In The Marne Vallée

It really is so beautiful and peaceful here (except for our kids of course!). Out the window we look down onto fields of corn that are being harvested, further beyond is the Marne river weaving its way along, and beyond that the occasional train coming to or from Paris.

Bertie's sister and BIL moved here the summer we got married, and in 8 years it has been lovely to come and see what changes have taken place in their home and garden, which were pretty much a new-build shell to start with.
(taken by CassCass)

This time it was the guest room that changed, with a very comfortable bunk bed, the lower part acting as a couch in the day which is a great space saver. The walls are now yellow and green and the bouquet of lavendar and mint my SIL kindly left for us are a wonderful finishing touch.

In the garden, Bertie has been hard at work ever since his arrival. The most important thing he has done (in our opinion!) is put up the remaining parts of the swing set. For two years there has been one sole swing, now there are also two different boat swings, meaning five cousins can have the time of their life swinging away! Very useful when you have as many small nieces and nephews as this family!
We visited Meaux a few days ago by bus - the girls almost exploded in excitement boarding the bus, much to the amusement of a little old lady waiting there! We wandered around (accompanied by much complaining from LissaLou - she does not do wandering!) and visited the cathedral. The girls were very taken with the stain glass windows and statues - LissaLou expressed shock at the latter, telling me they weren't allowed. On further investigation, she had remembered our recent reading of the Golden Calf episode in the OT. So good to know some of what she hears sticks! One thing we loved in Guadeloupe was picking and eating fruit for free, and we have been delighted to carry on this tradition here. We have enjoyed little plums from by the river and pears from the nearby wood, and shocked the SIL by eating elderberries by the dozen! (Are you sure they are edible??!) Today has been Party Day, with all the family here en masse, celebrating a nephew's birthday. Food and drink in abondance, sun sun and a little bit of rain, and little girls running excitedly all over the place with their cousins. Topped off by a very late night - good job we all still all on Guadeloupe time!

Going Going....Gone From Gwada

Well our year has come to an end, sniff! Our final three days were quite manic, getting the packing done, the flat emptied and cleaned, the car cleaned etc.

Due to waiting for Mamie's boxes to be packed, we were an hour off schedule on Monday for our checking in and trip to the beach, so we missed the farewell lunch that we hadn't realised was happening for us!! However, it was lovely to be checked in nice and early, comfortable in the knowledge that we were within our kilos and that nothing more could be slipped in our bags.

Then we made a final trip tp Ste Anne, where is POURED and the wind BLEW! We could have been on a UK beach! That made the transition back home much easier! As you all know, the best place to be when it rains is...in the sea! It did feel like hail was hitting us though. Just a short dip before we headed back home for more cleaning and preparation. And just in case you are wondering, people still managed to slide a few more things in my hand luggage!

If I am foolish enough to move again, remind me that it will take at least twice as long as I estimate, so I shall start well in advance! It would have been nice to have had more time to sit chatting with people rather than rushing around. I am not even sure that Bertie had time to cry, but his parents very kindly said how much they had enjoyed having us and both specified that they liked me very much, which was sweet of them.

However, we made it to our plane on time and were whizzed through security thanks to all these children. The girls were hyper, bouncing around the place in their excitement at going on the plane. We didn't get a baby cot so JoJo slept on me all the way back, which meant I didn't sleep very much at all. I was thankful for my ipod, and for everyone else sleeping!

Apart from a bump on takeoff and various bits of turbulence, the flight was fine, the meal edible. After an hour of waiting for our 8 suitcases (I was waiting for someone to ask, are you moving or something?!) we were met by Patrice and Richard, who then took an hour of wandering around the various Orly car parks to find their cars!! The girls and I fell fast asleep on the way home.

It was so nice to step into the fresh air and enjoy the different climate, and to see the beautiful scenery, to play out in the garden without being burnt by the sun, to pick fresh strawberries, to have a long summer's evening, to see the bees buzzing around my sister-in-law's lavendar bush...Ah, it is good to be back in France! The guest room has also been done up and is beautiful, with a top bunk for the girls and a bouquet as the perfect finishing touch.

We popped off to the shop this evening and almost collapsed at how cheap everything was. Bertie and I both got a bunch of grapes and they are both nearly finished, yum yum!

We all slept this afternoon so it was awfully hard getting the kids to bed before midnight (!) but they are finally there and we shall head off now. Oh, and we had a lovely anniversary meal with the family, thanks to Bertie's sister. 8 years, hurrah!

Les Saintes

Our trip to Les Saintes was a spur of the moment thing two weekends back following an invitation from church friends and a great way to spend Bertie's first Saturday without work since September (except Christmas and Easter).

Les Saintes is one of several islands Guadeloupe also has under it, including Marie-Galante, La Desirade and previously St Martin and St Barthelemy. I say island but it is actually made up of two islands, Terre du Haut, where all the tourists visit and where we visited in 2002 and Terre du Bas (which is actually more mountainous) which is unknown to us. We went with some friends from church who are from there and stayed in their family's house. Here are a few thoughts from the visit.

It is a tiny place!!! There are two small towns, Grande Anse and Petite Anse. Of course, Petite Anse is bigger than Grande Anse! We stayed in Grande Anse and all there is are a few shops and a lovely village square, a restaurant and....the FINEST playpark we have seen in a year! I can't begin to describe how beautiful and well equipped it was! And do you know the irony? There are hardly any children on the island, mostly retired people!

We were in walking distance of two beaches, very nice! Our friend grew up in a house right across the road from one of them, what a view!

