Anybody out there?

Saturday Afternoon Walk

After over a year, there is still fun and new things to discover walking around our neighbourhood, on a Saturday afternoon

P & D play amongst the Velib bikes. Velib is a public bike rental programme in Paris. There are over 20,000 bicycles and 1,450 stations, roughly one station every 300 metres throughout the city centre, making Vélib’ the largest system of its kind in the world. The bikes are free for the first half hour, with a nominal rental fee after that. Our late night/early morning attempts to use the bikes have yet to be successful unfortunately. When we finally figure it out, it will our late night journies home, a whole lot easier.

Bridge girls
The kissing Bandit strikes again

Our monthly ET shot

Playing in the leaves outside the Palais du Tokyo.


D plays hide and seek among the exhibits at Photoquai. Photoquai is an outdoor photo exhibit, held on the banks of the Seine at the Musée du quai Branly. The exhibit shows the work of 50 contemporary photographers from around the world, little known photographic talents in European terms, who come from the major geographical areas represented in the collections of the musée du quai Branly : South America and Latin America, North America, Asia, Oceania, Africa and the Near and Middle East. It's a pretty cool exhibit. This was my second visit and I will probably go back before it closes.
http://www.photoquai.fr/en/

The girls join a Peruvian gang at Photoquai

P moves in closer to determine if the subject is actually living. The girls are still at odds with their conclusions.

Malta

To kick off the first of our many school holidays this year, The BC family headed off to Malta, a small island, just south of Sicily. Our primary motivation in choosing Malta was that Rupert’s great grandfather, General Sir Charles Bonham-Carter, was governor of Malta before WWII. With the country’s location being only a two hour flight from Paris, now seemed like the perfect time to go and uncover some BC history.

Not much bigger than Amherst Island, Malta is jammed packed with forts, stunning churches, ancient ruins, medieval towns and friendly people. As well as hitting the island's top attractions, we had fun playing detective and tracking down where Great Grandfather BC lived, worked and entertained.

Coincidentally, P’s best friend in Paris, also has a family connection in Malta and they (the Kingston family) were also visiting while we were there. We had a great time together, and Mike's knowledge and enthusiasm of Maltese history was a big bonus and very helpful.

We spent our Sunday morning with the Kingston’s at the local market at Marsaxlokk. The market itself hugs the shoreline of a beautiful bay, filled with the traditional multicoloured Maltese boats called luzzus. Absolutely the most beautiful location for a market I have ever seen!

P, happy as a clam to be sitting with her BFF and enjoying the bay full of boats in Marsaxlokk.

D & P with P's BFF in front of a Luzzu near the market

Rupert, P&D walking in the footsteps of Sir Charles in front on St.John's Co-Cathedral.

Inside St.John's

Rupert finds Great Grandad's name in the list of British Govenors, at the Grand Masters Palace, Malta's house of government located in Valetta.

Rupert and the girls in front of Hagar Qim, one of the ancient temples of Malta. The Maltese temples are the oldest standing stone structures which remain to us from ancient times. The temples date from 4000 - 2500 BC. They are older than Stonehenge, and the Pyramids.

P outside St Anton’s Palace, former residence of Sir Charles and current residence of the President of Malta.

Outside the gates to the gardens of San Anton's Palace.

Marketing

....Hmmmmm.....How can I take a tiny pumpkin and sell it for $8 instead of $1?

I know, put it in a box and sell on the streets of Paris, to expats desparate for a Jack-o-latern.

Brilliant!

La Poésie

Today P had to recite her first of many poems this year, to her entire class. La poésie is a staple in French education, we've heard that schools start this practice as young as age 4. Our little 6 year old orator ended up with an A-, apparently a point was deducted for lack of volume.

We asked her to do a rendition for her online fans. Here is it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsEnJDdWCjw. Bravo P!

Ecole Camou

Our summer in France ended quite eventfully and full of visitors. A trek down to the South West of France to visit friends, followed by house guests The McGeachie family, Munroe's and then John Bonham-Carter was a great way to end the summer.

The school year is in now full swing and full of new challenges.

This year, after months of tortured contemplation over school selection, we decided to put D back in her old bilingual Montessori and P into our local French public school. D is happy as a clam, to be with all her old friends and teachers. Her return to school has been met with nothing but smiles.

