The Adventure continues...

It's now really late - like 1am in the morning. I've been busily beavering away trying to get my blog up-to-date. Which I've mostly done, although it's probably as boring as hell, not full of wonderful insights or things like that but there you go....

So, I think, quickly, as I'm sleepy, off to Avignon tomorrow, or is it Arles - so much choice, I'll quickly cover off post-Paris.

Food. Let's start there. I have eaten so much, the food here is unbelievably stunning, there is so much of it. Yes. There we go I guess. :)

After Paris, it was off to Poitiers and Futuroscope. We had to catch a bus and after a bloody huge amount of walking, I had the tickets, we were at the hotel and we discovered that the bus stopped outside the hotel. Yes, the word fuck appeared a few times. So a lie down and then Futuroscope. What a cool place, the architecture if so funking, it's an audio-visual feast, they have little mushrooms everywhere playing music, we saw lots, did heaps of the shows, had a buffet dinner (where I made the women serving the food laugh - it was this weird kind've island theme thing with the addition of African and local options - fab but weird...), the 20th celebration show at the end of the night (10.45pm people - it gets dark late here!) was just stunning, lasers, films (they've worked out how to make water mist and then use that as a screen to project on to - it's so totally totally cool), sound, lights, fountains, fire, fireworks - it was seriously worth being there just for that. Really really cool!

Oh, and on the TGV - it took us 1.5 hours to go 400kms - pretty cool really! And first class all the way (which really only means bigger seats!).

Then the next day it was TGV from the Futuroscope station (it's a day trip now from Paris to the park!), to Marseille - train travel here is really a joy, out to the airport, picked up Craig and Louise (who have been feeling sick - not good), picked up the car - lets just say that driving on the right hand side of the road is all very weird, and rather stressful (it's been a little stressy here, getting used to driving and a few hassles with the house - but all sorted now!). I've managed to drive on the right hand side though and not kill myself, the other passengers or the other road users! The car is a Ford and it's great to drive (even if I keep looking the wrong way for the mirror and the gear stick being on the right is a bit odd!).

Found the house (fab navigating by Craig) and got settled in - with a few hassles, the guy next door doesn't speak english - I think my french has improved out of sight since I got here! Duh! - and the house is beautiful. It's sunny, it's warm, it's a gorgeous pool. A bit isolated but a lovely lovely house - it's on the road to Avignon from Aix-en-Provence if you're interested!). Found the hypermarche (Carrefour) - it's so huge, it's just crazy - a shoppers paradise!

Sunday was picking up Peter from the Aix TGV station (which is closer to Marseille airport than it is to Aix - go figure), back to the house, a swim, into Aix for a look around, Louise was sick so stayed behind, barbeeque that night (an electric one - no fires outside here, and we had to get the guy from next door to ring the owner of the house to find out where the switch was for the outside powerpoint for the barbee - it was in a bedroom - lol!) - but just a beautiful, sunny day!

Monday (today) Peter had a cold so the rest of us went into Aix for a look around. Nicola and I caught the little tourist train - fab fab, Louise and Craig sat in a cafe. We then wandered around, looked, shopped (without buying; it's possible to spend a fortune on food let alone clothes - which I can't carry but trust me, the clothes here are just fantastic - it's really style, fashion and looking good! Lunch, more looking around, walking, looking, buying little cakes, finding a church that we wanted to see that - duh - had just had a funeral so we wandered off until the hearse had gone; found Chez Gu (Gu et Fils) a restaurant from a Year In Provence - I've eaten there before but it is now, no more - it's some italian place... Oh well, things change... :)

Then it was off to the Carrefour hypermarche for a good shop - this thing is unbelievably huge! There is so much choice - of food, of groceries, of clothes, furniture, electrical, whitewear, household items etc etc etc. Imagine a supermarket, a briscoes, a warehouse (although the stuff is much better), a farmers, a noel leemings or a harvey normans, a bakery, a butchery (where you get to chose what meat and how much you want), a fromagerie (I think that's how it's spelt - as well as the cheese section in the fridge, there's the cheese part (it's bigger than just a counter) where you get to choose what cheese you want and they cut it to size - all this and more rolled into one - welcome to the French hypermarche - wow wow wow.... Hock - they didn't have any silk ties!!

And back to the house for snacky dinner, snoozing and reading... Ah, such is the life...

:)

I must admit though, I'm loving France - this country is just fantastic! :) Richard - marry me and give me your French passport!