Relaxing at L'Orangerie

 Hanging out at Chateau Parkeau

After wine tasting and cooking French food, we needed lots of time to relax! We've enjoyed time by the pool; sitting and drinking coffees and wines; and getting to know new friends.

While we've been at L'Orangerie, we've met Jacqui; Brett; Fred; and Susie and Malcolm. The fun thing about meeting these people is that everyone has a different connection to Bec, but we've not known each other. We've spent lots of time sitting around together and sharing the wine each night has been a highlight!

Jacqui

Lach & Brett

Fred

Susie & Malcolm

We've explored more local markets and bought all sorts of interesting goods - strange looking mushrooms (which became a yummy mushroom linguine), pumpkins, fresh bread, fresh pasta, roasted chicken, proscuitto, veggies, and jewellery! We've marvelled at many other things also but haven't had the need to buy them- the spices in particular. 

 We are enjoying coffee (and often with a croissant also) in the town squares; then coming home and eating lots of cheese and drinking wine!

The view from our terrace, where we've eaten most meals. 

Meals have been a highlight - both the food and the setting! With lots of people here, and not a busy agenda, cooking yummy food has easily happened.

Lunch in the village of St Emilion

We've explored a few local villages, but often just on market day. St Emilion was an exception: it is well known as a wine area around Bordeaux. As a day out we went, but wine tasting with children doesn't go so well. We enjoyed a yummy lunch in the village square, then had a tour around some of the wineries - the area truly is beautiful, but we didn't taste the wines there on this occasion.

Fresh crepes at the markets

a view of L'Orangerie

Looking into Chateau Duras

Duras Castle is the local tourist attraction and it is located directly behind us. The castle dates back to the 11th century and has been held by both the French and English at various times.  L'Orangerie was once part of the castle and where oranges where held, to keep them fresh. The photo above is taken from the castle, looking down onto L'Orangerie. The large green tarp is on our roof as a result of some flooding that happened at 4am one morning! We were at the castle one day when scenes from history were being re-enacted. There was lots of fighting involved, but as the commentary was in French, we didn't understand much more!


Our time at L'Orangerie is almost over. We head to Paris tomorrow, for 4 days, before heading home. We arrive home next Wednesday, 1 October, which will be one week short of 9 months away. We are looking forward to it!

Domaine La Castage

Days exploring the French countryside

After our canal boat adventures, we had a farm house booked for 10 days. This was very much a time to relax and wind down after our travelling. Mum was with us for the whole time; also our niece Sarah Sugars joined us for three days, from London. 

We can't remember how we chose Domaine la Castagne, a farmhouse just outside of the village Montmaur,  as we looked at so many places! We are certainly glad we did as it is a very comfortable gite (french word for accommodation), with everything we needed, including a great outdoor eating area and pool. It made it very easy to enjoy 10 days of down time. The countryside was filled with fields of sunflowers. Most of these were now dead, but not yet harvested. They are primarily grown for the oil in the seeds, so the sunflowers are grown and left until they are very black before they are harvested. There are still some fields where the sunflowers are yellow and they are stunning to admire.  This photo above shows a field of sunflowers on the left, with our farm house on the right. 

Our gite in the background

As big as Lach's head!

The sunflowers grow in the most barren ground. It is really just dirt! They are so tall - many were taller than Sophie ... and the heads of the sunflowers are bigger than the heads of our children! Lots of sunflower seeds in there!

We have spent our time exploring some of the local villages, which I'll expand on in the next few days. We are loving the "quaintness" of them; the lack of commercialism; the simplicity of the exterior of the houses and constantly wondering why people live where they live!

We (the children) also spent lots .... and lots .... and lots..... of time in the pool! The children have loved it and with the temps hovering around 28-30 degrees, its been a perfect way to spend the day. With some reading, eating and sleeping thrown in, we have all relaxed significantly. The gite has several other guests also, who are often ready to chat and share stories of what they've done and new suggestions.

