A week' rest

I have finally found time to scribble a few words down. We are currently in Avignon in Provence having a week's R & R after the hectic schedule of the previous week.The weather is magnificent, like an Aussie summer. We are staying in a tiny "gite" ie flat which is literally inside the pool fence of this small low key resort near Avignon. Between touring around the local area by bus & train or with other guests who have hired cars and trying to communicate with the locals, we lie around on lilos in the pool or indugle ourselves with french food & wine. Next week we are back on the road to Spain and Portugal. I'll post photos when we get back to UK. Au revoir

Wednesday Belgium!

Well its actually Wednesday and we are in Antwerp (Belgium) after surviving 2 days in the city of bicycles, canals and interesting shopfronts?! ie Amsterdam. Antwerp is beautiful! Tomorrow Brussels! Photos still to come. We are staying on an old cruise boat moored in the harbor (hope it stays afloat tonight).

"Tuesday Belgium" - literally

Yes... we begin our odyssey through Western Europe on Monday. We leave here early Monday mornng and have breakfast in Amsterdam (city of sin). Over the next 3 weeks or so we make our way through 5 countries and end up (all being well) in Porto (Portugal). In the middle we have a week in Avignon in southern France to relax (and do some washing). No doubt we will wait in lots of queues and take lots of photos, so I hope to update this blog regularly. I'll keep the words to a minimum!!

Neglected blog!!

This blog has been sadly neglected over the last week due to lack of time, opportunity and photographs! Sarah and I have been in London and Paris and she was the official photographer with her own camera. So...I am awaiting some picutes from her when she returns home to Oz. She is in the air as I write. We have had a fabulous time over the last 3 weeks and tried to make up for the 6 months that we have not seen each other. Highlights I guess were catching up with my nephew Andrew and girlfriend Kitty in London, seeing Billy Eliott in the West End, and also visiting the Louvre again. On our first night in Paris we went to an outdoor cafe for an evening meal. A Parisian guy about my age and his mother sat very near to us and a conversation sprang up in broken English and very broken French. After about an hour of this the elderly lady who spoke no English at all, insisted on paying for our drinks! So much for the arrogant French..our experience was the opposite. This is our last working week for 6 weeks and we begin a 3 week adventure in Western Europe next week.

Out on the wild, windy moors.......

We have become intrigued by the story of the Bronte family who lived (and died...mostly young) in nearby Haworth. I have particular sympathy for the old man, Reverend Patrick, who outlived his wife and all of his famous children. Today we went for a walk on the moors near Haworth where Emily, Charlotte and Anne are supposed to have gained inspiration for their novels. We even visited Bronte seat, Bronte waterfall and Top Withins, the old house which according to local legend was the inspiration for Wuthering Heights. We walked in pouring rain and bright sunshine during the 4 hour walk.

ilkley moor (again)

We went walking last weekend on Ilkley Moor again.

foxglove

The Yorkshire countryside is covered in beautiful foxglove at present

York

Sarah and I spent a great day yesterday being tourists in York which is very "c & q" (cute and quaint)