The local lunchtime restaurant really knows how to "big" the festive season.....
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
Tuesday December 29th
Well today has been much warmer and much dryer. In fact so much so that we had to turn off the kitchen heater that we left on as the only source of heating in the whole house. When we came down the room temperature was 23c.We took the chance of the better day to pop in to La Rochelle and enjoy a stroll around the town. Anika (in summer) is transformed in (winter) to Delia/Julia/Elizabeth/Angela so we had to buy a new mixing bowl (bread making) and baking tray (bread and pizza). I will be breaking off from drafting this to enjoy the spinach and cheese pizza and watch the loaf of bread finish off in the oven.
Peter had a stroll around Marsilly and a few snaps will decorate the blog entries. For those of you reading this as an email if you scroll to the bottom of the email and you will see "Posted By Peter to Nantilly Notes 17137 on 12/27/2009 06:46:00 PM" The bit "Nantilly Notes 17137" should be a hyperlink and if you click on it you will go to the blog it self.
Fantastic late lunch, the spinach and cheese pizza (courtesy of Good Things Cookery School) is excellent and really rather filling.
It has been a lovely afternoon and I reckon we will be settling in to an evening with a(nother) good book in front of the fire.
Monday, 28 December 2009
Amsta 90100 Delle
If you Google the above you will find a number of people in France and Belgium selling their oil fired domestic heaters of that brand and model. We think we know why. They are ugly, noisy and smelly and very difficult to get going.
However, after many trials and tribulations, SOR achieved ignition at 2.50pm today. It has now been going for 17 minutes, which is 16 minutes more than we got on the other seven goes at getting the thing lit. Weather wise it is very wet and rather cold and we are glad the thing is going - we are likely to leave it on the whole time we are here, especially since storms are forecast for later in the week.
We only ventured out one and a half times and that was to do a domestic shop at the nearby Carrefour. It had to be done as we had nothing but store cupboard provisions but we were joining a lot of locals going to the shops for the first time since the Christmas break and it is clear that everyone is preparing for the celebration of St Sylvester's day on Thursday.
By venturing out one and a half times I meant that when we got home and realised we had forgotten to get some milk so Peter popped out locally and got some.
Next on the schedule - light the log fire and settle in for the evning with a good book.
However, after many trials and tribulations, SOR achieved ignition at 2.50pm today. It has now been going for 17 minutes, which is 16 minutes more than we got on the other seven goes at getting the thing lit. Weather wise it is very wet and rather cold and we are glad the thing is going - we are likely to leave it on the whole time we are here, especially since storms are forecast for later in the week.
We only ventured out one and a half times and that was to do a domestic shop at the nearby Carrefour. It had to be done as we had nothing but store cupboard provisions but we were joining a lot of locals going to the shops for the first time since the Christmas break and it is clear that everyone is preparing for the celebration of St Sylvester's day on Thursday.
By venturing out one and a half times I meant that when we got home and realised we had forgotten to get some milk so Peter popped out locally and got some.
Next on the schedule - light the log fire and settle in for the evning with a good book.
Sunday, 27 December 2009
Well we are back in residence with the log fire burning and electric radiators on all over the place. It is not so cold at the moment, which is just as well as we have failed to get the oil-fired heater in the kitchen working. We will give it another go in the morning when we can have the windows open for a through draft and to carry any smoke and fumes out. Perhaps the oil is all gone?
It was back in August when we were last here and I must say that Michael and Anne Marie have done another great job in looking after the house these last four months and in getting it ready for our arrival. The dehumidifier really seems to have kept the place free of damp and condensation.
The Ryanair flight from Stansted was on time in leaving and early to arrive. Stansted was reasonably busy but since so many of the airlines have reduced winter schedules it was coping very effectively. The rental car from Avis seems to be brand new and we managed to figure out how to make it go at least as far as Rue de Nantilly. Marsilly was reassuringly quite.
Let's see what tomorrow brings....
It was back in August when we were last here and I must say that Michael and Anne Marie have done another great job in looking after the house these last four months and in getting it ready for our arrival. The dehumidifier really seems to have kept the place free of damp and condensation.
