Hotel le Grand Chene Bourges

... www.bestwestern-angleterre-bourges.com ), and my room is twice the size of the one in Paris. Plus, there's a shower curtain! I wish we were staying here for more than one night.

We immediately had a walking tour of the old town with Barbara, an American who has lived in Bourges for 20 years. She showed us Bourges Cathedral, which is even more imposing than Notre Dame, even though it doesn't have a transept. It has some gorgeous original windows ...

We reluctantly left Italy and took the train from Venice to Nice. First stop - Kim and Falcon Hawkin's place near Nice - not an intro to french culture but it rounded out the Hawkins adventure and was superbe! We then stayed in Aix en Provence at the apartment of another generous friend of the Bunce's. Nice to be speaking french and to be in french wine country. Chris' desire was to go wine tasting ...

... to enunciate my feeling by
abstracting an episode from Paulo Coelho. I have a long , hard struggle with myself not to get up and go to the
stationary shop to buy that glue. I experience terrible feelings of
anxiety, but I am determined to stay here doing nothing, at least for a few hours. Gradually, the anxiety gives way to contemplation, and I
start to listen to my soul. It has been longing to speak to me, but I’m
always too busy. The ...

... les échanges avec les pays voisins non communistes.

Durant cette période le pays va aussi se doter d'une devise: Unidade-Disciplina-Trabalho (Unitée-Discipline-Travail) et de son drapeau national.

Ce n'est que lors des élections de 1991 que le multi-partisme va être autorisé et Miguel Trovoada sera à son tour élu.

En 2001 un changement s'annonce ...

L'histoire de Sao-Tome est assez restreinte.
L'archipelle à été découvert au 15th siécle par les portugais Joao de Santarem and Pero Escobar. Ainsi sous domination portugiase ST devient un point de passage important pour le commerce du sucre du canne ainsi que pour la traite des esclaves
Entre1641 - 1648 les hollandais occupent le port de Sao-Tome et les francais attaquent la ville en 1709 par la suite on va assister à une deuxi ...

... s les Seychelles.

Chose a noter Sao-Tome est le pays le plus proche du "centre du monde": le croisement entre l'équateur et le méridien de Greenwich. L'équateur passe en effet par sur l'ilhéu das Rolas . (petite iles composant l'archipel au Sud du pays) et le méridien de greenwich n'est qu'a 6° de la capitale.

Le climat sur place est donc ...

... portugaise indépendante depuis 1975. Population: 200 000 (ESTIMATION, aucune donnée exactes...) Gouvernement: Démocratie, république semi présidentiel. IDH: 0,643 (128 position sur 153 pays) Monnaie: le Dobra ( 1 Euro = 20 000 Dobras) Voila pour le moment. D'autres articles concernant des thémes particuliers suivront.

Nicer than Birmingham.

Left Blois in the rain and drove south, past Chartres with the cathedral really impressive over the plain. Tried La Motte Beuvron put not nice so onward. Weather hot as we moored by canal with mad fisherman. Cycles out and into town for pression and a bit of shopping.

Had to remind the old hostel that I was expecting breakfast. They weren't too busy or got the numbers mixed up; I'm the only guest. However the lady did fix it for me although the bread was a bit dry. Another gloriously sunny morning so straight into bike shorts. Which was generally great but chilly in bits. The headwind was initially absent; the distance was short and even the hills were toilable. The countryside is definitely more rolling and its a mixture of farms and ...

... in the UK and see if they are waterproof. So it was onto the road and heading north west. Well we just cruised along great bike this with the screen raised it gave good protection. I found out that of all my gear the only part that leaked was my boots, Linda was all smiles (relatively speaking) no leaks! We stopped for coffee and great food then ...