Easter

Too cold for gardening so I resorted to baking on Friday...

and then knitting, using up some oddments left over from other projects.
Maybe next weekend it will be gardening as planned.  There's a limit on how many pairs of gloves anyone needs!

The Easter Bunny visits Cambridge

Hector's friend, the Easter Bunny, visited Cambridge on 24 March 2013

Nowhere to hide!

He wasn't impressed!

January 2013

Snow outside but the narcissi given to me by Rosemary and Chris were in full flower indoors

The bamboo are taking over.  I shall have to do some serious thinning in the spring!

London, 10 December 2012

Ben and I visited the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace to see the exhibition of Dutch paintings.  It was just before Christmas so the royal decorations were up; spot the crowns!

The Victoria Monument, against a rare blue sky!

Buckingham Palace and the Victoria Monument

Trafalgar Square

Garden, September

When we got home from France, I picked 4kg of tomatoes and we've had another 6kg since with more to come if the weather improves. 

I tried some Italian varieties this year including some very weird ones!

I can't match the Brighton ones.  My best is 2.39m - not bad considering that I'd not pampered them or staked them.

France (2)

Cahors

British tourist in the covered market, Cahors

While I was underground, Richard went to Loubressac, another village doomed by its reputation

Loubressac

We stopped for lunch at a post restaurant near here

Not a posh restaurant, but we had one of the best meals of the holiday here in Sarlat.  Better than the pasta, carrots and turnips at the hotel... (don't ask!)

They torture teddies in Sarlat!

Filling station, Rocamadour

Gifts for sale in Rocamadour - bottle clocks!

France, September 2012

Rocamadour: the view from our hotel window

Rocamadour is built on the side of a gorge.  At the top is the chateau, not open to the public.  Below that is the complex of chapels which were part of the pilgrim route to Santiago Compostella, and below that, the old town which now consists mostly of shops, cafes and hotels.  A sort of Disneyland for adults!

Rocamadour high street, after the day-trippers had departed, with the C13th city gate at the end

The sword in the stone, supposed to be that of Roland, embedded in the rock above the chapel

Rocamadour viewed from the top of the gorge.  Our hotel was the large building  in the centre of the lower level.

Outside the Church of Our Lady of Rocamadour.  The ruins are what's left of the pilgrim lodgings and hospital

Not sure if this was genuine old, or a reproduction

The Arch Deacon's vegetable garden in the cathedral close, Cahors

The oldest building in Cahors.  Carbon dating of the oak beams indicates that the trees were felled in the winter of 1274-75

C13th wall painting inside the tower of the cathedral at Cahors

St Cirque Lapopie, voted by French tv viewers as the prettiest in France, much to the dismay of the inhabitants!

The entrance to the underground cave complex at Padirac.  Entry is via 3 lifts going down over 100meters.  They bring you out at an underground river where you take a tour of the caverns by boat and on foot.  Sorry I can't show you any photos - photography was forbidden - but there's good coverage on the Web.  I went down in the lifts but came back up via the stairs shown in the picture.  Richard went elsewhere....

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Seen from the coach window.  Makes a change from garden gnomes!

Sarlat

Medieval tombs in the cathedral close at Sarlat.

Chapel of St Benedict, Sarlat

C15th hexagonal staircase added to a C13th house

Boat trip on the Dordogne at La Roque-Gageac.  We went on a similar flat-bottomed boat, called a 'gabare'

Remains of the monastery at La Roque-Gageac.  The ruins were accessible until 2010 when a rockfall blocked the route.  Several inhabited houses were demolished which wasn't surprising considering how close to the cliff they are!  More photos, taken by Richard, to follow.

Late addition.
We had a very early start from St Pancras so had a night at the Pulman Hotel on Euston Road. Our room was on the 12th floor from where there was this view of the British Library and St Pancras.