From Monsieur to Señor ... France to Spain

Saturday, September 28th, 2019

It was rise and shine early today, these are our last early morning views from the main terrace and the  Juliette balcony ... 

We said au revoir, hopefully it will be just a bientôt to “La Belle France” and we were on our way! 

First stop was the airport in Barcelona for Madame Susan and Monsieur Mark’s return flight home. 
The run time to the Barcelona airport was about two hours if there wasn’t any issues on the road. 

Everything was going smoothly. 

A pit stop about 30 minutes or so from the airport to fuel the car. 

Normally not a problem, but today was difficult. 

No pay at the pump feature so Monsieur Mark & I went inside to pay. 

You’d think this should have been an easy task ... aha the customer in front of us was having problems getting his card to work. 

Twenty minutes later after trying several different credit/debit cards with no success and a long line up of other impatient clientele behind him, the cashier finally moved him aside. 

To avoid any problems I dug deep in my wallet for cash (euros) instead of using a card. 

We think it might have been the gas stations’ payment machine that wasn’t working properly. 

Finally, back on the road ... the last half hour of the drive was the busiest with traffic. 

We did a “Kiss ‘n’ Fly at the entrance to the Terminal.  

With Madame Susan and Monsieur Mark’s bags unloaded, we wished them “Bon Voyage” and safe travels. 

Hugs and kisses all around and there they go! 

Footnote: We are already talking about planning our next adventure together! 

Our friends realize now that they aren’t just on vacation any longer (since they’ve retired) ... they are travellers! 

Monsieur Honey & I ventured on to the Costa Brava for one more week in Europe. 


Thanks for coming along for the ride! I still have posts and photos to share about our week in Spain; so check back soon.

My 2019 Birthday Trip

Sunday, April 28th, 2019 

This adventure happened all spontaneously by Monsieur Honey after he viewed a property for rent on Facebook,  he decided to surprise me with a trip for my upcoming significant birthday in May. 

We had viewed the property while we were planning a September “retirement trip” with our Castle Durham friends but ruled the village out due to it’s small size as it was the first time Mark and Susan would be visiting France.

In Canada I will officially be recognizied as a Senior Citizen collecting an Old Age Pension the month following my birth date. 

As I write this I think oh how old! 

Seriously though, I’m ok with this as I’m healthy and not feeling my age! 

What a wonderful surprise to travel to la Belle France to once again experience the French life, the “joie de vivre” and the culture with all my senses.

Thank you Monsieur Honey for the most wonderful gift! 

Today is what we dub as the “Hurry up and wait day”!

From waking up in our own beds, showering, dressing, making sure every last thing is packed ... and the final Monsieur “checklist” ... euros, passports, tickets, directions, etc. 

And away we go ... thank you to our friend Nicky for the lift to the airport bus pickup. 

Airport checkin, baggage drop off, security all was uneventful ... flight departed on time and we arrived in Paris (CDG) early. 

We enjoyed some movie entertainment and a little cat nap. 

We already had a long layover, now just a bit longer; we walked the 30 minutes between terminals, enjoyed a nice petite  déjeuner ...

... then it was hurry up and wait for our flight to Toulouse. 

The skies were foggy this morning causing many delays/ gate changes. 

Our arrival in Toulouse was on time, we collected our luggage which finally did come around on the carousel (thank goodness they were there).

                                        
Next was the car rental pickup process with Europcar, upon checking the Opel we discovered too much damage and requested a different vehicle and we were given a new Peugeot 208, with a built in GPS ... “parlez vous Français?” 

More on this later!  

Finally on the road in direction to Montlaur.  

We did a quick stop at a surpemarket in Trèbes for essentials arriving in Montlaur just before six o’clock. 

We met our landlords who quickly showed us around L’Ancienne Sellerie.

We had a simple dinner of cheese, pâte, bread, wine ...  we pushed our bed time to 9 o’clock ... we’ve been going for about 24 hours!

  

See you all tomorrow after we’ve had a good night’s sleep! 

Ready, Set, Go!

Our countdown of sleeps has come to an end ... with only one more sleep on the plane (we hope to have a restful night during our flight) before our rendezvous with la Belle France,  

All travel arrangements are made, flights and car rental  booked plus we found the perfect accommodation in the quaint, tiny village of Montlaur in the Aude department, Occitane region (formerly Langedouc-Roussillon). 

We will spend a little over a month here this time. 

We are packed and are “Ready & Set to Go” ... 



 À bientôt. 

Home Sweet Home!

Good morning everyone. 

We arrived home safe and sound Saturday, October 7th after a long day of travel!

                 “HOME SWEET HOME”

During our 32-day adventure we travelled in excess of 19,000 kilometres (or 12,000 plus miles) by planes, trains, automobiles, buses, cruise ship and our own two feet. 

