La Carraire Provence

... rapprochement between these two countries, and that they were at the base of Europe, but hearing so much about Europe and its identity, to then watch the French and Germans still centring it around themselves is a bit confusing, especially when Sarkozy’s government is launching a huge campaign about French national identity. Even with the anniversary of the Berlin Wall, and thinking about how far Europe has come since then, I still remain slightly sceptical ...

... rain finally stopped after nearly a week so we were able to enjoy some out of Scooby time!

Saturday 7 Nov
Forecasted for rain today but it held off until late afternoon which gave me time to replace the washer in the gear box and for Kim to go for a run, which she was hankering for as she had been getting a little cabin fever of late due to the rain and lack of exercise/time outside!

We have at long last arrived in France! We ended up scrapping the visit to Marseille, both since travellers we've met said its not worth the visit, and since we heard it's not really the place to be wandering around the streets at 10 at night looking for a place to stay. So instead we caught the bus up to Aix-en-Provence, which is pretty much the cutest town on the entire planet. We're pretty sure we were the only people ...

... weekend has put me right back on track, though, and so hopefully uni work will follow suit. Also got a lovely postcard from Dad looking over Holnicote, great to hear that everyone at home is well, even though I think I sometimes forget that life still carries on there when I'm not around.

Bon soir to all, from a very happee Charlotteee
xx

P.S Managed to get to one of the markets in town this week, got a full bag of fruit and vegetables for about 5€!

... and get the plane to Singapore. We should be sleeping in a hotel bed this time next week at Bintan Island and while this has been a fantastic trip I will be glad of a bigger bed and some luxuries.

Very warm regards to you all - we are missing the dogs heaps and we pat as many here as possible.

More news soon but not sure where from - it may not be until Bintan.

X X X

... looked like an American small town with strip malls and many car lots???) but once we got downtown it was quite beautiful.
Unfortunately, we could not find a place to park… so heading down by the waterfront I saw a parking space ...

... in Asian restaurants and we didn't feel that was very authentic (oh, and they wouldn't let us share - they tried to make us order a plate each, no thanks!) so we ended up at a little cafe ordering hamburgers..... which came out as a half-cooked mince meat patty thing.. quite unappealing. But doused in a whole lot of sauce they were edible and we were on our way to continue exploring Avignon (read: find an internet cafe to satisfy our facebook cravings ...

2009年7月29日
$ 335;线：酒店-&g t; Marseille(马赛)-> 酒店

马赛 ;，大城市ᦁ 2;很乱，人ô 56;多，很无 842;，海景不 8169;。
午饭୲ 5;意点了 ...

... 34920;演，& 750;常有趣。
王月在一ߑ 0;小摊上买É 02;一只会猪 483;的木头猪
2290;
注：Hotel: Logis Toppin 强烈推荐， ;二星的价੬ 4;，三星的ũ 36;量。

... with real people I can talk to. Woo hoo! In addition to the sudden positive results of my paperwork skills, it was a beautiful day! So I walked home with my head high, whistling "La Vie en Rose," admiring the old buildings of Digne's old town, and thinking about Disney's Beauty and the Beast. You know that part in the song where Belle says, "I want much more than this provincial life"? No, you don't, Belle. Provence is perfect. (Except that whole Gaston thing--you should kick ...