Hotel Restaurant Marmotte Poitiers

... part was well-executed at least.
Amanda and company are totally adorable and fantastic hosts, by the way. I have definitely been well-fed, and this place would be perfect if it weren't so damn far from civilization. They have fresh tomatoes, apples, grapes, pears, pumpkins, eggs (yes they have chickens), and other delights that I'm sure I'm forgetting. For the first two days it was great to unwind and relax ...

... around the pool in the sunshine for a week, until the weather changed and became more autumnal. Helene left us after a fez days, and we stayed on our own in coussay whilst papa, maman and granny went back to Thouars. It's nearly the end now, only one more stage until we come back home!

Moby is running well. We stopped slightly further south than originally intended as we decided to spend Wednesday at Futuroscope. I might be doing (and most probably am) the French a complete disservice by suggesting that some years back, some brainstorming went on as to how to attract tourists to this part of France as this is just the middle of France with not much going on in the way of wine or river setting. Futuroscope was the result.
As you approach on the A10 you catch a ...

... firmly down under an oak tree and refusing to move (she is a poodle cross pekingese, so small). I tried to give her a drink from my hand having brought a litre and a half with me - 1l for me, 1/2l for her - but she thought I was mad for thrusting my hand under her nose, but then frantically licked the drops of water I trickled on her tongue and round her chops and look confused. It took 3 more attempts and some well travelled Cheddar ...

... and found another free camping spot. However, this place wasn't so luxurious. In fact as we were going to bed some french kids started drinking on a bench a few yards away. Olly had a go at some manly stuff and tried his hand at fishing. Need I say he failed. Fish don't like pain au chocolat. But on the plus side we saw a frog the size of a puppy.

... the Young family went on their holiday and we stayed behind to house-sit.
My fellow volunteers, a young couple, have tried to be friendly, but they are obviously upset that they have to share the place with me this week (young couple, wanted to be alone, I can understand it). I do feel for them, but I was in a tough situation and volunteering is never a precise business, things change. I've done my best to give them as much space as ...

... in the wrong direction, so I get off the freeway, get turned around go about 4 miles, and think again, maybe I am going in the wrong direction. I am not seeing the signs I think I should be seeing by now. I should not be crossing this river, because if I am crossing it, I must have gone too far. So I get off again and turn around. I am not seeing any signs for the exits I need. So I turn around again, only to learn, the river I crossed was not the one I thought it was, and actually ...

... reads this journal. There were four places of interest of which the most impressive was the Chateau des Ducs de Bretagne, a solid castle surrounded by a moat which we passed several times but forgot to visit. We decided to leave our exploration of Nantes till the next day and, after dinner at a Thai Restaurant nearby, retired to our room. As I write: We are supine on our bed watching CNN and its endless coverage of the Pope's demise. We have no tea, coffee or milk and the ...

... and I was. So I decide to check on the bulletin boards to see if maybe there was a note saying that there would be no class, or whatnot. Instead, I discovered that it was in another class, to which I headed right away. I get to that class, I sit down, and I discover that I didn't belong there at all. It was a "Travaux Dirigés" Lab-thingy class, which foreign students don't need to take. Being too shy to just walk out of the class, I sat down and shut up and waited for the ...

... about 5 minutes left before takeoff. A little longer and we would have had to spend the night in the Big Apple. Finally, after a long, uncomfortable flight, complete with strong turbulence and kids who forever cried and about one hour total of sleep, divided in small sporadic increments of 10-15 minutes of sleep, here we are, in France, in Paris. But that's only the beginning, of course. We had to find our way through another maze. Big airports are too complicated. I'll take the ...