Lily is on the move!

Lily loves her baguettes! She had already eaten both ends and we ate the other half for lunch!

Has anyone seen Little Red Riding Hood?

What? The wolf is coming here?!

Thank you to my French uncles!

A big thank you to Martin and Eric for making our time in Provence one that we will never forget.

Lily with Martin

Lily with Eric

Flirting in Paris

The weather back in Provence was lovely after the cold in Italy - we were enjoying 16degree days and sunshine. One day Michael was even up on a ladder helping Martin and Eric pick their olives which they press to produce their own olive oil – it is divine and tastes so much better than the commercial product. Martin hosted a farewell dinner for us in Nice and prepared the yummiest lamb roast. His apartment is stunning, on one side it over looks the coast of Nice and on the other side it overlooks the mountains.

After only three days at the villa we were on the TGV to Paris. Lily behaved herself for the four hour journey mainly because there were loads of people to smile at and they were literally sitting ducks for all of her flirting.

We stayed in the Opera district which was great even though we originally wanted to stay in the Latin Quarter, but considering we were booking our hotel only 15hours before we arrived we weren’t in a position to be fussy. It was soo cold the first night but we were lucky enough to have ‘warmish’ sunny days for the rest of our stay which was great since we spent the four days strolling around showing Lily the sights although every time we got to somewhere of significance she was asleep. It was a little like the ‘sleeping tour of Paris’.

Lily at the Louvre
Lily at the Arc de Triomphe

Lily at the Eiffel Tower
The christmas lights along the Champs Elysees were absolutely amazing – we went into Zara and did more shopping (for me this time) and when we came out the whole boulevard was lit up and I was blown away at how magical it looked. I almost got killed trying to take this photo in the middle of the road!

We went to the Eiffel Tower in the afternoon but little Lily was asleep and we wanted to go back to see the lights anyway but when we arrived back there at 7pm Lily was asleep again but luckily she woke up just in time to see the flashing lights (I promise I didn’t accidentally poke her). She absolutely loved the flashing lights and was so mesmerised by them she cried when we rolled her away!

We are not sure where she learnt this cheesy grin from but she is constantly flashing those pearly whites!

You have to love facebook – a friend from Spain who I lost contact with found me on facebook only a week ago and she just happened to be in Paris working for a few weeks so we were able to meet up for lunch and a stroll around Paris. We had not seen Isabel for about five years so it was wonderful to see her.
We were able to spend a few hours at Musee D’Orsay, one of my favourite museums – I wasn’t quite sure on the Lily factor but thank goodness she enjoyed looking at all the pretty colours as much as we did.

View of Montmartre from Musee D’Orsay
I am not looking forward to joining the masses doing the christmas shopping when we get home but nothing could be as chaotic as our experience at Galleries Lafayette – complete madness! It was like being in the mosh pit at a concert but you were actually in a department store with people buying Prada, Tiffanys, Louis Vuitton (btw we were flicking through The Times newspaper and who would you expect to be the next face of Louis Vuitton? Scarlett Johannson perhaps, no, the latest advertisement features Mikhail Gorbachev!). The shoe department is like a dream come true but the hundreds of people (and the lack of enough money) meant you couldn’t really enjoy it for all it’s worth. I left with only a new hat but I was glad to get out of there, you could feel your stress levels drop when you walked out the doors.

It was so lovely to be in Paris again and it was wonderful that the winter weather allowed us time to walk the streets and since we had been there before we were able to take in more of the real Paris rather than just the famous sites. It’s getting a little sad now since we only have a few days left here in Provence then five days in London and then we are back home in time for family dinner on the 12th. In saying that we are happy to be coming home after over four months away and plus Lily is looking forward to being naked more often.

We will miss the French pop music (even though I have little idea of what they are singing, but Michael likes Vanessa Paradis’ latest song), the endless aisles of Carrefour, all of those croissants and delicious pastries, good value French wine and champagne, and of course the shopping – although we are paying for it now as we are packing. Monty is proving to be a bit of a challenge to fit into the suitcase but he has to come home!

Rain rain go away...

We've been in Venice for a few days and it is cold and wet today. This is when travelling with a babe is not easy. For those of you that haven't been to Venice there are loads of little bridges taking you over all of the canals (and there are loads of them which is why Venice is Venice) and we have to carry the stroller up and down the stairs - not fun in the rain I can assure you! Plus Lily was screaming since she couldn't see properly through the rain cover - definitely not fun! I must say it is a wonderful city to stroll around the streets and along the canals but it is not a child friendly city....and nor should it be since it would not have the charm that it does.

It has now been raining for two days and I guess it was finally time for the rain to catch up with us. Before now we have only had two days of rain since we left home over four months ago.

On our way to Venice we went to Lake Garda and stayed in Sirmione which is a cute little town on the southern end of the lake situated on a pennisula. It has the obligatory old town but since it is getting close to winter there was not much open and strolling around the town felt like walking through a ghost town - there was noone around but we were able to find a gelato place so it was all good. We much preferred the scenery of Lake Como but Lake Garda was still impressive - it reminded me of a little version of Chicago as the lake looked more like an ocean since you could not see the other side because of all of the winter mist.

'Romeo Romeo where for art thou Romeo'...no we did not shout it from Juliet's balcony on our stopover in Verona but we did have a great lunch at a little cafe in a side street and Michael finally drank a decent coffee since being away.

Lily is not rolling around so much anymore as she is trying to crawl and is attempting the commando move and manages to move forward little by little but gets more frustrated than anything. We feel a little bad since she has not really had loads of floor time over the last month since we have been on the move so much but we make up for it by sharing our bed (not so much by choice).

I think Lily is looking forward to home cooking again (or at least the French jar food) since the Italian jars leave much to be desired - it is the first time she hasn't enjoyed her food and that says a lot!

We are now on our way back to the villa and are hoping to go to Paris next week now that the French transport workers have ended their strike. Shame on President Sarkozy wanting to cut back on the endless benefits given to all government workers which is unsustainable for the future economy.

No George sightings in Bellagio

After a few days in the villa Lily was getting bored so we drove four and a half hours north to Lake Como in Italy. No, we didn't go there in search of George, although I was on the lookout (apparently his villa is in the Bellagio area). Warren and Merci recommended Bellagio as they went there last christmas and loved it. Bellagio is much smaller than Como and we think much more beautiful. The town is on a headland that divides the lake in two. Everywhere you look there is the lake and the majestic mountains. It has been pretty cold lately with temps during the day reaching about 8degrees. No blue skies but also no rain and I think the misty weather makes the scenery look much more beautiful (or is that what I am telling myself since it is soo cold!)

View from our room

It is base season now so most of the hotels, restaurants and shops were closed and you can only imagine what the town is like in the summer months. It was nice to stroll through the narrow streets in peace and quiet apart from Lily 'chatting' to us.

We took the 40minute hovercraft to Como and Lily loved the trip since she had loads of people to look at and they couldn't go anywhere! After an afternoon in Como we were glad we stayed at Bellagio instead - Como was just like another town whereas Bellagio had a small village feel to it.

These are a few of my favourite things….

Monty, cow and touchy feely animal book.
Lily now has two front teeth which certainly makes eating the end of the baguettes much easier for her! It’s great, who would have thought a piece of bread could amuse her for so long – we should have thought about it much earlier. Our strategy is to give her bread when our meals arrive and it works a treat most of the time!