Death by Fromage

We had decided to go and meet up with the Withefords down in the family bach in Lege-Cap-Feret (Southern France). This meant traipsing across Europe in a very circuitous manner in order to save the ever dwindling supply of moolah. Fortunately for us, this meant we flew from Croatia to Belgium where we could stock up on Chocolate and Speculoos along with a very overdue catch up with an old Belgian friend whom we had met 7 years ago whilst travelling Asia. Even with the newest member of their family barely out of the womb, both Mien and Michel were amazingly hospitable for our flying visit to the nations capital.

The gorgeous León whom we were keeping up far past his bedtime

Reliving old travel memories and marvelling at how much our lives have changed

The following day saw us hurtling the length of France at an amazing rate of knots on the fast train. It really is amazing how quickly those things travel while feeling like they are hardly moving at all.

We arrived to the family bach ready for a week of relaxation. Little did we know that Chazzy had organised a week of punishing pilates classes. Also due to the copious amounts of fromage and baguette being consumed on a daily basis, we both decided it was about time we started to burn of a small portion of the excess calories we were consuming. Thus, we decided to stretch the legs and go on a few runs. Crazy indeed. But there was a lot of time for relaxation and playtime with our newest niece. Although heading into winter, the weather was quite pleasant for the most part during our week here so beach strolls and bush walks were just the ticket.

First of many cheese feasts

Anyone would think we were not feeding the child enough

really shovelling it in there

Mmmm sandy face

Checking for nits and plaque

Quality Aunty time

A wonderful week was had by all which was only marred by the little crash we had en route to the airport. It was a minor annoyance and we were not in the wrong, but it led to quite the rush at the airport as we spent an extra hour going through the formalities of post-accident admin…in the universal language of sharades. Despite none of the 9 members of the fire, ambulance or police departments speaking any English, we were assisted by a very friendly bi-lingual local who stopped and helped translate for us. Thankfully we all came out unharmed.

Our unscheduled stop en route to the airport - despite what it looks like, Izzie didn't suffer from whip lash

We are playing catchup now from the warmth of a good kiwi summer, but before we get to that some more tales of England and the Scottish highlands are just around the corner.