THURSDAY 9/5/12

The day started off with the first sleep in for a week. With a heavy first day in The Hague and Caroline's sprained ankle we ddn't breakfast with Auntie Dieuwke until 9:30 upstairs in her appartment. We had been advised that a visit to the photo Museum and the Community Museum had been arranged and we headed off shortely after. Caroloine's cousin Beate (Carien's sister) arrived from Amsterdam after a 2.5 hour drive (traffic snarls) and we met at the Community Museum.  It housed a stunning array of 15th to 18th Century art and really depicted life in the Netherlands. There were also works from modern artists and all housed in a Frank Llyod inspired art-deco building of amazing proportions. We had lunch in the cafe there and then went back to the appartment to look at family photos and discuss recent events

. It was a short break before the next cousin, Adele and husband Hermond arrived from Amsterdam also to take us to a bar/cafe in Scheveningen ( near the beach). Cousin Frits was there waiting with beer in hand and soon the other cousins arrived, Toon and partner Helene, daughter Marije and cousin Steven arrived later. We had a wonderful night and it was just great for Caroline to be able to see her cousins on her fathers family tree and share some stories. There was much laughter and Aussie/Sicilian/Dutch sledging really kept things in balance. At the end of the evening we accompanied Steven to his house a street away. He kindly gifted us a book entitled "The Netherlands from the Top" which I immediately rewrite the title to be "Holland from Underwater or Downunder (take your pick". Frits drove us back to Chateau Bleu and here we are again typing these stories.

11/5/2012

We had a nice quiet morning, with Aunt Dieuwke, looking at local homes & architecture; trees; little streets; canals & bridges; walked through a large garden once belonging to a noble woman who created a lovely Japanese Garden (which escaped the Germans); geese. The garden was designed with tranquility in mind and it made you just want to think about nothing. We had a lovely lunch in the garden cafe. Once home, Guy assisted the handy man with broken doors and flooded balcony and with some computer problems which was a small act of gratitude for all that Auntie Dieuwke has done for us while we were in The Hague. Then it was time to move on to the station for the journey to Rotterdam. We passed the time at Rotterdam at a neary coffee shop munching on farmers cheese sandwiches and typically beautiful Dutch hot chocolates. The closer you get to France the better it becomes.

FRANCE - PARIS

In transit once again! Left Rotterdam at 16:58 and stopped briefly in Antwerp, scene of much destruction in WWII but still many of the old narrow houses remained. 2 hours ago and already flashed past Belgium and now on to Gare du Nord a Paris. We are on the Thallys train which is super fast. So much fun watching the traffic stopped on the freeways and our train speeding past at 350km+.

The countryside changed once over the Belgium border with smaller villages being the norm and fewer chateau visible from the fast train. However once the we were on the outskirts of Paris, Guy quickly spotted the Eiffel Tower and yelled out "There it is, There it is". S hortly after we landed at Gare du Nord and made our way to the Port d'Orleans line. it after peak hour but the metro was still full. We ended up being wedged inbetween the Gendarmes and some other people for a short while until the train started emptying out at Montparnasse Bienvieu.

12/5/2012

Paris!!! So exciting to be back here again! We had the night at the Ibis in Rue des Plantes. The hotel was very cozy but clean and modern, in a chique little neighbourhood called Alesia, which we chose as it was close to Montparnasse TGV. It was a lovely little area, beautiful little streets and houses from all eras. We found a nittle place to eat, a typical beautiful restaurant, with a lovely waitress. We did converse a bit in french with Deborah who smiled at our terrible French and answered politely in English . Main course was pasta with four fromage for Caroline and Sauteed veal with pasta accoutrements for Guy (pronounced Gee). The vin rouge was from the Rousillion and was tres bon aved bon gout(with good taste). Desert was Creme Brulle. We did a reconoitre of the area after to look for all the ATMs so that in case one didn't work we would not be without cash tomorrow.

We wandered around this morning, had croissants and hot chocolate for breakfast, then off to Montparnesse to catch the train to Bordeaux! We are on it now, Guy managed to get us 1st class tickets for a bon price (ridiculous price). This is another superfast train that flies at 400km+. Stunning old villages from the 14th century fly past and leave indelible imprints in our minds.

ROUFFIGNAC

We are now at our first (and really only) village, where we will spend the next fortnight. Amongst the cows, fields, chateau & dog Scooby.

The remainder of the train journey was smooth, though exciting when certain buildings of interest were spotted in the distance. We called a taxi to take us to our final destination, and he was very cheerful. The hosts (and dog Scooby) welcomed us , there was busyness about the place in a rush to get the appartment next door ready for visitors on Wednesday; It had rained all month and the grass was in great need of trimming.

We took ourselves off to the village to explore and do some shopping and to get some real croissants baguettes to munch on. It was much larger then we thought. Just up the road from us is the supermarket and a restaurant/cafe, a bit further on is the village with restored Church, amazing buildings and beautiful little shops. We collected some information about caves and chateaux to visit. Rouffignac had a horrid time in the last world war and there is information about it around the village and on street names, even the taxi driver gave us some history when we drove in. You could never imagine it now in the quietness of the place now (except for a manic dog near the Bric a Brac shop which was nearly over the fence with unpleasant intent). We had intended to have dinner over a three hour period. Caroline and I started with the baguette, butter, reclette and the foie gras for Guy. We sat outside with a fine Chateau Banquine 2007 and just enjoyed our first evening sunshine dinning experience. Sleepiness overtook us and so a walk down a nearby lane beckoned.

The glowing light was fading as we returned to our gite and sleepiness again set in. The cows have joined us in the next paddock and we are off to bed.