I wish I could say the same for P. She is faced with a new big school, big class, no friends, a rigid structure, the loss of her Montessori freedom and she doesn’t speak the language. She hates school and dreads going everyday.

A case of pneumonia two weeks into the school year didn’t help matters much. Now, after a week and half off from school, she is finally better and back facing her demons.
I had heard so many negative stories about the archaic French education system (according to expats), I figured how bad could it be? I know kids who go and they seem just fine. It’s not like we live in a rough neighbourhood. Most of it was untrue, thank goodness and there are lots of pluses to the French system, the focus on art and music for example.

Some of the old fashion education values do linger. The children call their teacher Maitress (which means master), they are not allowed to go to the bathroom during class time under any circumstances, their very adult lunch is served to them and they must eat everything on their plate and then, there is P’s Friday teacher.

P has a Maitress 4 days a week who seems to be quite lovely, not at all the corporal punishment type that I was warned about. But Fridays is a different story. Severe, very strict, yells all the time, including when the kids do their work incorrectly (Non French speaking kids included).

P’s biggest obstacle though seems to be making friends. Friends are the most important thing to P and she is usually quite good at making them. But I guess when “princess” is the game du jour in the school yard, a lack of the local language does seem to pose a problem. When your six year old tells you that she walks around the school yard by herself every lunch recess (which is an hour and half), and is peppered with another little girl punching her, I don’t know who is more tortured, the little girl or her mother hearing the story.

Am I having doubts over our decision to send P to French public school? Yes. Some kids handle these things better than others and you don’t know until you try.

She’ll get there.

Hang in there P, we love you and it's going to get easier!

La Parisienne

My first international road race - what a day! Over 15 000 woman took to the streets of Paris today, to take part in La Parisienne 6k. The European running moms; Vanessa, Andrea and myself ran like a still wind and soaked up the fun and spectacle of the most entertaining road race I have ever ran.

Live music was a-plenty with bands seranading us starting well before the start line and throughout the entire race. The music of the day was mostly african drummers, which I highly recommend if you want to get your groove on, while your running the streets of Paris.

Ottawa running moms, you would have fit in just fine here with your tutus. I wish you could have been here to join in on the fun.

Check our our little of vid of the race on youtube. Vanessa is the blond, Andrea with the smile. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLhuRt4oJv0

Tuscany

Any vision of Tuscany, I have ever had, included rolling hills, vineyards, rustic villas, olive groves and medieval towns on top of mountains. Well, I was right.

We stayed at the Villa Vigmaggio, hotel, vineyard, olive grove, the place where Mona Lisa grew up and the Movie “Much a do about Nothing” was filmed. It was great!! Each of our mornings was spent site seeing in a nearby town followed by hours by the pool, playing tennis or tasting some of the establishment's lovely Chianti. The location was perfect for us. It was our idyllic country break from the city, but within a 45min drive from Florence, Siena, and San Gimignano.

Our pool with a view

A feature of each of our eight days in Tuscany included amazing drives up and down, through the winding, steep roads of the Tuscan hills. The roads themselves were full of cyclists, all geared up in bright colors, with an occasional fat guy in an undershirt. We saw at least 100 each day, the majority who appeared to be over fifty years old. How they endured the 100 degree heat doing this excrutiating exercise, is beyond me.

San Gimignano
The beautiful small medieval town of San Gimignano was a lovely stop for a morning walk and lunch. We toured the rustic streets, listened to street peformance and like the rest of the tourists hopped from one side of the street to other, to catch some shade. The great thing about medieval towns is that high density and narrow streets = lots of shade, cause it was hot!!!!

Rupert in San Gimingnano, with his daily fix of gelato.

Florence
Since Florence was less than a half hour away from our villa, we spent two of our days visiting the grand cathedrals, Palazzos, admiring the numerous statues (including Michealango's David), walking the back streets and eating gelato. Our first trip was on a public holiday so the streets we dead. "Wow" we thought, we can take this opportunity and actually drive around Florence on completely empty streets. Little did we know there was more than one reason the streets of Florence were void of vehicles. Entrance to the city centre in a car requires a permit which is enforced by cameras. Each time a car passes the perimeter the car is fined a 100 Euros. We have no idea how many times we wove in and out of the perimetre, we are still waiting for the bill from the car rental co - OUCH!

