In May, I flew to England where I met Philip after his Madagascan adventures. It was great to see him again plus to spend time with our respective families. We had a super week with my family in North Wales. There were twelve of us altogether (seven adults, two babies plus a three, six and nine year old!), so a lot of fun. We stayed in a lovely Welsh cottage on the end of a peninsula, complete with its own private beach. The days were spent walking up mountains, along cliff tops and on beaches. The weather was beautiful and it was like a truly British ‘seaside holiday’ with buckets and spades, ice creams and afternoon teas!
You may like to see our Welsh trip on YouTube by ‘cutting and pasting’ the following link?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztdFd2QNh5U
 |
| Rachel and Hayley (twenty-something, glam niece!) on the Dance Floor! |
We also spent six days in Lancashire, England where we had a super time with Philip’s family. Our trip luckily coincided with Philip’s brother’s 50th birthday, which we all celebrated with a big party, dancing until the early hours, followed by a celebratory brunch the following day.
 |
| Place Furstenberg |
Philip and I then spent eight days in Paris, one of our favourite capital cities. We spent most of our time in art galleries, boutiques, churches etc. in and around St Germain, Latin Quarter/La Sorbonne. We also spent time in Jardins du Luxembourg/des Plantes and Les Tuilleries walking along the Seine, Isle de la Cité, Les Marais and Place de l’Opéra.
 |
| Restaurant Georges, Centre G. Pompidou |
I had read about a Lucien Freud exhibition at the Centre Georges Pompidou; LF is one of my favourite artists on account of his style and palette. It was a fascinating exhibition, and whilst I spent my usual couple of hours ‘analysing every brushstroke’, Philip additionally enjoyed an exhibition ‘Dream Lands’ about amusement parks through the ages, which I briefly wandered through – interesting, albeit very surreal (and sadly for Philip nothing on his home town Blackpool!). We then had tea in ‘Restaurant Georges’, the Pompidou’s arty, minimalist café/rest., sparsely decorated except of course for more of Richard Roger’s infamous gaping, monster-like pipes, plus a single, ultra-long stemmed red rose adorning every table. This was paradoxically juxtaposed against the wonderful panoramic view of historic Paris, seen through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
 |
| Place Sainte Geneviève / Eglise Sainte Etienne du Mont |
We stayed in a little French hotel, hidden away in St Germain, our favourite part of Paris. We enjoyed eating out at the local brasseries and restaurants, plus delicious food from the épiceries/St G covered-market. We had long, lazy brunches in the boulangeries/cafés (somehow not managing to leave our hotel before 11am, every day!).
We enjoyed reliving one of our favourite films, ‘Before Sunset’, which is set in Paris. Philip, in fact, had the film on his laptop, so we watched it in parts during our nights in. (In case you don’t know, it is the sequel to the equally enjoyable ‘Before Sunrise’ filmed 10 years before, the time difference being an integral part of the plot). The couple in the film (Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke) walk along the Promenade des Plantes, a fascinating walkway that is in fact an old viaduct, starting at La Bastille, which actually cuts right through a contrasting selection of new and old buildings.
Our Parisian trip is also on YouTube, which you can see by ‘cutting and pasting’ the following link: