liberty

i've wiped my hands of it:
work.....
we are, once again, gainfully unemployed and soon to be homeless.
yippee!!!
the spring route beckons...
the next few weeks will be filled with plenty of to-ing and fro-ing. i'm going to chamonix tomorrow to see my folks while pascal stays behind to make the most of the snow before it melts.
and boy is it melting faster than you can even say melting snow!! the northern slopes of all the hills round here are turning green and are dotted with alpine flowers, smiling sweetly at the sun. we walked yesterday up a valley road and saw bouquetin (ibex- mountain goats) and marmuts (small furry hibernating rodent type things) nibbling at spring's grass. the air is heavy and sweet.
we were going to go skiing this morning but stayed in bed instead (bed is always better than sport); now with the almost subtropical temperatures it's only the morning skiing that's any good- by afternoon it's all soup.
so, no more tartiflette, raclette and other potato/cheese french alpine wonders. it's all salads and loveliness from now on!!!
xxx
b

new beginnings

my friends, you have followed me down almost every road i have travelled over the last year, but not the personal route.
some things have changed and so perhaps i need to change this blog too, the cleansing of our souls will be tomorrow and so the new story will begin after that
xxxxx
b

equinox....

From beginning to end the months have flown past in a fluffy white blur. Flashes of bright blue from an eager sky are almost the only contrast to the monochromatic landscape of dormant trees, rocks and snow. The days, and indeed the months, have moulded into one big pile and are now beginnning to defrost: Spring, that beautiful princess, goddess of promise, is on its way. Buds of willows swell, counting the days, ready to burst into leafery while tiny patches of grass, determined to be green, wait patiently for the snow's retreat. The sun, less eager to be elsewhere, loiters as it makes its daily journey, poking its rays into deeper, darker crevices every day.

Today i walked to and from work, a brisk 20 minutes, happy to have bright red gumboots, happy to have the sun on my face, happy to hear the little birds chirping their welcome song to the spring sunshine. Happy.

Last writing had me just about to escape from my plaster caste prison to the freedom of scratching and bathing and all sorts of other two-handed activities. In the meantime i have even tried skiing, would you believe! 14 years ago was the last time i was seen on skis heading downhill in a blur of colour, screaming. Not a lot changed in the interim, but for the engineering of skis which makes turning, stopping and not looking quite so idiotic a wee bit easier. Pascal and i stuck to the 'green runs' (nothing to do with bad meals in india) and mostly enjoyed ourselves: spring skiing: sun shining, trees wafting pine oil at your nostrils (yes, the french alps have trees growing in the middle of the piste... ) and easy snow. I enjoyed it so much (as in, didn't break anything) that i'm going to give it another go. Maybe even this season!

in the meantime i have had one of my travelling sisters, an equally not mad nomad, lacey, sharing our home with us. poor lacey, she came to europe on the promise of easy work and was fired the very next day. she's now lugging round a very serious amount of lovely boots/books clothing looking for a solution in a crazy world. (if you do see her by the roadside pick her up!! ) as always, i love being able to share things with my family and i really hope to see her (and you!!) soon.

Oh, i didn't tell you the sorry tale of poor wee maggy... parked up, minding her own business (in an avalanche zone- after one of the season's biggest dumps the local council erected signs in the carpark where she was parked forbidding access due to avalanche risk!!!) and some narrow minded connard decided to nick the car stereo. I wouldn't mind if a) the car looked decent in the first place and therefore looked like it had a decent car stereo; b) the car stereo actually functioned properly and c) they didn't bend the door frame right back, breaking the window and door in the process..... i have since bought a replacement door (it only cost 20% of the value of the car! Bargain!) only to discover that the peugeot people, bless 'em, developed a special thingo, that requires a special tool to remove and replace the door!

But, in the meantime, i have only 2 weeks left of work. No great shame really as i don't think i was cut out for the pressure of being a shop-keeper. I don't think the boss will be shedding too many tears over my departure either. Not wanting to mention the 'P' word (as in plan) because you know where that'll lead... other than towards the sea: corsica, croatia, tour of the former adriatic war zones... and finally back to aotearoa!!! Yah! But, not mentioning the 'p' word, i think it would be better to keep you updated rather than tell you in advance what we might/mightn't be doing....

