A day in the country in France

Our friends gave us a wonderfully warm welcome - it was great to meet someone who could speak English - I must admit we felt a little out of our comfort zone, particularly when we had to call our friends to collect us from the station and the phones would not accept coins or our credit card. We had to find a shop to find a phone card.

Our friends have just moved to this area just south of Paris and their house is lovely and a home away from home. My friend had just finished making a quilt that she had been working on in Sydney when I had last seen her in August - we had bought the fabric together and it looked spectacular in the room we were sleeping in. They are both incredibly artistic and their walls are covered with their artwork and creativity.

The children had the next day off school, so we all headed off with a picnic lunch and their puppy cocker spaniel Rocky for the country. We drove firstly to Babizon - a delightful village where many artists used to live and work and holiday - including Millet. It looks like it has changed little - very rustic and unpretentious. We went into Millet's studio - he had taught Van Gogh and his walls were covered with his art and the art of other artists.



We then bought fresh croissants from a local bakery and ate them contentedly walking down the main street. The autumn leaves are spectacular - ranging from yellows, to gold, crimson and rust. There are still leaves that are green - so the colours are captivating. The day was clearing into the day we began to have back at Heathrow.



We then loaded back into the nine seater van - four adults, four children and a dog -



and drove through the Forest de Fountainbleau - which is simply glorious towards Chateau Fontainbleau. We had our lunch there in the formal french gardens, with the sun warming our backs. The Chateau is an impressively large building and it is understandable why there was a revolution, realising that a few wealth families lived in style here while most of the population lived in abject poverty. We enjoyed the stillness in the air and the reflections on the water and the pair of white swans who flew majestically over us and landed onto the pond.





The detail on the buildings was exquisite:



After a lazy stroll, we again piled into the van and drove towards Chartres - a beautiful town with a large cathedral.


It took over an hour to get there and we drove through beautiful countryside and saw a flock of deer scampering across the fields. We arrived late afternoon - we could see the spires of the cathedral for miles before arriving. We managed to park and walk up the hill to explore the cathedral. Keith and I had a quick look inside while the children ate ice creams. As the sun was beginning to sink, we explored the town and enjoyed its beauty - the houses, quirky narrow streets and little streams that we passed - the colours were golden and soft.





What tickled our fancy was this display for the recent World Youth Day that took place in Sydney in July: