Autumn

The leaves are falling, the men and their blowing machines are out in force.

Top photo taken in Bois de Boulogne, second one in forest beside our house.

Ikea

Jarle went to the dreaded Ikea this morning to order beds and a sofa for our new flat.  Now we are keeping our fingers crossed that they will be able to deliver on the day we want......

Le Marais

Today I joined a walking group from school.  The guide was very interesting and knowledgeable.  We explored the north and south parts of the marais area.  I learned that there was virtually nothing there until the mid 1500's and then by 1600 the area had become very fashionable.  That was when Place de Vosges was built, which is the lovely big square with gardens in the middle that I have visited lots of times.  

We even saw part of the original city wall which bordered the old town of Paris that dated from the 1200's!  It's part of a school now.

Lots of beautiful buildings around every corner.  We also went inside the church of Saint Paul and were told that the hearts of Louis the 13th and 14th used to be kept there.  They were destroyed during the revolution.  Slightly creepy story about an artist who witnessed the event, he took what remained of the hearts and ground them up with oil to make a dark brown paint which he used in some landscape paintings which are now in the Louvre......

The first picture is of a private mansion which dates from the 1500's and the second is inside the dome in the church of Saint Paul.

Antibes

Phew.  Jarle and I are back from the whirlwind visit to Antibes to take possession of our new flat.  We drove down in a hire car full to the brim with duvets and pillows and plates and goodness knows what all.  We stopped overnight about 2 thirds of the way down and then were up early to drive the rest of the way.  Our flat is very very cute.  I'll try not to use the word small (oops it slipped out) but it is lovely.  The terrace is big and we have views from one side of the Alps and views of the sea and the old fort of Antibes.  The gardens are all complete and looking great, palm trees, orange trees.  The swimming pool is close to our flat and can easily be seen from the terrace so we can watch the kids.  The kitchen will be fitted next week and we can´t wait to actually get down there and stay for a while......

Ours is on the top floor on the corner.

Heia Brann!

Madness at the house last night as Brann beat the top Spanish club Deportiva La Coruna 2-0 in

Bergen.

La Coruna beat Real Madrid last week and that explains a lot apparantly....

Crazy Football

As invented by Mia and Jarle......

The rules are there are no rules

Mid week

Ben is in the Lake District with school this week.  I have heard that there is a lot of rainy weather but I am sure he will be having a good time anyway. He comes home on Friday evening.  Mia's class start swimming lessons at school tomorrow.  They will be visiting the local pool every week for the whole school year!  Luckily she just learned to swim this summer and so things should go well.

It was lovely and warm today so we had dinner outside on the terrace.  The scottie dog from number 3 visited us as she often does when we are outside.  It must be the sound of cutlery that attracts her.  Jarle (big softie that he is) gave the dog some bits of ham.    Yes we still miss having a pet and are constantly thinking about getting a dog..........

Paris at night

We drove into Paris yesterday afternoon for a stroll along Avenue des Ternes.  This is a nice street for shopping and there are lots of cafes and restaurants.   We stopped for a drink at a corner cafe very close to Porte Maillot before heading to an Italian restaurant for dinner.  Bellagio was very nice.  The service was friendly (although the waiter insisted on speaking English even though we were speaking French!) and the food lovely.  I had buffalo mozzarella and tomato salad to start and then asparagus risotto which was really lovely.  No room for desert!  Jarle had carpaccio of beef to start and then dorade (fish).  Mia had spaghetti carbonara.

We drove around a bit before heading home.  The Eiffel tower was blue........