Winter's battle finally over, the colourful caravan that is the collective of ski-bums, hippies, freaks and seasonaires, will begin following the melting snow's race downhill, descending the valley to make its merry way elsewhere.

and as usual, i hope to write more and put more piccies on here....
xxxx
b&p

boy, time flies when you're doing not a lot.
tomorrow the resin cast comes off my arm! it wasn't all that hard- well at least not for me: i imagine pascal has something else to say on the matter. needless to say he now faces semi-retirement from the world of dishes-washing for at least a few weeks!!

it's snowing out. the town has returned to its rather picturesque alpine village scenery. new people have arrived and so the busy part of the season starts.... february is rumoured to be more silly here than christmas. people come, people go, people spend lots of money. it's a very strange environment.

it's snowed a lot over the last 24 hours, i've watched mini-avalanches from the warmth of our apartment. it creates a lot of work for everyone, the snow: avalanche prevention on the high slopes (as in, they do controlled explosions to cause avalanches and to clear the slopes from any dangerous snow) snow clearing off the roads, footpaths and carparks.... craziness.
i spend very little time outdoors- even the bright sunny days only manage to warm to just above zero. i wonder how all the wild animals cope- where do they go?
bring on the spring i say!!!

ode to winter follies

the mountains stand proud, craggy, white against the sky's blue/black/grey. but sometimes they hide, cacooned in fluffiness.
the valleys in shade lie deep beneath frosty blankets that won't thaw till the equinox
the valleys with light shine, reflect the sun back, blind the inhabitants with the brilliance of the snow.

boys and girls, it's 2 hat cold out, thermals and special grippy boots. nothing less.

and here're the follies:
our poor naked bodies: hairless: we're not meant to be hanging out in alpine snowiness! we're tropical babies (ok, so maybe that's just me)
we're certainly not meant to be strapping things to our feet and descending said mountains at break-neck(wrist) speed.

dear readers, i broke my wrist snowboarding.
i didn't need helicoptering off the mountain, luckily.
i didn't suffer any amputations.
but i do have my arm in resin for a month.
i said a little more than just bugger. (it's amazing how easy it is to swear when everyone else around you is speaking another language: it's like your words float freely, harming no ears, transmitted directly to the god of accidents who takes it as a compliment of a job well done.)

so here's a list of things i can still do, easily with one hand:
drink.
um, hold on, i'm thinking.
oh, yeah: clean my teeth (although the toothpaste onto toothbrush thing is a bit hard. i have a technique now but whilst developing this technique one brush was lost to toilet...)
um, i think that's it!

and so everything else falls onto either the can-do-with-difficulties list or slips onto the need-assistance list.

winter sports eh?
as one of my wise friends told me we are definately meant to propped up under umbrellas on tropical beaches sipping coctails!


hope you lot are keeping safe and warm!!!
xxxxx
b

publıc transport

we wıll walk, we wıll catch a tram, we wıll get a ferry followed by a bus and then on to the aırport where we wıll catch a plane. yıp, the cheap as chıps easyjet flıght wıll take less tıme traversıng all europe than the trans-ıstanbul tour by publıc transport to get to the aırport. (the alternatıve taxı fare wıll otherwıse be more expensıve than saıd cheap flıght).

