Olot, Spain

We stayed a second night in the hotel in Roses as we wanted to spend the day at the beach & in the area. It´s a long beach but very shallow with lots of jellyfish. It was a sunny warm morning & we had beer & pizza in a beachfront cafe then wandered the streets - a pattern emerges! Quite a lot like narrow Paris streets, but there´s little paella in Paris. Intended to swim in the arvo but the wind got up so we had to read in a cafe for a while, rest at the hotel then go out for dinner!

Came to the factory which links with Danielle´s work yesterday. They´re a bit out of Olot in a little town called Tortella. My god, these two men have wined & dined us, been our tour guides & not let us pay a cent for the last 2 days!!! They are lovely, & thrilled to have Danielle here. I just feel lucky to be a tagalong. Two three course meals with several bottles of wine yesterday did us in, and while we were meant to head to France this afternoon, we decided to stay another night & were plotting how to pay ourselves without letting them know. Unfortunately it all came apart within 5 seconds of them picking us up this morning, as our bags weren´t in the car. We are in a 4 star hotel which overlooks a valley & mountains, with little stone houses dotted throughout. We have loved Spain & have visited some gorgeous places where the centre of the town is from the 11th or 12th century. Our cameras have had a workout! Today we were taken to more little villages, and many beachside towns along the Coast (Costa Brava) south of Roses. We were quite entranced. We have spent a bit more time in Spain than anticipated as it has been a bit of a surprise for us.

This means we only have 4 nights to get to the cottage! Oh well.

Until next time,

Belle xxx

back from majorca to spain

we have not had access to the internet for the last week, so i apologise for taking so long to communicate. it has been both the worst and the best time so far! to start from the beginning...

Monday was our day to simply catch 2 planes, one from Paris to Barcelona, then on to Majorca. Unfortunately we missed the plane from Paris. Went to the wrong airport & by the time we´d made it to the right one, plane had gone without us. This set in motion a comedy of errors really. it was just impossible to find out all of the information about our options. But to cut a long stury short, ew ended up overnighting to barcelona on the train (luckily on a sleeper) and flying from there Tuesday. We had decided to extend the stay to Saturday given we arrived a day late. Was all very frustrating because the train left from a different station than the airport, and no-one could tell us the price or even if there was a spot! had to take the chance & go to the station (we laughed as ew changed trains at the station we´d left earlier that morning - had simply done a circuit of PAris) as we didn´t want to pay up to $800AU for a flight.

Anyway it all worked out & once we had train tickets in our hand & had spoken to Danielle´s cousin we had une grand biere each & could relax. It´s lucky Danielle brought her mobile so ew could at least talk to Shayne and let him know our dilemma.

We stayed in his townhouse in a little village in the mountains in Majorca called Deia (pronounced Daya). Dan & I could not believe how gorgeous it was, and spent the first 2 days lying on his terrace staring at the view. All of the buildings are made of stone & mortar with blue or green shutters. In front of Our Terrace was a little hill with a church on the top, the hillside is terraced in the same stone, and there were a few donkeys that brayed to wake us up in the mornings. The backdrop to all of that was high cliffs that changed from yellows to pinks as the sun set. Can you see why we didn´t get off the terrace much?

Shayne works as a tennis coach in the resort just behind his place, but at this time of year only had a few bookings, usually spread out through the day. Sometimes only one or two hours - a taxing job. This meant he could show us around though, which was great. He has been thrilled to have Danielle visit, as he´s been here nearly 5 years & she is the first family member to come to Majorca. He has proudly been introducing her around (sometimes I am relegated to being the Cousins Friend!)

Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday messages! it was unlucky i couldn´t access them there but have read them all now. We had arrived my birthday eve but partied until a few hours into my birthday as some of my family found out when I rang themat 2 in the moring our time!

Felt better than we deserved to the next day & went to the local beach, which is a tiny inlet. I think it was the only time Danielle & I have been left speechless! as we came around the corner both of us just stopped , stared & started laughing! it was so gorgeous! there´s a cafe built into one side of the rocks, where we had lunch after i was the only one to brave the jellyfish & swim. Shayne cooked us dinner at home that night which was just what we felt like!

The next day he took us down the other side of the mountain to Port d´Soller, a much bigger beach & therefore resort town! We didn´t like it as much as Deia, but it had the best paella around & the 2 bottles of Rosata (rose) didn´t go down badly with it at all.

Friday Danielle & I decided we should stop looking at the church & go & see it, so we went up ( ended up only taking about 15 minutes!) & wandered the shops in Deia. the main stree is only about 100m long, so it didn´t take us all afternoon! Sal, i bought your birthday present in Deia - it is made there, and I´m only telling you so I don´t change my mind & keep it myself.

