London (Pt 1)

We've been in London now for almost a week and time has flown by. It's awesome - as usual - as was arriving to our place in great condition - unlike last year! It's all very pleasant indeed. The weather has been a bit wet and unseasonably cold up to yesterday, but has now improved. We've been doing our usual combination of walks, shows and museum visits - although haven't done too much of the latter yet. We went down to Wareham (Dorset) for a few days to see Marian's cousin too. We're aiming to do a bit of cycling now the weather has improved. We've also been busy on a few minor maintenance/management tasks for the apartment - nothing too drastic (happily). After being surprised at how busy it was on Saturday, I'm happy to report there aren't too many crowds. Here are some pics.....

Leaving Cotignac - thanks Nick and Jodie for a great stay in Provence!....

Upon arrival in London - such a great base to visit the city....

We headed straight out for a quick walk nearby after the flight - this is Horse Guards with a London Eye backdrop.....

From the bridge in St James Park toward Buckingham Palace...

There's now a florist under our building which attracts a surprising amount of photos (a bit odd). We are the two windows on the first floor of the white building (the living area in the earlier photo shows the windows). There's always plenty of people walking along the street between Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square....

The Royal Opera House has free concerts once a month and we saw an excellent ballet demonstration and a Q&A with a two male Principal Dancers (who were both Australian)...

We've been to a few shows. This was Tina (which we didn't get to see in Brisbane with the family because it was cancelled on the afternoon of the performance due to performer illness)....

The National Portrait Gallery has long been a favourite, but it's been closed for a few years. This is the new entrance from the end of Orange Street, near our place.....

Behind us is the Theatre Royal Haymarket, where we saw Waiting for Godot (with Ben Whinshaw - the English actor from TV/film - was Q in recent James Bond series)....

On my birthday we had tickets to Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club at lunchtime to see a fab gypsie jazz outfit.....

In the evening we went to Rules Restaurant in Covent Garden for a traditional English meal - it's the oldest  restaurant in London. I've got the Sunday roast and Marian's got a chicken and leek pie....

Covent Garden after dark (looking toward the Royal Opera House)....

Another view of Covent Garden (St Paul's church by Inigo Jones from 1631 on the right)....

This is the establishment you need should you require an umbrella, riding crop, swordstick or life preserver.....

We did a fascinating walk around inner north-east London through late Georgian estates (early 1800's), using a great guidebook from the architectural historian Dan Cruickshank....

This is the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden - the lunchtime concert was in the hall on the left....

Having been disappointed we couldn't get to see MacBeth with David Tennant (booked out or £250 tickets!), we discovered you could line up each morning for 2 of 15 front row seats for £25! Marian did the chore on a wet morning and we had an amazing view and experience. The theatre is around the corner from here and everyone had to wear headphones as part of the production - it was incredibly good.....

Marian facing stage bottom left.....

We were walking to our train carriage to head to Wareham to see Marian's cousin and who should scream out at us but our niece Margo - who was on the SAME train heading to the Isle of Wight. What are the odds!.....

Wareham is a very ancient and pretty market town in Dorset. They sent 59 men in 3 boats from this quayside in 1343 to assist Edward III's siege of Calais.....as you do.....

High Street had an eclectic array of buildings, somewhat disrupted by the traffic passing through the town....

Marian and her cousin Karen - heading back to London....

Apparently, in Dubai from 2026 they intend to operate these 'Uber' style aerial taxis from 4 'vertiports' around the city (on display outside Charing Cross Station).......

Cotignac (Pt 2)

How much fun is France - they know how to live! We've had a great time in Cotignac and have been surprised how green it is and how many vineyards there are! Tomorrow we're off to London for 3 weeks. We've eaten (and drunk) way too much but we'll try to walk it off in London! Here's some pics from Provence.....

Nick and Jodie's apartment is the array of first floor windows (with shutters) on the left. Their aspect onto the square is awesome.....

We drove down to Cassis (east of Marseilles) to see the town and coastline. It's very spectacular. We went on a 2hr hike along the coastal path....

The cliff in the distance is the highest sea cliff in Europe (399m) which you can drive onto (photo further below).....

There are very pretty inlets along the coast - this day was very windy but on a still summers day the colours must be fantastic....

Cassis is great - an interesting harbour and restaurants/cafes all along the esplanade. We had a great lunch in one of them....

The old town is small but very nice....

Of course.....

Here's the big cliff from the top. Quite alarming I must say - no barriers.....

Nick cooking up one of his signature dishes - Mushroom Risotto (this time with a little chorizo).....

Cotignac colours (main square).....

Next day we visited a few other towns, one set below a fine chateau and garden..... 

Commanderie de Peyrassol is a winery and chateau where we went for lunch, near Cotignac. They cooked our pork and sea bass directly on a wood fired bbq and it was awesome, as was the creme brulee...... 

Anthony and his partner Carol visited and we had a great time. It's the first time we've all been together for a while......

Here's the same group (in the same order!) in about 1980 in the back yard at Mansfield......(!)..

Next door to Nick and Jodie's place is a great house owned by a few Australians including John and Margaret Brannock - who I've known for over 30 years! It was a complete coincidence that Nick and Jodie ended up next door!.....

We've just come back from a real blow-out dinner where Nick and I had the pork ribs - which were served in a frypan - possibly too much for 2 people! The flavour was sensational.......

Cotignac (Pt 1)

The flight from Venice was uneventful and we're now ensconced in Cotignac, a beautiful village in Provence where Nick and Jodie have had an apartment now for about a year. They've done a fantastic job setting it up and doing renovations. The village has lots of character and is set at the foot of a massive cliff, that used to be a waterfall before the river was diverted centuries ago! Yesterday we travelled up to the Verdon Gorge which was pretty spectacular, then today down to St Tropez which was very impressive. Here's some pics....

Cotingac - one of the three squares. The apartment is on the first floor to the left, looking toward the 15th century clock tower......

Nick and Jodie's apartment living room overlooking the square....

Second square where restaurants have al fresco dining under the trees. It's also the location of the Tuesday market....

Some goodies shared from the excellent patisserie very near by.....

The town has retained some old olive presses in a public park at the top end of town, below the cliffs where people lived centuries ago ('troglodytes').....

And why not.....

Note the 'trompe l'oeil' on the end building facade. There's a woman in a window - but also painted on are all the white window architraves and the little round window at the top. Also, the array of shutters on the right hand building are also painted on (only two shown in photo)....

View over Cotingnac from the cliff walks.....

Verdon Gorge - the colour of the water is amazing. It runs into a large dam....

We visited Moustiers-Sainte-Marie after the gorge - it's a great little town with raging water running through it and cliffs towering overhead. Lots of arts and crafts throughout, and a Westie that Marian liked very much next to us at lunch.....

Today we went down to San Tropez. It was very pretty and well organised. In summer it's apparently a madhouse....