ın the last few days we have sıpped tea; smoked water pıpes; popped ınto mosques, art gallerıes, bazaars, underground cısterns, museums that were once churches converted to mosques; played backgammon; eaten and slept. we caught a ferry to asıa and notıced that the food was cheaper but otherwıse everythıng else was the same. we walked up and down several of ıstanbul s seven hılls. we ve been mıstaken for spanısh on several occasıons, but sınce pascal had hıs beard shaved off some thınk he s a turk. we ve not shopped as much as ı thought we would (pascal wıll swear that we shopped twıce as much).

but otherwıse we are happy, ınspıred, refreshed, revıved and ready to return to that real world that awaıts us: that of -12degrees of snowy alpıne wınter downhıll festıvıtıes.
oh, and work.
xxxx
b
ps promıse promıse promıse photo updates to all entrıes to follow when we return to fransa

new autumn

mother nature desıgned autumn to gıve everyone a lıttle joy: leaves dance delıcate ballets as they fall to the ground to waıt for gardeners and chıldren to play amongst. the sun shınes gently lettıng those sun weary gardeners get on wıth theır harvest ın peace.
and we re lucky enough to see a second autumn after frollıckıng amongst the leaves ın parıs parks and watchıng the rapıd onslaught of snow and all thıngs wıntery as we clımbed ınto the mountaın s valley.
and even though thıs cıty ıs heavıly blanketed ın a thıck smog, or maybe because ıt ıs, the lıght ıs extraordınary, golden, happy, as ıt reflects on the golden tops of the thousand mınarets.
today ıs frıday, the holy muslım day of prayer and my favourıte day of the week here for fındıng peace and tranquılıty. we were woken thıs mornıng by the most soulful call to prayer; the streets were almost empty as the workers took the day to celebrate famıly lıfe and love.
the turkısh are very frıendly, theır smıles genuıne and free. ı know theır lıves are much the same as ours: usual work/money worrıes. but, beıng muslıms, theır streets, bazaars and shops aren t lıttered wıth fake chrıstmas nıcetıtes and commercıal woes.
we re creatures of habıt, pascal and ı, and we ve found some happy turkısh chefs to serve our çorba (lentıl soup) and we pass the same streets every day to take our tea or coffee- well away from the overwhelmıng tourıst dıstrıcts. (downhıll from the grand bazaar, through the shoe manufacturıng dıstrıct, next to a busy mosque).
yesterday, ın the button dıstrıct (kıd you not, streets and alleyways devoted to fastenıngs) ı found a shop that to my delıght (and much to pascal s too ı m sure) would let me browse and pıck a few to buy sıngly. the shop owner who hardly spoke 4 words of englısh smıled at pascal and told hım: women, all world, same. and wıthout knowıng ıt, the 2 men followed hıs own prophecy by smılıng sympathetıcally at each other.

summary of world travels: women lıke buttons and men lıke football. we all lıke peace and love and a good sunday/frıday/saturday famıly meal. and autumn sheds the same lıght, leaves and bountıful fruıt on all of us
xxxx
b

swisstanbul

the roads wound round and up and down.
ıt was snowıng when we left our valley.

ın swıtzerland we notıced:
black and whıte cows parked outsıde of quaınt lıttle churches, waıtıng to make theır donatıons towards the natıonal cheese fund.
approxımately 1000km of motorway/autoroute/autobahn lovıngly sıgnposted ın several languages. (for future reference ausfahrt ıs german for exıt: no gıgglıng, the germans aren t tryıng to be funny)
the border control dudes don t carry large pocket knıves even though they ve more than lıkely been ın the army.
everyone speaks wıth an ıtalıan accent (german, french... all ıtalıan)
whıch leads me to the conclusıon that:
swıtzerland ıs a large front for the ıtalıan mafıa, they needed someway to launder all that lovely money and what better way to do ıt than to ınvent a country of polıte, tıdy, dıscreet people who love the sımple thıngs ın lıfe lıke cows, chocolate, motorways and bankıng. and ınvıte the germans and the french along just so ıt doesn t look too obvıous.

our journey to the aırport was very long and confusıng. as the crow flıes basel ısn t very far from where we are, ınfact basel ıs rıght on the french border. tragıcally, we weren t travellıng by crow; but ıt s easıer to get to vıa swıtzerland (and 30euros for a motorway pass and NO free chocolate) so we spent half the day not entırely sure whether we were comıng or goıng. we worked ıt out dependıng entırely on how ıtalıan the accent was. untıl we crossed one border ınto france (what ıs ıt wıth these people and theır lack of sense of humour???) ıt s a good thıng we had some spare tıme that we dıdn t want to waste ın duty free.

