10th Dec 06 - 2nd Jan 07 - They've Got An Awful Lot of Coffee in Brazil !!!!

Brazil ! What an amazing place. A place of contrasts, beaches, wonderful people, great wealth, severe poverty, great food and huge amounts of drink, especially Cachaca - the base spirit for the deadly Caipirinha.

We arrived in Rio on a beautiful sunny Sunday and were so pleased to see Andy & Keli there to meet us. Andy had planned evrything for the holiday to perfection - the flights, hotels, everything. If ever he needs a career switch then holiday organiser is the job for him. It was great to see Keli again. She'd been in Brazil for a month already visiting her family so it was lovely to catch up with her.

We chucked everything into a taxi (this really tested the driver's loading skills) and headed for our Hotel - The Visconti on Ipanema Beach. Andy had done us proud, this is a super hotel and it was our base for the next five nights. A quick breakfast and an even quicker bit of unpacking then straight down to the beach where we met up with Ron & Nina. We knew Ron already of old - a terrific New Yorker who personifies the word hospitality, and a mine of music knowledge - it was great to see him again. This was the first time we'd met Nina and she turned out to be terrific. A pocket rocket from Rio who's local knowledge and great sense of fun was a real bonus. The group was complete so we straight away got on with having a great time.

Rio was a round of beach, drinking (Caipirinhas - we're now addicted) great restaurants, loads of laughs and terrific sight seeing. Copacabana beach was amazing, as was the Sugar Loaf mountain, Christ the Redeemer, the Botanical Gardens and the wonderful Lagoon with its record-breaking floating Xmas tree. These were all things we'd read about and seen on TV but never dreamt we would experience for real. You have to keep your wits about you in Rio as undoubtedly there's potential for getting into trouble, but we were very lucky. We were sensible and so neither encountered nor witnessed any problems at all. The Brazilians we met were good humoured, very warm and very relaxed. We were made to feel extremely welcome. We were henna tatooed, drank from fresh, chilled coconuts and were massaged on the beach. Brazil was definitely looking good. The culinary treat was the 'Porcao' restaurant - an eat all you like meat feast, accompanied by a fantastic salad and seafood buffet. A real must for anyone visiting Rio, but starve beforehand !! We were joined there by Willy, who we'd met up with the previous day. We didn't see him again after the Porcao trip but I'm sure we will sometime in the future.

A flight to Sao Paolo, one to Florianopolis and a very long drive south on the 'road of death' bought us to David's place at Criciuma. And what a place; a 250 acre estate on the outskirts of town. David's son Chris was there visiting from the USA and it was our pleasure to make the lad's acquaintance. Funny, charming and so hospitable, Chris really helped this stage of the holiday go so well.

In Criciuma we met Keli's family which was lovely. We'd heard so much about them, the bakery, and the town so to finally meet them and visit the places made it all real. David was the perfect host and made sure we wanted for nothing during our stay. David is also nuts about Christmas and his home is a shrine to the season - a blaze of festive lights and decorations. Not only that but he personally made all the cakes, puddings, mince pies, sausage rolls, in fact everything for what we'd know as traditional Christmas fare.

After a couple of days we loaded up his two four-wheel drive cars and headed for Gramado, a 'Cuckoo Clock' style Germanic town in the South of the country. Getting there meant a five hour drive across a mountain on dirt tracks, in almost zero visibility due to the low cloud. It was brilliant though and thanks to Andy's expert piloting we got there safe and sound. We stopped mid-way for lunch at a terrific 'Parador' - a sort of restaurant with accommodation at the top of the mountain - which was truly memorable for its amazing location.

Gramado was great in a bizzare way (you don't expect Bavaria in the Brazilian mountains) except for yours truly being laid low by a mystery illness that we mischievously diagnosed as Dengue !!! We knew it wasn't (the real Dengue is a very serious and debilitating illness) but some of the party were easily wound up by us insisting it was. Anyway I was fit as a fiddle after a couple of days. Not only that but I was starving and gagging for a drink. Luckily the 'Maison Fondue' took care of both of those needs and a great evening was had by all. Gramado was as keen on Christmas as David and as such was beautifully decorated, and all the shops full of lovely Christmas stuff, most of which David bought and took home.

