a goûter of Brittany

One of the greatest pleasures of France is visiting the markets. There is something so appealing about smelling all the fresh vegetables, meat, cheese, seafood, bread and cakes as well as hearing the hustle and bustle of the stall owners and the shoppers. The colours are textures of the market are lush and diverse. We visited at least three separate markets while in France and even bought fresh oysters at one for lunch.

across the channel

On July 24 Ian and I got our flight out of Bristol and landed in Dinard, France. His parents picked us up at the airport and we made the two and a half hour drive to La Baule. The weather was warm and sunny with a pleasant breeze. It was so relaxing to watch the fields pass, full of grass, hay bales, vegetables and flowers. We spent the week in La Baule enjoying the beach and the sun as well as great food and drink.

where's the sun

Well the English summer leaves a bit to be desired. We've had mostly rain, wind and cold weather, generally ranging around the mid 50s to low 60's. However, on those rare days when the sun decides to come out and the wind is not atrocious Ian and I will take our reading outside to the Royal Fort park. The park is part of the University and once housed a medieval fort. Now all that remains is some stone walls and possibly a gate. However, there are some nice university buildings on the grounds which are landscaped by historical gardening dept.

Bristol skyline

Nothing shows the layers of Bristol history in such a charming way as the Bristol skyline where cranes and skyscrapers vie with spires and bell towers for attention. The lively colours of the roof tiles and greened copper piping are topped of by an army of chimney pots. This view is from a street just near our flat and gives an amazing overview of the city.

London revisited

Thursday 19th June- I met my friend Sam in the city to see the exhibition "blood on paper" at the V&A. The show was a bit disappointing but I had a lovely time wandering around the museum, especially the garden since it was such a fine day. After the V&A I made my way to Buckingham palace to the Queen's Gallery to see the shows there "Amazing Rare Things" and "Treasures of the Royal Collection". I've been wanting to see the former for quite awhile. It was a pleasant little show with sketches from Leonardo da Vinci and paintings by other naturalists documenting new plant and animal life as it was discovered. The other show was more generic, furniture, oils, and gems but also interesting. The staff there was very friendly and attentive and I had a lovely time. I had a walk through St. James' park before taking the bus home.

London town

Wednesday 21 May - taking advantage of Ian's absence I decided to go to London to see the Vanity Fair exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. I arrived in the city at around 11:30 and walked to the gallery via Buckingham Palace and St. James' park. After a few hours at the gallery I had a bite to eat and made my way to Notting Hill to visit another smaller gallery, Flow, which was featuring a show on bookbinding. After walking around Notting Hill, very posh by the way, I made may way to the Tate Britain to take in some lovely Rosetti's and Constables as well as a nice collection of Blake's work. Since all the galleries were now closed I took another more leisurely walk through St. James' park where the flowers were all in bloom and they had set out lawn chairs for public use. On my walk back to the station I got a steak and ale pasty for dinner and made it home by 10:30. A very successful outing.

Portsmouth (the original)

10 May - This weekend Ian and I went to visit Emma and Dave in Fareham. It was supposed to rain and the the day started out a bit dreary. We took the smallest train ever (2 cars only) to Fareham and met Emma and Dave who took us to Gosford to catch the ferry to Portsmouth. The ferry only took about 4 minutes to cross the water, the picture is of the old part of Portsmouth from the Ferry. Once in Portsmouth we looked at the old tall ships and walked around the shopping center (a really nice mall with excellent public toilets, they even had complimentary mints). We had lunch outside of a pub as the sun was starting to make an appearance. After lunch we walked around the old town and visited the boardwalk area then headed back to Fareham. It was lovely to see the ocean and I even got a tan.