Mobil-Home

Our mobil-home, with kids...

Dinner time...

After a few days at home - to rest, catch up with the washing, answer emails and do some business over the internet - we hit the road again. On Wednesday morning we set off for Port Grimaud, where one of Stef's friends owns some mobile homes in a holiday park - see www.azurbeach.com.
We travelled for about seven hours, including comfort stops and a picnic, before we arrived at the park in the evening.

The holiday park was huge, and we were glad of the map we were given on arrival. Our mobile home was brand new, with the packing still inside the refrigerator and the microwave oven.

Brand new, with packing still inside

It is amazing how much you can fit into a small space when you only need the essentials. Like two beds in each of the smaller bedrooms, although I wasn't able to reach the kids to kiss them goodnight!

The bedroom where Sophie and Odette slept

We were very comfortably accommodated, and didn't need to use the air-conditioning or the heater, apart from early one morning. Not that we were awake in the early morning very often - we got into the holiday routine of late nights and late mornings. It will be fun to see if we can get the girls up early enough to go to school in the morning!!

Besançon

When we left Dampierre-sur-Linotte we went to Besançon for the night and stayed in everybody's favourite - an Etap Hotel. This time we had to have two rooms, but only because one room wasn't big enough for all of us. (Only three beds and two pillows in each...) Actually it is not Sophie's favourite accommodation but our budget doesn't fit the style she prefers...
Although we went to Besançon we didn't have much time there, and we didn't explore the town at all. But we caught up with Rowena Putland, the daughter of our neighbours back home, who is living there with her French husband Thierry.

With Rowena Putland and Thierry Morel at the zoo in Besançon

We met them at the Citadelle, where there is a zoo, and spent some time browsing there before the rain drove us home. Apart from the outdoor zoo we also saw the nocturnal exhibit, which was all rats and mice, and the aquarium. I haven't got any photos of the exotic animals, but it was fun watching various types of monkeys and baboons playing around. They exhibit such human characteristics; like the mother smacking her child over the head when he teased the baby. And then when I tried to have a close look into one of the enclosures with glass windows all I could see was my reflection!

I am not sure if Thierry was trying to throw Sophie and Bonnie
over the wall, or trying to stop them from falling...

The farmyard exhibit was something we didn't have to travel to a zoo to see (Nan, check out the peacock...) but there is a photo of Hugh and Odette crawling through a tunnel in the rabbit cage.
We went back to Rowena and Thierry's apartment and had take-away pizza for dinner. The kids watched a DVD, we had wine and cheese, and then left before the kids fell asleep (because I didn't want to have to carry anyone down the stairs...)
Thierry had some ideas for excursions the next day, but we had to decline because everyone was very tired and we had to drive back to Ste Marie d'Alloix.

Rowena and Thierry in their apartment (sorry guys,
I know its a shocking picture...)

Built in 1782

These are some photos of the cottage that Roger and I stayed in in Dampierre-sur-Linotte. It belongs to Stephane's aunty, and it used to be his grandma's house. It was built in 1782, which makes it older than anything in Western Australia. I loved its thick stone walls and heavy furniture. The most fascinating thing about it was the sinuous quality of the thick walls. Nothing was straight, which you may or may not be able to see in the pictures. The walls seemed to get thicker as they got higher, and one end wall, which was not able to be photographed was quite concave at the top.

The story behind the house made it all the more interesting, and helped to explain the less than perfect building skills. (Were spirit levels invented in 1782?) Apparently the house was built by the women, while their men were away at war. My French history is not up to scratch, but I am sure any French readers would probably know which war it would be - was that the time of Napoleon? The Revolution?? Maybe I need to do some more reading...

Is it Christmas?

The trees in the background of this photo had decorations on them that looked like Christmas decorations. We're not sure if they are left there from last Christmas or getting ready for next Christmas...
This is in the Etap hotel near Aix-les-bains where we stayed on Saturday night. We got a really cheap room - only 61 euros for the room and breakfast for all of us. The room had a double bed with a single bunk above and another very skinny little bed beside it (2'6" bed). Hugh slept in the big bed with Roger and me, Sophie and Odette shared the bunk and Bonnie had the little bed. We thought it was great and started checking out where all the other Etap hotels are around France. At this price it is even cheaper than youth hostels (auberges de jeunesse) AND it had its own bathroom with shower over the bath. And a TV.
When something seems too good to be true it probably is...
In the morning when we went to breakfast there was a different woman at reception from when we checked in. She asked our room number, then counted us and asked if we had all stayed in the same room. "Yes" we replied, "It was great!" She didn't look happy and told us that the room was only allowed to have 4 people in it. If there was a fire they could be in big trouble and the young lady who booked us in could lose her job. Did she know there was six of us? I said that maybe she hadn't seen all of us when we booked in, because I didn't want her to lose her job, but in fact she had taken all six of us upstairs to see the room. Next time, we were told, we would have to have two rooms.

Our spacious and comfortable room at Etap hotel