The girls in Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

Girls in front of the Duomo, Florence

Pisa

Last stop Pisa, to see the tower.

Quick Visit

We are a bit behind on our posts, but every visitor must appear on the blog, so this one is worth posting late.

Our nieces from Canada were in Paris for a couple of days and we we fortunate enough to steal away one from them, while they were here. Thanks for squeezing us in, it was great to see you!

Rup with P&D and their cousins the Goose & N. outside of our apartment

Tuscany finally booked!!

Mary Jo’s 40th birthday present was a trip to Tuscany, but until this week, we had not been able to get it booked. On Aug 13th we take EasyJet flights from Paris Orly to Pisa where we pick up a car and head for the Chianti region in the heart of Tuscany near Greve for the week. We are staying at the Villa Vignamaggio which dates back to the 14th century. http://www.vignamaggio.com/index.html It seems perfect, and is rated #2 of 19 in the Trip Advisor Popularity Index.

The Italian chapter for the adventure is only 11 days away -- woo hoo!!

Les A-poo

Today’s family outing took us to Les Egouts (The Paris Sewers). Les Egouts is a small underground museum which practically sits under our apartment building and features exhibits on Paris’ sanitation system from its earliest days to present, plus a walk through of the sewers in action.

Although the exhibits in the museum itself were fascinating, the thought of the contents in the water rushing below my feet, coupled with the overwhelming ‘odeur” were too much for my bionic sense of smell and pooh phobia. Our "walk" turned into a run and fifteen minutes later we were out on the street. The trip home was dominated by potty humor and methane induced giggles. BTW, no smoking allowed in Les Egouts!

OK girls, DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING and watch out for overhead dripping.

Guest Post

This past weeks guests, Barry & Alicia Gordon have decided to throw the BC Tour de France a curve ball, by contributing a guest post. Thanks for the kind words B&A, it was good to have you!

" Alicia and I just returned from an amazing 9 day trip taking in Paris and Barcelona. Barcelona makes a great hop using Paris as a base if anyone is thinking they might not get another chance to go there and wants to. It is very worthwhile also.

For Paris- it seems inconceivable to be able to "live" for a few days in any better location. Rupert and Mary Jo are walking distance to almost anything you could think of to see in Paris. About 7 minutes WALK from the Eiffel Tower, Napoleon's Tomb, The Military Museum, and the flame of Princess Diana. Just a few more minutes to the Rodin Museum and The Musee Dorsay which houses a ton of Impressionist Art including all the biggies from Monet and Manet, to Van Gogh and housing some of their most famous works, and even the Catacombes. Just a bit further across the beautiful Siene River, is the Arc de Triomphe, The Louvre, Champs Elysees, Place Concord, and Notre Dame. A short subway will get you to Monmatre, Moulon Rouge,and the incredible cemetary which houses the graves of Chopin, Oscar Wilde, and Jim Morrison. This is by no means an exhaustive list but they are most of what we were able to see in just 4 days, without a lot of pre-planning. The stay also includes lots of visiting time with Rupert and Mary-Jo, french bread, pastry, and CHEESE. French wine, crepes, and if you hit the right day- pancakes, and Mary- Jo's fabulous dinners.

I suspect many blog watchers know all this, but if you haven't yet had the chance to see it up close, it's just hard to really imagine.

Thank-you Mary Jo and Rupert for a wonderful time."

Champagne on Pont Neuf - Check!

Last year on Rupert's Birthday, friends and family were asked to give him a piece of advice for his two years in Paris (see "Advice for Rupert" post). Tagget's suggestion "drink a bottle of Champagne on the wooden footbridge" was put into action with this week's guests, the Gordons.

Oh, how lovely it is, to sit outside with friends and a cocktail and enjoy the lights of Paris.

Mary Jo with Alicia & Barry Gordon sipping Champagne on the Pont Neuf

BC's AT the Tour de France

With much anticipation, we walked down to the Champs Elysees to watch the final laps of the Tour de France today. We made quite an effort trying to acquire the inside scoop on a good spot to stand, what time to get there etc, but came up empty. So we chose to arrive two hours early and went to the closest spot to our house (if you watched the coverage we stood right beside the awards stage).

