup de photos.  Ils étaient impressionnés par les détails dans les sculptures et les vitraux. 

Évidemment nous avons utilisé l’automobile un peu plus ces derniers jours, comparé à quand nous étions en Bretagne, mais nous trouvons de l’essence sans problèmes, alors nous ne nous inquiétons plus.  John vient de rentrer avec des rillettes que les Silvestres (du gite en Bretagne) nous ont fait essayer.  Alors, je vous quitte pour aller manger de la confiture de viande.

Au revoir,   Lesley

Loire Valley (Sam)

Sunday Oct 24th

We have left Bretagne and are now in the Loire Valley.  Today we went and saw Chambord: a huge château.  When we first approached, I was awed by its sheer size.  It was commissioned by Francois I and took some 30 odd years to build.  It is comprised of 426 rooms, has 282 fireplaces and 77 staircases. (just for your information my Dad's information on this comes from the Lonely Planet Guide Book, mine comes form the Chambord Visitors Guide, so obviously my information is more relable) (maybe, maybe not. ed.). I now understand why the French had their revolution.  My favourite part of the castle was the double helix staircase, believed to be designed by Leonardo de Vinci. It is like a two spiral staircases one on top of the other.  The castle was built to serve as a giant hunting lodge for the king.  It was very hard to navigate the castle, but I think we managed to see most of it in the end.

Chambord

Monday Oct 25th

Today we went to Chartres.  The main attraction there is the huge Cathedral; we could see it before we entered the city.  The detail of the carvings all over the Cathedral was stunning and the stained glass windows were even better.  We climbed up the north tower and I was amazed at how much detail they put up high were few would see it.  The only disappointment was that the famous labyrinth was covered with chairs.  Although I will not complain; seeing the Cathedral didn’t cost us anything.

Chatres

Wednesday Oct 27th

We decided to go all out today and try and to see two châteaux in one day. (Did I mention that the Loire valley is famous for their châteaux?). We had planned to wake up early but in the end we woke up around 9 am instead. After breakfast we drove to Amboise to visit Clos Lucé, where Leonardo DaVinci spent his final years. The park and chateau were really cool because they had made life-size replicas of some of his inventions and you were allowed to try them out for yourself. Our second château of the day was Chenonceau. The château spans the river Cher with a series of beautiful arches. Also, this one was smaller and easier to navigate. I think I would rather live in this one than Chambord. They also had a labyrinth; and thankfully, this one was not covered in chairs.

Chenonceau

Clos Lucé

Inside Leonardo's tank

Loire Valley Sights

(John) October 23.  It was a grey and rainy day.  Travelling from Saint Suliac to our next gîte near Orleans was quite uneventful.  No blockades, no protests of any kind.  Despite our fears of fuel shortages; we filled up without having to line up just before the autoroute near Laval.  Although we’d planned to avoid the toll road, we still managed to get onto it.  No matter.  We drove along and came off for a total of 4.5€.  There was fuel to be had all along the autoroute and on the D road we chose later.  Indeed, we arrived at the gîte with a full tank of gas.  Conscious of the need to conserve our precious gasoline we drove as economically as possible and the journey as a result seemed to take a long time.  It seemed that everybody else had the same idea so our snails pace didn’t upset anyone.  I think we got about 80 miles to the gallon. 

October 25. The new gîte is lovely and the owner very welcoming.  Yesterday we ventured out to see Chateau Chambord.  It is a truly stunning place.  Built so that Francis I could go hunting it has over 440 rooms, 84 staircases and 365 fireplaces.  The hunting theme was evident everywhere and in gory detail; they were obviously a bloodthirsty bunch.  It was a lot of fun to look around. The double helix staircase which was perhaps designed by Leonardo De Vinci was loads of fun.  It was almost worth the entrance price of 17.50€ for the family.
Photos: The servant's entrance, A view up inside the Double Helix Staircase, Probably about a mornings worth

Photos: The Double Helix Staircase at the second floor, The Rooftop Terrace, Some Gory Detail

Call that a bed?

