Sleep and Longing

We survived!

Eleven weeks of trauma at Nuova Lazio High School, but we survived.

A Big List

I kid you not.  The girl in the bikini has a list of new domain names written on her for an auction.
The company is GoDaddy

I've got a big list of things I must do today.

Last Day at the Chalkface

Thanks for the Holiday.  Where's my chocolate eggs?

Easter holidays start tomorrow.  About the only good thing that came out of christianity, apart from communion wine and Christmas.

Another Perfect Day in Paradise

Woke up at 6:00 am to a beautiful pink sky.
Went back to bed (after a little drinkie)

Got up again at 8:30 and had a coffee while admiring the view (see above)

Had breakfast of freshly picked melon, proscuttio and a nectarine.
Went for a 5 mile gentle cycle, and returned to have a glass of a local chardonnay.

Went to a local vineyard for lunch; gazpacho, tasting platter of meats and olives, accompanied by an absolutely fabulous Semillon (Clearview Estate, 2010 Reserve).

On the way home, picked up a basket of nectarines right off the tree.  Juice dripping off of my beard.  A bit unsanitary, but delicious.

Ah well, time for my nap.

Did I mention the weather?

Cloudless, fluorescent blue sky.  Gentle cooling breeze coming in off of the sea.

The hammock calls.

Morning View

My view at breakfast

It's 8:30 am.

The sun is blazing.
I'm having a bacon sandwich on the back porch.

It's already 26ºC.

We're going to see 3 vinyards and sample their wares.

Sometimes life doesn't suck.

The Delights of Doing Bugger All

It's now the third day of our two week break, and I've managed to relax for the first time

Off to Weta

Seeing we I am on holiday, my Beloved thought we'd "do" things together.  *shudder*

Sunny, Warm and Quiet.

View from our front deck

Lovely day in Silverstream.

Strong sunshine has raised the temperature to about 20°C, and the hills to our South East are glorious.

View from our back deck

Just finished cleaning the barbie and putting it away for the winter that is fast approaching.

Bit of weeding amongst the final year's growth.

Garden is pretty lush at the back of our house



Needs a lot of weeding and some Blood & Bone (Traditional Kiwi fertilizer)

As a final touch, I've de-rusted some metal angels a friend gave us 5 years ago, and re-painted them. I've also painted their feet to look like Hunter's Wellies

Painted Metal Angels (almost a good name for a pop group)

Ahhh.  The tranquility of the holidays.

No kids.

No staff.

No trouble.

Paris was Great

Back in NZ, jet-lag under some sort of control, going in to work this morning.
Just discovered that my son's car is overdue for WOF and Rego.
Bugger.
Hope I don't get the same problems that The Curmudgeon had.
But Paris was great.  I've been to France many times, but we've always stayed in the country.  We've had extended stays in Bordeaux, Dijon, Burgundy and along the Loire, but never in Paris, as we had been told (by Frenchmen as well as Brits) that Paris was full of rude nasty people.
They were wrong.
Paris is a beautiful city, full of superb buildings, great restaurants and nice people.
We did all the touristy things and thoroughly enjoyed them.

Eifel Tower

• Went up the Eifel Tower



Arc de Triumph

• Walked along the Champs Elysees, under the Arc de Triumph



Louvre



Guess Who?

• Went to the Louvre (saw the Mona Lisa)



Musee d'Orsay

• Went to the Musee d'Orsay



Grand Palais

• Went to the National Galleries in the Grand Palais (couldn't get in.  They were having a Monet exhibition, and the queue to get in was about 2-3 hours)



Bastile (July) Monument

• Saw the Bastille monument (I didn't know they'd knocked down the prison) and walked around the old Jewish quarter



Notre Dame



Isle du Cite (front) and L'Isle de St. Louis(back)

• Went to Notre Dame and L'Isle du Cite, and L'Isle de St. Louis.



Sorbonne

• Walked through the Latin quarter by the Sorbonne



Rodin Museum

• Went to the Rodin Museum (Couldn't get in as they had a Henry Moore exhibition in their gardens, another long queue)



Les Invalides

• Went to Les Invalides and Naploleon's Tomb

I don't think we saw an ugly building anywhere.
The food was great, but expensive.  A cup of coffee (Cafe Creme) was about €4, about NZ$7, most of the lunches (2 course fixed price)were €20 (NZ$35) and because there were 4 of us, we had to be a little careful.
I just wish we'd visited before we moved to NZ.  13,000 miles is a bit far to drop in for lunch.
Lots of pretty girls though.

A common sight in a Paris street

Winding Down

Only 36 hours to go, then I'll be winging away to the land of unfriendly people, congested roads, unpleasant weather and gangsters.
Luckily I'll only be in Auckland for a couple of hours before we set of for LAX.  Definitely not looking forward to the 32 hours stuck in a confined space, packed with irritable and angry people.  Just like being back at school.
I'll try and put up some posts while I'm over in the UK, but my beloved will be in full "Machine of Satan" mode, so it might be a little tricky.
I'm sure that Richard [of RBB], The Curmudgeon et al will be keeping you all amused, and I look forward to reading all the crap interesting posts when I come back.
My beloved is focused on cooking the Christmas dinner at the moment, which is how I've got time for this.  She is decidedly tetchy at the moment for some unknown reason, but I will have my revenge.  I've got her a Christmas present from heaven.  It will fulfil a long felt want (Frankie Howerd joke here) and make her the happiest lady in NZ, for at least a wee while.

A very happy lady

More anon.

Just to keep you interested, here are what I think were the best posts this year.(Not all mine)

The amateur dramatic show
Men are always wrong
Computers are bad
The FBI
The FBI again
Trikes are Cool

Have a lovely Christmas and a Guid New Year. (This is not a misspelling, it's traditional Scots.  So there)