Unfortunately two hours was not enough to secure us a spot in the front - four rows back more like it - it was packed!. The fact that we were surrounded by english speakers was probably a good indication that we had not chosen a good spot. But settled in just the same. The girls sat on ground and counted each others teeth, Rupert educated some new friends on the ins and outs of the Tour and we all waited "patiently" for the Lance and the boys to arrive.

Although the winner had already been determined yesterday, it was still very exciting when the riders arrived- the crowd cheered, cameras went up in the air and everyone struggled to catch a look. I have to admit I didn't see much, there were too many people in front of us and the riders were extremely fast, but it was great to be a part of it all!

Next year I think might choose a spot further outside the centre of town. Vive Le Tour! Rupert's Hail Mary shot of Lance and the winner Contador (yellow jersey).

Williams Sisters Watch Out

The girls spent their mornings this week at Tennis camp. Despite their teachers very serious disposition, they had a great time and picked up some Tennis skills along the way.

Mini raquets, mini balls and mini players - It doesn't get much cuter than this!

Giverny

Last weekend we took a car trip with our first house guests of the summer to Giverny - Monet's house and gardens about an hour outside of Paris. Some of Monet's most famous paintings, such as his water lily and Japanese bridge paintings, were of his garden in Giverny.

The "water lily" pond was stunning, but much smaller and more enclosed by vegetation than I imagined.

The girls sketching the water lilies

Us with Sharon, Henry and M. in Monet's Gardens

With an afternoon still left on our car rental, we consulted the "points of interest" feature of our GPS and decided to check out La Roche Guyon, a chateau not far from Giverny.

The lack of the Chateau's guidebook presence meant that we basically had the place to ourselves and we were able to enjoy the grand rooms, views from the tower, and curious contents in peace.

Our unassuming walk through this typical French chateau ended with a surprise - a military bunker. It turns out that Rommel defended Normandy against the Allies in World War II from the bunker located here- La Roche Guyon was Rommel's headquarters.

The girls in front of the Chateau

Pony Camp

This week we sent our eldest, on a 5 day school trip to a Pony Camp. We had originally met the concept of sending our six year old away for 5 days with “You’ve got to be crazy!!!”. But nine months was enough for us to warm up to the idea, and when the interest was shown by our six year old - off she went.

Thirty kids from the school ranging from ages 4-6, chaperoned by teachers, headed off on the train to Mont St Sulpice, Bourgogne (Burgandy). The French must love their Pony Camps because they seem to be everywhere and the French parents at the school didn't appear to think this preschool excursion was abnormal.

Every child on the trip was assigned their own pony and were responsible for walking the Pony on a lead, brushing it, as well as learning to ride and Pony gymnastics (?). P’s pony was named Pelouche (soft toy).

It was a lonely week for us, our permitted one phone call was expectedly unsatisfactory and D was desperate for her sister.

In the end, it was a growth experience for all of us. P came home beaming ear to ear, smelling of pony. D couldn’t keep her hands off of her sister and showered her with hugs and kisses for hours and I was finally relieved of my aching heart.

Hopefully someone involved will give us some photos – I am dying to know more!

Hockey Tournament in Dunkerque

This past weekend, while Obama was hanging out in our hood, the family headed off with the Millepattes to Dunkerque, for a Hockey tournament. French hockey tournaments don't seem to differ much from the Canadian variety; cold rinks, lots of sitting around waiting for the next game, beer, Red Bull to wake you up from the beer and crowds of very smelly men. The lack of ice cleaning in between games seemed to be the only difference to Rupert. It must have been, he told ten times.

Adoring Fans trying to keep warm

In the end the Millepattes didn’t fare too well and finished the tournament with a 1-4 win/loss rate. But what could they expect from a team with guys who fall down when they take a shot at the puck. The girls and I were proud that Rupert seemed to pull his wait, especially for an old guy .

As exhausted as we were from the weekend, we pushed ourselves to stop at the Vimy Memorial on the way home from the tournament. Like our trip to the D-day beaches, seeing the terrain and the gravesites made the loss of life so much more real than any Hollywood blockbuster could. It was so sad to see the large number of nameless graves marked “known unto God”.

Not far from the cemetery is the Vimy monument – a truly awe inspiring sculpture sitting isolated in the middle of a field, on the highest point of Vimy Ridge. The girls were asleep in the car, so Rupert and I took turns walking the grounds. Unfortunately we weren’t able to see some of tunnels and look-out points, but the site of the Memorial itself was well worth the detour – we were both happy we had stopped.