The island suffered an earthquake in 2006 which devastated it, but has mostly been rebuilt now. There are a few signs left though - there is a beach which is now just a dumping ground for all the bits of brick and iron from collapsed houses, a road along the coast to some pottery ruins just crumbles into rocks, and there are empty plots of land where houses once stood.

Everyone is related on the island! Every person who went past, or car or house we saw, received a nod and a muttered "c'est un cousin"! This worked in our favour going over, when our friends' cousin was taking money, therefore charging us the lower residents' price! Speaking of the boat, well I am not sure that I can, it was awful! The sea to both Marie-Galante and Les Saintes is so rough and bumpy, it felt like being on a rollercoaster at a theme park. I was so pleased not to chuck up, but it was a close thing! Apparently the journey to La Desirade is even worse, which may explain why we have never visited!

We took a tour around the island - with a cousin! - and saw Petite Anse with the Mairie, primary school, college and police station. Lyceens have to go to the mainland (Guadeloupe) where they board for the week. There are some people who commute over each day on the 6am boat - they must have stomachs of steel is all I can say!

There are also beautiful forests and mountains and views to be seen. We stopped off at a Mare (small lake) to look for tortoises or turtles. Very soon, up to 30 pairs of beady eyes could be seen in the water bearing down on us, as they waited for the bread that we would surely have. Very sadly we didn't! If we looked closely in the trees above, we saw iguanas, for which the island is famous. Too close and they would crash noisily down into the undergrowth. Finally we saw some fish called lapiya (?) which are apparently aphrodisiac when consumed!

The island is very, very dry. In fact, all there is is fish! Our friends told us that when they lived there, it was normal to have court bouillon (fish in sauce) for lunch and fried fish for tea and possibly even breakfast! We certainly enjoyed some delicious tuna. Other delicacies are tourment d'amour, a lovely tart with coconut inside, and a kind of fudge made with tamarinds. However, one to be avoided at all costs is the mancilinier tree, including its leaves, its fruits even its sap. It is toxic and not to be ingested, touched or even stood underneath during a shower. There were many around so I wondered how many unsuspecting people miss the signs and actually touch them.

All in all it was a very peaceful and relaxed weekend, far from the noise and bustle (!) of Guadeloupe and much enjoyed by us all. We were particularly thankful to find our cars okay on our return, having heard that 20 cars in the car park at Trois Rivieres had been trashed the night we were away. No such behaviour on Les Saintes, that's for sure!

Remembering The Days Of Travelling Light

Checking in
Lots and lots
and lots of luggage
On the plane waiting for take off

Hurray, we are finally here in Guadeloupe! Sunday evening saw me spending hours squeezing everything into our allotted cases, no easy task and one I really don't enjoy. There is always something extra to fit in - this time it was a lovely set of plates and bowls (15 kilos) that Bertie's sister got us for our wedding. After 7 years she thought it about time that we take it!! I was concerned about its safety in the rough hands of the plane people, but astonishingly it arrived with just one tiny chip on one plate.

Bertie's brother in law went beyond the call of duty and brought his car over for us, so we squeezed all of us and our luggage into two cars. We have previously chuckled over the state of cars in France - in their favour, they don't just buy a new car every year like in the UK, but get the full worth out of each one they own. Very frugal and eco-friendly. However, there are some cars which simply amaze me that they are still on the road... But we got to the airport safely, at which point Bertie said it was a great achievement as the car could be somewhat capricious! I am glad he didn't mention that before!

Oh, so many bags!! We managed to get them all checked in and smile our way through security - although they confiscated a bottle of sun tan lotion. The advantage of travelling with a family is that we got the front middle row on the plane so lots of leg space. The kids were great - their biggest crime was giggling hysterically during the film! There were more people watching them than the film! Note, THE film - yes, we were in the olden days of one screen for all, and one film during 8 hours! As for the food, I could have wept! The girls had a box of crisps, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate and er, oh yes chocolate milk!

As you can imagine, it took rather a while to get all our baggage at the end. I felt for the ladies next to me wandering around with a list: 11 bags, 4 suitcases, 3 something else... They still left before us though! We can't work out what happened to Baby JoJo's pop up travel cot but we don't need it so that is no great loss. After negotiating 2 laden trollies and a buggy and 3 children out the door, it was great to see Bertie's sister come to meet us and his brother with a very large boot in his car!

The poor girls though, they had gone to bed at 11pm the night before and then CassCass slept for an hour or so on the plane. Then with all the welcoming festivites at home, we didn't get them to bed till 9pm...Guadeloupe time! That's 3am French time! Then CassCass woke at 3am and didn't go back to sleep! I am sure you can imagine how reluctantly I got up with her! I am glad to say she has gone down for a lengthy siesta now (couldn't get LissaLou to!). Hopefully we can get them all back into a routine and able to get to sleep on their own - no one has managed it for the last week which is a bit of a shock having had such good sleepers till now!

France!

Sisters at scrabble The bees on the lavender bush at the front door
Happy Anniversary!
Resting in the garden
Just to say Bertie FINALLY got the flat cleared and the car packed, but missed the ferry in the process! With his usual luck, they let him on the next free of charge!

We very much enjoyed our experience of the new Eurostar - St Pancras is a fantastic station and the train journey so speedy and smooth. Was that a good plug from a former employee?! The girls behaved pretty well except for running through security without us and tiredness began to set in when we arrived. Mum brought lots of fantastic things to keep them entertained and it did the job. As I tried to remember the name of the station where Bertie's SIL lived, hey presto! there she was to meet us! A very pleasant surprise.

We have just waved farewell to Mum and are enjoying the delights of semi-rural France! So nice not to be packing and rushing anymore! Well, till Monday anyway...

Photos will happen when I get my computer working.