We (the adults) have drunk lots ..... and lots .... and lots.... of French wine! At about 5 euros a bottle ($AUD 7.50), how could we not? Topped off with local cheese and a fresh baguette for lunch each day, we are really enjoying the gourmet side of France. We aren't quite eating croissants daily, but still regularly! We had a night out, thanks to the owner of our gite for providing some babysitting. We sampled some of the local specialities, which included the roasted camembert, foie gras and the main one, a cassoulet. More on food in another post!

The weather is cool in the morning and evening; just giving us a hint of autumn which is on the way. The trees have a slight tint in them also but haven't started to fall just yet. The days are hot, with a clear blue sky - very much like an Australian sky. Temps are around 28-30 degrees, so just perfect. Mum is very content ... she's completely forgotten about that plane trip home!

Canal du Midi

Canal du Midi, France

We had been looking forward to exploring the countryside of southern France and experiencing some warm weather once again. The French food and wine just added to the temptations!

We met up with my mum, Anne, who was joining us for two weeks in France. We started by driving to Homps and collecting a canal boat, which would be home for 4 nights. We cruised along part of the Canal du Midi, a 205 km canal which was built in the 1640s as a major transport link across France. 

The view on our first night on the boat. 

The experience on the canal boat was both fantastic and challenging. We saw some amazing scenery along the way; explored some quaint little villages and enjoyed cycling into town each morning to buy croissants and baquettes. 

With good steering (Tony in charge) we fitted through these arches!

Most of the canal is lined with plane trees, which gives beautiful shade to the canal. A pest is unfortunately killing these trees, so the authorities are on an active renewal program, where they are systematically working their way along the canal, removing the diseased trees and planting new ones. Despite this, the views are stunning and its beautiful to cruise through the trees.  

The lock system is a marvel of technology. It took us a while to literally "learn the ropes" as we travelled through the locks. We passed through more than 20 locks during the week, travelling from Homps to Carcassone and back to Homps. Some locks were quick to traverse; others, especially the double and triple locks, had long waits - for one, we waited more than 90 minutes. The lock keepers stop working for an hour over lunch, which is a lovely French tradition of making you relax and enjoy your lunch; however it does create long queues at the locks.

These photos show some of the various jobs. Everything involved either tightening the ropes or loosening the ropes, depending on whether we were going up or down! We had a land crew and boat crew each time. Things went awry went the crew member "got bored" at their particular post; or felt "left out of the conversation" as the rest of us chatted to someone on an adjoining boat. Some funny times. 

Tony was captain. He was not allowed to wander too far otherwise things went really bad! Gemma actually was taught to drive the boat, but this only happened in short doses, as I seemed to be jinxed. On my shift, we came across a boat straddling the canal and blocking all traffic; I nearly ran into a bridge; and the children had bike troubles along the edge of the canal. It did however, give Tony a few moments of refuge from the steering wheel and allow him to admire the view - albeit temporarily!

Morning tea of coffee and croissants on the front deck each morning. Cool mornings but by lunch time, it was close to 30 degrees each day. 

One of those few times away from the steering wheel! 

Unfortunately, there is no (intentional) swimming in the canal. All the excess water and by-products go straight into that water, so its not very clean. It was rather icky just pulling ropes out of the water! There were no associated smells however, as there is still significant movement of water along the canal. 

It was a big week. A great experience but 4 nights was enough for us. Its a bit like camping: if you have the right equipment, its fantastic. If you do it as a once-off, you struggle a bit. We also compared it to our times in the RV: they got easier as we learnt more and were more prepared. We were grateful for real showers, proper toilets and a still bed by the end!

Kungsbacka

myself with Krister and Barbo, with their house
in the background.

The West Coast of Sweden


Following on from our few days in Stockholm, we caught the train and headed west across Sweden, to Kungsbacka, which is just south of Göteborg. From east coast to west coast took just over 3 hours, in a train travelling at 200km /hour. It was a very pleasant and easy way to travel.