Awesome!

Mimi & Paddy Visit

Wow what a week! Mimi and Paddy (my parents) were here for seven days and boy, do they really know how to pack it in. Morning to night were filled with bus tours, church visits, museums, flea markets, walking tours, shopping and best of all D’s birthday party. These seniors who appeared unaffected by jet lag or the miles and miles of walking, really brought it.

Their flight home was not so fun filled. Their cabin filled with smoke 40min outside of Paris prompted an emergency landing in London and then followed by a 4+ hour containment in the airport. Crazy!!!! We are happy, they are safe and sound at home now.

Thanks for the visit, it was great to have you!!!

Our Little Parisian Turns Six

Yesterday we hosted our first birthday party in Paris. We had a standard Canadian party with games, cake, ice cream, and party goods from the Dollorama (imported from Canada). Despite my fears, our apartment handled the fourteen kids fairly well and there were no major incidents to report.

French birthday parties are similar to ours, but there are a few differences to note:

The Cake - P’s Barbie cake (an Anglo girl favorite) was quite a departure from what kids generally have at parties here. The French don’t DO themed birthday cakes. From what we have experienced, a typical French birthday cake is very grown up, rich, chocolate and multi-layered (one of the layers is usually gooey). My tutor was disgusted when I described the Barbie concept to her, and said “why don’t you just get one from the patisserie”. I can’t wait to show her the photos of our “tasteful” pink princess.

Candy – French parties usually come with lots and lots of candy and the loot bag is usually a big bag of JUST candy.

Champagne - Parents usually are invited in for a glass of champagne when they pick up their kids. P ordered pink champagne, of course. We like this custom :).

All in all, the party was a big success. P was very happy today, and reflected on her milestone “I know I am six, but I still feel five.”

Generations of Abba lovers thanks to Mama Mia

Versaille

An early morning start, prepurchased tickets and a midweek date, was not enough to beat the crowds in Versaille yesterday. As we arrived, so did the buses!!!! Accompanied by another mom and her children, we pushed our way through the many grand rooms of the Chateau. Unfortunately, the children’s only interest (besides food) in our tour was getting to The Hall Mirrors. When we finally arrived at the Hall of Mirrors, it did not disappoint. The girls forgot their stomachs for a few moments and made space, by twirling and dancing amongst the 357 mirrors and 20 glass chandeliers in the spectacular room.

After a short visit to the Chateau, we headed out to the beautiful Versaille gardens and spent the rest of the day, admiring the fountains, picnicing by the canal, feeding the ducks and hours of walking around the canal. It was great to breathe the fresh air and give the kids an opportunity to run. A return to this unbelievable estate in the very low season, is probably in order for the future.

twirling in the Hall of Mirrors

fun in the jardin

The "ça va" moment

Each day after school, the girls and I go to the tiny park across the street from the school, on the Seine. There are four park benches on either side of the park and in general the French parents/caregivers sit on one side and the English on the other.

Yesterday, we were the second family to arrive. A French Mother with whom I exchange smiles and occasional Bonjours, was already there. I decided, enough with the French/English division and sat down right next to her. I opened the conversation in French and she immediately switched to English (which was much better than my French) and we chatted sporadically for the next hour.

Today as all the Parents and caregivers waited at pick up, I said to The French Mom “bonjour” and she responded with “bonjour, ça va?”. “Oui” I responded in surprise “ça va”.

Early on, Rupert’s French Tutor explained to him some basic survival tips for daily greetings. The golden rule is, greet EVERYBODY individually with at least a Bonjour. There is subtle nuance when you want to acknowledge someone as more than just “anyone”. These people you acknowledge with “ça va?”. Rupert says “The minute somebody throws YOU a ça va in group setting, magic energy passes between the two you and you are acknowledged”.

I don’t know about magic, but this was my first ça va outside of my tutor and I was pretty happy to receive it.

A courageous moment, a small cultural gap closed and a personal barrier broken:).

Enchanted Meetings

At least two or three times a week at school pick up, we stop and admire an elaborately dressed princess and her handsome prince, being picked up in a chauffeured driven Mercedes. The girls never bore of delighting in the spectacle, which is, one of the 200 Japanese couples that get married every year, in the church where P& D go to school.

