Bon Journee

Since our last entry, we have seen so much of France that for once I'm lost for words and don't know where to start!

Our last post saw us in Provence from which we drove north across France to a beautiful wine area in the Bourgnone/Champagne area and stayed in a small town called Nuit Saint George for a relaxing few days before pressing on to far north France in the Somme region. This area was the front during WW1 and contains mass cemeteries of lost soldiers and numerous memorials to visit and interesting museums to immerse yourself in. We had a very hectic 4 days trying to fit everything in and we were both more moved by the experience than what we imagined. Most note worthy was a trip to an English/Australian /Canadian cemetery in Calais that contains 11 000 graves (one of which is Tony's uncle so very sad). Another day by accident, whilst visiting memorials near Saint Quinten, we came across an open field in the middle of nowhere containing thousands of german graves, some unmarked - it was deathly quiet, shady and very secluded - so upsetting. We spent a long time walking amongst the dead contemplating the enormity of the loss of lives. Tony was able to visit the scenes of some of the battles he had researched so  extensively whilst he was in in the army and thoroughly enjoyed surrounding himself with such an abundance of military history.  Surprisingly, the area is quite beautiful and many of the villages had canals and often I half expected Rick Stein to pop his head out of a window of one of the batoboats that drift up and down them. The produce in the area was again wonderful and luckily the B&B we stayed in (with views over a shady canal) had it's own apple and pear trees in the garden. Perfect with the local cheese and wine! We ate few undistinguishable meals in the local restaurant too (delicious but we were probably eating goose liver or similar!.

We're now on our last leg of our trip and in Paris! Although tired, we both picked up our enthusiasm on our arrival here and every day so far has been a big adventure. It's hard not to get caught up in the beauty and excitement of the city. Lovers are everywhere and at every turn, everything is a postcard.

I'm out of time so our Paris adventures will have to wait for my next chance to post! Love to everyone until then.

ps We leave for home next Wednesday!