Extra Photos from France - last days

The Above 4 photos are taken in the Tarn Valley (Gorge Du Tarn) - one of our favourite destinations in France - a narrow gorge with spectacular towns along it. The water is green and swimable and awesome.

The Millau Bridge - not far form the Tarn Valley - Southern France - a new engineering marvel.

Carcassonne - It's like a fairy tale city.

Home!!

We're home. Arrived to a chilly Sydney evening - but the travel was uneventful, apart from some hastily averted issues with containers with more than 100ml onboard... Here is the first plane - the Boeing 777 - you can see the HUGE screens which were fanstastic for watching movies - and we watched loads... more space too - although the business class seats up front were HUGE and I believe 58cm lcd screens in First class. I'm too tall though - fitting in is not my thing with these planes - at least not in economy class...

Will have a few more photos of our last few days' travel to add here yet - so stay tuned...

Pyrenees - Ordessa Valley and more

The Tour de France comes through here soon...

Isak & Vega each had one of these... their mascots for the trip...

We took a road less traveled for a shorter way to our next destination and discovered this above - truly sensational - we were laughing so hard just unable to believe something so spectacular could be so unexpected!!

Loads of choices... where to go...???

Team Ordessa, Left to Right: Marcus Isak Helene Vega Sylvain & Trevor

I Google Earthed the Ordessa Valley - just flew over it virtually - that's how we decided to head here - and how spectacular it has proved to be!!

Les Pyrenees...

The view from our hotel this evening in Vielha. A far cry from yesterday where we had views over the motorway...

Valley views - breathtaking!

Marcus (with Helene and the kids inside the car) in convoy with us in the Pyrenees. We met them in Andorra in the morning - which was a challenge as our mobile phones didn't work there and we couldn't find out if they were there yet or not having approached from different directions - we happened to see them walking down the street as we arrived - perfect and in such a big place very VERY lucky.

Chez Goumands

We have spent the past week with Sylvain's family in St Martin - near Orleans in France and here are a few photos. You've seen the newly born Sacha earlier too but I have a new one of him above too that I have done some special effects on... Below is lunch yesterday at home, Marie-Francoise you have done some fantastic catering!!! YUM! There are some ponds you can't see here, and today I tried my hand at drawing them... or at least a part of them. I need more practice...

Paris 3

Here's a stroll through Paris - Night and Day and various locations and aspects. This is the third of a series of posts. We walked and walked and took a lot of metro's and walked and ate... The weather was hot then cold then rainy then warm then cloudy then rainy... The people in the photo directly below all disappeared in an instant when a rainstorm hit just a few minutes after this photo. We had fun though. Loads to explore.

Paris 2

Looking down the Champs Elysees from the Arch de Triumph...

You can tell it's a fake smile - because he hasn't had his coffee yet... This is Breakfast.

Which Tart will it be today? Hmmmm...

Paris 1

We escaped to Paris for 2 days. It's great fun to explore - and a LOT of walking to be done - even if you do use the metro liberally... We sat down to dinner at 10pm (we were busy exploring all day!) and the people on BOTH sides of us lit up their cigarettes - so we got up and left in search of somewhere free of smoke in which to eat... (and that was a BIG challenge). I'm an avid non smoker and find it incredible this smoking habit... Oh and when we did eventually find somewhere - I paid around $12 (8.5 euro) for a large serve of soft drink - this town certainly does know how to charge!

Introducing Sacha

He's the brand new addition to the Goumand family - (although I don't yet have his parents photographed with him here) Sylvain's brother Baptiste and Partner Fany have had a baby boy Sacha, born just before we left for Europe. He's cute, VERY cute, and is a lot of fun although still under 2 weeks old. The whole family is mesmerised by him. You can see Sylvain and MarieFrancoise (grandma!) here in the photos with him.

More Croatia

Sylvain the Suave.

Our Hotel in Dubrovnic Hotel Bellevue - just sensational and some of the crowd from the boat enjoying drinks on the balcony...

On deck - Sylvain with fellow passengers Colin and Greg dressed for the occasion.

Sean and Philip - our hosts.

Tim joins us for drinks at a hole-in-the wall cafe bar in Dubrovnic seen in both pictures above. Truly Sensational. (and you really do need to go through a tiny unmarked door in the huge wall to get to it). Live Jazz started at midnight.

Croatia continues...

I'm a little behind posting photos for various reasons, so while right now we're in France I'm continuing with photos from Croatia, because there's too much to see!! Hopefully in the next few days you'll see loads more, so keep tuned... I've also added a few more from Split... which was where we started... The cruise has been sensational. I have been painting various artworks, eating much more than I need, swimming ALL the time - which is my idea of a holiday as you would all know!!! As well as exploring loads of historic towns and beautiful islands. The group on board - an amalgam of multiple generations - has been a delight.

Remember - all these photos can be seen in larger format by clicking on them which links to the larger sized image.

Sylvain makes a splash - in fact it looks like he's blasting out of the water!! Jumping from the top of the ship has been popular right through the cruise - and the weather has been very encouraging to get into the water.

Here a crab surveys the nightlife - as lit up by a luxury cruiser with underwater lighting in Hvar; truly decadent...

The streets of Hvar are a delight to explore - unexpected finds and beautiful aspects..

Night time in Hvar - it was very late, but a very kind man at the only internet cafe was staying up for me downloading software for these pictures - if it weren't for him there'd still be nothing on this blog. He called me at around 2am when it was ready - the town was still buzzing (his cafe shut at 10pm) he even gave me some local food and offered beer, which he was well stocked with...

The Diocletian Palace in Split. We has a guided tour - quite a history here!! This is in the basement, which is the only part untouched by the centuries of modifications above it.

The Bell Tower also in the Diocletian Palace, Split.