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I suppose it seems a bit late to write about it now that (gasp!) it’s November, but it appears that, not long ago, it was September. And being September it was once again time for the great migration, a.k.a. my mother’s annual journey to roost in warmer climes for the winter. Like last year,  we drove together through Europe, after which I flew back from Madrid.

We stopped in many interesting places, but most notably we decided to go a slightly different way and try the west coast rather than the east of France. There we discovered quite an amazing place called Mont-Saint-Michel.

It is the most bizarre place, a collection of buildings constructed around an ancient monastery. All of it is perched on this rock, which at high tide becomes isolated from the mainland. Earlier, there was no way of getting there at high tide (which the monks obviously used to their advantage to keep unwanted visitors out!), but later a causeway was built.

The architecture was quite amazing, and not just because all this was built centuries ago on the side of a steep rock!

The village at the foot of the hill did give off a kind of Disneyland-faux-Medieval feel, but with the difference that it’s authetic, I guess! We will definitely have to go again on our way past someday to investigate more; unfortunately we arrived there just 45 minutes before the tide was going to cover the carpark!

Anyway, if you are ever in the vicinity, this is a place not to be missed.

In fact, I recommend Normandy as a whole - I loved it there. Driving and walking through these landscapes, I discovered I could quite happily live in Normandy, with its stark but beautiful architecture,

endless cornfields,

misty, far-reaching landscapes,

neat little villages,

and, of course, the crêperies! (This is where we stayed overnight - guess what we had for dinner!)

*slurp!*

P.S. The rest of my photos from the trip across Europe are here (this year’s pictures are at the end of the set).

To get a free wash and blow-dry, all you have to do is find a big, stinky pile of something unmentionable in the garden…

… and roll in it.

It’s amazing the lengths you have to go to, to get some grooming around here!

The washerwoman wasn’t very cheerful, though.

I’ve always been enthralled by lotuses, even before I’d ever seen one. There’s something about the delicate symmetry and repetition of the petals, the very defined shape of the large leaves that I find very appealing.

So of course when we were in Hangzhou, where there are lotuses everywhere, I went sort of mad with taking pictures of lotuses (as the poor people will attest who decided to have the full, several-hour unedited show of my 1,200 or so pics from China!).

Anyway, so I thought they deserved a post of their own.

They were actually surprisingly difficult to photograph, to sharply capture the actual shape of the flower that I find so attractive.

I’m usually very bad at taking pictures of people, so at the wedding of my goddaughter, I tried to practise my portrait photography.

Hmm…. Still have to work on it, I think. It’s hard to have enough patience to wait for just the right capture, and of course to take the pictures without the subject noticing… And naturally indoor photography without a tripod can be a bit of a pointless exercise. Luckily I’m not a pro, so I can keep playing around and practising without any consequences! Any tips would be welcome too!

After our whirlwind tour of all those other cities, we spent a relaxing couple of days at the end of our trip in Hangzhou. It is another place with stunning, perhaps quintessential Chinese views.

It is a popular holiday destination for the Chinese themselves (as we discovered on Saturday morning when we wanted to rent bikes and there were none left…). The main attraction is Xi Hú or West Lake, a beautiful lake with paths and causeways all around, and photo opportunities around every corner.

The lake is about 10-15 km around; we went around it a few times, on foot and by bike. The city has this brilliant scheme, by which you can rent a bike against a deposit, for next to nothing.

We also cycled up to the mountains (which you can faintly see in the background of some pictures), to some villages where tea is grown and prepared. We ended up mainly pushing our bikes along a nearly impassable muddy path, through a jungle, up the hills…

But it was worth it for the views, for the lovely, refreshing cup of tea we had at the top (despite the heat of the day) and the tea we bought!

Hangzhou is also a big city, with a picturesque old part of town and a lively market street.

The only drawback about this lovely place was that the humidity must have been close to 100%. With that, combined with the 40C heat, I swear you only had to put your nose outside the door to have it dripping with moisture. You can tell by the haziness in some of our pictures:

I promise there were mountains in the back there!

Anyway, those wonderful, restful couple of days (although not without their adventures - including buying train tickets, renting bikes and ordering food with the two or three words of Chinese we knew, in a place where practically no one seemed to speak English) concluded our marvellous trip to China.

Now we just can’t wait to go back!

The rest of my pics from Hangzhou are here.