Author: Butty

15th June

Went to Gaillac in the morning. St Michael ‘s Abbey was closed . Wandered. Stopped for a beer and then went to Leclerc to do shopping. Lunch at the Gite and slopped around the pool in the afternoon. Fred prepped and cooked fish stew for dinner. Great.

Saw Coypu in the lake and the mighty sounds of the frogs. 

16th June

Rainy day so hung about for a few hours chez Sob’s.  Went off to visit Albi the largest city in the Tarn . Walked the lovely old town streets, the Cathedral and the Toulouse Lautrec Museum. Amazing Cathedral and the museum good value with lots to see . Lunch, where the pig’s had to have cassoulet washed down with the local Gaillac red . Dinner prepared by Slim, pork  stroganoff. Stuffed!!

 

 

 

Saturday 13th

Arrived  Toulouse Airport at 3.45 pm , picked up hire cars , Irene and I did the shopping in Gaillac and arrived at the Gite at about 6.30. Raining. Pasta for dinner.

Sunday 14th

Woke up to cool weather and pouring rain

Went to St Antonin  Noble Val to the market , bought wine, veg, and other goodies for Parmigiano dinner.

Weather cleared in the afternoon and sat around pool and had a swim. Started to rain again after dark.

 

 

Week-end away with the “Boys” to Milan

Watched AC Milan play Roma at the San Siro. Disappointing crowd, only 35,000

The “Boys” – Nick, Snips, Martin, Dave M, Dave W, Fred, John and Myself.

The usual open top bus trips as the weather was great

 

Long week-end in Dublin with 15 others from club including wives

Hop On/Off bus trips, Guinness Factory visit, Celtic Evening and generally walking the City

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Annual skiing week in Fusch,  Austria staying at the Lampenhausl

Rich, Joelle, Peter , Chantal and Yvette arrived from France

Very mild conditions again this year but snow OK at higher levels

Skied the resort, Maria Alm, Saalbach and Kitzbuel

Yours truly had accident on the 4th day at Kitzbuel. Fracture to knee, MCL ligament damage and tears to meniscus. Insurance got me home OK on original flight with 3 seats for me to stretch my leg which was in plaster

Week later had operation to do repairs at RD&E Hostpital

 

 

 

 

 

Arrived in Nice to very sunny and warm weather at the start of a three week stay

This little chappy stayed at home

Sunday 19th October
Lounged about, Lazeret in the evening with Chris and Martin, Ron and Ingrid

Monday 20th October
Shopping in the morning,long walk in the afternoon, Chris and Martin for dinner in the evening. Weather still sunny and warm

Tuesday 21st October
Walk with Ron and Ingrid around the Hospice, Cap Ferat with lunch after in St Jean

Thursday 23rd October

Walked the Prom and back to Garbaldi for a spot of lunch, shared a charcuterie platter and salad
PM walked back to Place Massena and signed up for a veloblu bike. Took one along the Prom to the end and walked back to the flat.
Weather still great

Friday 24th October

Bus to St Jean and walked around Cap Ferrat.
Lunch after at the Restaurant du Port in St Jean on the terrace overlooking the Harbour. Nice spot. Good sardines.

Saturday 25th October

Met Ron & Ingrid at Biot Gare and went to the Musee National Fernand Léger in Biot. A temporary Exibition of some of his work recently curated. Visited the rest of the permanent Exibition as well. Nice Gallery.
Lunch after at La Spiaggia in Cagnes Sur Mer. Nice food and very friendly

Saturday 1st November

Hired a car for a few days
Up to Grasse to Richard and Joelle’s for lunch
Stopped off in Cagnes sur Mer for coffee and a walk along the Prom.

Sunday 2nd November

Took a drive to the perched villages of Pigna and Castel Vittorio in Italy. Great lunch at the very popular Ristorante di Pigna. Good bottle of the Rossese, the Ligurian wine produced locally in Dolce Aqua. Stopped off in Dolce Aqua to buy some Rossese.

Monday 3rd November

Drove down the coast and inland to the perched villages of Callian,Tourette and Fayence. Had lunch at the Farigoulette restaurant in Fayence. Good lunchtime Menu.
Drove south to the coast to Frejus and had a drink before returning to Nice.

We booked for lunch at the Michelin rated Les Fontaines restaurant in Reole. Had a wander around the town first, visited the Abbaye and had a beer near the river. Very nice three course lunch washed down with a nice Pink and a Medoc.
Returned about 3pm for last swims. Slim treated us with a bottle of Tattinger to wet Delfi’s head and to toast us all for a wonderful week in the Lot.

THE END

Took a trip to Monsegur and walked around the Ramparts and visited the church. After some minor shopping returned to the a Gites for lunch. Met our host who invited us for drinkies at hers.
Slobbing about around the pool after lunch. Wandered around to Heathers, our host, at 6.30. Some other guests at another gite also invited. Heathers two daughters,Kate and Sarah, also came. Nice nibbles and chat. Paella at home to round off the day.

Visited Pellegrue for the market, load of rubbish. Pretty square with partially ruined church. Then to Ste Ferme and visited the Abbey. Great acoustics so Slim gave a short rendition, lovely. Back for lunch and lazy pm around the pool.

A not so melodic rendition from Slim

Went to Monsegur in the evening to the night market/food bash. Foodie stalls all around the square, pick what you want, find a drink and sit down somewhere. Great atmosphere.

Trip to Ste-Foy-La-Grande 30 mins away. Wandered around the centre, had a beer and a snacky lunch. On the way back stopped off at Leclerc for goodies.
BBQ in the evening to sample goodies and wine bought yesterday at Le Puy

Boys went off early to buy the croissants for brekkie. Morning trip to Duras and the market. Bought goodies for various meals. Afternoon around the pool. Boys visited Chateau La Tuilerie du Puy, just down the road. Lovely lady gave us a quick tour around the winery and a tasting after. Bought rose and a couple of bottles of their Bordeaux Superieur called Le Vigneron Innconu!
Out in the evening at La Terrasse in Duras for dinner.

Left from Bristol flying to Bordeaux for week in the Lot en France. Fred and Wendy, Slim and Stevie flew from Exeter to Bergerac. Arrived within half an hour of each other. Baking hot around 34 degs. Nice alfresco dinner of cold meats, salad etc washed down with a few bottles of Rose.

After a little morning shopping for lunch and a BBQ dinner this evening, back for a lazy day around the pool.

An awful lot of snoring going on Sunday afternoon, main culprits Slim and Fred, they will refute this I’m sure.

Good start to the week.

Trip to Berlin for a few days with the Rotary crowd, 17 in all.
Weather great, good choice of restaurants we went to. Open top tourist bus for two days. Visited the Holocaust Memorial and Museum, Berlin Wall Exhibition, Reichstag, etc. Great hotel.

The boys week-end in Madrid to watch Real Madrid footie.

Back to Fusch for the annual ski. No Irene this year, stayed behind for Jacob’s 1st birthday. Good crowd from France, Liz & Thiery, Peter and Chantelle etc.Julia and William enjoyed their walking.
No snow in the valley at all and generally very mild. Runs to resort bare and rubbish. Good skiing up top. Med crooked his shoulder and Roger his knee.