We were met by my two host fathers from my time in Kungsbacka. Krister and Håkan were there with two cars to transport the five of us and our luggage. From the moment they met us on the platform, we felt so welcomed. 

Barbro, with Håkan and Ulla Lignell, my second
host parents

During my exchange year, I spent most of the time with Krister and Barbro Egner and their children, Mikael, Kerstin & Karin. Krister and Barbro have now moved out of Kungsbacka to a small town called Åsa, which is where they had their summer house. Summer house has been renovated beautifully and is now their home all year round. 

Gemma with Malin Lignell, Kerstin and Karin (both Egners,
my host sisters in Sweden)

The time in Kungsbacka / Åsa again was all about people. We did no sight-seeing, instead preferring to renew relationships and catch up on the last 12 years of our lives. To our surprise, and delight, three of my "host siblings", Kerstin, Karin and Martin took a day off work to spend with us. Kerstin and Martin are both teachers, at the same school, and this was the PD week before students start the new academic year ... so not an easy time to ask for a day off! 

We had a wonderful day with them and their children, then later in the evening, their husbands/wives, with the main activity being crab fishing in the Kungsbacka fjord. This involved stretching out on the jetty, reaching underneath the jetty, pulling mussels off the wooden boards, cracking them open, attaching them to a peg on the end of a long piece of string and then dangling them in the water. To our amazement, the crabs came running! We caught heaps of the things - like about 40-50! It was so easy, lots of fun and great excitement. One of the children ran around with the net to scoop the crabs in and they were placed in a bucket for safe keeping. These crabs were all too small to eat, but if you go further into the fjord, you can larger ones. Finally, all the crabs are tipped out and there is a crab race to see which one makes it back to its natural habitat first. What great fun!

the crab fishing process

The simple fishing line - peg, with crab still
attached

The crab race is underway.

We had managed to leave our good DSLR camera in Stockholm, so much of the time in Åsa was spent closely following the DHL delivery service and working out whether it would arrive before we left Åsa or not. Thankfully, it was delivered to the small service station one hour before we were due to depart! The nick of time!

On both nights in Åsa, Barbro and Krister hosted dinner for 20+ people. It was a lovely way to catch up with everyone but a great effort for them all. That is a lot of food to prepare! It seems summer just ended in this part of Sweden, and the weather cooled each afternoon; there were showers of rain just before a couple of meals, but each time, we were able to eat outside - important with such large numbers. The food was yummy, healthy and just want we craved. The company was great and each evening, Martin Lignell pulled out his guitar, so the music was superb!

part of the table for one meal .....

There was ice-cream eating in the afternoon!

One of the things that constantly amazes us on this holiday is how children across the world can all communicate through play. Despite language barriers, give the children anything simple, such as snow, water, swings, balls, frisbees, or board games and they seem to be able to occupy themselves and interact together for a significant amount of time. This has amazed us with both French speaking Canadians and Swedes. Our children have loved playing with other children - after so many months together, they love meeting other children and regularly ask if they can just "play". These three days in Åsa were no exception. These photos show some of the things the children found to do. Occasionally they asked an adult to help with translation; or there was a teenager who had some English, but overall, they played together so well.

Crab fishing was a great ice-breaker
for the children

some croquet ....

and iPhones are universal...

 frisbee...

some twister ...

building a new kingdom.

Just like in Stockholm, we had a great few days of talking, remembering and laughing. With relationships renewed and dreams of visitors to Canberra, we farewelled Sweden and wandered our way down to London. 

Stockholm, Sweden

In Älgö with Martin & Josefin, Eevery meal was
on this deck - made it easy to relax!

We had a pretty awful overnight flight from New York to Stockholm. Not sure what we were thinking when we booked that! We knew however, that we were in for a few days of relaxation in Stockholm so we were looking forward to that.