cross the border a few more tımes (parked car ın france, departure gate 83 ın swıtzerland) then off we went to ıstanbul, the cıty that traverses the straıght between asıa and europe and ıs busy dıppıng ıts toes ın eıther pond, arrıvıng at an hour that found even the most devout muslıms stıll tucked up tıghtly ın theır dreams. we saw the sun rıse slowly over the skylıne (domınately pıerced by towerıng mınarets and softened by the voluptuous domes) whıle we searched for a hotel.
the cultural vultures that we are of course we wıll be makıng every effort to vısıt everythıng, photograph ıt and report back to you over the next few days. after we ve caught up on sleep.
gulegule
xxxx
b

a bientot paris

i would love to come up with an incredible discription of the journey out of paris but other than to say it was slow that was about it.
however once we left paris the road unfolded rather delicately, pretty french castles dotted the countryside, designers of children's play areas had lots of fun (as in, they created mushroom parks for them to play in) and then after a few motorway links we were swirling through alpine roads: giant viaducts standing proud of the mountain valleys, by-passing villages and making the route a little like some sort of space travel. the mountains were peaked with snow and some villages were blaketed in heavy frosts that i'm sure will only get thicker until the spring arrives.
we stopped in chamonix/argentiere for a coupla days to see my bro before heading off to our new home for the next few months: val d'isere. altitude 1850m, attitude: very cool. there are clumps of leftoversnow hanging about, up to no good and a pretty mountain stream running through the town. the mountains rise up around the village menacingly; their sharpteeth tops grinning at the sun. aiie, mountains: fresh thin air rosey cheeked madness.
so, we unpacked (poor maggy was filled to the brim) put it all in its place and relaxed.
we start work in about 2ish weeks.
in between times we will be going off to istanbul to buy some pots for making wintersoups and a chopping board and maybe a nice rug to welcome our toes in the morning.
hope you, like us, have got a great surply of thermals somewhere cos if you read this blog further into the winter it'll make you cold!!!
keep warm and happy
xxxx
b

da girls

how many???
kiara, lacey and i, in best form, supporting the all blacks @ lyon.
nice one girls xx 

lyonopolis

nestled between the rhône and the saône rivers with a hill for praying and a hill for working the pretty ex roman trading post is quite the cultural city. not that i saw much of its culture.
as per usual i looked at it from the outside and a little from the inside of a glass. (which is kinda cultural...?) its a town where they roll out the barrel: the heart of the beaujolais:
so, november 16th is the beaujolais nouveau fest (as in, when everyone gets to sample this season's beaujolais wine) and what better time to go catch up with friends and to do a little work on the city that is the topic of my latest research and employment.
so, maggy the great, traverser of countries (yes, plural) drove us down there at not quite break neck speeds a coupla days early but in time to visit some of pascal's great uni buddies.
we also popped in to a little mediaevil town perched atop a hill in the freezing cold.
we walked up the praying hill to witness muffled views of the city in the rain, with a mini eiffel tower to the right and a monstrous church to our lady the fourvière (dunno what that means) to the left, snuck past the churches to the saints paul, john & george (maybe fourvière is old latin for ringo?) all in time to go watch the rugby.
ooooh what a game!
i shared the spectacle with my 2 american chicas (if you've been following the blogs, these are the same 2 lovelies who i met and travelled with in nicaragua) who enjoyed the action, or at least the boys' form....

once again it was nice to catch up with friends, they make the road worth while. and for me, i got to meet some more of pascal's 'family', a very important family. (c'etait un plaisir de faire votre connaissance x)

and for maggy, well she had her picture taken at 97km/h the wee tart. we're not quite sure if the gendarmerie will be able to publish the picture directly to the blog.....


oh, and as for the beaujolais, well, this year i'd probably recommend it to go with a strong cheese, maybe parmesan, on top of your salad.

