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CatMat le grand tour 26
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CatMat le grand tour 26

15 weeks long service leave exploring France, England and Scotland together. Read more
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  • CatMat le grand tour 26

    Vichy

    May 7 in France ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Yes, capital of France during German occupation thanks to its relatively huge number of big buildings built for rich summer tourists, Person's cronies got a shock when winter came and there was no heating😂.
    The town has a longer majestic history of medical carbonated spring waters still used today given the water purity and soft magnesium salts for rheumatism and lowering cholesterol (not sure if the cheese helps that one).    Read more

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    Clermont-Ferrand

    May 6 in France ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    The volcanic centre of France. All here comes from volcanoes, now dormant. From the carbonated and heated Vichy spring health spa waters to the black lava cathedral stone to the fertile volcanic soils growing herbaceous plants flavouring the delicious local saint nectaire cheese.Read more

  • CatMat le grand tour 26

    Cheese and spas rolling hills

    May 5 in France ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

    Wonderful cheese museum tour and film on Saint Nectaire cheese. Unpasteurized is called fermier at 28C. Pasteurised is called laitière at 68C. The cheese can only be eaten between the 4th and 8th week of its life otherwise it doesn't taste right. Tough window!
    Two gorgeous spa towns Bourboule and ?
    Amazing ancient Murol castle    Read more

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    Working kitchen hearthCath did a stone carving workshop

    Guedelon Castle

    May 1 in France ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    Imagine building a brand new castle today. By hand. Using only medieval techniques. Welcome to the construction site of the year 1262 Guédelon castle. It's taken 29 years so far, expecting 14 more to complete. They are learning a lot about techniques and training lots of people. For the same number of people, they estimate the same castle would have taken 10-12 years in the 13th century!

    At Guédelon Castle, skills include -carpentry, stone cutting, masonry rope making etc.nOger 1800 trained so far.
    What impressed me was the combination of authentic building happening combined with their delight to explain in detail what they were doing. A real pride in their technical skills. The horse and cart (4 horse rotation) moved constantly all day. 28,000 tonnes moved so far!    Read more

  • CatMat le grand tour 26
    1Druyes-les belles fontaines castle

    TOUCY

    Apr 30–May 3 in France ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Toucy a tiny town that stole our hearts. A beautiful guest hotel that made us dream of our own atelier at the foot of a Cathedral.

    Amazing local entree delicacy, Meurette, that we ordered three servings of. A caramelised reduced onion, bacon and mushroom on red wine base and a boiled egg - Matthew was in heaven.

    Swans, castles, markets rated the second best in all of France and our own cat to cuddle.    Read more

  • CatMat le grand tour 26

    PARIS - Le Marias

    Apr 28–May 1 in France ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    A restful week, living like a local and Matt recovering from a gut lurgy. New hair dooo, vintage shopping at Bobby and French Onion Soup ! Caught up with Carolyn, Robyn and Jane in Montpassee for a great charcuterie meal. Crazy air bnb slept on the floor like we were 20 !Read more

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    Long weekend in Paris

    Apr 25–27 in France ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    An incredible long weekend in Paris with our best friend Jessica Brennan, Julian, Penny and Cecilia. We stayed in a luxury artist studio double apartment in Montmatre, went animae shopping, vintage clothes shopping, luggage shopping, French dining, visited Sacre Couer and lit a candle for dad xx. Cooked up a storm at home, painted, watched Studio Gibli classics and shopped till we dropped. The most incredible introduction to Paris for the girls.Read more

  • CatMat le grand tour 26
    61 types of wood, perfectly inlaid with feminine curves , incredible17th c. Devil operated mechanically, turning head, sticking out his tongue and growling!

    MILAN

    Apr 19–25 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Career dream came true visiting the Milan Furniture Fair with the amazing company of my collegue and dear friend, fellow interior designer, lecturer and artist Gaia Starace who joined us with her daughter and junior designer CJ. We went on industry specialist provate tours to the Riva factories and attended the fair , Brera district and the Local Project and BLUM Australia Interior designers dinner with plenty of clothes shopping in between appointments! Carolyn and Matt joined us for an awesome weekend and home cooked dinner !
    Cath fluttered around like an excitable butterfly finding honey. Silly quantities of 30k+ hand bags.
    Milan had several good museums including Italian unification and history of Milan (partially/fully destroyed 5 times) with incredible furniture as well.    Read more

  • CatMat le grand tour 26
    The Elephant fountain is locally referred to as "The four without bums"
    We found one of the bottoms!The most incredibly succulent pork we have ever tasted at Pinson Restaurant Chambéry followed by speGorgeous food market. You make all these yourself? "I have the best job in the world😄" she sparkledAnother gorgeous church, this one housed the shroud until it was moved to Turin.Freaky good Trompe l'oeil, looks real, it's the whole ceiling, biggest in Europe.

