Days 78 to 82 - Weekend in France

Bonjours tout le monde!!

We're back from France now and had a wonderful weekend and I stuck to the diet through thick and thin (but mostly thin...). We flew to Limoges and stayed there on Friday night then headed out into the countryside for the rest of the time. We were just getting a flavour of the region to see if it might be somewhere we want to live in. It really is. It's gorgeous and the houses are lovely. I think the lifestyle out there would be great and pretty healthy too. We would like to live in the countryside but near to a village with amenities and not too far away from a town (within an hour anyway). I think the problem will be picking a place 'cos there were so many fantastic places to look at!

We just drove round the little back roads and stopped where we fancied, mooched round markets and went for a few walks and just generally took it easy.

The photo of the old car and ruins is of a little village called Oradour-Sur-Glane near Limoges. It was where the Nazis committed a massacre of over 600 men, women and children in 1944. The village was burned down and the ruins have been left as a memorial and a Centre of Memories built next door. It was very moving as the birds were singing and you could see the photos of the familllies who were slaughtered on their graves. You could see what a great little village/town it would have been with all the butcher, bakers, cafe, restaurant, schools, Mairie etc - an absolute tragedy. The simple stuff that was left like rusty old bikes and sewing machines just made it all so human and even more shocking somehow.

The picture of Diarmuid on the bridge shows an old Mill building behind him. It was in a gorgeous valley with a fast flowing river. I could really see it as a smart restaurant with rooms above and a terrace outside - very Grand Designs....D had to drag me away before I got carried away!

Foodwise it was fine - I had a pang each time D sat down to a lovely French meal - entrecote and frites, salmon, pizza, even a kebab one night! But the pang only lasted a minute or so and then I just drank my water or black coffee (I love French coffees!) and drank my soups or shakes. My french is pretty rusty but I managed to get across the fact that I'm on a diet and wouldn't be eating and ask them to heat up soup so was pretty proud of myself! We only had one disaster where the woman added extra water to my soup and it all boiled over in the micorwave but I had some spares so no biggie.

Anyway - we had a great time and now I'm back and back into real life. I went for a run this evening and managed to keep up with Shelley and Fran quite well. We even had a sprint for the last few hundred yeards - don't think I've run that fast since I was a kid!

Anyway, it's only a short week this week and hopefully I'll have another good loss then the great Festival of Chocolate to survive. Have a great week everyone and keep it up.

By the way, it was really good to get back and read thorugh everyone's blogs and see how you've all got on. Nearly everyone had got on well so it was very uplifting. Come on Karen - cheer up chuck - you can do it!