xxxx
b

middle earth

i always found it ironic living in the shires, the actual shires that mr tolkien wrote about when new zealand claims to be 'middle earth'. the similarities tend to end there. apart from the hobbits.
they're nice people, the hobbits. like to eat, like to drink and be merry, they love dancing and having parties. very friendly. totally trustworthy. and despite the fact that not all of them have hairy toes (i'm sure this has got more to do with depilatory actions rather than genetics) they've all got big hobbit hearts.
pascal got to meet my hobbit family and friends and was firmly welcomed as one of the clan.
it's kinda crazy really, to go 'home' when you know it's not anymore; to be welcomed like you've been away for years but continue on chatting like you didn't go any further than the shop.
aiie, hobbit love eh?!

we ventured out of the shires, and crossed the cotswolds popping in on some friendly menhirs enroute. pascal commented that the cotswolds hills are more like a cotswolds bump... i guess if you compare les alpes to snowdonia you might get the drift of it.

middle earth, middle england: where some might equate middle to average i'd say you couldn't get any further from the truth!

thanks for having us, it was wonderful. and we'll see you all in france for a hobbit style camping holdiday!!!
xxxxx
b

ey up!

phew, after a very brief period of notdrinkingnotsmoking verging on purity it has all been chucked out the window for a last ditched attempt at hedonism. and boy, they know how to do that round here!

welcomed
back up the front
with my reddtich crew.

and the family has expanded....

loads of new faces, old faces, slightly wiser faces.
it has been a little crazy to be back somewhere that i'd never thought i'd be but crazy mad lovely all at the same time. aiie.
so, quite predictably, i'm making this a rather quick entry 'cos i'm off out, down the pub....
xxx
b

draw this

as we were out walking the other day we passed a window without anything for sale that still managed to catch our eye. the window was filled with portraits: sketched printed glued in pencil in ink in coal. as part of the nation wide thingo (campaign?) 'the big draw' various schools and community colleges around the place are opening up and holding free workshops. so pascal and i passed an interesting afternoon covering ourselves and various bits of paper with charcoal ink glue and arrived at the end with some very interesting portraits of one another and the conclusion that we are very different. pascal preferred to use very simple but in fact very elaborate techniques: single lines, very suggestive. a minimalist. me (and i don't think you'll be surprised at this), i wanted a go at everything. mixing up the medias; not at all suggestive, totally apparent, but a tiny bit secretive at the same time. lets face it, you all knew it: a maximist.
anyway, we were allowed to keep everything we made bar one portrait. the portrait we left behind will be displayed in an exhibition next week (so if you're anywhere round georges rd on the way between elephant and castle and blackfriars, london, look out for the morley gallery).

it was kinda nice to see how everyone sees everybody completely differently despite the fact we've all got 2 eyes.
xxxx
b

nitecar

i know this picture is already in the collage but i like it so much i thought it deserved a biggerbetterfaster go at it. 

paris/london

so, one minute we're in paris the next we're in london.
not quite next minute (try24hrs later). bizarre.
the weekend past we wandered into the city to do a little shopping. absolute chaos: full tilt consumerism with wall to wall people grabbing things to buy like it was the end of the world. crazy. after all that we needed to escape to a park to try and capture the last of autumn's sweet sunshine. we headed to le jardin du luxembourg where we found the non-shopping half of paris doing the same thing: enjoying the subtlety of autumn. there were people playing chess, people playing cards, kids on ponies, a science fair, people playing pétanque. it was just like one of manet's paintings (but his was at les tuileries, and everyone was wearing tophats)..... we kicked leaves, looked over shoulders at games of chess and cards and tried to guess which people has recently left the science fair.
zip, cross country, cross former battle-fields, past wargraves and mining towns. onto a ferry and plonk, old blighty. we parked up road-side to sleep the rest of the night before driving north to london in the morning, stopping briefly in canterbury for an english breakfast enroute.
and london; big, busy, double-decker buses, tubish underground, not a sign of the wombles.
popped into the kiwi embassy for a quick kiaora and passport exchange (surpirsingly bloke there didn't comment on appauling photos), sampled some delicacies from home like buzzbars and peanut slabs (mmmmmmm) before wandering off to do almost exactly the same thing, but in london. look in on shop windows (carnaby st, regent st, oxford circus)- monopoly anyone?
but then we saw the national gallery was holding a quick exhibition: 'from manet to picasso' and there's nothing like being impressed by impressionism while you're already being overwhelmed.
london, eh? showing us scenes of paris. which is busy sampling bits of london.