    Chambéry

    April 18 in France ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    The wonderful majestic capital of the Savoie, a mountainous unique region stretching from the Alps to Nice on the Mediterranean that only joined France in 1860.
    Carolyn and I had 3 days whilst Cath took the bus to the Milan furniture fair.
    We visited the museum of Savoie, Chambery is not so well known, so that they asked us how we knew and found them😀.    Read more

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    Swan Lake - YVOIRE

    April 17 in France ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Day trip to Yvoire on Lake Geneva where we ate Matthews home made market sourced baguettes and drank red wine in plastic tumblers watching the dance of a solo swan on the lake...and two fab ducks ! the blessings of natureRead more

  • CatMat le grand tour 26
    Mirnande a stunnings artists village with a weekend of open studios !1The guardian of the Romain village remainsThis cathedral was built ,like many others, on Roman ruins using them as a foundationA tall person's microwave in our airbnb

    Vaison La Romaine

    Apr 13–14 in France ⋅ 🌧 7 °C

    A beautiful weekend driving through the south of France visiting medieval art villages and dining with Stephanie's parents in their gorgeous home in Vaison La Romaine. Such a special experience to spend the afternoon with her parents at home. Off on the train to meet Carolyn for a dozen days with Matts Merveilleuse MamanRead more

  • CatMat le grand tour 26
    Lunch at the aquaduct bridge at the foot of the Vercors at Saint Nazaire en royans
    Still snow in April in the Vercors. Snowballed Cath of course!View from our hotel in Pont en royanCrazy narrow and steep drops at Combe Laval

    The Vercours

    Apr 11–13 in France ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Fascinating exploration of a distinct and valley enclosed alpine range called the Vercors with steep cliffs and even ski slopes. Great history including the horrible slaughter of 1000 marquis by 10,000 Germans in WW2.Read more

  • CatMat le grand tour 26

    LES TALONS

    April 11 in France ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    OOOPS we jumped off le Gare too early but were rewarded with a great red shoe ! Feels like home - big sheep, big prawn, big banana ...en France we have Les Talons Rouges 👠 in Romans - sur - lsere

  • CatMat le grand tour 26
    1Famous Island Palace of Annecy
    2Our host is in love with 🇮🇪 Ireland as much as we are with France 🇫🇷 !2On the train from Paris to Annecey sjetching the view from Victor Hugos apartmentWe organised a picnic with a French card game about sheep - baaa!!Meet Yam a 24 year old student hoping to study interior design in GenevaAperitif timePolifirm showroom near the station!4Found a vintage original RED VALENTINO silk chemise... already planning how to wear it for Milan 264My first French language certificate A1 !!

    ANNECY

    Apr 9–14 in France ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Annecy - a stunning medieval town sitting on a crystal clear mountain lake formed from French glaciers. Crazy beautiful 10 degrees above normal sunny weather with clear blue skies (26 deg C).
    The teacher has gone back to school ! Loving learning through the eyes of a beginning student. Getting a basic understanding of French is thrilling.
    Our host family Robert is wonderful and I cant decide if his hidden career is as a chef or interior decorator. ! So lovely coming home to hot cooked dinners with French wine and great conversation, yet its actually expected to SNOW on Monday!    Read more

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    I was the only visitor that needed the tour in English ! Awesome private tour.Frank Gehry's ideation sketches of The Louis Vuitton Foundation grace each stairwell.Wow, the most amazing library, great to relax in with specialties in comics and art history

    THE SAILBOAT IN THE CLOUDS

    April 6 in France ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    Take a small sketch drawn on the white page of a notebook, pair it with thousands of panels of transparent glass, then construct it out of glass timber and steel... we adored the behind-the-scenes architectural trail of Frank Gehry's design and construction of The Louis Vuitton Foundation .

    Set on a basin, the building was designed like a sailboat or a vessel poetically floating in the clouds above Paris fitting into the natural environment, between woods and garden, playing with light and mirror effects - it had us both entranced all morning.

    Dinner was in a new area for us called Odeon which seems to specialise in bookstores and manuscripts. Fittingly, it was the Bistro of poems where we ate, including a delicious pear served with molten chocolate poured over it, yum!

    Wow, the most amazing library, great to relax in with specialties in comics and art history (bibliothèque national de France)    Read more

  • CatMat le grand tour 26
    Au Revoir to the red bag ! I even tried to donate it to a homeless man and he refused it too
    Dinner her in a stunning Breton restaurant after perfectly pairing blue bags !We stopped for a warming hot chocolate in the Place des Vosges - we event got lap blankets !We found the dog from Tin Tin 'Snowy' - in French his name is 'Milu'VICTOR THE DECORATORHybridnationsEarly French IKEACutest CarAperitif time !Breton dinner with salmon, haddock and cabbage mmmmmm

    EASTER IN PARIS

    April 4 in France ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    So...Easter Saturday started with shopping ... Catherine ferreted out an amazing luggage shop with over 3000 cases and found one that the shop assistance didnt know they had and it was a Desley - her new favourite brand !

    After this sublime success we headed to Victor Hugos decoration exhibition. A delightful tour of his interiors and artefacts that he thoughfully created over his lifetime, Victor the Decorator - the least known part of his creative lifes work !    Read more

  • CatMat le grand tour 26

    Arrival in Paris

    April 3 in France ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    28 hours later via Kuala Lumpur and Istandbul and we are sitting on Barcelona chairs in The Grand Hotel Francais eating fromage and sipping vin rouge before a evening walk around Nation...and yes Matt did find a Boulangerie open after 7pm...bliss.

    Cath found a supermarket where you can buy wine by the glass, literally, and broke her red suitcase by smacking it into the escalator. Off to buy a new one today🥹    Read more

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    Somehow we always get the wing seats !Now onto Paris !

    Sydney

    April 2 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    We are actually on our way ! Chauffeur driven by our darling friend Mark Taffa . House sparkling clean, marking done, laptops at home and turned off - watercolours packed, calculated Ive been teaching art and interior design full time for 25 years so excited to tour Europe with my beloved on Long Service Leave. France 90 days - Carolyn joining us in beautiful Annecy, Milan Furniture Fair with Gaia and family, Scottish Highland tour for a week and a week in the UK with our bestie Jess Brennan and family. Be still my beating heart. Watch this space for galleries, cathedrals, food, French language school, artist in residency and pet stays.Read more

    Trip start
    April 2, 2026
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