Headed out to South Beach and decided to spend the day looking at the shopping area on Lincoln Road. There was lots of shops and places to eat, really bustling area. We stopped off for a drink and some potstickers (dumplings) in the ‘Oriente on Cardoza’ owned by Gloria & Emilio Estefan. It was nice sitting on the sidewalk watching everyone passing us by.

Picked up a few bargains: a new compact camera, some clothes and some new sunglasses each as the exchange rate is really good ($2 to £1). Though food and drink is not much cheaper, you just get better value for your money. The food comes in large portions, thankfully we restrained ourselves from ordering lots of dishes.

Headed back to the hotel with our shopping and rested our weary feet, it is very humid and Li got a little sunburnt on her neck and shoulders.

We went out to dinner to an Italian restaurant recommended in our guide book, thankfully we only ordered a starter each and shared a salad as when the food was served, the plates were huge! It was lovely food and the place was very busy.

Headed back to the hotel and both very tired, decided to turn in for an early night.

It was a long journey to Miami, surprisingly the flight was almost 9 hours long. Took 45 minutes to clear passport control; as we left the airport terminal, the temperature was very warm (27 degrees C). We decided to jump in a cab to our hotel as by then we were tired and the heat was getting to us.

Checked in to our hotel and was so glad to have air-con in the room, we freshened up and headed out to South Beach. As we acclimatised ourselves to the heat, we mooched around near the beach and found a few places to relax. We had a few cocktails and a nice seafood platter; headed back to the hotel, in bed by 9pm.

We set off at a reasonable time after packing up our luggage and duvet for one last time, we had time to squeeze in Monet Gardens in Giverny (about 40 mins drive from Louviers).

The Monet gardens were really pretty and the waterlily section was the best part. Tony took lots of photos of the gardens and flowers. It was a shame the waterlillies were not in flower but the gardens were still impressive. The Monet house was a little disappointing but the views in to the gardens were great.

We finished at the gardens and began a 3 hours drive to Calais, en-route we saw some fabulous river Seine views. As we made our way to Calais on the motorway, we were happy to leave the un-even town roads behind us (which seems to be a standard in all French towns). 

As we approached our final peage (toll booth), Tony managed to stop as far as way possible from the machine!! As you can imagine, hanging out half your body to inset the ticket and paying was a sight.

We got to Calais and boarded the Ferry, it was sad to finish this leg of our trip. Next stop is Saturday when we set off to Miami.

Got up and packed our gear to head off again, Tony came up with a cunning plan to re-arrange our Ferry return time to give us more time in the Loire Valley. The guy at the hotel was very helpful and managed to speak to Sea France for us.

With more time on our hands, we decided to go and visit a few more vineyards in the Loire region and Tony managed to squeeze in more photography.

First stop was Saumur and we went to a place called ‘Langlois-Chateau’; they were ever so helpful and spoke very good English. We ended up tasting 10 types of their wines, ranging from sparkling to still wines. We finished on a sparkling red which was ever so unusual but a speciality of theirs. Apparently it started as a joke wine for the staff but they made it to sell. It almost tastes like sweet fizzy ribena. We walked out with 6 bottles in total.

We stopped off a few more vineyards in Chenas there was a lovely vineyard chateau where their hedges were in the shape of a wine bottle and an elephant. We pressed the buzzer as requested but no one answered, so Tony rang the big bell outside the gates, a little French lady came out with a basket of wine for us to taste in the shop to the side of the gates. We picked up another few bottles and had to rearrange the car severely as it was so heavy to even out the weight a bit.

We made one more stop in Vouvray before making a 3 hours journey to Louviers (up north) with a very full car. That was the last of our wine tasting in France for this trip.

Our final night in France was a little chateau manor in the countryside (nowhere as grand as Chateau Bagnols). We had dinner and relaxed for the evening which was very nice.

We woke up early to head off to Beauval Zoo and had some trouble with the Sat Nav, it didn’t seem to want to go on the most obvious route displayed. It turned out the road which is a new road was listed as not in use. However, human instinct took over (Tony’s) and we got to the Zoo quicker than the Sat-Nav would have took us.

The zoo was a huge place and we saw so many animals and birds. For big cats, there were several White Tigers and also there were 4 cubs – so cute!! Other cats were White Lions, Pumas, Jaguars, Servils and the usual tigers and lions. On the exotic side of things, there were Koalas, Manatees (including twin born manatees), tree kangaroos, red pandas and racoons.

The penguins, sea lions and Otters had their own pool which had see-through glass, where you can see them swimming. We sat and watch a large bird of prey show, where they were flying as many as 10-15 birds each time ranging from Vultures, Hawks, Eagles and some which we couldn’t make out.

After spending 7 hours in the zoo, we headed back to the hotel and got some food. Tony went back out again to take some photos of the Loire River.

Got up late, finally minced out of the hotel and headed off to see Chateau Chambord. It was quite impressive and the largest Chateau in the Loire Valley. It had over 90 rooms, they had log fires burning in some of the rooms which was very unusual but very welcoming to the visitors as it was cold and wet outside. The other main item in the Chateau which stood out was the double helix staircase, which was in the main centre of the building.

Next we went on to see Chateau Chenonceau, which was built on the River Cher, the building itself stood on the river. The kitchen and staff quarters were built within 2 of the piers, the kitchen was impressive for the age it was. Large cooker, mechanical spit roast, butcher’s corner full of knives and wood blocks. The great hall was used as a hospital ward during the 1st world war and through out the building there was plenty of large arrangement of flowers.