That's more like it

Now that's a bed

Just a little Cabin in the Woods

Lesley is getting teacher discounts all over the place.  Our kids were free at Chambord.  You gotta like that.  It seems that I am the only one that has to pay full price for anything.  I am thinking I might have to go on strike, maybe go on a march.  I’m sure I could get some people to join me.  While on the subject of protests, I thought I’d share a document we were passed by a French student in Dinan during the protest march we witnessed the day we went to market.  

Today we decided to waste even more precious petrol and drove north to Chartres.  On the way we passed by many power-generating windmills.  We stopped at one to see how noisy they were.  Didn’t seem so bad I must admit, but then it might start to get on your nerves after a while.  It was a lot like a Toyota Prius driving past your house every second.  I suppose if you had to live right underneath one then breakfast on the patio might have to be foregone on particularly windy days.
Photos: Look pretty from a distance, But hard to enjoy your toast and marmalade with that racket going on.

Here is a picture taken the previous day of the local nuclear power station.  Aaah! Nice and quiet. No noise at all.

The last time I was in Chartres at the age of 17, with my parents and my sister, I had refused to get out of the car to go and see the Cathedral.  I had led the rebellion that my sister joined.  There is just something about France that makes a person want to protest.  Anyway it was worth the wait.  There was a mindboggling amount of detail to take in.  Stone and woodcarvings, stained glass windows, tombs, labyrinths, ancient this and that everywhere you look in fact.   Lesley, Sam and Mhari were allowed to go up the north tower for free.  I was required to pay 7€.  In protest, I refused to pay and went outside and sulked.  In truth I was happy to not go as my fear of heights is quite real.  I would have enjoyed the exercise but not the elevation of climbing the 300 steps.  

A tiny selection of the intricate stonecarvings available to gawp at

Most of the Labyrinth was covered in chairs

A view of the top bit otherwise known as the dome of the apse - maybe

St Piat's Chapel.  The East End

View from the North Tower or so I'm told

The Famous Veil of the Virgin, the Sancta Camisia.

Kind People

(Lesley)

Merci! …à la madame qui nous a aidé à acheter de l’essence aujourd’hui à Ouzouer-le Marché!  Nos cartes de credit canadiennes n’étaient pas acceptées à la pompe, alors elle à inserré sa carte et nous l’avons payé en Euros.  C’était bien gentil de sa part.  Maintenant, nous aurons assez de pétrole pour aller voir tout les châteaux près d’Orleans.

Thank you! We had help at a gas station in Ouzouer-le-Marché today by a friendly lady who rescued us when our Canadian credit cards were rejected at the gas pump.  She offered to put in her own credit card and let us fill up, if we paid her in cash.  It was very kind and helpful.  Especially given how few and far between the opportunities are here to fill the car, given the strikes (check Sam’s blog for updates on French strikes), and the subsequent fuel shortages. 

We are being well looked after here in France and owe many thanks to those helping us along the way.  People are ever so patient with us.  They give Sam and Mhari a chance to explain or question without interrupting them or finishing their sentences.  It is such good learning for the kids and it is a pleasure for John and I to watch them learn. 

The gîte owner, from Saint-Suliac had John all figured out too.  He was sure John understood a lot more than he let on.  I think John is making good sense of what is being said; he certainly gets the gist of things in conversation.  I still translate bits, but certainly not whole sentences.  I’m really enjoying the opportunities to speak in French.  I’m sure I still make lots of mistakes when writing, but verbally I’m confident and enjoying myself. (I wonder how we will do with Hindi or Urdu?)

We had a lovely stay in Saint-Suliac and have a gîte to recommend to anyone looking to go stay in Brittany.  It is a peaceful place, located close to so many things worth visiting, but located away from busy roads in a scenic location up on a hill.  The owners are really friendly and helpful too.

Update (Sam)

Yesterday, the government voted on the pension reform. It was fairly close, 177 votes to 153 votes, but in the end they voted to adopt the new pension reform. Starting in 2018, the French will start collecting their pension at 62 rather than 60 and they start getting their full pension at 67 instead of 65. I don't think the unions are happy.  Nor are the students, who all fear there will be no jobs for them to go into if the old people don't retire.

St Suliac (Sam)

We have been in our gîte for 2 weeks now and we haven’t gotten tired of it yet. Unfortunately it is now time for us to say goodbye. It is a very nice gîte. Since we are situated on top of a tall hill we have amazing views in all directions. To the east, we can see all the way to the Mont Saint Michel. To the north and the south we have amazing views of the Rance Estuary. Inside, both of the bedrooms have a nautical theme, with lighthouses on the walls and fish on the carpet (no, not real fish). We are also within easy driving distance of many amazing sites such as Saint-Malo, Dinan, Mont St Michel and many great walks and beaches (I have been swimming already, the water is freezing and salty but it’s worth it).  We have been eating walnuts from the amazing walnut tree and visiting with the owner’s donkey “Junon”. She loves to talk and she farts a lot too. The owner says that one of the people who stayed here played violin to her every morning. She loved that. When I wake up early in the morning, I go to buy baguette for breakfast. It is a beautiful walk. The town at the bottom of the hill is breathtaking. It was voted one of the "most beautiful villages in France". We did a few amazing walks along the coast. I thought it looked like the Mediterranean Sea, but my Dad thought it looked more like the coast of Cornwall. I also found about 7 small crabs on the beach. Back in the day, half of the men in town were fisherman who fished off the coast of Newfoundland. They would leave in the spring and not return until late fall or early winter. Today, when we went to the Boulangerie we bought warm "pain au chocolat" like a croissant with melted chocolate inside. It was delicious. Photos: St Suliac

What I love...

(Lesley)

What I love about France…

-crème brulée: available in the grocery store,

-hearing French everywhere,

-grocery shopping; looking at and trying all the different foods,

-patisserie shops on every main street,

-being near the sea: hearing the waves crashing, walking along the cliffs,  exploring the beaches, planning around the tides…

-hearing my kids and my husband make attempts in French and succeed most of the time,

-cheap wine and cheese,

-finding walnut trees while out walking. We pick a few walnuts up off the ground and bring them back to crack and eat later.

-the warm welcome we get from the French, who have been friendly and helpful  especially once they know we are Canadians (who speak varying levels of French).

-gîtes.  What a great system!  They make good economic sense; are clean, comfortable and are a great alternative to hotels and hostels.

-cheese: there are so many nice, soft, smelly cheeses.

-warm baguettes!

-old uneven paving stones.  I enjoy them, having come from concrete.

-old city centers.  I love the crooked houses that we find all squished together in the center of the old towns.

-the passion of the people. The strikes and demonstrations and how involved the French are about what is going on.  (As of yet, I have not been too inconvenienced by it all, and my attitude may quickly change if I end up involved, delayed or stuck)

What I love about Europe…(France, Begium and UK so far)

 -the lush countryside.  There are flowers and flower boxes all over the place.  The foliage is green and seems to need a lot of trimming.  (I would never be able to keep up with the lawn cutting.  I have trouble keeping up with it at home, and here, well I’d be overgrown, lost and never again found.

-blackberries on the hedges.  Apparently in England it was a really good year for blackberries, well in France too.  I’m still picking and eating them off the hedges when we go walking in late October.

-driving.  Like in the UK, the driving is pretty good in France.  The signage is clear and easy to follow, the other drivers are generally quite competent.  It may get scarier inland, or in more congested areas, but so far in Normandy and Brittany, it has been easy. 

-walks.  There are lots of paths and trails accessible for people to use.

What I love about being away for a year…

-reading what the kids write about in their blogs and hearing what strikes them the most in what they see and hear. 