paris par nuit

tuesday night, on the town, zooming round.
and even that it was midnight, even that it was a tuesday they were all still at it. sipping coffees, leaning on posts, cycling somewhere, driving somewhere, consuming, being consumed by the fantastic city. 

paris, non smoking

2 weeks into the city of couture, culture and cuisine and i think that we've managed to sample a little of everything.
thanks to the generosity of the french government and our status of being 'poor' (and a piece of paper to prove it) we are able to visit many galleries, museums and swimming pools (amongst other things) for free. very nice. although at the centre pompidou i'm sure the patrons spent as much time looking at one another as at the exhibition itself!
we were very lucky to visit the french president's latest gift to the republic: the branly. the design of the building is rather controversial (for those who are the conservative/bourgeoise type): incredibly modern earthy coloured 'boxes' stacked, interspersed with glass walls (which are shaded by what i imagine would be sun-reactive metal venetian-like blinds) and a wall clothed in a great moist plant-carpet. the landscape design is rich, again providing contrasts between texture, colour and the sculptural aspects of both the hard and soft materials. the branly is plopped right smack in the middle of 7th arrondisement: to me and you that means the eiffel tower is right behind it and the rather affluent art-nouveau neighbourhood en-route to invalides is on the other side.
and all that before you get inside the museum!!
the museum houses a vast collection of indigenous art from around the world. most of the art was collected during the period of collonisation, which provokes a thought or two; but mostly i just appreciated the simple and equally elaborate beauty of everything there from musical instruments to rich tapestries, carvings, jewellery and beautifully embroidered clothes. monuments to gods and talismen for men.
and then we went shopping. or at least window shopping (the french call it lecher les vitrines which means window licking!!). my lord. it's a jolly good thing that the government are sponsoring us!!!
however, we need something to ocupy us as we're now up to day 5 in the non-smoking marathon. (although i think i am somewhat more occupied than pascal in the shopping bonanza).
yes, i am a non- smoker!!!!!

this is how much of a non-smoker i am: today we went for a drive around paris (on the perepherique: mental ring road; up the champs elysees: mental shopping district (no window licking from the driving seat, damn!!); round the arch de triomphe: super mental roundabout where there are no rules other than don't hit anyone, which i only just managed to not break!!!) without once fancying a cigarette!!! or killing anyone (nearly killing people doesn't count).

so, the cuisine bit. i guess that ties in with the non- smoking bit as i am currently eating a rather large and varied selection of almost everything (except animals). i hope to have that in check before things get out of hand (thanks again, monsieur le president for the free visits to the swimming pool). i can now thoroughly recommend at least 200 types of cheese, especially the goatish varieties (vegan? abandoned that planet as soon as i became french!!), which can always be appreciated with a glass of wine. :)


la vie est belle, n'est-ce pas?

i'm more than happy. even though the sun drags itself across the sky now in a sulkish fashion indicating that autumn is here; the trees flashing red warning us that winter is on its way. i'm a little scared of winter, but i can't wait till spring!!! loving the french people, life and culture.
xxxxxxxx
b
oh, ps, about to hit the road again in a coupla days, heading towards ol' blighty.

