Holiday to France - Day 7 - Brantome

As I said, we headed out on Friday of our holiday to visit the market in Brantome. Norman and Jen decided to stay at the gite, so the four of us went off in mine and Lee's car. We got there about half past ten and parked along with a million other people in the middle of a field. We walked across the river and down some pretty streets before finding the market. I could have spent a fortune, but just got a few bits. If we'd been earlier in the week I would have bought cheese and olives, but as we only had one evening left it wasn't worth it unfortunately.

Brantome is a really pretty town and the market is well stocked. We had lunch in a cafe in the market place, which was really delicious. I had the hugest salmon salad ever and a cafe liegois, my first and last of the holiday. Next time I really must eat more ice cream.

View of the river from the bridge

Brantome is kind of surrounded by water, a river and a canl, meaning that it's sort of on an island. It's cool, I liked it

I love French little towns

And French little streets

And water

These tomatoes were absolutely massive

And I wanted to buy cherries, but I didn't

The water here is part of the canal, and apparently the canal was made by the monks of the monastery just to the right of the photo, and the water wheel was theirs

This bridge was a strange one, it had to span both the river and the canal so had a cute little dog leg in it

Looking across at the market

Cheese stall

This van did shoe repairs!

Lee decided this was the most French thing he'd ever seen 

The monastery

All French towns have a Rue Victor Hugo and usually a Rue Henri IV too

Cheers! Kir Royale to drink

Look at this beast. It was so yummy. I ate a lot of salmon on holiday, which is absolutely not a problem

This little cat wanted some of our lunch so of course my mother and I gave it a titbit each

My cafe liegois. Coffee and vanilla ice cream, with cold coffee and chantilly cream. Delicious

Walking back over the river to go home

I liked the reflection in this photo. I like Brantome a lot!

What I Wore 9th June

On the last day of our holiday we headed to Brantome, a town not too far away, to visit the market. I've got a ton of photos from there, but my mum just added this one on Facebook which showed off my outfit, so I thought I'd post it. Well, my stepdad most likely added it, since my mum's at work, but hey.

I love this dress. It's from Asos and it's so odd. I get loads of compliments on it. I usually wear it with a green short sleeved cardigan but it wasn't clean after I'd worn it earlier in the week, so I put this pink one on instead. It's from Sainsburys and is really soft. I really like how it seems to lift the dress and make it look whiter maybe? I'm not sure. Definitely in love with this outfit, though.

My handbag is from Sainsburys too, I bought it a few weeks ago specifically for the holiday and it was really easy to carry but still fitted a lot in.

What I Wore 8th June

I wore this dress in the evening of the 8th, while on holiday. I find one of the worst things about holidays with pools is that I have to shower a lot more than I normally would to get the chlorine out of my hair, and then have to get dressed again - it's so annoying. I'm glad to be home and be able to let my hair does more what it likes!

Anyway, on the Thursday evening I put this dress on. I've worn it a few times before, like here, but for the past couple of years it's been in the back of the wardrobe as I felt like it was too short. However, I decided on holiday just at our cottage it didn't really matter, so I packed it and wore it anyway. It's really nice and cool, and I like the flounciness of it. I should just wear it anyway!

Holiday to France - Day 6

The Thursday of our holiday was forecast to be the hottest day, so we decided to stay in the gite and relax around the pool. It was hot and the sky was a gorgeous blue - if it had been like this all week my mum and I would have been happy, but everyone else would have complained it was too hot. Oh well! Here's some photos to make you jealous anyway (and myself to be honest as I'm not there right now)

My view of the sky from under the umbrella

View of the pool, again it was just so warm.

I had a different swimming outfit on. The tankini top was from Asos and has a wired bra top, which is a bit small for my boobs but oh well, and I was wearing black men's trunks from Marks & Spencer as bottoms. I was impressed because the tankini top didn't keep riding up while I was swimming and bouncing around. I took this photo and have had several comments on how nice my boobs look from friends - thanks!

The sun had this strange rainbow around it, isn't it pretty?

Lee and Jen reading in the shade

My mum sunbathing and Bettie about to float in the rubber ring

Later, we had a barbecue

My mum and stepdad

And finally, Lee and Bettie and Jen playing Scrabble by candlelight!

Holiday to France - Day 5 - Angouleme

Bettie had mentioned that she wanted to go to Angouleme because they had a Sephora and she wanted to see it. Now, I've actually been to Angouleme before, when I was 15 and went on a French exchange from school. We stayed near there and went into the city a few times. I went shopping and even went into Sephora, but of course that's a long time ago.

As I said, we set off but there was a blocked road that the satnav didn't know about, so we ended up going in circles before we finally managed to get there. We parked in Les Halles because my godmother had said it was the best place and near restaurants, which indeed it was. We immediately went for lunch in a place called Le Chat Noir, which was really yummy.

After lunch we walked around a bit, looking at stuff and going into shops. Sephora was amazing and I could have spent a fortune. Yves Rocher was just down the street and I bought a few bits in there. We walked down a lot of pretty streets and had a good time. Fortunately getting back was a lot easier than getting there, so we still had time for a swim and a shower before Bettie made a delicious risotto for us all.

Wow I really took a lot of photos on this day!

Looking out over the station, where I arrived into Angouleme 18 years ago!

I bloody love Fanta lemon and especially when it comes in glass bottles

Jen and Lee

Me and Bettie.

My smoked salmon omelette and chips

I loved this old building

And this pretty street

And this fountain. Proof that the sun did come out!

Angouleme is the home of 'bandes dessinees' - cartoons - hence the statue of Herge (who wrote Tintin)

I wanted to steal this scooter

I don't think this was the cathedral but it was pretty

The fabled Sephora, haha

We stopped for a drink before we went back, I bloody love Orangina and the fact you can buy it everywhere in France

I bought these in a very cute little patisserie. I really love macarons but they're so expensive here. I got these pretty big ones for 8 euros. They were so delicious!