BRUGGE - BELGIUM

What a pretty city - dating back to medieval times, the architecture was very different to the other countries we toured so far. 

The sun was shining, it was a good day to see the city from the canals

This is Fidel - he's the dog that appeared in the movie "In Bruges" he apparently just sits at the window everyday & looks out over the water.

We saw Michelangelo's "Madonna & Child (1500's) " in the Church of Our Lady

the church was displaying beautiful artwork by Adriaen Isenbrant (1530) "Our lady of seven sorrows"

We finsihed off our 2 days in Brugge at a great pub/restauant - sorry for the blurry photo - I think the bar maid had too much to drink as well :-)

Friday 12th June - farewell to our European holiday, the time seems to have passed so quickly. Back to London on the Eurostar & off to Sheffield to catch up with Emily & John.

Rob & Doug dropped us off in Edinburgh on their way to explore the Orkney & Shetland Islands, meanwhile Cliff & I had 2 days to wander around Edinburgh - pick up our hire car - off to find Nessie.

PARIS - Part 2

Another city - another sporting event - seems to be something we keep running in to - cricket in the Caribbean  (Eng-v-West Indies), Italian car race, Giro d'Italia cycle race & now running in Paris

this is the third street wedding we've come across

As for sight seeing - we have seen so many amazing places, just when we think it can't get any better, the next place is just as amazing, if not more. Paris is extremely busy & the size of the buildings very hard to describe, absolutely massive.  I don't think we have ever seen old buildings as large as the ones in Paris.

So much to see - I think we walked 20 kms in one day & didn't even come close to seeing half of the sights.

Moulin Rouge - we went with high expectations 

A little disappointing as it was more a cross between rock esteiford & a cruise ship show  - only with very little clothing -  cheapest bottle of wine started at £70 ($140) !!!!!

3 full days of wandering the streets of Paris - it was exhausting, so on our final night Rob found a fantastic restaurant with great atmosphere where we could relax & chill.

We were ready to move on to our next destination of Brugge - fast train to Brussels & then catch a local train. 

Oops - wrong train to Brugge, but we got there after changing platforms - damn - no lifts - more stairs.

PARIS - part 1

Ahh - Paris - the city of love. 

We thought we would visit the Louvre with Rob & Doug - the queue was very long (in fact every museum had very long queues) so decided to part ways to discover Paris on our own.

Cliff & I wanted to walk along the Champs-Élysées. We were extremely lucky as for some unknown reason the road had been closed to traffic.

Paris is not only the city of love but even better than love - Food & Wine. 

There were wonderful markets selling Cliff's favourite beveridge - where in Sydney could you walk down the street drinking a beer?

Mmmmm - garlic snails (not for me thank you very much) but Cliff thought they were extremely yummy (note the live snails in the green basket next to Cliff)

Further along the Champs-Elysees we stopped at a cafe for our first toast to Paris 

I particularly liked the waiters uniforms - very smart & traditional

Not sure how many calories later, but finally we made it to the Arc de Triomphe (where you can walk to the top)

Oh no - more stairs - I was feeling a bit dizzy on the spiral staircase which seemed to go on forever.

But hey - we needed the exercise & it had great views from the top

We met a very enthusiastic Belgium soccer fan who was going to watch his team defeat France.  Lucky for him Belgium won 4-3. He was very happy to meet some Australians  & wanted to buy us a beer.

Well, what could we do - we had to accept the kind offer.

VILLAGE OF BELCASTEL

Linda made a lunch reservation for us at a Michelin Star restaurant "du Vieux Pont". Keith assured us it was well worth the drive & we would not be disappointed. The closer we got the more we wondered why anyone would put a restaurant in the middle of nowhere? Well - when we finally arrived we couldn't believe our eyes - there before us was the most beautiful village we had seen so far.

Believe it or not Rob had to drive over this bridge - we thought it was a foot bridge

We were looking forward to comparing the food we had eaten so far with food from a Michelin star restaurant.

Let me tell you - WOW

The flavours were absolutely delicious

Best food so far & nothing has come close to matching it.

After way too much food it was time for some exercise - so the next day we hired canoes & spent 3 hours taking in the tranquility of the Aveyron River.

I thought we were going to run into rocks but Cliff did a wonderful job getting us through the rapids (not that they were very big, but big enough for me)

A well deserved drink after all that hard work.

Farewell Verfeil - off to Toulouse to drop off the hire car & fast train to Paris.

VERFEIL Tarn-et-Garonne South West France

We had a great week in Verfeil. The house swap Rob organised was wonderful, it overlooked the village which was only a 15 minute walk away.

Verfeil was small  & very quaint. The owner of the house, Linda, her partner Keith & Rupert (the french poodle) were lovely & suggested some of the best places to visit in the region. The weather was hot so it was great relaxing in the pool after a long day of exploring.

There were fantastic food markets in the town of Saint Antonin Noble Val.

Note the large bottle of red wine - Cliff was excited about being able to have it filled at the markets (Rupert in the background)

The village of Saint Antonin was like stepping back into the middle ages. The town hall was built in 1125 & apparently one of the earliest examples of civil architecture in France.

We spent another day visiting the City of Albi. The cathedral dates back to the 13th century & is one of the biggest brick building in the world. 

Time for lunch so we decided on this little out of the way restaurant "le papillon" where the chef was such a character. We enjoyed every minute & I think the chef did too.

The meals were rustic, extremely generous & tasty mmmmm