-doing the home schooling with the kids.  They can accomplish in a half day what I imagine would take them days to do in a regular classroom setting with all the interruptions,

-our life of leisure, not getting up each day just to follow the same routines,

-taking lots of pictures,

-seeing how people live in other parts of the world,

-receiving e-mails with snipits of news from riends and family

-meeting new people and comparing views on the world, ideas etc.

Dinan again (Sam)

Today we returned to Dinan to see the Port and go to the market.  We approached from Lanvallée and walked over the huge viaduct with amazing views of the River and port. Then we continued up a switchback path, through the city walls and the gardens, past the Basilica and followed the people with bags full of veggies. At the market, I bought some Vietnamese food for lunch and got some caramel au beurre salée, a local specialty.  When we were done shopping, we started walking to the port when we were stopped by a protest march.  A real French experience.  After the demonstrators had passed, we walked down the hill to the port, went to the washroom (squat toilet, with no toilet paper, soap or paper towels).  Later we climbed back up the hill; then climbed back down; then climbed back up the other side.  Boy my legs are tired. 

An update on the strikes.

There are protests all over France and the troublemakers are taking advantage of it: breaking windows, burning cars etc.  Today, we could not find gas anywhere. We tried 5 gas stations.  In Marseille, they are blocking the port and the garbage collectors have been on strike for a week now so there are piles of garbage blocking the stores and the locals are worried about disease spreading.  Students have blocked many schools across France.  Luckily the frequency of trains are increasing. Photos: Viaduct and Protest

Jacques Cartier Museum

(John) October 19, 2010. Jacques Cartier Museum.

A nasty rainy day meant it was perfect weather for taking in the house of Jacques Cartier, which we just happen to be located pretty close to.  

I’d like to say we had planned to be close by so that we could fulfill part of Mhari’s grade 6 curriculum, but truth be told we had no idea that Jacques Cartier was from St Malo. 

Really, I’m the worst person to be writing this blog as the tour we had at JC’s house was entirely in French.  While my family and the two other tourists were enjoying the wealth of knowledge and witty anecdotes flowing easily and very quickly from our tour guides mouth I felt like the dog in the Gary Larson cartoon.

For me it was – Bonjour, blah blah blah blah blah, Jacques Cartier blah blah blah blah blah blah, Canada, blah blah blah blah, Jacques Cartier blah blah blah blah, Jacques Cartier blah blah blah, St Malo, blah blah blah blah -  You get the idea. 

I must have done a pretty good impression of a comprehending person because when at the end of the tour Lesley requested some information in English for her stupid Anglo husband, the guide had the courtesy to feign surprise and told us that if she had known I was stupid Anglo I could have had an English tour of my own with another guide. 

Not a problem however, because as soon as we got to the car I refused to drive back to the gite until everybody told me everything they had just learned.  So the following is an account of everything I learned in the car after my trip to Jacques Cartier’s House.

Jacques Cartier was from a humble background.  He apprenticed from the age of 12 aboard fishing vessels that were commonly away for months at a time.  He became well respected for his skills and married into a wealthy family with connections in high places.  He became known to and was hired by the King of France to find a new route to the Orient.  This was desparately needed, as the Turks had shut down the traditional silk-road and the French nobility were suffering without the goodies that came their way.  J.C. made three trips in all, going further, staying longer and with more accompanying ships on each voyage.  He became better off, although never stinking rich, like his patrons.  His house now has three distinct sections.  The last was added after his death.  The first was really just a kitchen with an attached stable.  There was a bedroom on the second floor.  The kitchen had some neat features.  One was the drain in the floor.  It was just a sloped stone gutter that allowed wastewater to flow along the floor and out under the door.  There was also a device that was lowered from the ceiling for keeping spoons in.  

The family members did not do dishes; spoons were just licked clean and placed back in a holder that was then hoisted back towards the ceiling. One interesting concept was that the original section of the house was not used for living in during the day.  People worked outside during the day.  They only came inside to sleep.  Hence the first section of the house had no windows to speak of.

