Grand Hotel des Bains Vals-les-Bains

... the vineyards of the famous Chateaunuf-de-pape region. It is better than you thought, seriously. We found a couple domaines in the hills that were actually open on Sunday, and then headed into the town where we had probably the best experience on our entire trip. We came upon a small wine shop, and the owner poured us the best wine we'd ever had, and topped it off with stories about the wine, his family, life in the Rhone, you name it. It was ...

found a great little town in Provence.. and as they say "when in Rome (Provence)"... we had a great meal in true french restaurant... happy to be away from tourist food... and had some very nice red wine........ just a stopover but a friendly little place and nice hotel...

on the road again...

Après un été bien au chaud c'est bientôt le départ vers l'Orient...
Si je suis encore le nez dans mes valises ma tête est déjà partie.
Dans une semaine je serai de nouveau autour de Shanghai pour rencontrer des sculpteurs de racine. Sculpter des racines en Chine est un art presque codé; on doit d'abord trouver une racine d ...

... qui a donné à la maison sa configuration actuelle au 16ème siècle déjà, la chambre Claude Frère, Président du parlement de Grenoble qui fit percer la rue au 17ème pour donner un accès direct à son hôtel particulier et la chambre Lesdiguières, dernier connétable de France et ...

... lavande. Des garrigues vibrant aux sonnailles des troupeaux de chèvres et de moutons et un ciel toujours bleu.





Maison de la Pra : en plein cœur de la vieille ville de Valence





Maison de la Pra : en plein cœur de la vieille ville de Valence





Un coup de c ...

... the back of the house and the bird life is quite fantastic - we will need to get a book I think as I have no idea what most of the birds are. There is a stream at the bottom of the drive where the rocks are covered in moss and the trees reach right down into the water - some small pools for swimming ( the water is FREEZING) and lots of clambering and exploring places for the children.

Possibly the most romantic destination EVER, the Chateau Du Bijou is very beautiful and totally away from it all, but only just! We spent the weekend exploring the Ardeche and Drome
areas, situated either side of the Rhone Valley, which are both also really beautiful
and unspoilt holiday destinations. No crowded beaches, but fresh rivers
for ...

Only for Brenda! Driving down the upper Ardeche gorge on the outside of the road with 1m retaining walls and vertiginous views. Big lorries using all the bend were coming the other way ...

... We willen ze namelijk helemaal herschikken. Doordag Ben dit helemaal heeft getekend in de computer, konden we hier makkelijk mee schuiven en hebben we, na 3 tussenstappen, een volledig voorstel afgewerkt. Aan de kast naast onze bureau hangen nu 7 A3-papieren. Dit is wel een beetje stoefen met ons werk maar het mag zeker gezien worden;). Morgen is het hierover vergadering dus wens ons het beste toe!! Cheers

Life in Grenoble has been ticking along nicely, lectures are no longer a daily enslaught of gobblydygoook, (i have 3 8 oclock starts), i now understand most of them, jsut cant write them down fast enough....think my written french should catch up soon enough, uni is pretty cool really, the sport is even better, i do climbing (amazing), badminton (to keep me fit---great fun get to pelt little people with shuttlecocks) and i start skiing next sunday...really cheap and ...