We spent ninety minutes this morning sitting behind some very nervous frenchmen. They had arrived at La Birerra in Siena to watch the first RWC semi-final and went from ecstacy when the Welsh captain was sent off to despair when Wales had a chance to win the game in the last few minutes.
Or, in their words – from “allez, allez, allez” to “sacrebleu” and back again.
As a WordPress blogger I receive a stream of emails about changes and improvements to the way WordPress works. The vast majority receive a cursory glance and are consigned to the trash.
One that arrived recently caught my attention. A company based in Germany called Feedfabrik could take any WordPress blog and make it into a book – both as a hard copy printed book and a soft copy PDF.
Given we had just reached 100 posts it seemed only sensible to make use of this offer. To that end, for those of you interested, below is a PDF booklet of the first 100 Toscanakiwi posts. The file size is 7.3Mb.
It is best viewed with the page setting “2 Up” in Acrobat.
Gentle readers, I have just updated our photo album with all the latest shots used on the blog and a bunch more. Click here to see them.
Before leaving New Zealand we had planned a weeks stay at Villefranche sur Mer on the coast just west of Nice. It was an ideal place to drop off our Peugeot lease car and collect our Renault lease car and to take a 4 day break from our holiday.
A holiday from our holiday if you will.
We stayed at our old favourite Hotel Welcome, right on the water, and were joined by Mike, Charmanie and James who had arrived in Nice a few days before us. This break was a chance to explore Villefranche a little more, sample some of the local cuisine, spend some time at the beach and soak up the atmosphere of the French Rivieria in peak season.
In the week we did all this. What else did we discover?
1) Much like other places some food is good and some isn’t
2) Meals tend to be less expensive and better quality further from the waterfront
3) The exception is La Mere Germaine right on the waterfront which we tried. Great food since 1938
3) Sitting on a beach is therapeutic no matter where you are in the world
4) The majority of French women have an urge to go topless on beaches. Some really, really shouldn’t
5) French service is more surly than Italian service but does warm up if you become a repeat customer
6) The girls are welcome everywhere we are which is great
7) Chateau Eza is always a great place for a drink – which costs about the same as a meal anywhere else.
It’s been a hectic week. Starting last Saturday we headed home from Slovenia to our cottage in Tuscany. Two days later we headed north to Nice on the French Riviera to swap cars – and spend 5 days at Villefranche Sur Mer with Mike, Charmaine and James – then it was back home on Friday.
Daisy takes everything in her stride
Time for a cup of tea and a lie down I think.
The concept of taking our girls into a bar or restaurant in Wellington is inconceivable. Here it is the accepted norm, in fact hotel and bar staff are quite surprised that we would even ask if it is possible. “But of course” was the standard response matched with a look of surprise.
So for the last week (and in the UK also) the girls have learnt about eating out. We always thought that Poppie would be good around other people, food, noise and the bustle of a bar or restaurant. We weren’t quite so sure about Daisy.
Our friend Andre nick-named her Walter (after grumpy Walter Mattau’s character Oscar in the TV series The Odd Couple) because she would sometimes greet him or the kids with a growl and a nip at any hand that was in reach. It’s fair to say Daisy isn’t good with people.
In a bar or restaurant she potentially was dynamite. And the first times we went into assorted pubs in the UK she had her moments – and a fair bit of time out on the street being walked up and down to cool off. On one occasion she exceeded herself and christened the pub carpet but, as someone pointed out, it was no worse than what happened to the carpet on a Friday night anyway.
By France she had the whole thing under her belt (or should that be collar) and no matter whether it was a half full local bar or a packed fine dining restaurant she behaved herself perfectly.
Up to a point. The only thing we have to master now with Daisy is other dogs. Daisy plus any strange dog means chaos because Daisy clearly thinks she’s a German Shepherd. She has no fear of other dogs and barks and snarls at them, anytime, anywhere.
It’s good we have something to work on over the next few months.
This gallery contains 12 photos.
We found it by luck. Searching for somewhere to stay in and around the Champagne region of France for a night, we stumbled across Le Château D’Etoges on Trip Advisor. Situated in the southern part of the Champagne it is … Continue reading
Good weather has followed us through France and we are now relaxing – even more than usual – on the Cote d’Azur at our favourite Cote d’Azur hotel – Hotel Welcome at Villefranche-Sur-Mer.
The view from our room at Hotel Welcome.
In the last four days we have driven the length of France from Calais to Nice with stops at Lille, a rather special Chateau in the Champagne region which warrants a post of its own, and in Lyon.
Our trusty Peugeot has served us well and is now covered in a broad selection of French bugs and insects. It has used two tanks of gazoil (diesel) – at about twice the price of diesel in New Zealand so don’t complain about high petrol prices folks. We have overtaken about 10,000 trucks on the trip and been overtaken by about the same number of flying Porsches, Audis and BMWs.
We are now only a day or so away from our home for the next 6 months and are looking forward to settling into a place for longer than one night and being able to unpack properly.
It was as simple as driving to Folkestone, flashing our passports at a seriously un-interested french customs officer sitting in a little booth and boarding the channel tunnel train.
Onboard the Chunnel Train.
Thirty five minutes later you drive off at Calais and head into Europe. Importantly remembering to drive on the other side of the road.
Bon Jour France.
Italy is about as far from New Zealand as you can get – both geographically and culturally. We’ve experienced wonderful holidays it Italy for the last decade and the nagging question has always been – what would it be like to live there?
The only way to answer that question was to step out of our comfortable lives in New Zealand and into whatever a life in Italy has to offer. We did that on Wednesday April 6, 2011.
It sounds easy if you say it quickly. But it meant leaving behind family and jobs, renting out our house, storing our precious things and, most importantly, bringing our girls Poppie and Daisy along for the trip.
Poppie and Daisy are our dogs. Small, furry, white Bichon Frise. And they are definitely part of our family.
So what sounded so simple to say turned out to be a tad more complicated and I’m sure the fun is only beginning.
La dolce far niente 