Strasbourg

In the tradition of all things Alsatian, this weekend was spent eating and drinking!

On Saturday we met the family in a brasserie in Strasbourg and tucked into the likes of tarte flambé (pizza like thing with cheese, cream, and lardons) and choucroute (cabbage and ham/am still learning how to spell it!) ; all the while, washing down a rather large amount of beer.

Yep, I could get used to this way of life!

Did I tell you that I drink a small glass of Kronenbourg beer each morning around 7.30pm and each evening around 6.30pm? No, then I didn't mention that I drive past the Kron. factory and that the wafts of beer pour themselves into my car each time!

Anyhoo, it was lovely to spend Saturday with 'the crowd' walking around Strasbourg and enjoying the sites... and to see juwt how fast Antoine and Charlotte are becoming little, delightful people.

brothers and cousins

A wee entry to celebrate my brother Graham and my cousin Kate!!

Kate's been traveling through Australia and New Zealand for just under two years now. Here's her last entry:
"last time i wrote, I was just leaving adelaide, where I'd been for 5 months, with many happy memories and heading westward across the huge expanses of the nullabor plain to WA. Well, since then Ive driven over 13000k (8000miles) seen many amazing things, and become awestruck at the sheer enormity of this dry, hot continent. a million miles away from scotland in many ways.

My first stop in WA after waving goodbye to my two nullabor companions was to do some woofing at an ecological community on the south western coast. A beautiful area, very green, with lots of trees, and an interesting coastline. The woofing was fantastic. Stayed with a lovely family who made me feel very welcome and were more than happy to share their extensive knowledge of sustainable living and community. I spent most of my time there in the veggie garden and as i was there for a month, got to see the plants growing which I'd sown- very satisfying. Amongst other things i also helped out at some elderly neighbours houses, did a few days work at the nearby centre for sustainable living and took part in community working bees.

The west coast is amazing...the bits I loved most were visiting Nigaloo marine park and snorkelling on the reef there- a bit like the great barrier reef but closer to shore. We snorkelled in a couple of different places, and despite my almost paralysing paranoia about sharks I managed to relax and enjoy it. Saw so many different coloured and shaped fishes and was just fantastic to get a glimpse into their little lives for a while. The last day we were there we went to an idillic snorkel spot in turquoise bay, we were just about to get out when Kevin tapped my shoulder and pointed- omg! a shark!! my worst fear, and my first thought was...oh, its not that big is it.it was a little reef shark. amazing to see it but i still got out of the water rather speedily. "

Now to be clear - she's one cool cat for having had such exeperiences. But, you know what? Even in Scotland she was an overall inspiring and envigorating person!

Meanwhile, my brother Graham has spent the last few months sailing from the Panama Canal towards Australia. Here's one of his last entries:

"We are currently en-route to theTuamotau Archipelago, but when we arrive in Tahiti, (10 days or so) I shalldefiantly be calling in. The Marquesas Islands ended up being a verypleasant refueling (both the boat and crew) point and both the islands wevisited were charmful and full of character and of course six days was notnearly enough. The first anchorage was called on a tiny island (pop. 1,000) called FatuHiva with a splattering of other yachts, including one registered inAberdeen. 38 feet, steel, ketch which left from Peterhead a couple of yearsago, sailed by Tam fae Kemnay who has a strong Aberdeenshire accent. Mad... "

Crazy, in fact!

much love,
Robyn

Molsheim

A thick layer of mist lay over Molsheim as I scurried out for croissants and pains aux chocolat this morning but all the same the sun was pushing its way through the silken layer, like a torch shining through water.

This weekend Molsheim is celebrating its fete des raisins but as the festivities don't really start until tomorrow Ben and I thought we'd go visit the recently harvested vineyards that lie just above the town. By this point, the sun was proudly shining in a blue sky .. and the only clouds were the flocks of joyful birds that were doing some harvesting of their own!

The New Car!

And, voila, here is our new car.
She is a Volkswagen Golf and comes with a bunch of toys: automatic gear box, air-conditioning, automatic wind shield wipers, and so on.
She's cute and I already love her (sorry Ziggy!).

Anyone wanting a test-drive just needs to come visit :-)

germany

I'm now at home eating kugelhopf and drinking gerwutztraminer, though not necessarily at spelling them.

Why? Because now when we take a trip to Germany it feels like visiting a home away from home (and not just because its cold and raining).

Anyhoo, we had a lovely weekend in Germany and not least because our new Golf drove us there (we cannot really say we drove, as we were too busy playing with the gadgets and listening to CDs to care about anything else other than the gear box was on automatic and the speed was on cruise control!!).

Once with Juliette and Regis, we helped unpack their boxes and play with the kids while generally relaxing and eating good food. Stressful, it was not.

Now we're back on the other side of the Rhine we're both busy working hard and enjoying life.

Indeed, it is - as they say - all good!