One gets used to most things...

Monday 26 November

...but not to an uncomfortable bed.  Another wasted effort, swapping mattresses.  We slept a bit better, but not well enough to leave the situation alone.  Tonight we're going to sleep on the bed in the spare bedroom.  Last resort!

We're also missing a nice cup of coffee.  So far coffee making has been a bit of an effort as well. There is no kettle, so if we need boiling water for instant coffee (which we don't like at all) we have to boil water in a sauce pan or in the microwave oven.  The latter works faster, but........ the timer doesn't work, so we need to constantly keep an eye on our watches.  So, being fed up with that and with drinking instant we go to the shops.  With a bit of effort we find the Super U  that we visited on the way from the airport.  I remembered having noticed that it was a sort of Kmart thus selling more than just groceries.  We find a decent coffee maker, buy ground coffee and a few other groceries and make our way home again.

Frank feels quite at home again behind the steering wheel

The groceries shopping done, time for lunch!

By then it's lunch time.  We go French today and have our beautiful French bread with St Marcellin cheese. This is a local cheese that we discovered in the fridge.  It's sharper than goat's cheese, although it's made of cow's milk, but once you're used to the flavour it's quite nice.

We had wanted to go for another drive in the afternoon, but the weather changed all of a sudden.  The wind disappeared and it started to rain.  So, the bushwalk we had planned will have to wait for another day. Instead we explore the surroundings closer to home i.e. the farm buildings and other parts of the house.

The house is one long building, set against a hill side, or rather carved into the hill side.  The first half consists of two living quarters that are the mirror image of each other.  Downstairs two rooms with in entry into one of them, like the door leading into the kitchen area on the right.  Opposite this door are the stairs to the first floor, which contains three rooms.  From the first floor a set of stairs lead to an attic.  Only the rooms on the ground floor are interconnected.  Upstairs there are no connecting doors between the bedrooms. Only the first part of the building has been restored.  It has central heating and a 'modern' kitchen.  Looking at the wallpapers the restoration dates from the 70s.  (Pictures will be taken later)

The other half of the mirror image contains the old kitchen and, what is now, an office/library.  If one is interested in old houses (like we are) it is quite interesting to see how those houses were built and how people lived in the past.  Come back to this page later as I will try and take some more pictures tomorrow in daytime.

The second half of the building contains stables, a work shed and hay loft.  It looks like slaughtering may have been done here too in the past, but I am not too sure.  Surprisingly the stables contain a bathroom and toilet.  It must have been an earlier addition, because it's all a bit dated.

Next to the stables is an old workshop with woodworking machines (pictures below).  Not surprising, because René's father and grandfather used to make wooden boxes and handles for rakes, pitch forks and other farm tools.

A band saw of considerable size

A drill stand of equally impressive size

and a 'biggish' planer...

Above the work shed is a hay loft and behind the house, and cut out into the hill, is an open area, divided into two parts by a wall, which can be entered from both sides.  The whole building, including the open area at the back is covered by an enormous roof.  The house is built, like all local farmhouses, of rocks that are found in the ground in this area.  I will tell you a bit more about it at a later stage.  Again, more pictures will follow too.

After our bit of exploring it's time for a cuppa (a decent one this time!) and shortly after that it's dinner time.  Since I have discovered some, also locally made, real goat's cheese in the fridge I want to try something different for a meal.  Stir-fry comes to mind.  So, later we enjoy a lovely meal of stir-fried pork, potato pieces, witlof, goat's cheese and walnuts.  Not bad for a cook without a lot of imagination. LOL

And after a while it's time to try out our 'new' bed. :-)  See you tomorrow...