The Ryanair flight from Stansted was on time in leaving and early to arrive. Stansted was reasonably busy but since so many of the airlines have reduced winter schedules it was coping very effectively. The rental car from Avis seems to be brand new and we managed to figure out how to make it go at least as far as Rue de Nantilly. Marsilly was reassuringly quite.
Let's see what tomorrow brings....
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
It has been a cold and wet December
The dehumidifier is working away and a low level heater is keeping the ambient temperature above freezing. Mr Miller is popping in to make sure all is well. Just over four days to go before Sheila and Peter will come through the door and fire up the oil heater and log fire. Brrr can't wait
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Braving the Weather
Up to the minute news flash - Anika and Elaine have decided to play nine holes in the rain. Peter has decided that he can take his time doing the house-closing-chores.
Starting The Day
The photo is of the 18th green at Golf de La Pree. It is defended by a horseshoe shaped bunker that is faced on the green side with railway sleepers. The clubhouse terrace overlooks the green so you can be sure of an audience.
The chicken and onion and tomato kebabs done on the bbq with roasted cherry tomatoes and oven chips were big hit and it didn't take too long to clean up the bbq afterwards.
Anika and Peter are very rosy in the face after a very warm and sunny round of golf and even this morning Peter's face is sucking in moisturiser like an elephant hovers up water at the river.
Overnight there was heavy rain and even a bit of thunder and as of now (7.30am local time) it looks like we will be rained off for any further golf. Looks like a comfort pain au raisin is needed.
Monday, 31 August 2009
More Golf in the Sun
The focus of the day was another game of golf. We had an 11.30 tee time so a relaxed morning with croissant and pain au raisin before setting off to play. Elaine decided to give golf a miss so Anika and Peter set off alone. The weather was fantastic and as we finished the thermometer in the car read 33c! Back at home the backyard thermometer screamed 38c but can't be right.
The course was very quiet but for some reason everyone on the course was in front of us and those playing first seemed at times very slow. However they all seemd to disappear after nine holes and the threesome in front of us let us through and off we went. In the end we finished in under four hours and had a very welcome bottle of fizzy water on the terrace before returning to the house.
More later, we were going to go into La Rochelle for dinner but we have decided to stay in the yard and have a bbq - so off to the shops.
Bank Holiday Weekend
Saturday
Taking the 2.00pm Easyjet from Gatwick is a very civilised way of getting to La Rochelle. Travelling with no luggage means a pleasant walk to the Tram, train from East Croyden a door to door journey of just over the hour at a totla cost of £9.00.
We were joined at the airport by Elaine who had accepted an invite for a weekend of golf. The flight ran a few minutes late but with a flight time of an hour we were still parking the rented Renault Grand Scenic (hmm bigger than I had thought) outside number 8 about 5.00pm local time.
Moules at Viviers was the highlight of the evening and we enjoyed a spectacular sunset at we finished our meal. It was pretty much full and we needed to have booked. The MKAY sign sat on the same table we used when last visiting with M&A.
Sunday
There was a competition on at the golf club and so we booked a tee time for 15.20, an hour after the last of the competiton went out and so we set of mid morning to go into La Rochelle itself. Our plan was Le petit dejeuner at Cafe de la Paix and a walkabout, showing Elaine the essence of the town. So, after picking up the making s of Sunday dinner in the Casino,parking in Place Verdun was our first destination - no problem. Hmmmm the Cafe was closed. Ah well there are the two very buzzy spots in the square by the Hotel de ville. Did you see it coming? Yes, both closed - in fact very closed.
It began to look like the season had ended and how, or was it just Sunday? Fortunatley all the cafes by the Old Port were open and we had a delightfull LPD watcing the world go by in bright warm sunshine. We strolled by the Old Port and ice creamed on the small beach just beyond the sailing school and then toured around to the Marina before heading back to Nantilly to prepare for golf.
