Three days in Budapest

We took the opportunity offered by Ryanair to visit lovely Budapest.  We rented a spacious apartment not far from the Danube, an easy tram ride to the center (on tram 2 which was apparently Europe's favourite tram ride!).  What we didn't know at the time but soon found out was that we had good restaurants and a jazz club just round the corner.

 

The first day was spent buying a tourist card and taking a walking tour of Buda from which we learned quite a lot of Hungarian history.  How much we remember remains to be seen!

 

Day two a boat ride on the Danube more history and luckily good weather.  The afternoon was spent in the National Museum which has so much stuff!  Fortunately all exhibits have an English translation, in fact the second language is English which made everything really easy.  We also just had time for a quick visit to a thermal bath.

 

Day three a visit to the Fine Arts Museum also really interesting, the square commemorating heroes (some were really scary) and the Basilica, a rather baroque interior.  A visit to the Christmas market and the obligatory mulled wine, the day topped off with an evening at the jazz club.

 

  

In between there was lots of wandering and staring at buildings - most of Pest was built in the 19th century so quite ornate.  COVID controls were quite random, didn't even get checked coming back into France.

Had a great time - highly recommended! 

 

Nearly in Provence

We spent a couple of weeks at the end of September in the caravan in the Aveyron, the Drome and the Herault.  Did lots of walking and a bit of biking.  Here are some photos.

First the Aveyron where it was quite cool.

The oldest village in the area

 

 The church murals from the 1950's!

A street in a medieval town

A view over the Tarn

Then the Drome where we had the most awful thunder-storm which lasted most of the night.

View from the campsite

 

View of the mountains that we walked in

walk start

And finally the Herault where it was lovely and warm!  We did a walk of 18km one day ...

 a village on the way

praying mantis

view from the top

...  and ate well the next ...

 

 

 Village a bit like Port Sunlight on a much smaller scale - industrial past with workers accommodation.

 One of the most touristy towns in the area - very beautiful but fight the crowds!

 ... and ended up in the cave of Clamouse - never seen so many formations!!

All in all quite a visit.  Will return.

 

 

Interesting times

So, life was trundling along with not much happening because of Covid, playing cards twice a week with friends and neighbours, walking mostly on roads and tracks to avoid the mud.  Judy has had both doses of the Pfizer vaccine but then Chris had a disaster. 

Descending a 2km hill on his bike at between 60 and 70 km/h he was hit by a deer.  All 7 ribs on the left either broken or cracked, broken left collar bone, then an operation to remove a huge haematoma on his left thigh.  Seventeen days in hospital where the French system worked well and free, but Judy was only allowed two visits a week, again because of Covid.

The helmet saved my brain, or what's left of it, and the bike was in a much better state than me.  Slowly mending but moving the left arm is still difficult.  Have had to employ a gardener.  But at least I should see my 70th birthday!  Pressie is a new helmet.

A Christmas visitor

We've had a few of these in the garden, but a big group on Christmas Day - not a robin, not any traditional Christmas bird, but lovely.  Back again today.  Not in my guide to birds of Europe but found it eventually on the internet.

The first and last post of 2020

The year started well with sunshine at the end of January - tea on the terrace..

Then we had two (half) days snowshoeing near Ax-les-Thermes with the walking group.

Nicky, Bryony and Morgan came for the UK half-term, we took the kids to the mountains for 3 days, but not lots of snow.

Then came lockdown, restricted to 1 hour and 1km from home for a month, but it's quite pretty here.

A month later and it was 100km.

C was a lycra lout again.

We found a beach-side campsite with good sanitary measures before the hordes arrived.

Then we stayed quietly at home, no parties, no fetes!  Had to cancel our trip to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia - thankfully, as they were at war when we would have been there!

At the end of July we took a friend from Condom and an Armenian refugee up to other friends near Auxerre. 

 

 In September we had a week walking (well strolling) in the Ardeche with the walking group - about 35 of us.  Very beautiful countryside.

 

 

Just before the second lockdown we escaped to a ballet in the Grand Theatre at Bordeaux

and then the three-day event at Pau 

 

which included carriage driving.

Back to 1 hour and 1km for a month then 3 hours and 20km.  Started ordering take-away meals from local resto's and one superb one put together by top chefs of the region.

When we could travel anywhere (in France) we booked a nice apartment in Limoux and walked for 4 days.

So Happy Christmas from Montreal.