Palazzo Pfanner, Lucca

This is one of my most favourite places in the world - the Palazzo Pfanner in Lucca. It was used as the home of creepy Gilbert Osmond (John Malkovich) in the film 'Portrait of a Lady'. These are the steps which lead up to the piano nobile from the front entrance:

The rear view, overlooking the beautiful garden:

The dining room walls are covered in a stunning moss-green linen:

The chandeliers and ceilings are gorgeous:

I love this bed:

The kitchen is a little basic, but I think I could live with it:

Cortona, Tuscany

We had arranged a week's swap in Perugia in Umbria which fell through. Instead, we decided to stay at the Hotel Italia in Cortona for 4 nights.The town is very beautiful, very hot and crowded with tourists. Yesterday there were markets in the Piazza della Signora, where I bought a white linen pillow slip. There were many things I would have loved to buy but transporting them back home is a slight problem:


I hadn't realised that Cortona is so high. This is the view from the breakfast room of our hotel:

For me, though, the highlight of Cortona is the food. The trattoria are very reasonably priced and the home-made pasta is fantastic. So far, the highlights have been the crostini with a selection of chicken liver, mushroom and tomato spreads, gnocchi with duck and fennel ragu, ravioli with truffle sauce, and vinsanto with biscotti.

Around Provence and the Cote D'Azur

As I said in the previous post, we used the house in Provence as a base to explore far and wide. One area I really loved was Cap D'Antibes, with the exclusive Hotel Du Cap - Eden Roc. Countless celebrities have stayed there and the hotel was fictionalised by F. Scott Fitgerald in 'Tender is the Night'. Needless to say, we only stopped the car long enough for me to take this photo and didn't even contemplate going inside:

We also went to the Musee Matisse in Nice. Not only was it a beautiful building, but there was some of Matisse's furniture inside, which he'd used as props in his paintings:

We also travelled north-west, passing the beautiful lakes near Verdon:

Here are some people playing petanque in Bonnieux, the village where the Ridley Scott film, 'A Good Year' was filmed. Peter Mayle, the author of that book and 'A Year in Provence', lives just down the road, and Ridley Scott apparently has a house (chateau?) nearby:

We also dipped our feet into the Mediterranean at St Tropez:

Swap Number 4 - Provence

We've just completed our 4th Swap - in a village inland from St Tropez. We had our own markets:

Atmospheric main square:

And a character-filled house:


The village was also a central base from which to explore Provence.

Swap No. 3 - near Barcelona

At the moment we´re staying at our shortest swap. It´s only for 3 days, whereas all the others are for a week to ten days. We´re at a very nice apartment in Vilanova i la Geltru, which is on the coast about 50km south of Barcelona. The apartment is very large, with four bedrooms, two bathrooms and two studies. The kitchen is well-equipped with appliances I don´t know how to operate:

I can never get over what an act of trust house-swapping is - the owners just walk out and leave all their books, CDs, photographs and personal items. There are thousands of books in this one:



There´s a really large sunny terrace as well:

The Tapas

Were about to leave Spain in two days´ time and, among its many attractions, perhaps tapas bars are the one I´ll miss most. In Australia, even though we have a beach culture and laid-back lifestyle, it is impossible as far as I know to walk into a bar and select a small plate of food from several in front of you at a tiny price. It´s been possible for us while on the Costa Del Sol to have four tapas plates between us and two drinks for not much more than 10 €. And quite often this would be enough for dinner. This was a very popular tapas bar in the village of Sabinillas:

I just love the atmosphere inside, and the idea that you can order really nice food with drinks rather than just carb-laden snacks:

The standard choice for us was the Salad Rusa (potato salad with tuna and olives) the gambas (prawns), tortilla (potato omelette), and meatballs. At this bar we also tried the huevas (stuffed eggs) which were delicious, Montadito de Chorizo (chorizo sandwich) and the Pinchito de Cordero (lamb kebab). You can see how low the tapas prices were on the left of the menu:

Everything looks so fresh and delicious:

We even got complimentary bread and olives:

More from France and Spain

Just a couple of extra photos of Frank and Ro´s house where we stayed in north-west France:


And here is the bedroom in our apartment in southern Spain:

This is the beach we walk along to the tapas bar in the village nearby:

House Swap 2 - near Estepona in Southern Spain

We reluctantly left our sunny apartment in Paris about ten days ago in our rented Peugeot, bound for southern Spain via north-west France. We went north first so that we could stay for a few days with our lovely English-Australian friends, Frank and Ro, who have a cute little house in the village of La Doree. On the way to their house we stopped at Monet´s Garden in Giverny, which was just as spectacular as I had expected it to be:

We had a lovely time in La Doree with Frank and Ro, and their friends, Pat and Pete:

Our bedroom, complete with shutters and a church bell across the street:

On the way down to Spain we stayed at the Chateau de la Reynat at Perigueux, which I can thoroughly recommend. The accommodation was reasonably priced, as was the excellent gastronomique meal we had there. We had dishes such as snail ravioli, mushroom cappuchino and foie gras with mango, all of which were unforgettable:

After another two days of driving south through Spain, we were very relieved to arrive at our second home swap, at a resort near the town of Estepona. We can just walk out the door and into the pool:

This is the view down past the pools to the ocean:

Needless to say, we are not planning to venture very far from here for the next week, apart from short day trips to Gibraltar, Granada and Seville. The tapas, wine and seafood are all cheap and very good. What else could we possibly want?

Laduree and Le Grand Colbert

A trip to Paris would not be complete without a visit to these two institutions. The first, Laduree, is the peppermint coloured shop containing gelato-coloured macaroons in gorgeous shades of rose, mauve and a host of others:

Apparently they inspired the colour palette for Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. Aren't they lovely:

I also had a hot chocolate at Le Grand Colbert, the restaurant where Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson meet at the end of 'Something's Gotta Give'. Apparently, people try and book the table they sat at. The restaurant is very beautiful but tres expensive.

The Flea Markets

As I mentioned on a previous post, I preferred the flea market at Vanves to the one at Clignancourt. This was because at Vanves, the stalls were much less formal and temporary and the prices reflected this.

My favourite stalls were ones which looked like they contained the contents of a chateau, complete with mouldy curtains. I loved the fabrics at this one. You could buy a curtain for 150 € which I thought was reasonable:

The Clignancourt stalls were permanent, more like little shops:

As an indication of Clignancourt prices, these bowls were 33 € each:

They are lovely, but not within my budget, unfortunately.

Versailles

Went to Versailles the other day. What a place! But I found that the main chateau was too grand and formal for me:

I much preferred Marie-Antoinette's estate which is away from the main palace. One part of it, Le Grand Trianon, was open, and contained furnishings which were more to my liking:

I particularly loved the pinks:


Unfortunately, Le Petit Trianon, which was Marie-Antoinette's personal space, was being restored. Can't wait to come back one day and see it.

The Paris Apartment

As promised, here are photos of the apartment in Paris where we are swapping for a week. Its very centrally located on the Left Bank, just a short busride away from Bvde St Germain, Luxembourg Gardens etc, and a short walk to the local Monoprix and markets. Here I am coming back after shopping:

Its bright and airy with pretty funky decor:




So far, I can thoroughly recommend the whole swapping scene.