Au revoir Sancerre - a bientot!

We locked the door at Chez Langely, the little cottage we'd been staying at in Sancerre, at just after 10.30 on Saturday morning and headed off like hillbillies once again - bikes stacked on the back of the car, ski box on the roof bulging at the seams and the boot almost packed to capacity! We make quite a sight.

The second half of our week in Sancerre proved to be a little less stressful than the first half as the boys started to settle down into their french school routine and started to feel like they were making some progress. Classes seemed to go so much better once we decided to split the boys up and have them take their lessons with Valerie individually and they have both, in their own ways, made good progress. Although Kyle does get 10/10 for effort, he still gets the order of things mixed up most of the time which is very cute to listen to. They are now however both dangerously proficient at ordering pain au chocolates and glaces in french and at negotiating the number of bon bons they would like - or in Kylie's case "bomb bombs"! Sean has also made good progress - more than I expected. It was also an excellent experience for the boys to see mom and dad in school and doing their homework every night! At least we feel as if we have done a little more to help the french on the way - but as you all know, its a little bit at a time - and hopefully with lots of 'little bits', we'll get there in the end.

Marion's french continues to go from strength to strength and our teacher Valerie told me that she was very impressed with her ability and that I was lucky to have her to practice with. I also benefited from the week long tuition and plan to not let it go to waste over the next few months so have bought a copy of the intermediate grammer workbooks to work through when I've nothing else to do which will be most of the time so I have no excuse!

The whole team agreed that they had enjoyed their week at french school with Marion declaring that she'd like to come back and do it again "sans enfants" which I think says it all!

We visited a Chevrerie - a goat's cheese farm - with a bunch of people from the french school and had the first hand opportunity to see how the famous Chavignol crottins are made. This involved seeing the goats in their shed, watching them being milked and then seeing how the cheese itself is matured. They also let the brave amongst us have a go at milking the goats too, which Kyle found hilarious, particularly the part where he squirted goats milk at everyone in the vicinity and fed the little black kittens hanging around directly from the udder of the poor goat that he had managed to get his hands around. Chavignol basically comes in three life stages - fresh (one day old), jeune (ten days old) and then varying ages over 0ne month depending on the level of blue mould on them. Basically, the older they get, they mouldier they get and the smaller they get. Anyway, I'm not sure that I should have seen all of this as I will now think of smelly goats, kittens feeding off goats udders, etc, etc the next time I eat a piece of chevre!

We all decided that Sancerre is a lovely little place set in a lovely part of France and well worth the visit.

Next stop is Dijon which is where we are right now as we write this. Dijon is located in the heart of the Cote D'Or which needs no introduction to Bourgogne wine lovers....in the Eastern part of France between Lille and Lyon for the rest of you. Being a religious long weekend, the place is deserted and there isn't anything going on to be honest.

Despite Sean's initial observations as we parked outside the hotel that we'd be staying at for the two nights that we planned to be in Dijon - "Dad, this place doesn't look too bad" - Hotel Wilson is certainly not the most glamorous place I've ever been to but it is clean and the staff friendly.....as I say to the boys, we will survive. Marion and I spent last night hanging on to the edge of the 3/4 bed in our room and Marion even fell out of the bed at one stage so that should give you an idea of how small it is! Needless to say we both felt exhausted when we woke up and have agreed that we will be swopping the boys out of their single beds and into our 3/4 bed once they are asleep tonight!

Enough from me.....I'm sure Marion has some news to share with you so over to her.

Well Neill has said it all really so I havent much to add. I must say I was impressed with Neill and his real effort at trying to learn french. He even had me practice with him in the car. For my part, the school teacher, Valerie, was really good with the kids - she seemed to know just how much they could handle and just how to get their attention with various games, drawingsexercises, props etc. She really tailored the course for the kids, Neill and I adapting what and how she was teaching all the time. She really gave me some great tips on pronounciation and various day-to-day expressions which is what I really need - and there was enough of the grammar to get my brain into gear as well. The daily outings to the local village were also great - some fresh air and some practice with the local shopkeepers who I must say were extremely patient and understanding.

