Food food drink drink food

We spent the weekend in France, eating, drinking and shopping.

It was pleasant weather and it was a very relaxing weekend.  On Sunday morning, we went for a walk on the beach at Escalles.   We finished in Calais watching two madmen swimming (yes swimming) in the sea and a great lunch.  It amazes me that there are so many restaurants, many of which are top notch, in Calais.

And one other thing; in France the main brewers tend to release limited edition beers at Christmas (a little darker and sweeter than usual) and the Leffe Noel was rather nice.  I took a picture of some beer - sad eh!?

Another Bon weekend

Pete and I spent Saturday in Calais with our Mothers. Aren't we good to treat them to a day out!?

We travelled on an incredibly early Eurotunnel train and had breakfast in Calais. We had intended driving down the coast for the morning, but stayed in Calais as the beach was packed due to the Bleriot celebrations. This included stalls, food, entertainment and an amazing flying display by the French version of the Red Arrows called Patrouille de France - a photo I took is below and a poor quality video can be found here.

After some shopping (mainly for wine), we had dinner where we all ate far too much food and Pete and my mother drank plenty of wine. On Sunday, we went to a farmers market near to my Mum and Dads house in Kent and had a family lunch... and now we're home exhausted.

Bon Weekend

It was a busy week up to Sunday. The Edinburgh trip involved a very silly meeting where we had serious discussions and then an office Olympics. Showing off with colleagues is not really my thing. In the evening, I was wasted in the Voodoo Rooms. Friday was hangover hell, Easyjet delays, then a drive to Kent.

On Saturday, Pete and I went to France (our annual Christmas trip) to get some shopping. My mum added her things to the list - roughly 300 bottles of wine and 200 crates of beer. Well, maybe not quite that many, but it felt like it.

We went into a bar to find a group of drunk English lads dressed as old ladies - not a fetish thing, a stag event. They were an embarrassment to England - one even asked the barman "where is the whorehouse? I'm gagging for it" - he was being serious. In the evening, you see French guys out for a small drink, maybe just a coffee or a meal with friends - and you see drunk English tourists. Why is it that the English need to get drunk to have a good time?

At least the French guys are excellent "bonbon pour les yeux" and Pete bought his favourite calendar from Stade Français who wear the craziest shirts.

As usual, we ate too much - I need to lose some weight in 2009. The Holiday Inn is too expensive now, so we stayed elsewhere and it was very poor. We won't be staying there again.

These shots were taken with my crappy little mobile phone or Calais beach and also Wimereux. For the first time in years, I didn't take my camera!

The next blog entry has already been written and will be posted on Christmas Eve - it's my "best of 2008" posting!