En France

Indeed, September was fast approaching and it was time to leave Croatia.  E to head back to work in the UK, and senor and I to continue our travels.  We farewelled E at Split airport on a morning in the last week of August when the temperature was already in the high 30s, and we headed north over the border to Slovenia, then into Austria, and finally a third border crossing for the day into Germany where we stayed overnight at a charming Bavarian gasthof in Flintsbach.

Next day, on to Baden-Baden at the edge of the Black Forest to visit the grand (but affordable) 130 year old Friedrichsbad Roman Spa.  We felt that we were getting experienced with the European spa routine, but Friedrichsbad added a new dimension - mixed bathing...totally naked.  The entry fee allows you up to four hours to enjoy the 17 stages at the spa complex.  The routine goes something like this:  shower, warm room, hot room, shower, scrubbing, shower, steam room, hot steam room, swim, bubble pool, floating pool, shower, cold plunge pool, massage, moisturising, cocoon, relaxing.  Simply wonderful .  All 17 stages are numbered, and there are signs on the walls to remind you where you are up to and where to head next;  all you do is simply follow the numbers through the different rooms!  Males and females have separate, but identical areas on either side of the complex, and it's at the swim and bubble stages, under the great dome in the centre of the building, that naked males and females bath together.  Probably the strangest of the 17 stages was the 'cocoon', where you are taken to a large round room circled with beds.  You lie on a bed and your spa attendant wraps you, cocoon-like, in a crisp, white sheet; and there you have a half hour nap before being gently woken and taken to the relaxing room - a beautiful, grand old conservatory-style room where you relax on sun lounges sipping tea and reading the latest (German!) magazines.  It makes perfect sense though; after a massage I often feel that a little sleep would be ideal - well at Friedrichsbad that's exactly what happens....massage, then a little sleep!  Senor and I loved it!

Next day we continued west, skirted around Paris and arrived at Giverny to visit Claude Monet's beautiful home and garden.  We spent the next few days exploring Normandy and Brittany.

Visiting Claude

Claude's studio room was magnifique

Beautiful colours throughout Claude's house

I want my dining room the colour of Claude's!

Oh, Claude!

We didn't want to leave

Normandy beaches, hundreds of kite surfers.
We visited the D Day landing beaches of Sword, Juno, Omaha and Gold

Normandy fields,  hundreds of hay bales

We stayed here in Saint Malo.  Francois Chateaubriand, for
whom the steak dish was named, was born in Saint Malo.

A grand old French hotel, full of character and charm

Tide's out in Saint Malo....

...boules are in...

and steaming hot 'moules' are Saint Malo's best meal!

A birthday swim at this beach a couple of hours
after this photo was taken and the tide had come in
right up to the tide line at the left. Huge tides.

Beware the Britanny tides!

A French birthday. Merci x