Anne in Oxfordshire

Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year to you all!!

2009-12-23T22:32:00.008Z

Wonderful Christmassy day out in Colmar

2009-12-23T16:48:00.011Z

We had a wonderful time walking around the delightful town of Colmar in France. I hope you enjoy the trip too!!

A walk around Blotzheim, France.....

2009-12-22T12:43:00.015Z

Our friend Micheal met us at Basel (Bale) airport and took us back to their (Micheal and Cynthia) house, and after a chat and a coffee, Micheal had to return to work, Arni wanted a rest and I wanted to explore..so off I went with my camera. I couldn't take it all in, I just walked and walked.. Clicking away, at all that took my eye.

Ever seen a house like this!!!!

My walk to took me to many wonderful little Rues, I thought I hope I don't get lost, not at all, one little tip, I always take a photo of the name of my Rue, just in case.

Best Christmas card of the year!!…..

2009-12-21T20:17:00.003Z

I received this beautiful card in the post today….

drawn and made at school, by my little grandson Thomas age 4yrs 9 months. They had to design a card, and then they were properly printed with their names and class and school name on the back. He only started school in September.

First school photo.

Our Holidays this year were in France.....

2009-12-18T19:30:00.014Z

in the Alsace area...staying with friends in Blotzheim.

We Flew

Into

Basel Mulhouse Freiburg Airport

Where our friend Micheal was there to meet us and take us to Blotzheim, so close for us, it was amazing!

The area is wonderful and the houses amazing, so after settling and having a chat and a cup of coffee, Micheal went back to work, Arni had a rest and I went out with my camera!! It was so different to any France I have known, as it is not only so close to Switzerland but to Germany too! Has a very German look!

I will be back soon with my photos I took as I wandered around!!

Bercy Village and Parc de Bercy Paris

2009-12-15T14:25:00.021Z

My great friend Barbara and I had a fabulous day out..in Bercy Village....in the 12th arrondissement. This is such a lovely place to go, have a spot of lunch and peruse the little shops.

At one time this was the largest wine market in the world and the destination for wine coming in from the south of France, and instead of letting it just sit and go into decay, or even knock the buildings down, they renovated the former winestores into these lovely shops.

We had a great walk round, looking at all the delightful shops, and their lovely wares. From here we walked over to Parc de Bercy... another wonderful place to walk around, picnic or just rest!

Maison du Jardinage

Statues of the Park

It was amazing to see these statues just there, very unexpected, and intriguing. After having a good walk around, we made our way to this fabulous bridge ...........

We both had a fab day out!!! Thanks to Barbara for suggesting it!

Wintry Web….

2009-12-11T11:42:00.001Z

The Great Postcard Collection ......

2009-12-08T14:35:00.010Z

Thank you to you all

My Great Friends Dawn and Tom.....

2009-12-07T14:38:00.012Z

went to Edinburgh for the weekend.......and guess what?? A postcard arrived...! Thank you for taking time out of your weekend :-)

Dawn is a wonderful friend of mine, that I met for the first time back in April in Paris...She came along to meet us (Caroline and I) at Gare du Nord,with Leesa,

Dawn, Caroline and Leesa

and we have been friends ever since...she is such a hoot. But bless her, she is having to re-locate back to New Jersey next year, not sure when, so we are praying for an extension.

In the meantime, they are making the most of their time in Europe..not only by seeing and doing a lot in Paris, with the amazing Parcs, Cemeteries and sights but also by travelling further afield. To have the time and the facility to do so is amazing.

I hope that you visit her blog, to see, what Dawn has been up to..I love her blog!! So much to read and see.

Thank you Dawn!

Tomorrow it will be “Sinterklaas-”Eve

2009-12-04T20:22:00.001Z

Me on his lap!! Oh yes a long time ago!!

I hope all my Dutch readers have a very Happy time with all their special celebrations…..also all my other readers a Very Happy Weekend!!!

The Postman called again …..

2009-12-01T17:57:00.001Z

with two lovely postcards, and the countries couldn’t of been further apart! I couldn’t believe it when they dropped on the mat. I really do wonder what my postman thinks!!

My first came from a lovely lady named Di whose blog is Trubes.. Trubes lives in Liverpool, Where the Beatles come from, and I know Trubes is a massive fan. Also Gerry and the Pacemakers came from there ! Famous for the song “You’ll never walk alone”, the anthem for Liverpool FC. I am sorry to say that I do not know much about Liverpool, so I better get learning.

I have just read that Liverpool has been named in the top three UK city break destinations for the second successive year by readers of travel bible, Condé Nast Traveller Magazine.

