Well this week has been pretty eventful - Chels and I on the Monday went on a bike ride to Domme via Beynac and Castelnaud which was really nice apart from one fact - it got to 39 degrees that day. Most of the ride it was fine but the last half an hour or so was killer - I nearly jumped fully clothed into the Dordogne river at one stage only didn't to save Chelsea from total embarrassment ha - isn't that a mums job?? But that area which is only about half an hour drive from where we live is truly breathtaking and was good to see it again.
Tuesday Paul and I put some more k's on Johns trusty Peugeot and went in search of an architectural reclamation yard that John had mentioned in Prayssac - luckily we found it as it was actually a bit out of town but we did and was interesting to see. Didn't find any of the oak beams that we are looking for but lots of steel and the roll top baths etc. And huge sheds full of old doors, windows and furniture - you can really see the influence of the European styles in the reproduction Indonesian furniture we get in Aus. We felt a bit awkward just wandering around as no-one seemed to be around other then at a front 'office' and some of the sheds didn't have any lights on but apparently 'c'est normal' - we didn't buy anything but we will be back!
Wednesday the two men from a local building firm dropped in to give us our 'devis' for getting our 'fosse septic' installed. We had been warned it could be nasty so we were happy it was 'only' 4.5k euros. Putting in the septic in rural france is definitely not the same as in rural Aus - probably a lot to do with the clay soils in our area of France and having more people around but it's a lot more involved then just digging a hole and dropping a tank in. Funnily enough the same guys had dropped of a 'cabine' for us to use a day or so prior to us agreeing to them doing the job - no pressure - I will let you guess what that is ha - actually no - I will include photo ha.
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| Paul with 'le Cabine' or is it 'la cabine' either way - gross - hope that fosse septic gets in soon! |
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| Recycling very old crumbly bricks into a new road - Chels and I have done most of this - we like it - Paul not so much - what do you think? It will crush down to nothing once it's driven on a bit more.... |
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| Nearly gone - finally - the room is so much bigger - well it will be once Paul has removed all the rubble! |
Wednesday night Chels and I set off on a bit of an adventure. I have an issue with my wisdom teeth that I have yet to resolve as I was meant to have them taken out a couple of years back but actually missed my hospital appointment - I know dummmmm - but it was a week after we had got back from the US and for some reason I had it in my head it was two weeks blah blah - anyway at the time my teeth had settled and the dental surgeon had said they could be fine for the next 20 years - it was just the risk you took. Well long story short they have been giving me heaps of grief in the last few weeks and since we are not in the French health system yet I got to googling and voila - you can go to Budapest where there are an over supply of dentists and get what ever dental work done you need much cheaper etc etc. So after emailing a couple of them that looked legit I booked a little trip - flights only about 260 euros return so pretty cheap. Anyway long story short we made it to the appointment on the Friday only to be told after being xrayed - 'you need to go to a hospital and we are only a clinic so you must get it done at home' - aaahhh so slight mis communication - is 'surgical removal of wisdom teeth' misleading in any way? ha. Oh well we ended up having a lovely time in Budapest - did a very interesting 'free' walking tour that we found on Trip Advisor with some young Hungarians that had great senses of humor and gave us a good overview of their country's really turbulent history. Also had some lovely meals - tried some traditional Hungarian which was yummy - particularly the pancakes stuffed with a minced meat concoction and covered with a paprika and sour cream sauce (see pic). Apparently about 2000 cal per main meal is the norm in Hungary - have no idea why there are so many slim people there - other then perhaps they all chain smoke.....
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| Chels and I in Budapest (Buddhapesht) in front of very impressive church. Most of the buildings have been rebuilt at some stage and are versions of older buildings due to many years of war and destruction. |
We were due to come home via a Paris stopover tomorrow night but changed our flight to yesterday to give us a couple of extra days here in Paris. Will save dragging Paul here next week when Chelsea is due to fly back to Chicago as he is not a huge fan of Paris - or big cities at all really - he doesn't discriminate ha. We went to the Champs Elysees for dinner last night - to a restaurant I have been to with Paul before that is very reasonably priced and only about 100m from the Arc de Triomph so the view is pretty specky. This was a Sunday night but the place was pretty much packed - the food was really good - so was the icecream on the way home! Looking forward to doing some touristy stuff for the next couple of days then back to Degagnac to actually do some work - I think I have a few extra kilos to burn off so it might be time to sort out my eating habits to something resembling normality - not today though haha.
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| View from our room in Paris |
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