I know the entries on this page are a bit odd, because I am writing them from what is now a rather distant perspective.. .please forgive me; life has been getting in the way.

On the way to Lille, we stopped in Rouen. Neither Sarah nor I really knew what to expect from Rouen, and were delighted by the centre of town.

I had known but forgotten that Rouen is where Joan of Arc was burned. In fact, right here:

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After Mont St Michel, we made our way to Bayeux. After wending our way through to the centre of town, with remarkable ease, we found our hostel.

The hostel was rather unexpected. It seems that our humble home for the night was at least in part, 15th or 16th century. The beamed ceilings in the dining room and the stone staircase out the back were the give-away, confirmed by a notice around the corner of the building.

Bayeaux itself is also very lovely, with a typically spectacular cathedral and some very pretty buildings.

Then off to Lille. The Youth Hostel there was very nice, and we even had a room to ourselves, however the minus was that they threw us out very promptly at 9am.

30 July

I am going to pretend its still July, so that I can relate the stories of the 'Great Girly Adventure' otherwise known as 'the Tatty Rag Tour of Europe.

Where were we? That's right. Rennes. Its a pretty town, and as we sat in the top floor of our very obviously medieval cafe, we looked out on the square with its sweet buildings leaning to and fro. I had a lovely dish of a crepe with smoked meat, goats cheese and honey. Very tasty!

We then drove on to Mont St Michel

29 July

I had better get to work updating this page, as things never stay still and the next thing will have happened before I have even updated you with the last!

So, day 1 of our adventure saw us heading slightly south, driving to Bourg en Bresse, then Macon. We took a break in Macon to admire the lovely church we found there. I gather from the web page of the town, there is a fair amount more to it than we saw, but then we were just passing through. But here is a little of what we did see... (I believe the church is 12th century - Sarah will correct me if I am wrong). Sadly the church had been 'reformed'.

But we had to press on...many places to see before bedtime! As we left we did see that Macon would be a gorgeous place to go for a relaxing holiday. By the edge of a river, you could happily spend a week swimming and hiking there. On the way to our next stop we did get side tracked... I am not entirely sure where! We saw a turn off for a 'look out' and decided to take it. I think it might have been Cluny. But what I can tell you is that we found a sweet little church on a hill, and the burial place of the Barons of Mornay.

The church and views were lovely, but it was this little old cottage that struck both Sarah and I. Although it had a lovely tiled angled roof, on the inside, it was curved. Very interesting and hinting that perhaps this cottage is more ancient than it looked!

Then on the road again, determined to make it to Moulins for dinner. As with most cities in Europe the outside edges of the city were not encouraging but the centre ville was loooovely. Sadly we were too late to see inside the cathedral, but the ville itself is very decorative and the church has got some fabulous gargoyles. I do so like a gargoyle.

We enjoyed a very lovely dinner; mine main course was "mama's beef stew" (roughly translated from French) and was melt in the mouth tender. After dinner we tried to call the Youth Hostel in Bourges to organise a bed. Unfortunately the public phone didn't take cash, and the credit balance on my French mobile had lapsed. We arrived in Bourges quite late and drove around searching for the Youth Hostel. Sadly by the time we arrived (not long after 10pm) there the doors were locked and it looked pretty much deserted. So we drove around for a while looking for a hotel. All full. What to do? Drive on. We drove past a hotel, which had an electronic checkin; but the machine didn't work.

We drove to Nevers and found another hotel, also with an electronic machine which told us that there was a room free but then wouldn't accept our credit cards. Ultimately frustrating. So we drove on. By the time we got to Tours it was the wee hours. We drove around in circles trying to find a hotel, any hotel, which had a room free. Not one. We knew that things would be a bit difficult in summer, although thought that the problems of full hotels would be further south or on the coast. By this time it was coming on to three am or so. We ended up trying to sleep in the car. I got an hour or so of restless dozing, which was an improvement on nothing as I was so tired I was feeling sick.

After breakfast at the train station we left it and Tours behind and drove on to Rennes. There we stopped for lunch. It is a pretty town.

24 July

Before I tell you about my week, I had better tell you about my day in St Ursanne. I found out on Friday that there was a medieval weekend on at St Ursanne, so just had to go. Getting there was a bit awkward, over hill and dale, but it was a pretty drive, and the medieval day was quite good. Here are just a few shots.

The church there was also lovely:

Anyway, on to the last week. Wow. What a week I have had. Sarah has been visiting and because things are quiet at work, I took a whole week off. I drove up to Basel to pick her up. Sadly Christoph was off doing army stuff so we didn't stay with him, but we did stay the night in the Youth Hostel which is in a lovely location near the Paper mill. In the morning we visited the Basel Art and History Museum and took... well something around 400 photographs. Sarah and I chatted about me doing theme and/or city based CDs of images and selling them to the SCA. What do you think?

Anyway, after the day in Basel we headed back to Geneva. There we decided to stay for a day or so to regroup and rest, as Sarah had been having a pretty full on trip so far.

8 July

The events of yesterday distracted me from telling you about the boat trip. The work social club hired a boat for a 2 hour cruise on Lac Lemann. Sadly, after weeks of sunshine and heat, this week has been solidly wet. Luckily this time we hired a boat that was enclosed (last year we attempted this but chose an open boat - big mistake). We were lucky; the rain lifted and although the skies were still very cloudy, it was all the more spectacular for it.

Today I just wanted to show you my dinner because it just looked so nice once I got it together. Mozzarella layered with tomato, pancetta, olives, and an egg. Drizzled with olive oil and left to sit for a while (tomatoes seem to react to olive oil by releasing all their juices and flavours...mmmmmm) and then sprayed with some balsamic vinegar.

7 July

What a heartbreaking day. Yesterday all of England was rejoicing at the news that they had won their Olympic bid. Today four explosions rocked the city of London. I feel for all those who have lost their loved ones, and hope that the people of England, and Australia too do not give in to terror, and resist the temptation to curl up in a foetal ball. Don't start boarding up your windows and living with a seige mentality.

A quiet weekend; not much to report.

Friday night two of my friends kindly hefted my new (second hand) bookcase up the five flights of stairs to my flat. Afterwards I had dinner with a friend. I was supposed to be joining a bunch of other Aussies meeting in the pub at 8pm, but I didn't make it there till after midnight! There were still a decent handful of people there, and after a drink I did do something I have never done before. Never. Ever. I played my first game of darts! As a dart player, I make a great singer, but I did have fun. I even managed to hit the board occasionally. <grin>

Sunday was pretty quiet in the morning, slept in a bit, and dismantled a few mounds of stuff in preparation towards getting my bookshelf filled up. In the afternoon I went over to Paul and Sheila's for the night. At a truly hideous hour of the morning (seriously; we were out of the house by 5.30am) we drove to the airport where the family all flew off to Australia.

The above proves that my life is actually pretty ordinary on a day to day basis.