Playing conditions were perfect although the breeze that served to cool us was a bit strong on a couple of the holes. A good time was had by all and we finished the last six holes in the company of a member who was playing by herself. She quickly became Elaine's best friend as she deceded that chattering away in freanch to either Anika or Peter was a waste fo time. It was uncanny she played every shot (except putting) in exactly the same way - a five wood plonking it forward 20 to 80 yards and merrily made her way round the course with a tidy score.
Honey, lemon and tarragon chicken with roast potatoes, haricot vert and carrots for dinner and a glass wine and long conversations ended the day.
Taking the 2.00pm Easyjet from Gatwick is a very civilised way of getting to La Rochelle. Travelling with no luggage means a pleasant walk to the Tram, train from East Croyden a door to door journey of just over the hour at a totla cost of £9.00.
We were joined at the airport by Elaine who had accepted an invite for a weekend of golf. The flight ran a few minutes late but with a flight time of an hour we were still parking the rented Renault Grand Scenic (hmm bigger than I had thought) outside number 8 about 5.00pm local time.
Moules at Viviers was the highlight of the evening and we enjoyed a spectacular sunset at we finished our meal. It was pretty much full and we needed to have booked. The MKAY sign sat on the same table we used when last visiting with M&A.
Sunday
There was a competition on at the golf club and so we booked a tee time for 15.20, an hour after the last of the competiton went out and so we set of mid morning to go into La Rochelle itself. Our plan was Le petit dejeuner at Cafe de la Paix and a walkabout, showing Elaine the essence of the town. So, after picking up the making s of Sunday dinner in the Casino,parking in Place Verdun was our first destination - no problem. Hmmmm the Cafe was closed. Ah well there are the two very buzzy spots in the square by the Hotel de ville. Did you see it coming? Yes, both closed - in fact very closed.
It began to look like the season had ended and how, or was it just Sunday? Fortunatley all the cafes by the Old Port were open and we had a delightfull LPD watcing the world go by in bright warm sunshine. We strolled by the Old Port and ice creamed on the small beach just beyond the sailing school and then toured around to the Marina before heading back to Nantilly to prepare for golf.
Playing conditions were perfect although the breeze that served to cool us was a bit strong on a couple of the holes. A good time was had by all and we finished the last six holes in the company of a member who was playing by herself. She quickly became Elaine's best friend as she deceded that chattering away in freanch to either Anika or Peter was a waste fo time. It was uncanny she played every shot (except putting) in exactly the same way - a five wood plonking it forward 20 to 80 yards and merrily made her way round the course with a tidy score.
Honey, lemon and tarragon chicken with roast potatoes, haricot vert and carrots for dinner and a glass wine and long conversations ended the day.
Saturday, 8 August 2009
The holiday within the holiday - part one
Monday morning sees us setting of for the 75 minute drive to Royan to catch the ferry across the mouth of the Gironde estuary to the Medoc. This 25 minute passage offered the prospect of a meandering drive through the vineyards of this part of Bordeaux. There was a small problem of the ferry in that the "driver" 
thoughtlessly locked the doors with the push button on the ignition key. This set the alarm and once the ferry go into motion the alarm went off. As luck would have it we were close enough to be able to reset the alarm, over and over again for the rest of the trip.
thoughtlessly locked the doors with the push button on the ignition key. This set the alarm and once the ferry go into motion the alarm went off. As luck would have it we were close enough to be able to reset the alarm, over and over again for the rest of the trip.The meander down the Medoc didn't work out quite like that as there is very little wine growing until you are quite a long way down the peninsula around St Estephe. Our first stop was at Paulliac to view the Lynch Bages vines - very nice too.
We had a picnic lunch over looking the Gironde in the company a camel! Here's an update on camel diets, they don't like celery.
We drove out of Paulliac on the Route of the Chateaux which was delightful although more in the style of fancy farmhouses of viniculture like in Burgundy and not like the royal Chateaux of the Loire. Arcachon was our destination for the day and in particular Hotel Le Dauphin. [At present we are a bit confused because in days of old the heir to the throne of France was known as Le Dauphin but then again the Dauphin also seems to be the french for a dolphin...hmmmm...] The hotel staff were very good and the location was excellent even if the facilities were fairly average.
