Holiday Part 3

Provence is a big place and it was HOT so we didn't want to spend yet another day just sitting in the car driving round inspecting toilet blocks (MK's white gloves were getting dirty anyway). The first stop was Orange to check out the amphitheatre and get some lunch whilst trying to get inside information about camp sites.
Lunch was fine, the amphitheatre was cool but the camp site info was thin on the ground. We bought a map and a guide book and headed in the direction of Carpentras. I think MK did a toilet check in 3 or 4 campsites before we found the municipal camp site in Carpentras. They had one place left and the bogs were clean and there was a big swimming pool next door that we could use included in the price.
We spent the week visiting loads of little villages and bigger towns. There was a stage of the Tour de France up to Mont Ventoux that we went to watch and of course we swam.

Holiday Part 2

Many years ago, I was lucky enough to canoe through the Ardeche through the spectacular gorge. I remember the trip fondly and we agreed that the Ardeche seemed like a good destination as it wasn't too far away and there would be plenty of campsites. We found a site online and headed there through hot sunshine and then torrential rain. The site ended up being full so we drove on down the only road through the gorge looking in horror at the huge crappy looking sites beginning to think that it may be hard to find a site we liked. The they stopped. We had entered the national park and there was nothing at all other then spectacular views and 13 mountain goats.

Not really our sort of campsite

By this stage is was getting late and we were giving up on the camping for the evening and decided that Provence was going to be a better destination, but first we had to find somewhere to sleep as it was getting late.

Ardeche Gorge

Coming out of the national park there were a few places beginning to appear along the road and we spotted a castle perched on the cliffs across the river. After declaring that one should always "head for the castle when looking for somewhere to stay", we ended up in an idyllic little village with a room for the night and a pretty good meal.

Aigueze

Holiday part 1

Before we had driven 15 minutes J had thrown up and it was becoming apparent that the new GPS wasn't going to work. Thankfully my technologically sceptical wife had a map book with her so we continued our dash to the ferry and headed south in search of sunshine.

There had been talk of stopping overnight, but without having book anything, that entails stopping at about 7 to look for food and accommodation. I didn't think we had made much progress so we stopped for a very German dinner and then I drove down the Mont Blanc valley where we slept for an hour or so in the car before places started to open that served coffee and croissants.

We stocked up at the supermarket and the big camping shop on some essentials such as food, sleeping bags and coats and then went to the camp site to put up the tent. All went ridiculously easily as we drove straight there and pitched in a "shaded" spot, happy to be out of the now rather hot sun.

Then came the clouds as a prelude to the rain and thunderstorms of the evening. The tent was fine and only really damp inside from condensation, but we woke up cold and the shade over our pitch meant that we barely warmed up and dried out before the next afternoons clouds and rain came in.

The second evening we had to cook inside the tent which was somewhat hazardous and smelly so I suggested that we should remain true to our plan and head south until it got warm. So after 2 nights in the lovely Domes de Miage campsite we packed out bags and headed South.

(Photographs later when I have the camera back)

Chef DK

Thanks for the presents B,E, T & K.

DK's new apron

Thanks to Bicester for this and the book

Happy Birthday DK

J and Mormor have worked hard on pirate hats and themed stuff for his birthday party so he decided that a pirate cake would be more apt than a football cake.

After a little google research, I make a treasure chest cake and I am rather proud of it.

Now we are waiting for chaos to descend in the form of 9 4 and 5 year old boys who will spend the  afternoon having sword fights and searching for treasure.

barefoot shoes

Quick review

I love my new Vivobarefoot shoes. They are really light and fit perfectly so that it is almost as though you're not wearing shoes at all. Exactly as they're supposed to be.

My only complaint is that they are not as smart as I would like them to be, but I'll get over that.

I then got a promotional email from them this morning that there is 30% off everything on their site today so I have ordered some more and a pair for MK who wanted a pair of flat shoes anyway.

Birthday Preparation

DK is 5 tomorrow. That is 24 hours away or as he would like to point out, it is 18 hours. He has been asking how long it is until his birthday more or less non stop for about 2 weeks now and it is getting really rather boring.

We are having the boys from his group at nursery home for the afternoon along with the Danish grandparents (who are also allowed to stay for dinner and help clear up the mess)

There are some pretty standard requirements for a birthday party - namely a cake, in this case a football pitch with players because that is what J had, birthday bread rolls which are really iced buns without icing and a treasure hunt.

We are going with a pirate theme so J and Mormor have been making pirate hats and eye patches for the last couple of days.

We've bought him a garage for his matchbox cars and the rest will be a surprise, but there is talk of fishing rods.

New term - new uniform

There is something of a school holiday feel to our vacation this year. MK and J actually follow school holidays and I will be working on a project in a rather different environment when I get back to work. Normally that doesn't mean too much in the grand scheme of things, other than the type of work that one does. However from a sartorial standpoint there are a few places in Denmark where the usual shirt and chinos doesn't quite cut it and this is one of them.

I haven't worn a suit and tie more than a couple of times for work in the last 5 years or so and I have only one suit that fits and isn't over 10 years old - the same goes for smart shirts and ties!

So I need to stock up on some smart clothes. After a bit of consideration, I think it will be a blazer, a pair of trousers (or maybe 2) and some shirts with or without ties. Under normal circumstances, it's fun to buy some bits and pieces of clothing, but to be honest, it's rather tedious to have to buy several outfits worth and there are many other things that I'd rather spend the money on.