Mia back from the circus

The show was FANTASTIC!!!  Mia performed in the tight rope walking group and something called the American roller (see picture).  She was really good.  It was a very professional show.

Mia had a great time and was sad to leave.  

Wedding Anniversary

Last week, on Wednesday, Jarle and I went for lunch to La Maison Blanche.  This restaurant is on the top floor (with terrace) of a theatre just off the Champs Elysee near to the river and with views of the Eiffel Tower.  We ate a lovely three course lunch in the sunshine.  My main course was a risotto as requested (nothing vegetarian on the menu of course but they were happy to make something for me) which was a peculiar dark purple colour.  It was lovely.  Dessert was a yummy chocolate biscuit ice cream thingy which I had to eat super fast as it was melting in the sun.  Very stylish restaurant!

Summer for now.....

Storms forecast for tonight, then colder weather to follow......

Off to the circus

Mia waved goodbye with a happy smiling face (thank goodness) this morning.  The second grade are off to the cirucs until Friday.  It feels very very strange that she is away........

 

Weekend in Antibes

It was scorching hot in Antibes at the weekend.  The pool is lovely.  We will be very glad of it in the summer!  It was even too hot to eat breakfast on the terrace on Sunday (46 degrees in the sun).......  here comes summer.......

Penguin chicks

The eggs we saw at the Bergen aquarium have hatched!  See webcam....

Webkamera i Bergen , Pingvinbabyer Live - BA.no

You might just see a penguin bottom....wait for it to move to see the two chicks

Long Weekend

Today and tomorrow the kids are off school and Jarle is off work so this afternoon we are off to the flat.  The weather WILL be good......

We have had a lovely few days with Asta and Randi (Jarle's mum and aunt). They have just left and now we are tidying a bit in the garden and enjoying the warm weather.

Monday, Mia is off to the circus.

Hurray for 17th of May!

We marched, we waved flags......it rained.

Lovely lunch afterward at Findi (Italian restaurant in Paris).

Wildlife

We don't see very much wildlife here but this morning I saw a fox and a jay!  The fox trotted quickly past the patio doors while I was eating breakfast.  At first I thought "I don't recognise that dog" then I realised it was of course a fox and a very dirty scruffy one at that.  By the time I jumped up and ran to the window it was long gone......  Only the second time I've seen a fox here.  Then I saw a jay hopping about at the roadside, pretty.

Ben's Birthday

Ben is 14 today.  Thanks to all those who sent cards and presents.

We were at school most of the day enjoying International Day.  There were 31 countries represented in the food fair.  I was pretending to be Scandinavian and making waffles.

Fonteinbleau Castle

Today was the final tour of the year for our walking group and it was an all day tour with lunch too.  We visited the Chateau of Fonteinbleau which is almost as large and important as the Chateau at Versailles.  Kings and Emperors have lived there since the 1200s.  There were a lot of interesting rooms with elaborately decorated ceilings and walls.  Rooms used by Napoleon and Josephine were carefully restored.  There was a fabulously decorated hall and ballroom from the time of Henry the 2nd or was it Francis the first?????  The bed in the picture was made for Marie Antoinette but she never used it, so later it became the Empress Josephine's bed!

Then we had lunch in a nearby little village which used to be the place to be for artists in the 1800s.  Picture of a piece of furniture decorated by local artists who ran out of canvas.....

Warsaw

Ben had a great time in Warsaw with the Model United Nations club from school.  He tried beetroot soup and was impressed that they sell Irn Bru there!

Mont Saint Michel

At last I can tick something off my list of things to see!

We drove to the West coast (along with half of Paris....traffic was horrible) to Normandy to visit the famous Saint Michael's Mount.

We got our first glimpse of the island when about 30 kilometres away.  Our hotel was virtually the last building on the mainland before the causeway connecting to the island.  We walked there and back both Friday and Saturday so we got our exercise.

It was very busy but very lovely.  Tiny winding street full of restaurants and souvenir shops.  The church looms over everything from a great height.  We waited to watch the tide coming in which was interesting but not quite as exciting as we had hoped.  The bus car park floods at every high tide then gets washed free of sand and silt for the next lot of buses.  

Definitely worth seeing.  

Versailles

Happy Birthday Lotta!

Today I visited the chateau of Versailles with Lotta, Lena and Brooks to celebrate Lotta's birthday by visiting a special exhibition of clothes from 17th and 18th century.  We did a quick tour of the chateau first then on to the exhibition.  The clothes were fascinating, beautiful and tiny!  People MUST have been smaller then...

Then we enjoyed lunch at a nearby brasserie.

Summer........

Yesterday was a lovely sunny day and we spent most of it on the terrace.  Lunch on the terrace and dinner picnic style on the lawn because the sun had moved from the terrace!