On the way to Dijon, we stopped at a tiny hamlet called Druyes-les-bellesfontaines which has a really great medieval village but was so small that it wasn't even on the map. We found out about it from a book we bought along called Undiscovered France. So far the book has been a great help in finding little out of the way places sans touristes. This little hamlet was really picturesque with a little river/lake, beautiful old buildings and a great restaurant where we had lunch. The kids menu had snails as a starter which of course I gobbled up.

Today we headed out for a drive through wine country and followed the signs for a local village market with lots of crafts. It was great especially as we were the only non-french so it felt really authentic. We had french fries and bread for lunch and wandered around with the dog in tow. The kids loved the obligatory circus section where they could try out all kinds of circus equipment. And of course we had to have the barbe-a-papa which both kids ordered in french much to the delight of the little old lady and her husband selling it.

We also started our school today with an hour of school work - very easy going for the first day. Both kids responded well to it - better than I expected actually. We have quite a few interesting goodies so hopefully I will be able to keep their attention and teach them something at the same time.

Tomorrow morning we head off to Laussane on Lake Geneva for a few nights which should be nice. Neill is looking forward to showing us the Olympic Museum which he has been to before and loved. Neill also has a soft spot for the lakes region of Northern Italy which is where we'll be heading off to after Lausanne and before we stop off in Venice for a week. Although it seems likely that we'll be heading for Verona and Lake Garda in Northern Italy we haven't yet planned or arranged anywhere to stay for the the three or four days before we get to Vencice so hopefully it all works out.

Thats all I have for now - thanks for the emails we have received - it is really good to hear from you guys and I will write back as soon as possible so keep them coming. Hope you are all well!

Est-ce que vous voulez savoir ce que nous faisons?

Yes, I wrote the heading....and Marion only had to make one or two edits!

We've been in Sancerre in the Val de Loire for the last few days having arrived here on Saturday to enrol at Coeur de France for our week long french immersion course. We kicked off with our first lesson yesterday morning, en famile, and met Valerie who will be our teacher for the week. The first hour or two were quite a challenge as the boys made it clear that this is not something they want to be doing on their holiday! Luckily they found two computers linked up to ADSL and the french school has suddenly became a cool place to be. We've now agreed with them that they can play games online provided they behave and make an effort in their lessons so we'll see if this bribery makes any difference today.

The boys french is starting to emerge - albeit slowly - and my understanding is improving rapidly so hopefully this week will give me the confidence to start talking without freezing up every time I encounter a real person talking french. Marion continues to streak ahead and enjoyed learning about some new tenses today so thinks she will find the time spent at school this week also worthwhile. Bert will unfortunately have to rely on speaking to the locals to brush up on his french as the school doesn't allow dogs - one of the few places in France.

Sancerre is a lovely hilltop village in the Cher region of the Val de Loire and clearly the home of some really good wines and the famous Chavignol goats cheese. Needless to stay we have sampled both and already identified some names to remember. On the wine front the La Bourgeoise from Henri Bourgeoise is really nice as is the Domaine Bernard Fleuriet et Fils so give them a try. Another new found talent has emerged within the family with Kyle now a self declared lover of wine.

We spent most of yesterday exploring the area and found a lovely market at a place called Cosne sur Loire where we picked up some lunch things that we enjoyed at a quiet spot alongside a lock on the Canal Lateral du Loire. Earlier in the day the boys had great fun helping the lock master open and close the gates to a lock which was quite a novelty.....more of this to come when we get to the Canal du Midi.

We also got caught in a huge rainstorm whilst out on our bikes and of course I haven't heard the last of "what a great idea that was Dad"! The weather has thankfully improved and yesterday was a glorious day and today looks like being much the same.

