the south of France...

On saturday Anna and I flew to Perpignan in the south of France - which is about 35kms from the Spanish border and near the Mediterranean Sea. I know - sounds awful! We went because Dad and his two brothers were having a reunion. Each brother lives in a different country - Australia, England and Canada, and they hadn't seen each other since the early '90's.

Dad and Bella met us at the airport, and Anna and I hired a car (a Ford Focus C-Max, diesel, turbo, Ghia for those interested!). It was a lovely car except the steering wheel was on the wrong side! I drove, following Dad, and had a completely freaky drive to pick up the keys to our apartment - wrong side of the road, clutch with the left foot, change gears with the right hand, and I side swiped a parked bicycle. Ooops...!

We picked up the keys (getting lost along the way - won't be the only time this weekend), drove to Laroque des Alberes (top and bottom left pics) where the apartment was, then a short 2km drive up the Pyreneese to where the three brothers were staying. We had a lovely night catching up with everyone, over a bbq, champagne and incredible views.

On sunday we took a trip into Spain, to a town called Santa Margarida which is along the Costa Brava. We passed a curious sight along the way - ladies by the side of the road in skimpy clothing, sitting on plastic deck chairs. Turns out they were for hire (the ladies, not the deck chairs) - the usual customers being rich Russian men. The weather was perfect, so we ate lunch and went for a walk along the beach. That night we went out for a fantastic dinner at a restaurant in Laroque recommended in the Michelin Guide. It didn't have a Michelin Star, but was absolutely delicious none the less. We had four courses including foie gras (well, I had a slight nibble..), white fish, roast duck with white peaches, and some sort of brownie with figs for dessert. Oh, and we had our own sommelier (wine waiter) - with four different wines, one for each course. Noice.

On monday we went on a day trip to Colliere on the French coast. Beautiful pebble beach. On the way home we went to Carrefour - like a French Kmart. Bought some shoes... That night we had another bbq, and watched an awesome rain, hail and lightening storm from the balcony. Amazingly I captured a picture of lightening..

Tuesday we had a long breakfast with the brothers (as we had done each morning), of baguettes and brie, and said goodbye at lunchtime. We flew out of Perpignan in high winds, but once up was smooth sailing. Having landed safely we jumped on a bus to London - and missed being in an horrific accident by about 30 seconds. Scary stuff... I had a fabulous weekend, and tomorrow it's back to work.