10th August - 10th September:
European Holiday

	Passing over the Alps from Italy to France, and the first taste of French (non-Italian) food... the best onion soup in Lyon.
	French pastries!
	One of many dinners at the villa near Cognac, with the Hinde Street crowd.
	Wherever you went in the villa you were likely to find someone reading the latest Harry Potter book!
	Tasting Cognac, in Cognac.
	Men with beer and a BBQ.
	Camping near Le Mans. As soon as we got our tent out it decided it was time to rain. Thankfully it cleared for breakfast.
	A Sunday market outside the spectacular cathedral in Le Mans.
	The medieval streets of Le Mans.
	An obbligatory visit to the motor racing museum and circuit at Le Mans.
	More rain. This time at the Abbey of Solesmes, where we attended vespers, famous for the gregorian chanting of the monks.
	No sooner were we back in England (Portsmouth to be precise) than we hunted down a greasy spoon and tucked into a wonderful English breakfast.
	Afternoon tea in a National Trust tea shop - now we've indulged in all the things missing from Italian life.
	Greenbelt Arts Festival at Cheltenham racecourse... the beer tent.
	With Naomi, Andrea and Matthew at Greenbelt.
	Sunset over the festival site.
	A farewell to Nick before he goes to Indonesia for a year with VSO.
	Crumble and custard with Emma and Tom in their new home in Hathersage.
	Croquet in Cawthorne with the Bowes and Morris families... now we really have indulged in everything that you can't get in Italy.
	A panama hat brought especially from Ecuador by John, who we saw for the first time in 6 months.
	A first meeting with Connie Wilson.
	With Rachel's godmother Helen, somewhere on the top of the Pennines.
	The annual Bowes' boat holiday, this time on The Thames.
	A summer's afternoon at an English pub.
	BBQ by the river.
	River life.
	Lechlade.
	Punting in Oxford at the end of the boat holiday.
	A stop-over in Dijon on the way back through France.
	Back on top of the alps a month later, this time passing from France to Italy.