Sean and Kyle are enjoying the space at the house we are staying at here which has a courtyard and a little garden. They have both started journals of the trip which are already starting to take shape and are full of pictures and things that they have descovered along the way. Marion and Nicky kept journals of their trip around Europe when they were about Sean and Kyle's age and Marion still has hers which she treasures as a great reminder of the good times they spent together as a family back then so hopefully the boys journals will enjoy the same.

That's enough from me for now

.....a bientot!

Wet with the Gauls at Parc Asterix

Well, we did it!

We got everyone and everything into the car (needless to say more than we'd planned), locked the door to the house and set off on our adventure at around 2.30 pm yesterday afternoon - just 30 minutes later than planned.

First stop the charcuterie down the road to pick up some lunch for the route and then...........home...............to collect Sean's jersey out of the dryer.

We arrived at Parc Asterix just outside Paris after an uneventful trip but too late to go into the Parc itself as it had already closed for the day. So we checked into our hotel which proved to be quite a find- very kid friendly including a neat set of bunks in the room which worked a treat. The only challenge was smuggling Bert, the dog, in and out.

After a good nights sleep we woke up to a wet and dreary day and headed off to the eat-as-much-as-you-like breakfast that the kids thought was fantastic. Then it was off to the Parc via the kennels where Bert would be spending his day.

Parc Asterix, despite the rain, was a lot of fun....and we all thought really well designed. It really was Asterix world but would be great even if you didn't know anything about Asterix. The highlights of the day were probably the Dolphin Show, Roman Legionaires Show and a ride on a baby rollercoaster that even Marion braved! The Gaul village was also really well done and the kids loved meeting Asterix and Obelix and having the obligatory picture taken. On the food front, Kyle's Barbe-a-Papa proved a real hit and was soon devoured despite being almost as big as him!

After an exhausting day, we left the Parc and headed for Versailles, our next port of call. We spent the night at the Sofitel hotel in the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in - even better than ours at home.

Next day, we headed up the road to the Chateau de Versailles which I am sure you have all seen before. Our plan was to hunt the Chateau and find the portrait of my great great great grandfather, Fransisco da Miranda. His portrait hangs in the Room of Battles with a number of other generals of Napoleon. He fought for Napoleon and was Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the North. We were armed with photographs that I had taken on a previous visit with my mom. It made the visit a lot more personal and the kids seemed very interested in his story and the story of Marie-Antoinette - amazing how exciting a story can be when someone loses a head!

We also spent an hour in the gardens which are truly beautiful - on a little golf cart -which the kids also loved. So all in all a good day.

We spend tonight in Versailles again and then head off to Sancerre tomorrow morning where we'll be based for the next week as we brave a french emmersion course "en famile" - oui, c'est vrai mes amis - after which Sean, Kyle and I hope to be armed with at least the basics required to survive our time in France.....Marion doesn't need any help on the french front thanks to all her hard work over the last two years in Brussels.

Well, that's all for now....so as they say in the classics.......a bientot.

We're just about ready to start living our dream

After months of planning, the big day is finally upon us.

In just 18 hours we will leave Brussels as we head out on our 3 month sabatical......and we still haven't started packing!

We thought it would be a nice idea to post our own blog of our trip so here it is - a way for those of you that want to to follow us around France, Italy and parts of Switzerland as we live one of our dreams.

We'll do our best to keep this blog updated at least once a week.

The boys finish up at school today and as they will be starting at the International School of Brussels when we get back in August there will no doubt be some tears as they, and Marion, say goodby to the teachers and their friends. Even though the school didn't meet our expectations, it did provide a "soft landing" in our transition from Cape Town to Brussels and for that we should be grateful. We've also met many of our now good friends through the school and that will always be the lasting legacy from our experience of the International Montessori in Tervuren.

Picture: Thanks to Kyle for the picture above...his first ever on his new camera and hence the reason that he is not in the pictur