Melting, Markets & Le Mont Blanc

Here is the last mish mash of photos from our holiday in France.

They include E & I playing tennis in the sweltering heat (E wearing jeans was not a good idea), one of many trips to the market, the morning after the storm in our village & our view from the plane... Le Mont Blanc!

All the french markets we saw were not only lovely to look at (despite me not liking cheese...) but also very inspiring for my A2 Art which carries along this theme.

The flight home was calm & quick, seeing this pretty sight was a definite bonus. Le Mont Blanc peeking above the clouds.

Also as a little update, I'm off to Reading festival tomorrow!!!!!!! (Yes that many exclamation marks are definitely in order.) Bring on the smelly days of brilliant music & good company. And it's such perfect timing to celebrate AS (and one A2) exam results too.

Listening tooooo: 'Better Off' by Haim, 'Daniel in the Den' by Bastille, 'High Hopes' by Kodaline, 'Radar Detective' by Darwin Deez & basically everyone that's going to be at Reading...

Equestrian Adventure

Whilst in France, my cousins, E & I (oh how very gramatically correct...) decided to go on a 'balade a cheval' in a nearby forest. Seeing as none of us had been riding for a long long time, this was a little daunting but very exciting.

The stables were small but very picturesque and as we waited for our horses to be ready & rested, we had a chance to pet the smaller ponies who were adorable. I wanted to hide one and take it home with me, but they were slightly too big for my pockets...

Once our horses were ready, we set off for our walk/trot in the forest.

It began very bumpy with a steep descent into the entrance of the forest but as we got to the softer grounds, I stopped thinking I was going to fall off & started to relax a little more (you wouldn't be able to tell I had had lessons a few years back...). It was lovelyyyyy, especially in the depths of the forest!

The next day, we all woke up sore & achy but it was worth it - its a really nice way to discover the the area in a relaxing way.

Listening toooo: 'Homesick (Ghost)' by Radical Face over and over and over and over and over again...

Brocante

Even though our holidays mainly consist of meeting up with our family, in the mornings we tend to explore on our own. On this particular morning, we went to the village just above ours for a Brocante -basically a car boot sale with no car.

As its a little moutain village, the locals are pretty hot on their winter sports so there were loads of skis, snowboards & I even found a perfect pair of ice skates. Sadly plane weight restrictions meant I couldn't buy them...

We even spotted a parapant landing nearby, one day I definitely want to do this.

It was really nice to roam around in the morning sun, looking at the stalls & listening to the music being played by a local musician.

I loved the trees too.

Listening toooo: 'Papoutai' by Stromae - another song I discovered in France, once again the dancing is sweeeet!

I Would Walk 500 Miles (kidding, when's my flight?)

I'm back from a 2 week holiday in a petit trou perdu guys (a teeny tiny town in the French Alps). The town's claim to fame: 1968 winter olympics. WOOO, I'm starstruck as you can tell.

These two weeks an opportunity for eating (loads), drawing, painting, horse-riding, tennis-playing, swimming, spa-ing (this is a new thing for me), exploring & best of all, meeting up with some of our French side of the family. Here's a little summary...

First of all, say hello to my new obsession with pretty shadows.

When we're in France, we always seem to eat double, snacks are like meals & meals are like feasts. I kid you not. I always have to stock up on my favourite yoghurt which isn't sold in England (here's a photo) & the best juice ever - Danao, not to mention French bread - of course.

All three of these essentials were present at our little picnic.

Whilst we were there, the weather was glorious which meant Emilie & myself could go for walks with our sketchbooks. On the way we came across this lovely bunch of cows.

On one of the evenings, E, myself & our French cousins went to the town centre for a concert outside, it was blues music, but they mixed in some well known songs too. There were loads of people watching, all the restaurants around the stage were jam-packed and the roads were filled with people watching (and dancing).

More about France coming, but for now, here's what I'm listening tooooo: 'Happy' by C2C - my cousins helped me discover this song, and maaaan it is good! Blast it out & dance!