The buildings from left to right are ..The Liver Building, The Cunard Building and The Port of Liverpool building.

My second card came from my friend Carolyn who lives in Sydney, her blog is My Sydney Paris Life…yes she lives in Sydney and visits Paris a lot. I was very lucky to meet lovely Carolyn and Clive, back in April..my first visit to Paris!!

Now interestingly her card was from neither of these places , Carolyn’s card was from Ridgewood New Jersey!!! Carolyn and her partner Clive also visit America as her mum and her son live over there. Oh and I forgot that they visit the UK too as Clive’s father lives here. A very busy life, and lots of travelling.

I hope that you call in and have a read of their blogs, very different and both very interesting.!! We can learn a lot through each others blogs, and all about each others areas of the world. I for one have learnt quite bit, and met really lovely people.

A big thank you to Di and Carolyn!

Happy Birthday to Leesa...

2009-11-28T13:05:00.004Z

Postcards from my Great Blogging Friends ...

2009-11-27T12:56:00.011Z

Two wonderful bloggers friends have sent me more wonderful Postcards. Such a surprise when I saw them on the mat! Especially as we had just arrived home from our holidays and I was missing my friends and France.

Juliets Balcony - Verona

This lovely card is from Rowena..Rubber Slippers in Italy. Rowena has a fantastic blog, not just about her life in Italy, but also about her life in Hawaii. With fantastic tales of travel, foods and recipes from home. Do call in and have a read, you will not be disappointed, she is a hoot!! :-

My other lovely postcard came from Tracey..in Switzerland. Her wonderful blog is From My Swiss Window with great stories and fantastic photos, of walks and life in Switzerland with her family. Pop over to her blog and see for yourself, you will surely want to be there..I know I would.

All the cards I have received are special, but what is amazing about these two is, that I was going to go back to Italy, but it was my husbands turn to choose the trip. Choices were Italy, France with friends, or Paris!!

He chose France with friends, which is great but where in France??...Right next to the Swiss border 10 minutes from Basel. And on our last day there, we were driving out, and he said where do you think we should go and I mentioned Jura, but we didn't know if we could in the time we had left so we went to Basel (Bale) for a walk around instead!!

A BIG THANK YOU ROWENA AND TRACEY

Happy Thanksgiving to All my American Friends

2009-11-26T13:23:00.001Z

I hope you all have a wonderful day wherever you are!

It has been a joy to meet you all.

Apologies to all my Blogging friends....

2009-11-23T07:26:00.002Z

We are on holiday, so blogging has been put to one side, I am checking in though and have had more lovely comments. I see that there are many new posts by you all,So Lots to catch up with when I return home.

Hope you are all having fun, Have a great week. :-)

Merci to my wonderful friend…..

2009-11-12T19:39:00.001Z

Leesa!! Another great postcard fell on to my mat today, such a lovely way to start my day!! Thank you so much for thinking of me on your travels..!!

This time from Lisbon (Lisboa) the Capital of Portugal. I love the postcard, I get the feeling of warmth, and vibrancy!! This great place needs to be on my to visit list.

Leesa and her friend Lindsey , have been having a ball, travelling around Europe…. Here, Here and Here!! Why not visit Leesa’s blog, and view all her amazing photos.!! Thank You so much Leesa. Hope you and Lindsey had an amazing trip. Take care.

Technorati Tags: Postcards,friends,fun

Wooohooo I have reached my 300th Post!!!

2009-11-06T17:42:00.014Z

According to my calculations, this will be my 300th post!!! I would like to dedicate this post to all of my readers, old and new. I have had quite a few new readers lately, which is brilliant, so welcome to my blog, and thank you for calling in and leaving your comments. A big Thank you to my friends that have stuck with me since the beginning and the blogger friends that have come on board, over the last two years or so.

Incidently my first post was on 14th January 2007..it was all about our trip to Sicily, which we took on November 6th 2006! I remember arriving at our villa, once we found it, and sitting on the beach in awe of our view!

I have yet to finish my posts on Paris, a bit slow, I know. So I have put together a few montages of Paris, there is more to come...I just loved walking round, and snapping away..!!

My wonderful friends in Paris

Two in one…Estonia and Lot !!………

2009-11-04T17:03:00.001Z

Have you been to Tallinn in Estonia? I haven’t, but I know a lady that has. My wonderful friend Kim B from Paris, has just returned from a great trip there, and yes bless her, she sent me a postcard. You can read about this trip and many more over on her blog…Sassiland!

Kim’s blog is full of fantastic stories, and one which I found so great is Kim’s amazing story about how she ended up in Paris!