As J.C. became more successful he was able to expand the house to include a second section, and enjoy a lifestyle of a nobleman.  He built a large dining room below and a bedroom and a washing/bathing room upstairs.  All these rooms had big windows allowing for lots of daylight to flood in and for J.C. to watch the ships arrive at and leave from the port of St Malo. 

One of the upstairs rooms had a display of maps from the 16th century.  It was explained that details on the maps were sometimes there as decoys; put there to deter other explorers.   For example there were pictures depicting cannibals in South America.  There was also a collection of nautical instruments of the time. A simple rope with knots tied in to it was attached to a wooden board.  It was used along with an hourglass to gauge the speed of the ship.  In the middle of the room was a large globe of the world.  North and South America were noticeably absent. 

In the Dining room was a big wooden chair with a high back and sides.  The seat served as a lid that covered a storage compartment.  The high back and sides were to prevent attack from those directions, and the storage box was to enable a person to sit on their valuables.  To make the most of this function, the seat, we were told, was often occupied by a grandfather, the oldest and therefore perhaps, the most immobile member of the household. 

I decided I had learned enough for one day and started the car. 

Hello from Brittany. (Mhari)

Hi, I know I haven't posted for a little while; I have just been too busy/lazy. We have done a lot. Yesterday we went for a 10 km walk. Well, it was 5 km, then half an hour sitting on a rock, on the beach, by the bridge, then a 5km walk back UP THE HILL!! I was also just informed that we have done ten km everyday, sometimes more over the 3 days. Today, we are hoping to go to the Jacques Cartier museum, but with the protesting French, we are only hoping.

We did go to the Jacques Cartier museum, which was his house, but I am not going to write about that now.   Now, I am going to paste a story that I wrote in french. When I was told to write a French story, I really didn't want to. What I did want to do, was play cards. It was somewhat hard to write my story because I had a pack of cards to my right and 2 packs on my left.  In the end, because of my unwantingness, I had a topic which I otherwise would have not. I often spend a lot of time trying to come up with an idea.
Here it my story!

Il y a une fille.  Cette fille a besoin d’écrire une histoire pour son Français.  Mais cette fille ne veut pas écrire une histoire.  Elle veut jouer aux cartes.  Aces; pour être précise.  Alors cette fille écrit une histoire à propos d’elle même. 

La fille s’assoit sur son lit et commence à écrire mais il y a un paquet de cartes juste à la droite d’elle et deux paquets de cartes à sa gauche.  Les cartes sont partout!  Elle voit des cartes sur le papier, des cartes sur le mur.  Elle est vexée.  La porte est une grande carte, la fenêtre est une carte aussi.  Elle est dans un monde de cartes.  Un score parfait apparait devant elle. 

-Cartes içi, cartes là,

Les quatres aces sont devant elle.

-C’est trop!

-C’est trop! Elle crie

Mais elle n’ a pas vraiment crié.  Elle a imaginé crier.

Eventuellement, tout est retourné à normale. 

La fille c’est assise et elle a écit une belle histoire.

Walking (Sam)

For the past few days we have been doing long walks every day. We did three 10 km walks and then 2 days later we went to St Briac sur Mer and walked along the beach and cliffs looking at the oysters and finding tons of jellyfish. We also saw another Nazi bunker. (As there are many all along the coast of the English Chanel). We are now trying to avoid driving, as today we saw a station with no gas, and all of the other stations had hour long lineups. The region we are in is very beautiful, especially around the sea. I encourage everyone to try the crêpes recipe on the recipes page (link on the left). The cities poll is now over with Venice as the most popular with 14 votes, Barcelona with 5, and Paris and London with 4 each. My conclusion is that of the people who vote on my blog, most want to go to Venice rather than other places. Clearly more research is needed. I have a new poll on which I encourage you to vote on.

Odd House

Nazi Bunker

Here's my handle

Here's my spout

tip me over...