Let's go to Mont St Michel on Tour de France day! First Aussie win!

The sun sets over Mont St Michel

On our last visit to France we got very lucky. We'd planned to stay in Mont St Michel overnight and were delighted to get an email from our hotel advising us that our booking coincided with the Tour de France. They actually thought we'd be upset as some roads would be closed and your could only walk to the Mont on this day. Well, as our hotel was about half a kilometre from the Mont I didn't see a problem. We were delighted! And this was the year when the Aussie, Cadel Evans, took the gong! It was a pretty awesome day, swinging between trippin' up the Mont and cheering on the cyclists.

First view of the Mont in the distance is pretty spectacular

Getting closer is exciting

Let's hurry back! The Tour de France riders are approaching and my husband (recently returned from our visit to Morocco is so excited I thought the gendarmes would arrest us as suspicious characters. But they took no notice...) 

First sighting! Is Cadel Evans (the Aussie winner for 2011) in the lead?

Man, here they all are already! These guys mean business. The palindrome or whatever they call it.

Took a lot of gendarmes to keep us in order. 

I had to escape to the cloisers of Mont St Michel to recover from all the excitement.

Hope you enjoyed your visit to Mont ST Michel on July 7, 2011. Go Aussie!

Driving through the Dordogne, France, and the stunning Rocamadour

On our last trip to France, we managed to find the time to spend a few days in the Dordogne. What a beautiful area in France's South-West, foie gras country.

Gorgeous bridges spanning gorgeous rivers

Gorgeous, peaceful canals to pause and reflect

Another bend in the river

We arrived in the beautiful medieval town of Sarlat, our base for our stay, to find the town in holiday mode.

Meandering the medieval streets half the night was such fun

Rocamadour was one of the most gobsmacking sites - a town built into a cliff. We were just 2 of the million people who visited in 2011.

Wasn't it wonderful to be walking these medieval cliff streets and feasting on foie gras.

View from the top of Rocamadour

The church is really built into the top of the mountain. Wow!

Just thought this grotto was so beautiful, right at the top near the church

Maybe I could realise my dream of owning my own restaurant. A Vendre (For Sale) down the old stone streets in Rocamadour

I hope you enjoyed your trip to the Dordogne and Rocomadour

Come back soon!

Free Easter reading if you like chick lit!

A delightful author I follow at Chocolate for Writers, Juliette Sobanet, is offering the kindle edition of her very excellent novel, Sleeping With Paris, free over Easter. I love this book (ah, pa! I had to pay for it!) but I thought I'd let you know it can be yours gratis!

Amazon synopsis:


Sleeping with Paris won first place in the Women’s Fiction category of the 2010 Washington Romance Writers Marlene Awards and was a finalist in the 2010 Valley Forge Romance Writers Sheila Contest.


Charlotte Summers is a sassy, young French teacher who is two days away from moving to Paris with the love of her life and from fulfilling her dream of studying at the prestigious Sorbonne University in France. But when she discovers her fiancé’s online dating profile and has a little chat with the busty red-head he’s been sleeping with on the side, she gives up on committed relationships altogether and decides to navigate Paris on her own.


Determined to stop other women from finding themselves in her shoes, Charlotte creates an anonymous blog on how to date like a man in the City of Love—that is, how to jump from bed to bed without ever falling in love. But, with a slew of Parisian men beating down her door, a hot new neighbor who feeds her chocolate in bed, and an appearance by her sleazy ex-fiancé, she isn’t so sure she can keep her promise to remain commitment-free. 


And, when Charlotte agrees to write an article for a popular women’s magazine about her Parisian dating adventures—or disasters, rather—will she risk losing the one man who’s swept her off her feet and her dream job in one fell swoop?

Let's travel to Barritz in France's South West. Beautiful pictures for you.

A prime destination well branded by the passage of Napoleon III and the Famous, Biarritz has always been one of France’s most welcoming towns. A century ago, thanks to the Empress Eugenie, the little whaling town became a fashionable summer resort that, through the years, has stayed open to the outside world without ever losing its identity. 

Today, Biarritz is undoubtedly the only town where you can see neoprene-clad surfers with their boards under their arms crossing paths with business men in suits and ties carrying towels. A funny image, yet so common... Open and cosmopolitan, Biarritz, the pearl of the Basque coast, carries this mix of styles close to its heart and loves bringing opposites together.


Tourism Biarritz


 On my trip to France last year, I visited Biarritz for the first time. Maybe it was the fact that it was a perfect day weather wise, but I thought Biarritz was gorgeous. I fell in love with its romantic setting - blue ocean, pink and blue hydrangeas falling down the terraces and the window boxes, the beautiful eateries close to the water - I thought it was paradise. I know it has a reputation for faded glory, but to me it was glorious.

Looking back to the main promonade

Lovely meandering roads but you're never far from the hydrangeas

The buildings are a little art deco now but they really suit the vibe

By Aussie standards not much of a surf beach, but it was once a surfie haven

After all that sightseeing, an ice cream was welcome, yummo! Hand me the pistache