We then walked down to the beach again & spent the afternoon reading & swimming. Only one jellyfish there that day, and it found me. Took one of Mum´s shortcuts back to the village (sign said 20 minutes - we took an hour) but it was very pretty. Had a quick tour of the resort (most of us could only dream of staying there) and took Shayne out to dinner for our last night. Had a wonderful meal and met some lovely people.

We were very sad to leave but are now on the next leg. Picked up the car in Barcelona & managed to make it out to a coastal town north called Roses. Different driving a car on the other side of the raod & I have already grazed a hubcap!!! It´s hard to judge where to sit in relation to the raod lines sometimes, especially on narrow roads. Roses has a long beach that could be the gold or sunshine coast, and clear water we have yet to swim in. Heading off to Olot tomorrow to visit a factory Dan´s work uses.

Must go, we are having a lovely time still!

love,

Belle xxx

last days in paris

friday was our do-our-own-thing day.

i headed firstly out to the musée marmottan which had a collection of monet paintings. the main monet room was divided into 3 sections. i counted, & just these rooms housed 51 of his paintings, an end circular room displaying 16 of his garden, mainly the waterlilies series. it felt a bit like you were sitting in the garden itself. i spent quite a while just sitting in the central seats drinking it all in, only moving to go to the other side & look at the others! there were lots more of course, but that was my favourite room & i went & bought some postcards so i could go & write on them in front of the originals. not sure the security man understood, but i really didn't care!

i decided to walk back to the eiffel tower and followed a main shopping strip a kilometre or two down a hill. it was nice to be out of the tourist areas. was very taken with a bracelet so bought it - subsequently justifying it as a birthday present to myself! bought a salad for lunch & had it in a park across the river from the eiffel tower, on a bench with a view.

wandered across the bridge & decided to go up the tower (only debated because i've done it before) so did that. got very cranky with other people in lines since they only seem to stop moving when they bump into you! considering i lined up twice for around half an hour each time, & we shuffled all the way, you'd think they would be able to judge distance after a while. i decided it must be a european thing, but it bugged me. the only thing that made me smile about the experience was thinking they must all be nearsighted wombats!

i then caught the train to another suburb just the other side of where we're staying to find an old roman amphitheatre. was feeling quite excited about the whole thing as i emerged from the station, & thought it would just appear before me i think! was disappointed that i had to walk up & down the street a few times because the map wasn't quite accurate (blame the tools). eventually found it & it's a strange mix of old & new. built 2nd century, fell to ruins in the 3rd & they reused blocks to built the main city island first settled. was only uncovered again in the 17th or 18th century & restored. there were kids playing soccer the day i was there, in the same place they held gladiator events! people live in buildings that share old walls, & one side has been made into a park with a kid's playground.

walked home & arrived around 8 so by the time i'd rested enough to get up again it was another late dinner. well late foe us - so far the latest we've been to bed is about 11pm i think! it's light until after 9.30 which is a little deceiving.

yesterday & today we have done the local thing. had considered going out to giverny to see monet's house but couldn't be bothered getting up & having a big day - & after seeing all those paintings i felt like i'd been moneted out. so we just wandered our local streets, but in a different direction, stopping in shops that looked interesting & turning down little streets. the day seems to go quickly! last night we made a special effort to go out to a bar - have been determined to have enough energy to do this since we arrived! ended up a few blocks away, had a french beer, & my main memory of the place is a bunch of uni students - mainly guys - standing around with their petite glasses drinking wine! just in contrast to australian culture!

today we found a few markets as not many shops are open on sundays. also ended up at the luxembourg gardens for a free concert (but partly to give our feet a rest again - it's becoming a theme).

it's our last night in paris tonight! danielle comes back for a few days in 3 weeks, but i might only be here the night before i fly home. we're off to majorca tomorrow, so while it's kind of sad to leave, we're looking forward to new places.

until then,

bonsoir,

belle xxx

Notre Dame

It's only been a few days but so much seems to have happened that it's hard to remember it all! Wednesday we went out to the Palace of Versailles but I think I've mentioned that already. Yesterday we visited Notre Dame which was only a short walk away - which ended up being quite deceiving since we went up the tower. This has over 300 steps that wind up narrow circular staircases. despite being stone or similar material, there are impressions in the steps from the millions of feet that must have walked on them. there are a couple of levels, fortunately, so you don't need to go the whole way at once! when you're on the ramparts you get a 360° view of paris and we could make out our street opposite the sorbonne. we also squeezed through the door-for-midgets & climbed a few more stairs to see one of the bells. luckily it didn't ring while we were there.

on the way to the musée d'orsay the other day we stopped & bought some watercolours of local buildings, & from the top of notre dame i could make out one of them because above a cafe it has a bent pipe that's vertical, but looks like it comes out of a fairy tale. it's about 1100 years old. when we came down we walked home past it, and next door is the shakespeare bookshop that's the oldest one in paris. strangely, it's full of english books & the shop assistant was american! we also discovered the narrowest house in paris around the corner - & that many times we had wandered past it before without noticing. it's wedged between two others but set back a little from the street so that you can only see it up close. must only be a few metres wide i reckon!