Both Tony and I spent time living in Sweden as exchange students. Tony was there many years before me! This wasn't how we met, but we discovered it very quickly and the fact that we can both use the language is a unique skill of ours!


We were so lucky to reunite with many of our friends and host families. We were given amazing food, great welcomes, laughed at memories, did lots of swimming (in water ranging from 24 degrees down to 15 degrees), had very family friendly food (which after lots of travelling was very, very welcomed), drank lots of strong coffee, watched lots of sunsets, slept, watched kids develop confidence and make new friends, spoke Swedish and generally felt very spoilt and lucky.

There was heaps of jumping!

Firstly we went to a small town just outside of Stockholm first, called Älgö, where we spent time with Martin Broden his wife Josefin and their two children Samuel and Mikaeala. This family have just spent 6 years living in Brussels and are about to relocate to Geneva, so the children speak three languages (Swedish, French and English) fluently. We were instantly made to feel welcomed and at home. All the children became instant friends and we had a fabulous 4 days of sleeping, swimming, eating ice-creams, chatting, dancing, learning the Swedish game Kubb and enjoying the sun.

and lots of ice-creaming eating too!

We were privileged to see many dance performances ...

and we loved learning how to play Kubb.

The whole Broden family came for dinner one night. 

From Älgö, which is just south of Stockholm, we headed north into the archipelago. The Stockholm archipelago is made up of about 24 000 islands. It sits in the Baltic Sea, but the water mixes with the fresh water of the lakes in Stockholm, so the water is known as "brackish" - a mix of salt and fresh. It feels lovely on your skin and you don't need to shower after swimming. In fact, mostly you wash in the water ... take the body wash into the water and wash there!

Nisse and Kerstin with our family

We went to another family connection from Tony's time in Stockholm - Kerstin and Nisse Zetterberg and their large family. They have a summer house on an island called Blidö. There are four houses on the island, so each child in the family has their own house for their part of the family. They spend many weeks there over summer and enjoy time together. 

One of the games in fem kamp

We had a fun couple of days, playing "fem kamp" which are traditional Midsummer games, which was in mid June. We spent time with each part of the family which allowed us to get to know their children (all young adults) better. We even participated in a traditional sauna (usually done naked, in winter, in the dark .... we did it with swimmers, in summer, in the morning ... so not really traditional in any way). Kids loved that - we kept the sauna to 60 degrees and then jumped into the 16 degree brackish water! 

Warming up nicely....

 .... the run down the jetty into the water!

We watched the moon rise at 10pm, 

and hung out with lots of great people .... Malin and Karin below, but also Johann, Tobias, Isabelle and many other members of the Zetterberg family.

Peter, me, Gus, Ove & Tony

 From Blidö, we returned to Stockholm again, to visit another member of the Zetterberg family who wasn't at Blidö. Gus and her husband Ove have actually visited us in Canberra, about 4 years ago. Their son Peter, visited about 13 years as a 20 year old and spent quite a lot of time with Tony doing some hiking in Koscuiskzo, so great fun to reunite with all of them.

tough setting!

another sunset from the end of the jetty, overlooking Lake Mälaren 

The highlight for the children however, was a ride on Gus' horses. They all loved it. Olivia has announced that she has a new hobby.... not sure I'm ready for that one! Gus and Ove also had two dogs and for those who know my two daughters, they are rather apprehensive (read terrified) around dogs. Well .... after just a few hours, Sophie and Olivia could not leave these dogs alone and are asking for a dog (as well as a horse). There is hope of curing this dog fear they possess!

Our final night in Stockholm was with Bernt and Britta. We had spent time with them and stayed in their house at Blidö but we had one night with them in Stockholm.

Bernt and Britta, with their son Johann.

So Stockholm was all about the people, which made it very special. We hope to reciprocate the kindness back in Australia one day soon!