Back to David's three days later for all the Christmas festivities. To make things better Ron & Nina joined us, and David's friends & family were also fun, especially the Gaucho Kiko. Lots of eating and drinking and swimming and laughing dominated the period but the real highlight was visiting the local orphanage. David has patronised the orphanage for some time and each year on Christmas Eve he, with friends and family, dress up as Santa, Rudolph, Vixen and other Christmas characters and descend on the kids with music blaring and cars full of gifts, cakes and sweets. It was marvellous and there wasn't a dry eye in the place. These kids have nothing and probably have the prospect of nothing in the future, but their faces and gratitude, and that of the lovely lady who runs the place will stay with us for ever.

Time to move on from David's and sadly to also say goodbye to Chris. The gang of six of us spent a night in a Criciuma hotel. The next day we managed to blag a guy with an executive mini coach to drive us to Florianopolis. This should have been mine & Lynda's last night in Brazil before flying back to Sao Paolo to pick up our Air France flight back to Paris, then onto London. But we didn't reckon on the wrecking power of Caipirinha !! Andy, Keli, Ron & Nina were flying back to Rio, staying until into the new year. Andy suggested one last lunch in 'Box 32' at the fish market. What a great place - lively, loud, colourful with great food and drink. After we all had several beers and a few Caipirinhas Andy & Ron were emphatic that Lynda and I couldn't possibly go home before New Year. We were agreed. We headed to the Airport, bought tickets to Rio and headed to Ron & Nina's Ipanema apartment. As there was not a hotel room to be had anywhere Ron & Nina really kindly offered us their place to crash out, which we glady accepted. Just as well really as it kept us all together and guaranteed a really, really great laugh.

The next day, New Year's Eve, we got up late, had lunch then got prepared for the eveing's celebrations on Ipanema Beach. It was well worth missing our flight for. A million plus people on the beach, most in the traditional white, dancing to Sergio Mendes, John Legend, the Black Eyed Peas and many more, all of whom played a free live concert. It was fantastic. We were all drenched in champagne, drunk on Caipirinhas and so incredibly happy. The atmosphere was amazing and we wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Sadly the next day really was our last and after persuading Air France they ought to let us go home, we said huge goodbye to our dear friends Andy, Keli, Ron & Nina and a big goodbye to Brazil. We had seen some amazing sights, drunk some wonderful (but dangerous!) drink, eaten some great food, met some lovely people and more than anything, laughed like drains for the three weeks. The laughter was amazing, we were laughing so much that we cried. You can't buy that. Thanks guys - you made it.

17-19th Nov 06 - The Lobs at St Cezaire

La Siagne - the river on which St Cezaire stands

The Beaujolais was indeed very Nouveau as we pitched up at Nice Airport for yet another cultural weekend together. We'd managed to get Len on board at Luton as freight and after an event-free journey, smoothly slipped back into what is for Bryan and Sandra certainly, the routine of collecting the hire car and speeding off to 'La Siagne' in St Cezaire, prettily and cosily nestling in the hills above Cannes - Bryan and Sandra's beautiful French home and home for all of us for the next three nights. Quite rightly the luggage was immediately dispensed with in order that we could, despite the time being after 11pm, enjoy a two-bottle nightcap. We certainly started as we intended to carry on.

Pre-trip weather forecasts on the BBC's website had got us all worrying that perhaps we should really have packed brollies, rain jackets, snorkels, life jackets and distress signals. We were all delighted then to wake up on Friday fresh as daisies and greeted by a clear, warm and bright morning. That was pretty much the climatic tone of our stay, interrupted only by a fantastic firework-like display of thunder and lightning through most of Friday evening and early hours of Saturday morning, and a proper soaking on Sunday evening as we made our way back to Nice Airport. The weather in between however was splendid, to the extent that we still managed to indulge in our rituals of cutting the grass, drinks and lunch on the terrace and most important of all - wearing shorts.

