Hello all

(second time- lost the longer funnier version) Had a fantastic time in Paris and then Madrid dragging Ruth 'round two museums a day. I was really looking forward to the Musee D'Orsay but it was the Bonnards in the Pompidou which really struck home and had me reaching for me hanky. I must be moving forward; at least historically!%?? Madrid is superb and those of you who aint been, well go. The Prado is of course marvelous and the exhibition 'Spanish Portraits- Velasquez to Picasso' was beautiful but again the real surprise is the thyssen Borneszmia collection which feels the size of the Tate and the National Gallery combined and has more A-Z's of painters than you would have thought possible ie. Albrecht Durer to Zurburan and urm... Worth the trip alone and the bastards only started collecting in the eighties - imagine the bill from Sothebys. The Language is a bit of a problem - what are they talking about!! However the words cerveca and Jamon will get you by. It is about a 10th of the price of Paris and therfore gets my vote for the 2012 Olympic games even though they aren't in the race.

The cats were very pleased to have us come home and put the heating on, they seemed to keep warm while we were away by building a small pile of mice on the sofa, takes all kinds, at least they never managed to set fire to them.

I have put a little link which will change the style of the blog from 'Poppies' red and green to the original 'Cloud' sort of blueish theme. Might give you more choices later but Ruth wanted the Poppies for herself - go see meanwhilehereinfrance


Cathy, just organise yourself a holiday here and we will deal with it as need be can't be dealing with all these dates. July is Hot- 30+ degrees and very reliable, August can be funny. Ryanair to Nimes or Easyjet to Marseille or there are two direct trains on Saturday (Eurostar non-stop) from Waterloo to Avignon but it does get quickly booked up . Time for Bed. Night night. Julian