We flew a total of 13,500+ kilometres from Toronto to Paris, Paris to Barcelona and returning from Toulouse to Paris, Paris to Toronto via Air France. 

Our cruise ship travels on the MS Riviera throughout the Mediterranean Sea covered (2165 nautical miles) 4009 kilometres. 

Our lovely rental car “the Orange Captur” transported us over 1285 kilometres of highways, city streets, narrow rural roads throughout France and Spain.

And luckily the built in “Molly the GPS” didn’t take us through any vineyard dirt tracks like it did in 2005.

There was no question that we would not find our car wherever we parked it! The bright orange colour made it easy to find! 

Our TGV train ride from Barcelona, Spain to Perpignan, France was a flying ride of only 159-kilometres ... oh how I forgot how we used to travel only by train while in Europe, a relaxing and enjoyable method of travel. 

I’m not sure how much distance we travelled by bus, taxi and on foot but it seemed like plenty.  

 

We visited/ explored many communes, cities, towns and villages in the countries of France, Italy, Malta, Monaco and Spain.

Using our five senses we fully experienced the life and culture of the many places and people we met during our travels. 

We spent two days in Barcelona one on each end of the 10-day cruise, rented the same apartment “Ciel Bleu” in Céret, France for a couple of weeks and then spent our last week in the Lot Valley visiting “lots”of friends. 

We are just getting ourselves sorted, back into some regular routine and catching up on some lost sleep. 

Still working on laundry and putting things away, did get the grocery shopping done on Sunday in between an emergency call to the plumber (no hot water, yikes) ... bad news is not just a repair, water heater needs to be replaced and we are still dealing with this today (Tuesday) ...it  was a holiday weekend here in Canada celebrating Thanksgiving! 

I’m very thankful for our friends and family for hot showers and a delicious “Turkey Supper”! 

I still have many photographs to cull and edit plus many stories, posts to write and share on the blog. 

I’m writing and posting for Monsiuer Honey and myself so when we are old and grey, okay maybe I should say “older and more grey”  sitting in our rocking chairs we will be able to look at the photos, read the stories & reminisce about our wonderful travels! 

A big part of our travels is meeting up with old friends and making new friends ... so a big thank you for being part of our adventure to you all!

A big shout out to the new friends made in Barcelona from Monsiuer Honey’s birthplace aka Geordie land, South Shields, Great Britain ... Dawn & Ian, Pippa & Darren, and our new friends made on the cruise Kathy and Steve from B.C. and so many others. 

Thank you so much to our New Zealand/ Céret friends, Karen and John! 

Thanks again to our “old” friends in the Lot ... Laury, Clare, C &B (original French Connection)! 

Everyone of you were a special part of our travels! 

Our Passports to Adventure!

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. 

So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor.

Catch the trade winds in your sails. 

Explore. Dream. Discover.”

... Mark Twain

    Bandol, France

One step closer to making some travel plans!

The postman delivered our required travel documents ... our renewed passports have arrived!

Now the fun begins!

We can seriously start to look at our options of what, when, where, who, why and how we will orchestrate this year's adventure.

It's time for us to explore, dream and discover what is in store for our next travels.

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams" ... Eleanor Roosevelt 

Circles within Circles!

The time finally came to say our goodbyes to our dear friend who was an excellent guide and ambassador for her city and the surrounding area.

On our final evening after another full day of the sights and sounds in New Orleans, we joined Laury at her home for some delicitable nibbles, a good bottle of wine and an evening of tintalating conversation.

                            

                        

We met some interesting people both real and not so real.

The butcher, the baker but not the candlestick maker ... the city is adorned with masterful bronze sculptures.

                             

And a new circle of friends, circles within circles which leads to the story of how we met Laury!

Of course, there is a "French Connection"!

         

In 2012 shortly (within a month or so) after our return from our first ever long stay of three months in Gourdon, France which was a truly amazing experience (magnifique!); we were already starting to plan our next adventure.

While searching the rental websites, we found a cute stone cottage named "Beaucaillou" in the small village of Dégagnac located only 12 kilometres from the town of Gourdon.

Late July 2012 we sent an enquiry to the owner regarding the property's availability for an extended stay of three months in 2013.

The pictures, description and details on the website showcased a lovely property and it was located in the Lot Valley, one our favourite areas in France.

As we did not know much about the owner and property, etc. ... we "googled" the cottage and village name "Beaucaillou Dégagnac".

Our search results found a blog post that referenced "Beaucaillou" translation "Beautiful Pebble".

The post was titled "A "Beautiful Pebble" in Dégagnac" in a blog named "Soar-Dream-France".

Reading this post we got our first glimpse of the owner "Clare"  through a photo along with some history of her and the writer's friendship.

The writer being none other than "Laury".

Msr. Honey enjoyed reading the blog about Laury's French life and her other happenings. 

