Yet more tourist activity

Last weekend we were off to meet friends from the Netherlands for a long weekend of serious touristing. We stayed at a chambres d'hôte (B&B) in Montigny sur Avre on a horse farm. We filled all their three rooms; there was also a small kitchen where breakfast was served and served as our common room. We met Friday evening, had a belated toast for Kaye's birthday, then took ourselves out to dinner in nearby Verneuil sur Avre.

Saturday morning we drove to Gien, lunched, and visited the porcelain factory there. Actually it was the factory outlet seconds shop that we visited. Since we got back we've been enjoying the "pasta plates" we bought at half price.

Sunday we took ourselves to Giverny to visit Monet's gardens and house. After a lovely lunch on a terrace, Tosca, Mike, and Sydney returned to the Netherlands, while we returned to our B&B.

Monday we went to Chartres to see the cathedral again. After a lengthy walk around inside and outside, we took ourselves to the Maison Picassiette, stopping for an Indian lunch along the way. The Picassiette house is truly amazing to see. In the house of three tiny rooms all in a row, every surface, inside and out, is covered by mosaics of broken bits of pottery, glass, stones, etc. Some are decorative, some are figurative. There's a chapel, an outhouse, and gardens, all thoroughly covered with mosaics. Unfortunately taking photos was not allowed and there weren't any postcards for sale. The owner, Raymond Isadore, spent almost 30 years decorating his house, ending in 1964. It's so nice that there's room for such charming eccentricity in the world.

If you want to see them, there are more pictures of this trip on Facebook.

Now that the hornets are gone, we've had the gaps between the wall and the roof closed. Ed's used the opportunity of the scaffolding on site to finish the outsides of the high-up new windows.

Still no sign of the form required for Ed's carte vitale, so another phone call is in order.