i think jetlag caught up with me in the afternoon, or maybe just those steps, because we collapsed in the hotel for most of the afternoon. i had meant to try to go somewhere else after notre dame, & it ended up being dreamland! slept like the dead for an hour or 2 & we read & lazed for a while before dinner. obviously we both needed it so we didn't fight it.

actually, we had done something else! at the front of notre dame there's a crypt where they've excavated the foundations of previous inhabitants from the gallo-roman era right up to the 17th century. you walk around under the square in front of the church & can see remains of the cardo, bath house, cellars & houses from a few thousand years ago!

today we're doing our own thing & meeting for dinner later on.

luv2all

Belle xxx

Paris (still...)

we have been breaking in our legs for the last 2 days - i think we must have done 10 - 15 kms each day. it's been great, but has worn us out! getting old i guess.

yesterday we went to the musée d'orsay for the morning - walked there from our hotel along the seine. mostly checked out the impressionist paintings & some of the sculptures. recognised quite a few of the ones that came to melbourne. since we had started our 3 day museum pass, we had to get value for money so we trained it to the arc de triomphe & sat & had lunch across the road. our view happened to include the eiffel tower in the background as well... our baguettes went down quite well!

walked the seemingly hundreds of steps up to the top for one of the best views of paris, then down & all the way home. this was along the champs elysées, which included a stop to buy danielle a jumper, then through the tuileries gardens, across place de la concorde, past the louvre, over the pont neuf & "home" to our hotel to crash. was hard to get up & go out for dinner but managed takeaway & an early night.

today we were up relatively early for us, & went out to the palace of versailles, about 45 minutes train ride away. essentially it's a huge property with zillions of ornate rooms, lots of painted ceilings, velvet walls, gold carvings, marble columns, chandeliers etc. we walked around the gardens & found some lawn that you were allowed to walk on away from the crowds to have our picnic (& a rest). after a 4 degree night the weather has come good & it was actually sunny today.

we are well, enjoying ourselves & loving having no agenda in particular!

hoping everyone is envious...

luv, Belle

Paris

Hi all
well we have made it safely to paris, but please excuse qny typos as the french keyboard is different & you have to look all the time as keys are in funny places.

yesterday we arrived at 7am in much better moods since we'd slept most of the flight, but it was to greet a 7 degree morning! contrast to singapore! left our bags at our hotel as it was too early to check in and went exploring in our local area. we are opposite the sorbonne uni, a few blocks from notre dame and generally in a fabulous area! got our bearings, had a cuppa with a view of notre dame, saw some street buskers and found some fantqstic local shops.

slept the qfternoon away after cjeck in and felt much better, before heading out for dinner. slept for about &&hours last night as well, but think we,ve caught up now.

today headed out to montmartre & sacre coeur, although it rained on & off. our first purchases were scarves, cqn yuo believe? it's meant to be summer.

tonight we went to a &"th century church that was stained glqss windows all the way around and heard a string group play mozart, pachelbel's canon & the 4 seasons - unbelievable!

our french is seeing us through & we can certainly make ourselves understood most of the time as we build confidence. most people speak english as well, but we persist with our french until it gets too hard or complicated.

a bientot!

Belle

Singapore

Well we have made it as far as Singapore and have spent more time than we really wanted here! Arrived in at 7am local time after a late departure from Melbourne (1am) and basicall no sleep on the way. We managed to make it to 3pm before having a nap in the Resting Room in the airport.

Had got the train into the city this morning and as soon as we arrived it bucketed down, with thunder and everything! However it cleared up to maintain the 28 degrees it had been since 6am, and we did a hop on hop off bus tour around the place until it was all toomuch! We have a similar but longer flight ahead into Paris, but at least that's where we want to be so it will be much better!

Anyway, there are many interesting things about Singapore that we did enjoy. It's very green and clean. People ride around in the back of big utes, and hang out their washing on poles from their windows, like flagpoles in a line.

Must go, my free internet time at the airport is about to expire. Until next time...

Belle

Itinerary

Only 4 days to go...

Many of you have asked for my itinerary, so here it is:

14th May - Singapore for the day
15th May - Paris
23rd May - Majorca
26th may - Barcelona
28th May - pick up hire car & traipse around South West France via west coast
4th June - Cottage in Dordogne (Berbegières to be precise)
11th June - Danielle goes back to Paris, I drive to central south France
18th June - Train it from Lyon to Ravenna (Italy)
20th -24th June - mosaics course
25th June - 8th July - make my way back to Paris via Venice, Milan, Geneva & Champagne (the region) or wherever else takes my fancy.

You can email me on belleaway@hotmail.com