February 10, 2006

London, Noël, St. Sylvestre - etc. etc.

(or boy! am I behind)

In which I attempt to catch up on the last two months.....but mostly fail (check back later, and maybe I will have filled in the blanks)

Mr Toad's Wild Ride

   After returning to Carcassonne for just a few days, Dave and I flew off to London via the very reasonable Ryan Air flight that goes straight from Carcassonne to Stanisfield airport outside of London.

Our 5 day, 4 night London trip included the British Museum, the Tate Gallery, THREE blues jams at various pubs (Soho, Picadilly, and Stratford - not the Shakespeare Stratford), one play "As You Desire Me" , and one musical/dance sort of thing ("Stomp"). Plus lots of walking and a ride along the Thames. And...not to be missed, a great ride on the top front of a double-decker bus. If you have the patience (the download takes about 5 minutes), click on the photo on the left and you will get the whole ride (more or less).

We stayed pm a nice square behind Victoria Station, which made it convenient for both. The view from our hotel room is on the left. London was a lot of fun -- it's a really vibrant place. And of course, it was nice to be (almost) able to make ourselves understood!!

So in the tradition of big city travelling, we ran around like crazy for 3 days. Dave was able to hook up with friends he had made on-line via a London blues list and we spent all but one night at various pubs with blues jams happening.

Noel in Carcassonne

The Xmas season was sprinkled with visitors. .....a few days after our return from London, we went to Toulouse to pick up Dave's Dad Ralph.  Sabine came along and we made a commando raid on IKEA (yes...IKEA -- just like Burbank, too, 'cept they serve wine and expresso in the cafeteria).

Although the weather was pretty cold and crappy we

Elm Tree Blues Jam in Narbonne!

On December 21st, the Southern France Chapter of the Elm Tree Blues Society held its first jam at Tierra Madre Resto in Narbonne.

You can see more about the first Elm Tree Society Jam at ElmTreeBlues.Org. Sabine is still talking about the jitterbug that she and Ralph did!

St. Sylvestre (New Years)

The "menu prolongue"at the Jardin de la Tour started with poached quails eggs and went from there.....

Travel Data:

London

Hotel: Eggleston Square

Nice square, small room (surprise!!)but comfortable....lots of stairs (there's a lift, but you still have to go up and down stairs, the rooms all seem to be in nooks and crannies. Good english breakfast served by Ukranians...(we noticed that almost the service people in London now seem to be from eastern europe).

Biot

GlassBlowing

La pierre à four

Route de Valbonne
06410 Biot Plan d'accès

Tel : 04 93 65 60 00

 

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