The grounds were immaculately kept and there was a maze made of 1000 yew trees. There was also an old farm house/stables which is full of rare plants, herbs and flowers in the grounds. Also, there was the old cellar caves where the wine used to be held, we got there too late to do any tasting of their current wines.

We tried to located a restaurant recommended in our Eye Witness France book, it turned out closed on Sundays’ so we found a small seafood restaurant instead which did a variety of mussel dishes. It was very delicious and we retreated back to our hotel very full and tired.

We slept in late and had an American breakfast in bed it showed up on large tray with bread, pastries, a variety of jams, honey, cereal, cooked breakfast plate and a large pot of tea (thankfully we only ordered for 1 person).

We finally checked out at noon, wondered out the valley and decided to check out the local Beaujolais wines. Tony really enjoyed the wine last night at dinner so we went on the hunt for it. It turns out there is 10 Crus (prestige areas where Beaujolais comes from, normally the Beaujolais wine which England gets is the general plonk is from the South of the region).

We went to 6 places, starting with Beaujolais, Beaujolais Villages, Morgon-Ville, Fleurie, Moulin a Vent & Chenas and picked up about 14 bottles of Beaujolais. We also learnt that Beaujolais Blanc is not made of Gamay grapes but Chardonnay grapes. (Champagne is made of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes).

After so many wine tastings, we finally made it in to Loire Valley by evening and checked in to our hotel just in time before the reception closed. We found a Chinese restaurant next door to grab some food, as we walked in it was packed out and considering it was 10.30pm; it was very surprising. It turned out to be a buffet evening and we managed to try a little of everything.

We had a little lie in, the weather outside was cloudy, snowing hard and miserable – so glad we weren’t skiing today. Took a good few hours to pack up and get going, stopped off to pick up a lump of cured peppered ham and said goodbye to our group of friends.

The mountains were ever so misty and the visibility was very poor going down. The sat-nav took us down an old windy and narrow road. A close call with a lousy French driver, who didn’t like being on his side of the road; didn’t help the journey anymore pleasant.

However, did see a fantastic waterfall as we drove down. Half way down the weather stopped being misty and rained very hard instead, it poured it down non-stop and by the time we were at the bottom it was even worse. As we passed rivers they were swelling up and fields were flooding.

Finally after 3 hours drive, we made it to our destination, a small town called ‘Bagnols’ in the Beaujolais wine region. We had booked to stay in the ‘Chateau de Bagnols’. A very fancy posh hotel and Michelin star restaurant. We pulled up in front of the electronic gates and buzzed reception; they let us through the gates where we were greeted by a porter and a receptionist as we parked up.

We unloaded our luggage and gave it to the porter. The receptionist proceeded to show us to our suite and the rest of the Chateau. The hotel was very grand throughout and when we got to our suite (Anne Douge), it was really impressive. There was marble bath tub big enough for two, a dressing room (the size of our lounge) and the bed was a fancy deluxe Queen.

We changed for dinner and headed down in to the restaurant which looked like the old hall. There was a HUGE fireplace at one end and the set up was ever so posh. We ordered a 3 course meal but we were served up a 7 course banquet instead. We both had a glass of champagne to start, followed by canapés then another dish (piece of cured duck with pineapple) before we even got our starter. After our starter and main dish, it was then proceeded by a trolley of cheese (unlimited choice with some lovely chutneys). Next, we thought we were going to have our dessert, another plate of food showed up and Li being dappy thought they brought out the wrong dessert. The waiter explained it was a small chocolate mousse with a raspberry sauce and he also gave us a large plate of petit fours. We were both full by now and finally our dessert showed up – Hot Banana Shouffle, it was huge!! We couldn’t finish it; even came with a palate cleanser (Banana and Rum ice cream). The local Beaujolais wine we had was really good (Marcel Lapiere).

Last day of skiing, outside the window the skies were blue and the sun was shining. Tony went off skiing with Tim to Courcheval (two valleys away from Val Thorens) you have to get there via Meribel. Lots of skiing was had including some black runs but everything was extremely slushy so hard work all the way. Good day skiing though. 

Li stayed put and skied with the rest of the group, the weather went from sunny to cloudy and cold. Tony and Tim finally caught up with us in the afternoon and the group went tobogganing (Li skipped out – a good choice she thinks especially when Tony radioed to say they were going up the mountain in a long cable car with only a flimsy plastic tray to sit on). They took a hour to get down and was very wet as well.

Wrapped up the day with a few drinks in Baramix and Tony decided to decorate the place by chucking peanuts all over the floor (he slipped and chucked a plate of nuts in the air). Headed up to the guys place for our last evening in Val Thorens; tomorrow, on the road again.

Got out skiing around 10am. Weather is really poor, light is very flat, high winds and snowing; not pleasant at all really. Everyone else that was skiing decided to go home & relax, we continued on and finally, for the first time this skiing trip got to Meribel, which is the middle valley in the 3 valley’s ski area that we are in…at least our more expensive pass wasn’t put to waste.

Had a cheap lunch in a nice mountain restaurant (first sensible priced lunch so far) Skied back, Li crashed on an off-piste bit, not happy and in pain. Managed to get back to our valley (it’s something like €300 taxi if you don’t get back via skiing!) had a few more vin choudes.
We went out to dinner with friends in a nice Swiss Asian restaurant for the evening. Li had a few too many glasses of wine, we made it home and in bed by 10.30pm – so tired.