After watching these weddings for a couple of months, I did a little research and found that this is all part of relatively lucrative business. “Our” church is apparently picked from a catalogue of fantasy weddings for the Japanese.

These couples apparently are heading to Paris (and elsewhere) for a wedding, because back at home, they are required to ask their friends and relatives to come to the ceremonies. A party with the family costs on average about $30,000, while they can pay about $10,000 for an entire overseas wedding, complete with rented wedding dress, photographer and travel.

My kind hearted friend who feels so sorry for these weddings without family and friends, always showers the newlyweds with “you look beautiful… congratulations…best wishes” as she walks by on her way to pick up her kids. Despite her pity, the couples are always glowing.

A number of times, while a couple were having their photos taken on the church steps, hords of kids after a day at school, streamed out around them. I am always so curious how these newly weds feel about this addition to their fantasy wedding.

Poisson D'Avril

April 1 - April Fool's day, or as the French call it Le Poisson D'Avril. The concept is the same - play tricks on your neighbour, but the real focus here, revolves around putting a fish on someone else's back. According to the kids, this is hilarious! The girl's carefully hand crafted fish were "secretly" put on our backs a number of times this evening, followed by an outburst of laughter. We played along, ha ha ha, but wondered.... at what age (if at all) in France does this stop being funny?

Finally Family

I was thinking about crediting our visit from cousin Andrew Ritchie and girlfriend Silvia as the first family visit, but it occured to me, that in fact, Jeremy Allen was our first family guest, and we forgot to post his visit. So here is a quick two in one family visits Paris update.

First Jeremy, travelling through with work, from site visits in Rome and Tunisa to scout film locations came by for dinner. We enjoyed a great evening of lively discussions, and wonderful family memories, and yes, the "Allens do know best"... yours truly included. In the end we drank lots of red wine (a Jeremy signature) and my head was tight the next day. He stayed over. Thanks for coming Jeremy. It was really great.

As mentioned above, our second family visit was from Andrew & Silvia. They came for the weekend. We saw lots together including the huge Waterlillies (Nymphéas) at the "Musée de l'Orangerie " It's a perfect sized art exhibit for me (less than 1hr) with works from Cézanne, Matisse, Modigliani, Picasso, Renoir and of course Monet. We squeezed a lot into a short weekend including a dinner at a local restaurant Les Cocottes where even French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been known to dine. Paris is even better when you can share it with family.

Sorry for the small picture...I pinched it from Andrew's Facebook

Une Tradition, S'il Vous Plait

Lately we've been actively trying to supplement the girls French, as we have realized that a Montessori (Bilingual as it may be), with its philosophy of choice, where the child can choose to speak to the English or the French teacher, is not necessarily the best place to learn French.

One of the small things we have added into our routine, is sending the girls in to buy our daily Tradition (our prefered type of baguette). The girls go into the boulangerie all on their own, wait in the queue (sometimes for 10min), order and pay.

The women behind the counter just melt everytime our little anglo angels order "Une tradition s'il vous plait..... merci... au revoir." The girls walk out empowered with their coveted bread in hand and quite often an extra treat.

Scotland Part I of II

A last minute chance encounter by Rupert, with a key Canadian embassy employee allowed us to renew D’s passport in time and shove off for the second week of the girl’s school holiday. An even more last minute change in plans, switched our destination from Rome, to Scotland and we were off.

Home base for our six days was Steve & Paul Ritchie’s house in Collieston, a small seaside Scottish village, just north of Aberdeen. Steve and Paul are Mark’s (Rupert’s Stepfather) father and brother - we could have not have dreamed of better hosts.

The clean air, spectacular scenery and a dose of family was just what the doctor ordered. Our days were filled with long oceanside walks, castles, scotch, haggis and Mark Knopfler playing in our heads.

A view from our Steve & Paul’s house in Collieston

D at Hackley Bay

P admires her daily haul of shells, at Hackley Bay

We made the rabbit avoiding pilgrimage to the seaside village of Pennan, the location of the family favorite movie, Local Hero.

P makes a call to Mr. Happer. No answer

Collieston is conveniently located just a stones throw from the Whiskey triangle. Ru, P&D amongst the stills, at the Glenfiddich distillery

D with Errol castle in the distance. The castle is thought to be the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Making paper in Paul’s very cool studio.

The BC’s and the Ritchie’s outside Seaview