tour de france, suite

bonjour a tous,
je pense que vous aurez tous compris, petits et grands, francophones, francophiles et autres, le billet que rebecca vient d ecrire (si vous n avez pas tout saisi, relisez avec un accent neozelandais et vous comprendrez tout par magie). je note juste a l attention des pointilleux qu il fallait remplacer "trompes" par "erreurs", "ray" par "re", "marron" par "marrant", "freimont" par "fouesnant".
nous sommes donc finalement arrives a paris par la porte de st cloud apres une saison de travail au cap ferret et un joli petit tour de la cote ouest de notre charmant pays. merci encore a tous ceux qui ont pris le temps de nous recevoir, d ecouter nos histoires, de nous servir copieusement de boissons alcoolisees aperitives, accompagnatives et digestives, et surtout de regarder (avec un interet parfois etonnant) les moultes photos que nous avons prises au cours de l annee de voyage (heureusement pour vous, on avait pas mal trie...).
ici a paris, on s installe quelque peu, histoire de recharger les batteries et de visiter quelques musees, prendre des expressos sur les terrasses abritees, s inscrire aux assedics et autres demarchages administratifs pour la forme et pourquoi pas faire un peu de sport, apres tout on aura le temps d aller a la piscine, il parait que celle de la butte aux cailles est sympa.
pour ceusses qui sont dans le coin et qui lisent ce blog attentivement, n hesitez pas a nous appeler!!!
p

tour de france

bon jour tout le monde!!!
je vais essayer ecrire mon premiere 'blog' en francais.... svp m'excuser pour toutes les trompes....
bon.
on a partie de le cap le 1 septembre pour l'ile de ray ( pres de la rochelle) ou on a fait le camping; l'ile, apres le cap, etait tres marron. septembre est le mois de retrete (du monde qui a fini travailler) donc etait plein des campingcars et cheveaux gris..... les trucs modes nullepart.
on a continue par la rochelle ou on a reste qq jours chez maurice et collette. ils ont un tres jolie maison et jardin la bas avec beaucoup des oeseaux et une piscine du ciel. (le debut de septembre etait presque comme juillet ici, il faut que on prends les siestes chaque jour!)
j'ai decide apres ca que je voudrais etre un retrete aussi (meme que j'ai travailler soulement 2 mois cette annee!!). merci beaucoup a maurice et collette pour tous!!
au nord (un peu) on a reste a cote de le venice vert ou on a loue un canoe (presque un petit disastre.... on ne sera pas dans le prochain equipe olypique) avant reste chez famille bouffandeau (salut!! et merci encore xx) au pommerie (pres du cholet).
encore, plus de famille, la grandemere de pascal, denise (bon jour) et la tante et l'oncle et famille au cholet et apres tous les repas delicieux je ne peut pas imaginer pourquoi je ne suis pas enorme maintenant. oh la la!!! la vie francaise!!! je l'aime beaucoup!!!
on a passe par nantes (je crois que on est presque a bretagne maintenant?) ou on a visite sandrine, julian et petit ewan (un fan des all blacks, meme que il a seulement 1 ans ;) ). merci beaucoup, meme que j'avais mal au cheveaux prochaine jour...
finalement, a britagne ou on a trouve les menhirs, megolithes et toutes les choses prehistorique et du cidre et crepes aussie. les bretones sont fous (j'ai lu asterix quand j'etais petite!!). c'est tres jolie labas, et je crois (a ce moment) que c'est le region plus belle du pay. un autre tante et oncle de pascal habitent a freimont (je sais que ce n'est pas ecrit comme ca, mais si tu as besoin le trouver c'est a cote de quimper) quand on etait labas c'etait l'anniversaire de carole et on a eu la chance a celebrer avec la reste de la famille.
(merci beaucoup jeanpaul et carole xxxx)
on a reste chez jeanpaul et carole (ils ont un apartement a quimper) pour qq jours pendant on a fait les petits tour de britagne par voiture (le temp, meme que il a fait beau, on avait du vent aussi).... les petit villes du moyenages, fortifie avec les eglise enormes et les chateaux du les histoires des fees. magnifique.
et avant tu peut dire 'bon jour, ca va?' on etait sur le perefirique (??? la route ronde environ paris) dans la pluie avec du monde. bien venue a paris!!!


wow, that was really hard...
don't think i;ve ever written anything so long in french ever.

i was going to translate it but i don't think the language i use is that complicated, so if the google translation thingo doesn't work (and i'm sure it will) you'll have to use your imagination and i promise i'll write more, in english, next time.
xxxxxx
b