comings and going

 Last night being Lily and Louises' farewell we hoofed it to the Rest'o'vale (= ex-ty-rex,) with newly arrived New Kelly; Elizabet and Gert wandered in, having driven from Copenhagen.

Wonderful to see them and a happy night ensued...








L and L boarded the bus this morning, looking forward to the calm of Paris.

Essotourism cont

Yesterday Lily and Louise got treated to the esoteric tour which I'm so proficient at - here we are finishing at Rennes -les-Bains. Enough of a clear day to enjoy the views but not hot and today its pouring with rain. Electricity off in Chez Francois; hoping that's a by-product of bad weather and not something I have to manage via the impenetrable electric company. Too esoteric even for me.

Magrie weekend

 Today boded,hmm,  odd; alarming, one might say - or worse - but it went well :)





Many friends visited the arts weekend at Magrie to whom I send heartfelt thanks. What could have been a boring event was somewhat exhausting fun. I didn't remember to photograph everyone but here are a few...

... Kate Hardy, who walked over from Limoux with her adorable whippets:

Anne from Couiza  conferring with Kat - she bought us her homemade crepes and  chocolate sauce, bless her heart-

 Pete and Clare and Annette:

Marie-France from Esperaza:

Roland having things explained to him by Marie:

the town bar:

Petite moi,  winning the painting prize :) = bottle of premier bulle, loads of flowers and a marble trophy (Thanks to Bob for the photo)

Now I'm told I'm a celebrity so I'm available for hire. Usual rates apply.

Then - as if I hadn't peaked - Lilly and Louise who arrived last night had cooked us dinner. We ate in Chez Francoise and counted our lucky stars:)

Magrie frolix

The Magrie arts weekend opened today, with crowds and lovely weather and a visiting faun.

Knackered! Same again tomorrow though can't guarantee the woodland critter - who is Tabbitha, BTW.

Esotourism

 David and Harriet Powell have stayed , catching a glimpse of Debs before everyone left us... ate at the creperie when they arrived with Pete and Clare, Annette and Ken - Pete has a new hip and all is well :)
Repeated the sceptics esoteric tour for the Powells and indeed ate at the same resto in Rennes les Bains - hot sunshine and tagine, very successful -

Here are David and Harriet, bemused in Rennes le Chateau. The place had coachloads of esotourists, film crews and multilingual translations going on which pleased me enormously. They had clearly taken my claims for the place with a pinch of salt, ha!!

 Afterwards we had tea on the terrace of Pete and Clares palace in La Serpent.

 Here's the bionic boy, glad to be home, and Annette (Clares sister) dog training.

No more guests till tomorrow. Today I'm hanging the show at Magrie, do come. I'm in the schoolroom, it seems. Here's a link to the catalogue - looks most interesting :)

SITE1.pdfhttp://artmagrie.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/CATALOG-MAGRIE-SITE1.pdf

Continuing tourism

 Started yesterdays' tourism route at Rennes les Bains, planing lunch at Will and Marvis... the best laid plans, alas. Here it is, closed.

However; the place opposite was open and we had a jolly good lunch. Moules frites for me, sausage and chips for them, then barbe de papa and mango ice cream. A bit of wine may have entered the equation. Here are me and Debs being on holiday.

 We did Rennes le Chateau next of course. Which left Alet les Bains for the Cathedral (whats left of it) and tea at the Bishops Palace. Exhausting.

   

Travel plans

Whilst in Carcassonne yesterday, we went to the station to buy Debs's ticket to Marseille for Thursday. She could not have one without a carte d'identite or her passport.
So she bought it on her mobile, no messing.

And this?? This is my spectacles case, covered in a bit of the yellow stuff that has fallen off the installation in la Cite. A relic, you might say. I'm thrilled:) Original artist Felice Varini.

 No doubt other friends will be glad its falling down, it only seems to have been popular with artists.

After doing the tourist thang we figured we'd eat better in Limoux - forgetting it was Monday and the big good places are closed. Ended up at La Tantina in the square which is clean with a nice ambiance and dear Debs got the cassoulet she'd been longing for.