He followed it regularly and it became part of his morning ritual along with reading the daily newspaper.

Fast forward, we did rent Beaucaillou for the three months of April, May and June 2013 and actually met the owner ... and via email she introduced us to our "Belgian Connection" friends ...Madame M. and Msr. Guy ... another circle within a circle.                 

During our return trip in 2014, Clare invited us all for dinner at Beaucaillou.  

Over the course of the evening, Msr. Honey asked Clare "How is your friend who writes the blog?"

Clare responded "She's coming to visit next week."

The stars collided and the rest is history ... we finally met "Laury" in person at an alfresco dinner hosted by the Belgian Connection.

I have to tell you Msr. Honey expected to see Laury dressed in her "overalls"* but that was not the case that evening ... But she did not disappoint him when we arrived at her place on our first day in New Orleans. (*Only those that know Laury will understand this).

A big "Merci beaucoup!" Laury for sharing your time, friends, knowledge and the wonderful places in your "town" of New Orleans!

It is a small world after all!

The Dinner Table

We went to visit friends of friends who lived here in a house that they lovingly rebuilt and restored which was part of the ramparts of the Château de Castlenau-Bretonoux.

Bretonoux is a 12th century walled Bastide town in the Lot Department of France that sits at the foot of the Castle of Castelnau.

Beautiful views below ...

The photos in this post were captured on our very first travels to France in September 2003.

We were wandering the narrow streets and lanes surrounding the Chateau ... it was a Sunday at lunch time ....

How wonderful for everyone to sit and share their meal together at one table.

As our family over the years keeps expanding it is near impossible for this to happen inside our home for holiday celebrations, i.e. Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  

I am always trying to find solutions so that we can all be together ... it may be to time rent a hall or go to a restaurant for these events.

Or maybe we should celebrate during the beautiful Summer months, set up continuous tables in a row and we could all sit together to enjoy the delicious foods and camaraderie of family!

I am writing this today as it is Thanksgiving Day in Canada! 

Wishing everyone a "Happy Thanksgiving!"

Colours of May in Uzes...

#DavidJamin#Uzes#artist#Introportrait#CouleursdeMai

Today we are going back to Uzés, France ...we spent the first week of June here in a tastefully renovated and decorated "shabby chic" apartment that allowed us to explore this wonderful town.

On the Sunday there was an Art Festival in the main square ... "Place aux Herbes" which was literally a two minute walk from our apartment.

Here my Monsieur Honey's eye was attracted to the artistic style of a friendly artist.

On this particular day we purchased an acrylic painting ....

The artist David Jamin invited us to visit his studio if we wanted to see some of his other works.

The painting we purchased that day is called  "Trois Petits au ballon rouge"  ... "The three little ones with the red ball".

Once it is framed I plan to hang it in my "Rogues" gallery with the collages of the grandchildren (that is still a work in progress).

Later in the week ... we found ourselves searching for the studio ... and on our way we noted an elderly lady struggling with her groceries.

Monsieur Honey galantly insisted on helping her with her parcels and escorted her home ... which coincidentally was near the studio.

We found the studio and were suitably impressed with this ancient French building that had recently been beautifully renovated and restored ... set up as David's studio ... an awesome space to display his colourful masterpieces that exude so much emotion.

 

In talking with David most of his inspiration comes from people watching.

On our first visit we purchased a couple of prints/ posters  ... Replicates of originals.

One is from a collection called "Séverine" ... dedicated to his lovely wife (whom we also had the pleasure to meet).

                          

The other one has been framed and is now hanging in our bedroom and takes me to the beach every time I look at it.

It is called "Un matin au chalet" ... "A morning at the cottage" ... 

Can't you just feel the freedom of walking on this beach?

His works are permanently displayed in many galleries ... Ten throughout France, one in Worcestershire England, Barcelona Spain and Milan Italy.

Full details / addresses of the Galleries can be found on the website ...

www.davidjamin.fr

 

David is interested in all aspects of human beings which is reflected in his works.

                     

So if you haven't guessed we returned again and we found this year's souvenir of our time in Uzés ... a new painting called "Couleurs de Mai" ... Colours of May. (Acrylic on canvas)

This painting is part of a collection that David calls "Introportrait" ... a word that he created from the French words ... Introspection and Autoportrait. 

"The Introportrait shows the different feelings one can know, feel. ... some with more colour than others depending on the atmosphere of the day! " ... a description provided by the artist.

   "Couleurs de Mai"

Here is our new souvenir now hanging in it's place of honour ...

                

We will let it be in "canvas" only for awhile and then decide about a frame ...

Everytime I catch a glimpse of the painting I will reflect on our time in Uzés.

David JAMIN

5 rue Saint Théodorit

30700 Uzés, France

www.davidjamin.fr