A TASTE For TRAVEL

After our first trip away together we did get a taste for travel, literally - it was about food and wine.
We started late with the travel bug – we’d both did a little before meeting each other. Sue did a whirlwind European trip while I did 3 months on the West Coast of USA as a racing cyclist in my late twenties.

After our 2006 trip to France and Italy by the slow travel method we were hooked. The guided tour with a whole bunch of other tourists was not for us. Travelling in our own leased car and staying a week at a time gave us the thrill of meeting people and absorbing more of each region where we stayed.

I had my long service leave due so this trip was seven weeks long which gave us more time to explore the wonders of France. In Australia, employees are rewarded for loyalty (or laziness) if you are with the same company for 10 years (pro-rata) and 15 years.

Our 2008 trip started with a few days back in Paris at a hotel directly across from Gare de Lyon and on this trip I had my bike neatly packed away in an over the shoulder carry bag. It would be a few days before the bike would come out the bag and be reassembled.


We stayed within easy access of Gare de Lyon. Learning from our previous experience of 2006, we wanted to be within walking distance from the TGV station this time. We had learn't that Parisian taxi drivers are not always punctual.


The plan was to walk across the road to get the TGV for Avignon as we did in 2006. We would then pick up the car and spend a night in Arles before our week in Saint Remy de Provence.


Sue at the market in Arles, stocking up for our week in Saint Remy de Provence.


After that we would revisit Saint Chinian before heading off to Albi, Confolens, Vers and for another whole week at Le Bugue in the Dordogne. The charms of this area was its history, terrain and the food.


We were totally mesmerised by our week in the Dordogne - and I had my bike this time.


We then took off to Normandy via Chinon, and Le Mans in the Loire. The Bayeaux Tapestry was high on Sue’s list of things to see. We did an overnight night stop on the coast at Arromanche to take in the D-Day landings before spending three nights in Honfleur – just a great town.



Chinon, the food, wine and our B&B have a special spot in our memories that will live on forever.



As we traveled further north the weather changed but
 Honfleur still had an amazing allure despite the colder conditions.

The trip finished with the luxury of one whole week in a Paris apartment on the left bank but more about that much later in the trip.

Join us each Wednesday in France.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday - A very big blog

Yes, I know - He's off the internet for a few days and then we get a torrent. It's been a big weekend starting from Friday.

Sue has a twin brother and sister. It was their birthdays on Friday. We were invited for a drink to my 67 year young brother in-law's home. At 8.00 pm it was still reasonably light. I wandered out into their garden to discover the most amazing growth of green and colour. Their garden has no real structure (to me) but comes together as a bit of a wonderland. Everchanging with the seasons.

I don't know what this plant is but if we are lucky, they might leave a comment.

Their garden is occasionally decorated with the odd piece of whimsy.



For whom the bell tolls.



Down the side of their house a natural micro climate offers a perfect spot for these ferns.

Saturday came and I was out the door to my first track (that's cycle on the Velodrome) session in 4 months since my little back injury. I was elated to be back but exhausted at the end of 3 hours of intensive training. Then it was back home to go shopping with Sue to buy ingredients for the nights dinner - now I have to say that shopping is not my favourite past time but eating is. Sue had a special 3 course meal in mind but it was reduced back to only two. Maybe the main course will be for Sunday night.



King prawns for dinner before cooking.



I just quickly popped them into salted boiling water for a minute or two. All they needed was a squeeze of lemon and some mayo and sweet chilli sauce for dipping. Can't get better than that!

They were very yummy - and filling so the main course was reserved for Sunday's night dinner.



Cacky looking photo, but tasted really good. Leon was still hungry after the prawns, so I made a quick caramel sauce with brown sugar, butter and a little cream, and warmed some mango and strawberries in it and slathered it over a couple of fluffy, American style pancakes.


After dinner we sat down to watch the Kevin Costner movie "Field of Dreams""
Build it and he will come..
How I love sports movies, they always bring a tear to my eye.



And I also had time to mow the lawns - well it's not a huge job as you can see!

 A sunday ride and coffee with the boys and girls saw me back home to go shopping - Oh no, not again. Yes but this time for weather boards to be replace the rotting ones at the back of the house. Job done when Sue said, "time to make pasta."


We had rotting weather boards.
 Strangely it's not our 80 year old boards but our 20 year old ones needing replacing this weekend.
I hear the haunting voice saying, they dont build them as the used to. How true.



The beetroots



Beetroot and goat's cheese entree



Sue started me off on the pasta making but then I took over.
I think this could be my future role in kitchen life.



Ït was so much Yummmmmm!
Salmon and pasta.

 I have to say that Leon did a great job with the pasta. He's helped me once before, but he pretty much did it all this time. I made a sauce to go with it. Reduced some white wine with shallots, added some chicken stock, then pesto and a touch of cream, then lightly poached same salmon in it. Yummo.
Back to the salads during the week after all that cream this weekend though!

Ánd that was our weekend - and yours???

Really looking forward to sharing our second trip to France with you next Wednesday.

St Kilda Junction - Pre War

Most days of the week I pass through St Kilda Junction, now just a wide expanse of road and traffic lights. Cars converge from many angles fighting for their particular lane on their way to and from inner Melbourne  city.
I'm old enough to vaguely remember what it was like before now, but only as a child in the back seat of my parent's car.
I found some old photographs on the internet courtesy of the National Library of Australia and so I have posted them for Funky Friday.


Check out the trams - we still have them running here but the old hotel is gone to widen the road.



And at one time, this was the view from the very top of the Hotel
looking down St Kilda Parade to Marvelous Melbourne.

OK, back on the scene now

Our broadband is back to normal speed now. Our internet contract is AUS$50 per month for 120G but 50G off peak. When the boys download their movies on peak, boy does it go quickly so we'll be monitoring much more closely from now on.
I'd be interested to know how it works for our overseas readers - having said that, welcome to two new followers, Dave and Cathy. Let's hear from you on comments
Work has been full on this week so we'll post again on the weekend with next Wednesday being stories on our 2008 trip to France - On that trip we took Tommy with us, our Tom Tom GPS. He's a GPS with a wicked sense of humour. I also took my bike on that trip.
We'll leave you with a photo of that trip and we'll talk again on Monday after the weekend.


Frogs legs in France

By the way, it's raining again in Melbourne.

CYA

Thought I might just add a couple of piccies from our Son, Mitchell's collection from recently when he went to a fireworks exhibition down the road on a local beach.
We think he has a bit of talent, don't you?

No Broadband - Not much of a Post

Sorry folks - no piccies, no stories. It's all tooooo slow this weekend.
We used all of our broadband for the month with the boys downloading movies, playing games and whatever.
We'll be back next Wednesday though.

I can tell you that we had a marvelous evening with friends that we met with in Paris last April. It was just a nice night, friendly and relaxed with good food, good wine and great company.

You might remember that last weekend we had the most glorious weather when my father stayed with us, well it hasn't stop raining in Melbourne over last few days. Still it is still warm.

I do see that our bloggers in the northern hemisphere are into winter with snows and so it looks like a white Christmas for them. It takes ages for our favorite blogs to load we should catch up on their news by the first of the month.