Lunch on the terrace

Friday morning being our first there involved stocking the house with grocery essentials, Bryan having decided that unreasonably the previous tenants hadn't left behind enough of their shopping to feed us too !! So after Sandra did what she does so well on the phone to the fuel oil delivery company, ie bail Bryan out of a sticky spot, created by his less than perfect grasp of the French idiom and fax machines, we piled into our Peugeot people carrier (very confusing electric side doors) and tooled down to the supermarket. We even had a list, which of course went right out of the window as soon as we walked into the supermarket and were greeted by a lovely French lady with perfect English who even more perfectly was dishing out free slurps of Beaujolais Nouveau. Sampling the wine being the whole point of our trip (a bit anyway) and of course Bryan, Len and I being real wine experts we were compelled to stop, chat and gargle the goods, joined by Lynda after a bit (a very small bit) of persuading . Meanwhile Sandra and Angie headed straight for the fruit and veg, squeezing and poking where necessary as if they were locals. To be fair, we did then buy four bottles from the charming French lady.

The rest of the day was a blur of mussels, chips, wine, oil delivery, coffee, wine, Audio quiz, wine, cocktails, Len's bowel movements, wine, a fantastic Tiger Prawn Linguine courtesy of chef Bryan, Len's bowel movements, wine, a Mr & Mrs Quiz, Len's bowel movements, wine and a spectacular finale of rude charades - well that's how Lynda played it anyway - topped off with an encore of Len's bowel movements.

We surfaced a bit later on Saturday morning than we did on Friday, and not quite as bright and breezy. Breakfast soon sorted that out though and so a bit later, fuelled by bread, jam, croissants, juice and gallons of coffee, we headed for the village's Saturday market for a bit of a butchers and some splendid Gallic socialising, including a leisurely coffee with the charming and engaging Jackie and her equally charming and football mad son Joseph. UK ex-Pats Jackie, her husband Alex and their kids pitched up in the village a few years ago and have become good friends of, and not to mention a very practical help to Bryan & Sandra. Back to the house for a bit of gardening, wine, a splendid lunch on the terrace, wine, music and wine. Dinner that night was at the wonderful 'Chevre D'Or' at nearby Cabris, then we came back home for wine, a terrifically enjoyable DVD of 'Bridget Jones' Diary', more wine and Len's bowel movements.

Dinner at Chevre D'Or - Cabris

Sunday started early courtesy of a Gymnastics/Dare-devil fusion stunt display by Len who on one of his many night-time bathroom-bound trips decided to take a closer look at the bedroom floor. Once we were happy that the crash that woke us wasn't the house being hit by a light aircraft, and more importantly that Len hadn't suffered any serious injury, we saw off another splendid breakfast and headed for the as it turned out rather grandly named Xmas Market over the river and across the valley at Mons. Despite being a tad smaller than the posters had led us to believe, it was still lovely, the town even affording me the chance to pee in an old-fashioned 'starting block' loo, complete with saloon doors. How authentic is that?! Bryan was able to reassure the locals, and the Dutch Nation too, that chivalry isn't the preserve of nobility when he came to the rescue of a lovely Dutch lady and her three canine companions who were also in Mons for the Xmas fare. The poor woman was distraught at the prospect of reversing her Nissan Micra type thing into a space roughly the size of Wimbledon Common. Bryan leapt into the driver's seat and deftly completed the manoeuvre without incident or accident. His reward for such a selfless act? An admonishment from the Dutch lady for spending 'too much time in good French restaurants', a comment inspired by Bryan's less than graceful exit from her shoe box on wheels. The poor crestfallen lad spent the rest of the morning holding his stomach in and his bottom lip out.

Len - chillin'

Dietary concerns were soon chucked out of the window however when we got back to the house and began the culinary equivalent of the evacuation of Dunkirk. What food not already eaten during our stay would be dragged back to Blighty if we couldn't eat it for lunch. Hence a couple of hours and several Desperado beers and glasses of wine later we sat down to a magnificent feast of quiches with sautéed potatoes and ratatouille (an old family recipe that includes many potatoes). Tell you what though we lapped it up, and it was enough to take us through dinner time, and to our respective beds when we eventually got home.

Many, many thanks to our fantastic hosts as always for a great weekend. If laughter is the best medicine we must have done ourselves a power of good, well, maybe at least countered the effects of so much food and alcohol !!!