Suisse Cheese

This is our 100th post! And in a few weeks we will have been away for 1 year! So for this weekend we jetted off to Switzerland to catch up with Sally's cousin and family and our good friends we met on our Syria & Jordan trip, Francois and Valerie. This time we decided to do a 3 day weekend to make the most of our time with everyone and enjoy their company, not having to rush around to see the sights which was a welcome relief. It was my first time in Switzerland, Sally had spent a week with Scott & Flo about 5 years ago. Still with snow capped mountains around the lake, it was warm, green and beautiful! Out the front of Scott and Flo's house with all the family. They live in a small village called Montricher not far from lake GeneveThe beautiful old Chateau ChillonUp in the mountains near Caux, all the wild flowers are out

A cool sculpture outside the Olympic museum in Ouchy, the head of the IOC (International Olympic Committee)

Traditional Suisse styleEmily and Sal having funEating the best fondue ever in Lausanne with Valerie and Francois. Valerie is due any day for their 1st child. We had the best time staying with them, they live in Ouchy right by the lakeLook at all that yummy cheese, and the big grins!The view from the church in old town Geneva. Geneva is beautiful on the lake and there are no high rise buildings

Horsing around

Silly us thinking we were going to Switzerland last weekend. Its actually today! So in our disappointment we decided we still wanted to get away so we packed up the camping gear again and went to the New Forest for the weekend. Alot of relaxing was done. The horses are so aggressive and quite funny to watch, they basically roam wild and free in all areas of the new forest. We saw a few trample a family's picnic, eat all their food and drink, try to buck everyone over then move on to the next picnic spot.

Where's Wally?

We had major withdrawals from our France road trip!Sal on the tallest bump we could find

Warm and fuzzy

For the past two weeks there hasn't been a single drop of rain in London and each day is warmer than the last, topping at 27 deg on Sunday. The whole mood of the city changes as soon as the sun is out, people realise its not all doom and gloom in London and frantically make the most of it while it lasts.
Pete arrived last Thursday, the first of many arriving for Paul and Sharon's wedding in May.
On Sunday we all met up at a nice pub on Richmond hill and had lunch and enjoyed the beautiful warm weather.

The usual suspects

Everyone enjoying the warm weather

783.4 miles

Or 1260kms. That’s how far we drove on or road trip around Normandy – France from the front door of our house.
The weather the warm, the sky was blue and the baguettes were fresh. We had the best time ever. We caught the Transmarche car ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe late on Thursday night and arrived in the foggy French port very early on Friday morning and made our way straight to the Famous and space ship looking Mont St-Michel. It’s more than spectacular to look at. In the area surrounding Mont St-Michel, the tide flow is one of the biggest in Europe which it makes it more amazing. It’s either surrounded by water or quick sand flats for as far as the eye can see.
What made our tip all the more fun was that we camped. We spent the first night just out of town and had the BEST dinner ever. I love crème brule!
We then headed across the beautiful country side towards the D-day beaches of Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword beach. There wasn’t that much to see except on the cliffs near Omaha beach which had all the German forts and bunkers still almost in tact and what looked like bomb holes in the ground everywhere. If you were an American the D-day beaches would have had a greater meaning, there were lots of them around. We also went to the big American war cemetery. We then drove down the coastal road though hundreds of beautiful French towns passing the biggest, most amazing Château’s ever. Sal and I couldn’t believe our eyes. It was one after another all the way down to Honfleur, we were playing spot the Château. Some were old and in need of urgent repair, others were something dreams are made of.
The lovely town of Honfleur was our next stop, located on both the coast and the Siene estuary. This is a fairy tale town. A beautiful old town located around the port with yummy French shops and a great atmosphere. However very busy with people everywhere.
For our last night of camping we drove to the small French town of Jumieges, famous for its abbey, one of the most impressive ruins in France. The abbey dates back to the 7th century and has had numerous additions over time. The most impressive thing about the abbey is that it has had no restoration done so it’s all original.
Monday, our last day we headed off early to the amazing white cliffs at Etretat. What a sight to see. After eating enough brie and baguettes to last a life time and drinking enough cider to sink a ship our fabulous weekend had drawn to a close. We headed back to Dieppe and boarded the ferry back to England.
This trip was up there with one of the best we have done so far. The ease of getting around and camping and the friendly and fun French people, beautiful coastal and country areas and all the yummy food, where can we go next? Switzerland is next weekend!

A bridge near Le Havre crossing the Siene when we first arrived

Our campsite near Mont St-Michel

One of many beautiful Château’s along the coast of NormandyMont St-Michel from a distance
Spring time!

Sally J.....

It looked amazing at night

One of the main landing spots on D-Day

Picturesque Honfleur harbour

Abbaye de Jumieges
A perfect day to be in the gardens of the abbey

Amazing looking white cliffs at Etretat
L & S

weekends come, weekends go...

hello! it's been a while. we are busy working at the moment and busy playing in london on the weekends. last weekend was a quiet one this weekend seemed a bit busier. ali has gone to egypt for two weeks and no such luck in the 'house to ourselves for two weeks' department. she's rented her room out to 2 south african girls. oh well! yesterday was my brothers engagement party and he made sure there was yummy champagne on tap all night. all i can say today is 'ouch'. and then after that we went to the same venue that we went to for NYE. it was a movie star party which will explain the crazy costumes in the pictures below! pretty funny.

we are really looking forward to next weekend (easter) as we are road tripping to the normandy coast in france. explore the d-day beaches and see some nice french costal towns. more on that after we get back.

this was a few weekends ago in richmond park for a stroll, the morning after lachie's birthday drinks.

LOVE spring!!

this is our 'private garden' on our estate. nice ay?
tulips are popping up everywhere at the moment! beautiful!

oh my...from right to left - borat, scarlett johannason and ...? on the dance floor. this is actually a photographers house/studio. very cool venue.

ollie, mel, sally, jeff and friend
holly, nancy and elena