Fasthotel Limoges

Stayed last night in a pretty little medieval village of Solignac, right on the town square next to the villages 11th century church, which is on the pilgirmage route - Santiago de Compostela. It had rained last night and was still raining so our wander around was brief! Our plan today was to stop at several little villages in the area, of which they got progressively prettier.

... made their way into the sacristy, at which point the Germans opened fire. The sole survivor closed her eyes and faked death. The church was then set afire. The woman climbed out of a window and fell ten feet to the ground. She was followed by another woman and her child. Upon landing on the ground, the child’s cries alerted the soldiers and they shot the mother and child. The ...

... with a handbag. Made more sketchy by the same fellow (obviously a scholar) re-entering the building and leaving with another hand bag and a guitar. I wander where he was going with his two handbags and guitar. . .

We cycled on to find a camping spot. After 5 days of intense cycling in heavy heat with no shower we were forced to sleep in amongst a thick cloud of smell which could quite literally "gag a maggot".

Distance covered: 35 miles cycle and 15 car

So we woke up early for the first time and set off in the blazing sun with high spirits. We were absolutely destroying the miles and there was even talk of getting a record (70+ in a day!!). But then an absoulte disaster occurred. About 15 miles away from a city my rear wheel disintegrated. It would be impossible to walk it. Maybe a hitch from a ...

Yesterday was a good day. Although it rained in the morning, we were only on straight roads at the time. A strong breeze in the afternoon helped dry us out. Last night we enjoyed some well deserved downtime; an excellent 4 course meal al fresco washed down with a local red wine; a few games of petanque & pool, loud music & chat. :-)

... way through, these teenagers came through. They were yelling, laughing, running around, hanging all over each other PDA style... overall being DISGUSTINGLY disrespectful. Sure, it was personally annoying, but more than that, it was horrifying that these European youth could have such disrespect for their own history... so sad and that is what really angered me about the whole thing. There were these quotes in one room, projected from ...

Ahh, first full day of driving. Which meant that we were running out of gas! First time driving in France, don't speak the language, don't know what kind of gas this rental car uses, plus it's getting late and we're driving in the countryside (lovely farms I might add). And we have no idea where we're going to sleep! And we're getting hungry ...

... life, it was such a pleasure to get to spend time with my entire family. We had a couple of late nights, just enjoying each other's company, singing, dancing, and simply being as happy as a family should be. We even "did the gym" together with the girls in the family. We stayed a couple of days on the beach next to Bordeaux and really, even after the beautiful beaches that I have seen all over South East Asia, this French Atlantic coast still deserves one ...

... a bomb inside the church and opened fire with machine guns. Only one woman and four men escaped and managed to survive. The number of children killed was disproportionately high because the children from neighbouring villages attended school at Oradour. After the massacre, the Nazi soldiers raided the town of any valuables and set it ablaze. The ruins were discovered several days later, the bodies were recovered and buried, but the ...

... Dover. Jess' memory of this town will be a native standing in the town center strumming her guitar singing "Genie in a Bottle". We caught a ferry from Dover to Calais $125 each way. It was surprising to see such a lenient entrance requirements into France. They didn't stamp passports or check out the van. We found French highways to be extremely easy to drive on since now we are back on the right side of the road. Jason's 10th grade French teacher would be proud ...