I went to Brétigny and I saw...

... the ceiling in our livingroom
... light on the floor of a cathedral
... medieval floors
... light on the floor of a castle
... part of the headboard of our bed
... beautiful walls in a church

Brétigny!

today we're off ...

One month to go...

It looks sunny...

Houffalize

Vendenesse-Sur-Arroux

Finally! The watermill is ours for a fortnight in the summer...
Here is a satellite picture of the surroundings and the fields, and the villages, and more fields, and more surroundings... woehahaahaaha!

In Bruges

Last week Mr. S had to go to Bruges for business as it is called. He left from his home, together with Mrs. V, his mum. And I left from Ghent. We would meet eachother after his business was taken care of, and then we would have lunch. I left way too early to be a tourist.
First thing I saw were these black birds sitting on a branch. I have absolutely no idea what kind of birds they are...

Second view: amazing autumn colours...

The sun behind the clouds...

This shop reminded me of a real holiday, so the tourist feeling was totally present.


On every corner of this museum city there's something to be seen...


The wonderful cityhall...


A panoramic view of two churches seen from one point of view... Bruges has a lot of churches!


Finally we could have lunch! We all took typical dishes.


This is an amazing shop. Full of nice christmas inspired clutter. We went there because we needed a (as it turned out rather expensive) gift for Mr. S's sisters birthday.




Ofcourse Bruges has lots of fine shops. Every street has at least three lace shops.

Or nice candy and cookie shops!


And after the shopping we went to the Chapel Of The Holy Blood...! We didn't visit the relic, but we went into this little church on the side...


... where Mr. S had to act out his silly self...


And finally we all went home!

Next Year's Easter Holiday

Yesterday I got a textmessage from my mother which went as follows: "Holiday booked in France, house was still free". Though it slipped my mind, it happened to be she was supposed to call the agency the first of september, to book our family-holiday in 2009. This time it was actually quite exciting, because everyone in the family wanted to return to this mansion we went to in 2007. Below are some random pictures of that holiday.

So this is the mansion: Le Manoir Du Buvey. One hell of a mansion, where Hector Malot (the famous writer of 'Sans Famille') once lived.


Not so far from where we stayed, there is the village of Allouville-Bellefosse. Only famous for this old tree, where a hermit once lived in... This tree now needs to be supported by many iron bars and wooden poles.


Et voilà, Bosc-Bénard Commin flaunts the fact that Mr. Malot once lived in their petite commune.


Ofcourse we went on excursions. Probably one of the main reasons we all wanted to go back. We usually take the yearly holiday in the Belgian Ardennes, and well, even though there are lots of places to visit, we usually don't. Where as in France, we went to see as much as possible. Below is the church in Rouan, build on the very spot where Jeanne d' Arc was burned.


And ofcourse the ever so lovely town of Honfleur.

A week of house- and animalsitting

Last Friday we got a phonecall from Mr. S's brother, asking if we were prepared to stay a week at his house. He was leaving for Italy and home & animals needed to be attended to. And for us it's like a little holiday not so far from home.
This is the view of our backyard-for-a-week.


Inside we were welcomed by this dragonfly...


... and this butterfly.


The animals who need our care: Papito, the dog, who happens to be blind and smells like a huge pile of ... well... feces. Mona, the mothercat, and some kind of fluffy little fellow of which we do not know a name.


And ofcourse we brought our own cat, Poeske Kom, along. Though she was a guest in this house in the past, she wasn't eager to go outside. Instead she chose to watch everything from behind the glass and in the comfort of a leather sofa...