Arcachon is basically on a lagoon which creates a bay like vista that has clearly become very popular with holidaymakers and even day-trippers. As we left the town we passed through a very stylish suburb that clearly showed that the idea that Arcachon was developed for the wealthy of Bordeaux had some real basis. The centre and seafront of Arcachon is a bit architecturally conflicted with some really horrible seventies geometric concrete with a Basque influenced vernacular. I am tempted to think that when the french planning process gets it wrong it really gets it wrong!
We drove out of Paulliac on the Route of the Chateaux which was delightful although more in the style of fancy farmhouses of viniculture like in Burgundy and not like the royal Chateaux of the Loire. Arcachon was our destination for the day and in particular Hotel Le Dauphin. [At present we are a bit confused because in days of old the heir to the throne of France was known as Le Dauphin but then again the Dauphin also seems to be the french for a dolphin...hmmmm...] The hotel staff were very good and the location was excellent even if the facilities were fairly average.
Arcachon is basically on a lagoon which creates a bay like vista that has clearly become very popular with holidaymakers and even day-trippers. As we left the town we passed through a very stylish suburb that clearly showed that the idea that Arcachon was developed for the wealthy of Bordeaux had some real basis. The centre and seafront of Arcachon is a bit architecturally conflicted with some really horrible seventies geometric concrete with a Basque influenced vernacular. I am tempted to think that when the french planning process gets it wrong it really gets it wrong!
We had excellent dinner at the Cafe de la Plage - restaurant Chez Pierre. Anika had a very glum face when she looked at the wine list as it was very expensive - the best value being 94 euro for a 2001 Chat Lynch Bages. Fortunately we realised she was looking at the "fine wine" carte and we had a very serviceable white at a very affordable price.
Tuesday's departure from Arcachon was via Pyla Sur Mer to visit Europe's biggest sand dune, 340 feet high and two miles long. To encourage responsible tourism they have created a large car parking area and camper van overnight area and a whole bunch of other facilities including a fibreglass staircase to walk up to the top of the Dune. It actually is quite amazing and well worth the stop.
The journey to Biarritz was intentionally slow, taking all the "B" roads we could find - well really "D" roads here in France and for the most part they are pretty good. Which means that they, and the area, is tres populaire with camper vanners. Lots of caravans are still about but it seems that the camper vans are really dominating that style of holiday. I will look this up in the map book and update later - we paased by a large lake that has clearly been developed into a resort area and pretty pleasing it was. Offers the thought of an away day from Nantilly for a lakeside expereince.
We kept seeing that the Autoroute was very busy and so felt quite smug about our route choice or we were until we hit the outskirts of BAB. There are three towns on the coast, Bayonne, Anglet and Biarritz and they form one conurbation, BAB, and all three attract tourists. Anglet seems to be a development of resort facilities designed to fill the coast between the two Bs. As we approached the outskirts we hit traffic - a lot of it. we were able to get a good look at the urban space as we made our way from the Northern outskirts of Bayonne to the old centre of Biarritz, the southern most town of BAB.
As you would guess along with all the traffic came the horrendous problem of parking and yes our hotel did not offer any parking and were singularly unhelpful abut the best course of action. Fortunately a space in the square outside the hotel came free and we took advantage of it to unpack the car and check in. We realised later that the hotel staff were not being unhelpful so much as merely expressing the locals' view to parking. They do the Irish thing of pulling up outside where they want to go and ignore all restriction. Having been in the car for a couple of hours and clambering out into the sunshine of Biarritz is that you are reminded of one of the negative things about having air-con in the car. You lose the sense of the "real" temperature and boy was it hot.
It took us a little while to settle into the hotel and its surroundings and really it was only after we discovered the two level roof top terraces that we understood it value. The first terrace was a dining area and we took all of our breakfasts there as well as a lunch and a dinner. The second terrace was up a level and laid out as a relax with a drink area. Both gave brilliant views as well as great vantage points to observe the life of the Old Port area.
More in part two and picture to follow.
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