France pour le weekend

As mentioned in my last blog post, Pete and I went to France on Saturday early and stayed overnight.  We stayed in Calais that despite it's awful 1950's architecture, has some great bars and restaurants mostly missed by the English.  That's fine by me.

We did some shopping on Saturday, followed by a long walk along the beach.  We had a great meal in the evening before walking back to the beach to watch a stunning sunset and chatting to a Swedish guy who spoke perfect English and lives in Calais.

On Sunday we drove down the coast and spent the day relaxing and trying not get get burnt by the summer sun.  We made it back to my parents house in time to watch the World Cup final.  What an awful match! I cant recall a game where petty (and not so petty) violence was part of the tactics. The Dutch were the main culprits, but the diving and play-acting by the Spaniards also leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Not a good end to the tournament, though I believe that the best team won.  I am not sure that our English ref' could have done much more, though he should have sent off Nigel de Jong earlier in the game for a crazy kick in the chest to Xabi Alonso.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the weekend including the view back to the Cliffs of Dover that were incredibly clear on Sunday morning.