La Bastide de l'Adrech Manosque

... to those who have lost their lives at sea. I’m not particularly religious, but places like that always make me feel calm, especially as you could sit in there for hours and keep finding new things. But after a long day, Lizzie summed up our adventure in one, very insightful, sentence: "Well, at least we can say we’ve been here, and that we’re never coming back."

Then last week, instead of going to a town, we hit the countryside! We went ...

Late start today but I managed a quick refreshing dip in the river before we set off. I said to Kim give me 5 minutes she reckoned I would only need 2! She was right. Easy drive to Lac du Ste-Croix which is a huge blue lake. We found a fantastic park overlooking the lake, alongside several ...

... in devil ears, 1 batman, 1 Spiderman, a copule dudes in masks, 2 girls with just some random fake blood on their face, 3 poorly represented Village people, and a guy who we think was Peter Pan, but he had cardboard fairy wings so we're not sure. All in all, Halloween ended up being a pretty fun night, but we certainly missed being home for this day! Now we are off to the Rhone Valley for some great wine... in a CAR! Stay tuned.

... Aix...oh, the Brits abroad, mon dieu! Still, best 6€ I've ever spent. We've also been along to the cinema. Embarassingly, it was to see Fame but I'd like to point out how important cinema, and going to the cinema, is to the French. There are at least 3 cinemas in Aix, and there are huge film posters everywhere. 'Le Cezanne', has it's name lit up, and, unlike at home, the seats are like armchairs and there's plenty of leg room. But, like at home, it's bloody ...

Bonjour avec Aix-en-Provence Cherie
Since the last news we have visited the Cote D'Azur spending time at Monte Carlo and Antibes. We stayed near Antibes at a place called Biot and at night you could hear the seals at nearby Marineland - very strange. It was still quite hot and stickey with more mozzies. Monte Carlo was wall to wall money with billions of dollars in boats and cars. Antibes was similar but it had a lovely old town as well.
We arrived ...

... a narrow valley with high cliffs on either side. The Abbey was founded in 1148 and construction and growth continued into the 13th century. It is still in use today, it's brothers having celebrated the 850th anniversary back in 1988. We took a very quiet tour of the Abbey. Silence is demanded as that is one of the vows of the brothers. When we were in more public areas the tour guide described the history of the order ...

... walls all over the place, the valley is filled with lavender and grape vines and the roads are narrow and winding. This is the France I really wanted to see. Lucy wants to come back here one day in July to see the lavender in bloom. We understand that it gets harvested no later than mid-August. It is probably very hot and very crowded, but no-doubt worth it.

... dinner to assuage my ever-growing cravings for American food. It was potluck: we had mashed potatoes of both varieties (boxed and fresh) because of a dramatic, girly, and completely unnecessary altercation among several of us. Briefly, what happened was that assistant A offered to bring mashed potatoes, but it was revealed later that these mashed potatoes were to be of the powdered "spud" variety (because, A said, she didn't know how to make real mashed ...

... Whippy. Upwards and onwards towards Manosque but lunch in Moustier Ste. Marie first. Another village on a hillside with a car parking problem. We had to park above the town on one of the winding roads and then walk to 'centreville'. In, out and around cobbled streets. This was tourist town. Possibly because it is old...no new homes at all here...and that there was a monastery on the top of a hill joined to the town by a wide stepped causeway across the col. I did not suggest ...

... cottage pie, which is like Sheperds pie but with cheese on top, very very good, then we hopped over to another bar that was open late, the lads wanted to find some English people to talk about another game, ah men and their sports!! This bar was happening, met some chicks and dudes and went the back to the dance floor, or mind you the dance table, because everyone was hopping about like mad on these wooden tables and the band was jumping. Played Jimi Hendrix, the ...