I was also sent a wonderful Calendar from a lovely lady whose name is Laury. The calendar has a lovely poem on one side.

Laury lives in Lot Valley in the Midi-Pyrenees Region of Southern France, and is another lady with a fantastic story about how she came to be where she is! You can read all about it and more great stories on the blog which is called Soar-Dream-France. Oh yes forgot to mention, She loves Paris too!!

A big thank you to Kim and Laury!

Technorati Tags: Friends,Postcards,Blogging,Fun

Thank you to Trubes…..

2009-10-23T15:08:00.005+01:00

for my lovely postcard from Costa Blanca, Spain. Di whose blog is Trubes, so kindly took my address, so she could join in the fun of sending postcards, and adding to my collection. A big Thank you ..a lovely surprise to come home to at the end of a days work.

Technorati Tags: Fun,Friends,Postcards

Merci Merci Merci…..

2009-10-22T20:50:00.001+01:00

is a fabulous shop in the 3rd arrondissement ..The store is located at 111 Boulevard Beaumarchais, Métro: Saint-Sebastian Froissart, Line 8. I read about this fab shop a few weeks before my first trip to Paris, and I thought it was in the Marais area, tried to find it back then , so this time I went hunting.

The shop has a little cafe on the front, where you can sit and read, or purchase a second hand book from them , a restaurant is also available for you..

I am so pleased I went to find it, as it made me go into another area not walked, more photos to follow!!

Technorati Tags: Shops,walks,Paris,France

Thinking PINK...

2009-10-19T21:21:00.030+01:00

for Breast Cancer Awareness month is something we should all be doing and it was Scintilla of Bell'Avventura, that came up with the great idea of changing the colour of a tag we were sending out from Blue to Pink!

Thank you Scintilla for the starting this, so happy that more have joined in!!

A few others I know have taken part in this...Laura from Ciao Amalfi, Welshcakes Limoncello from Sicily Scene, and a reader of Laura's blog, travellingsuep from Pownall Chronicles as done a post too!!

I hope some of you can join us, but if not, that you get the chance to read some of the other blogs...AND THINK PINK!!!

I would just like to mention my friends Leesa and Dawn, and their wonderful friends who took part in the Breast Cancer Walk Paris 2009....Well done to you all!!

Ladies, Lunch and L'oisive The....

2009-10-12T21:00:00.012+01:00

Leesa, Barbara, Dawn and I all met up at this wonderful cafe L'oisive The, owned by Aimee. The Cafe is in Butte aux Cailles in the 13th arondissement and can be reached either by getting out at the metro station Corvisart (line 6) or Place d'Italie. I am sure my good friends in Paris will tell you the best way, I remembered Corvisart from my first trip in April!

The menu is really great, such a wonderful choice...we didn't have room for dessert after these super salads..!!
We had a wonderful lunch, lots of chat and laughter as usual!! Thanks girls, and thanks Aimee. I hope that some ofyou get the chance to go and visit!

I would like to add, if anyone living over there loves to knit, why not visit the cafe on a Wednesday nights at 7 pm and join the Trico The, I am sure you would have a great evening!!

From my friend Sally....

2009-10-11T22:30:00.009+01:00

came another postcard for my collection!! Thank you Sally, will be up on my board with the others!!

Sally has recently been to Les Gets, Haute Savoie, France, where her boyfriend/partner Geoff has an apartment. Sally's blog has lots of brilliant posts and photos, about her adventures over there and all the other fabulous places she has travelled to! I am sure you will not be disappointed if you had a peek at her blog!!!

The Home Blues!

2009-10-11T13:20:00.010+01:00

A few weeks ago, I was tagged by Loulou of Chezloulou. The tag was linked to a game, where you had to go round your home and find "blue" objects, I thought this would be hard, til I looked closer, and they were right under my nose!!!

Loulou was able to open up the game and took her camera outside! Why not call into see her fabulous pictures, and read her blog, it is wonderful, with such a mixture of interests...BUT the biggest interest I would say is "her" love of "cheese"...Loulou has done great posts, about French cheeses, you could not get more of an honest description. Go on have a look and Enjoy, you might be tempted to change your cheese too!!

I won't be tagging anyone this time, but feel free to join in..it is only a bit of fun, but it gets you thinking!!

Just to say......

2009-10-09T09:16:00.003+01:00

to you all, I have been overwhelmed with comments, from old and new readers, from new countries too!

I have tried to reply and thank you all individually, some of you had emails from me, or a message on your blogs, and it is hard to think who I have replied to, or which post I have dealt with...So I think this way, covers all.