16 May - A picture tells a thousand words

I can't believe it - I'm already behind on posts!  So much is going on at the moment, so I thought I'd post a picture or two instead of writing too much.

France, Luxeuil les Bains: an old door suggested a great backdrop for this photo which I call 'little boy blue' - I love this colour and we are spoilt for choice here for stunning backdrops and light.

And look at the (lack of) clothes, it was such a lovely hot day.

Amby actually skips to school...

Here's a question for Felix - can you spot the snail in this photo?

Something I haven't done yet is to describe the epic journey it took to get us here (and I'm still not yet sure I'm over it enough to do so...). 
We managed to visit four countries in one day - pretty impressive huh!  Here are some moments from half way through the journey, in a
little town called Barcelona.............ok it is a HUGE town. 

 

After spending 3 hours trying to understand how to make a simple payphone work, we hefted our stuff down to left-luggage
and bought cheap bus tickets to the city centre. At some point you just gotta let go and trust things will work out.

By the way, there's so much I left out of the previous statement - we ran around Barcelona airport with 2 massive trolleys full of precariously balanced suitcases for about 5 hours, trying to sort our lives out, and

did I rue the moment I decided to go with the Samoan Samsonites for the kids toys.  But a cheap lunch of spanish beer and tapas really made us (adults) feel human again, though we didn't eat here - I just loved the sign!

We rushed around trying to find all the Gaudi buildings -  here are the unfinished La Sagrada Familia basilica, the Casabattlo with it's skull-like balconies and hundreds and thousands sprinkles, the La Pedrera, reminiscent of a melting icecream cake.

Back in France - take a look at the welcome we got!!!!!

The runny cheese in the last photo is Cancoillotte.  I am going to somehow find the time to dedicate a page of this blog to cheeses from Franche Conte (and nearby), and to the beautiful Jura Vin de Paille a straw coloured wine from the nearby Jura region. I need to send a cheers to the girls at Vic market cheese stall for their dedicated efforts in keeping us cheesed up, and Bernie and Kathy at Red Hill Kitchen for the best Rillettes ever.  You can check them out (Bernie and Kathy) next time you are around Red Hill Markets.  Shameless plug but honestly one of the best experiences we had in Oz.

Red Hill Kitchen (5 mins from Red Hill markets, down a long winding dirt road)
67 Prossors Lane
Red Hill VIC 3937

I want to thank everybody for their kind comments so far.  I know you all have really busy lives so it's encouraging to see you all out some time aside to keep up with us.   You can comment directly on this site, or email us, and by subscribing to this feed, you can be alerted by email when we post.  We love hearing from you all.

Comments

[Olga]

Ruth,

Thanks heaps for your blog and the pictures!
It was great you could see Barcelona (I envy you, it's such a long trip there from Australia!)
And we hope now to see some pics of your village and French nature!
Good luck to Amby at school!