Another 40th birthday treat - a day-trip to Melbourne

I am off to probably my favourite city in Australia on Wednesday. Melbourne has that groovy, European vibe I love. Perhaps it's the river, or the ordered streets of the CBD with the little lanes filled with boutiques and cafes? The light is more filtered and the seasons more pronounced in Melbourne than they are in Sydney.

Melbourne has a vibrant arts and cultural scene (where else would be home to the Australian Ballet, although Sydney does have the Opera House ......) as well as fabulous small bars and wonderful food. The CBD is quite different to that of Sydney's, and sure the Yarra River is not Sydney Harbour but the sight of rowers on the river and the parks and gardens that are green and fragrant envelope the senses in a way that the visual beauty of Sydney Harbour doesn't quite do ...

A trip to Melbourne feels like a trip to London to me, but cheaper :-)

I've booked a ticket to a matinee preview of 'Wicked' the Musical and will spend the afternoon at the National Gallery of Victoria at the new Art Deco exhibition. This exhibition has been travelling the world since it's original showing at the V&A in London in 2003, and I can't wait!

De Witte Lelie, Antwerp

This stunning hotel in Antwerp, Belgium, is dressed all in white. It comprises three canalhouses joined together with ten bedroom suites to choose from. Gorgeous!

Charlotte the tulip

Monet's garden at Giverny was full of Americans and tulips the day we went to visit. It was overcast in the morning but the colours of the flowers were no worse off for it.

Charlotte had seen so many daffodils, jonquils, hyacinthes and tulips that she decided to impersonate one ... a tulip that is.

Abbaye aux Hommes in Caen, France

I decided one day in France to ditch the family wagon atmosphere of home and head to Bayeux and Caen a seule. With the others in tow we'd leave the house by 11 and be home by 4. My dad's first question at our destination would be 'where are we having lunch?' and we'd waste 2 of our five hours sitting at a restaurant table. The decision to be selfishly solo on this day lead to a memorable tour of a relic of William the Conqueror.

The Abbaye aux Hommes was established by Bill in the 11th century with a view to atoning for the 'sin' of marrying his quite distant cousin Matilda. It was governed by abbots and the abbey was very powerful during the Middle Ages. Bill's original installation was rebuilt in the 18th century after destruction during various 16th century wars, and so no longer resembles the building that he once knew. His grave in the Eglise St-Etienne (the consecration of which he attended in 1077) has been ransacked over the centuries and now contains only his thigh bone. The Abbaye became a school in 1804 (the Lycee Imperial) and was so until the 1960s.

I couldn't find the door to enter the church and got myself waylayed in the direction of the Abbaye. It now houses the offices of the Caen city council. A group of people were waiting in a side room to the right of the main entrance and they turned out to be waiting for a tour of the building. I don't know what cog slipped in my brain but I paid my 2 euros and joined the group.

The tour turned out to be all in French! Quite a test for my French Z level of fluency. Not a single word in English was uttered.

We saw many parts of the Abbaye otherwise hidden from the public and its history slowly revealed itself. It is built of creamy Caen stone and extremely beautiful. I loved the cloisters (fuzzy picture above) in particular as well as the salon where civil marriages are conducted. I also loved the wood-panelled walls, the staircases that hang in the hair (no cement was used to join the blocks of stone) and the marble floors.

A lovely surprise for a lovely solo day in Normandy ...

France sojourn ...

The Chic Family headed off to northern France in April ... and almost all of us wish we were still there (not sure that baby J is that bothered where he is ...). It was fab.

Our house was a former dairy in the grounds of the 15th century Manoir de Petagny (pictured above). Our hosts were an Anglo-Dutch couple with three young teens and they'd thought of everything in their recommissioning of the old building. Four bedrooms, a spacious patio, fire-place, high chair ... our favourite activity was to sit around the very long dining table and eat the goodies we'd collected that day from the market or the Intermarche (my family are not adventurous shoppers).

The herd of cows were an unexpected bonus. The train was also a highlight!

I love France, and this time I loved the French a lot more. I think it had something to do with attempting to speak French to them no matter how crappily I spoke it. Train conductors, shop girls, policemen ... they all warmed up the moment we greeted them with 'bonjour monsieur, je suis Australienne and je ne parle pas francais!' I even gave a delivery guy directions! Thank God for La France en Direct in Year 7.

Hong Kong ... a place to move to?

I'm thinking of spending a year living in Asia - Hong Kong or Tokyo? Hmmm.

Honkers is pretty gorgeous at night ...

Moleskin notebooks - for the travel writer

Moleskin do a fantastic range of notebooks and now they've gone one better ... they've created a special range of City Notebooks for favourite towns such as Paris, London, Berlin and Rome.

They also have a dedicated website that includes travel information and blogs.