The Last Post

That sounds rather like that tune they play on Anzac Day, doesn't it? Really, though, what this is about is that is the last post I'll be doing on this blog, at least for a good long while. I've sort of lost my enthusiasm for it, after the things that have happened. Besides, I don't have much time.

This is also to tell everyone that things are OK, that I'm feeling OK now and that life is going on at the castle. I didn't get to have that birthday party because of--well, all the stuff. But I'm sure it will happen, one day, when everything's completely sorted out. Don't feel much like partying at the moment, just chilling out, really. Just taking it easy and trying to work out lots of things in my head..I've started writing about it all, in my notebook. Maybe one day I might feel like putting it up in public. Or maybe not. We'll see.

Anyway thanks to all my friends who have kept up with this. I hope to see you all soon. This is Rose, signing off.

IMPORTANT NOTE: For those of you who have only just discovered my blog, I suggest you go back right to the beginning, to the very first post I put up when all this started, back in February. Otherwise it won't make much sense to you. click here: http://fairychild3wishes.blogspot.com/2007/02/this-is-it-then.html That's the start of it. After that you just need to go to the 'Newer Post' link at the end of each page.

back now..

I'm back now. We had a simply wonderful time. We did so many fun things. And I came loaded up with all kinds of goodies! Here's one of them--a beautiful silver evening dress I bought to wear at my birthday party next weekend (It's going to be held at the castle, and lots of people are going to be there!) It will go really well with my silver shoes..There's a picture of it here to show you, one that shows you the full thing and a close-up so you can see the really cool detail on the top..
Things are OK for the moment though there's been some weird stuff going on. Things I don't really want to put up here.

Anyway today is normal, I've just been doing stuff at home with Grandpere. We've been trying to put together a website for him, about Napoleon, because as you know he is a specialist on Napoleon and has written lots of books about him. At least we've just been taking a look at some of the sites people have already done., to think how we might organise ours. Tell you what, there's quite a few on him already. He's a real celebrity still, that guy, though he died nearly two hundred years ago..
For example, there's a big site about him at www.napoleon.org

We can't decide quite what style we want, I think it should be something a bit intriguing and far-out but I don't know if I know enough about computers to do that!

A trip to Paris

I've been in Paris since Tuesday afternoon with my grandfather. We just decided on the spur of the moment to go. We'll be here a week. I'm so glad because I needed time out, away from the castle and all that's been happening there. So many things have happened and I don't know what to make of it all. It feels like I'm in the middle of a story written by someone else and that I'm helpless and don't know how it's all going to end. I hate feeling like that..

Anyway here in Paris though it's raining just like it was down south(and it's even colder) there are just so many things to do and see, you forget about the weather. We've visited the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, the Tour Eiffel, the Champs Elysees, Notre Dame and lots and lots of other places. I've done heaps of shopping, went to all the really fashionable streets where designers like Dior and Chanel and stuff are(not that I bought anything there!) and also went to the big department stores, like my favourite, Galeries Lafayette(where I did get quite a lot of things!) You can sort of 'window-shop' there by taking a peek at their website on www.galerieslafayette.com, if you like!

Paris is so cool. And the food is fantastic. The people are nice too, mostly, though we've met one or two really rude people. But not too many as my grandfather is pretty well-known and they sort of bend over backwards for him. The hotel where we're staying is absolutely gorgeous. That's it up there on the left (the picture's a postcard from the hotel, the weather's too yucky to take a really nice photo of it).

It's called Hotel Pavillon de la Reine (which means Hotel of the Queen's Pavilion) and it's in a really lovely old building that was used by the royal family in the past. It's set in a gorgeous square called Place des Vosges, which is very quiet and green and so, so romantic! Inside the hotel it's gorgeous too. I was a bit shy there at first, I thought I would stick out like a sore thumb and wouldn't know how to behave. But it's worked out much better than I thought. The staff are just so nice and no-one makes you feel awkward.
if you want to have an even closer look at it, here's their website: http://www.pavillon-de-la-reine.com

It's really good to feel normal, or as normal as my situation lets me be, after all my life's been turned upside down and inside out and all that. I've been given my three wishes but at least here I feel like I can really enjoy them, and not have to look over my shoulder all the time, watching for something I don't understand.. And when I go back, it might be sorted out. That's what I hope, anyway.

pictures of food

Lots of people have asked me about the food here. It's brilliant, and I'm just eating and eating! This morning we went to the local market town, Castelnau, which is only 10 kms away(and the big town, Albi, is about 22 kms away). Anyway it was market day so I had a great time looking at everything. Above is some stuff people were selling--lots of different kinds of olives and some salted sardines. I just think they make everything look so beautiful, like a painting or something..

And above are some pictures of two gorgeous shops in Castelnau. The one just above is a cheese shop, full of every sort of cheese you can imagine, and the one on top is the most stupendous wonderful cake shop I ever saw in my life! And once again it all looks so beautiful, but not too beautiful to eat! It's like, perfect: looks fantastic, tastes fantastic. The icing's not too thick and sweet, it tastes light and full of flavour. We bought one of those deep pink cakes--it turned out to be the most beautiful and light cake, filled with the yummiest raspberry cream and iced with the same thing...Wow!

the path into the woods..

I followed a blackbird into the wood the other day. It's not far from the castle, hectares and hectares of it, the last remaining bits of the vast forest that existed here in the time of the Gauls. This wood is known as Le Bois du Merle, or Blackbird Wood, so it was kinda cool it was a blackbird showed me the way!

They're deep and green and people say they're enchanted..I don't know about that, but I did meet an interesting old lady there the other day...a real character, a bit like a witch!

Anyway, above is a picture of the path as it goes into the woods..

some photos taken in my grandfather's library

As you know, my grandfather's a writer and he also has this most amazing library, full of really old and rare books, as well as his own, of course! Here are some of them:the red books at the end are two of his books about Napoleon, published in a special Academie Francaise edition, very classic and all that--
these books above are some of the things in his collection, rare books from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Also on the bottom shelf you can see some of my father's childhood books..this book above was published before Australia was settled!
this illustration by a French artist called Gustave Dore, of Bluebeard giving his wife the keys to the castle, is in a beautiful old book of fairytales my grandfather owns.

The Chateau..

Well, I arrived at the Chateau du Merle de la Tour d'Argent, my new home for the moment, yesterday, absolutely exhausted from the huge long plane trip. Lots of things have been happening but I can't really write much about them just now, there's too much to think about!

But I thought you might like to see a picture of the Chateau--there it is above, that's the very first photo I took of it, through the bars of the gate just before we drove in!

The Chateau is really quite big and there's lots of exploring to do..there's also a really big garden, more like a park with gardens really, it looks really nice. I've met Grandpere(that's my granfather) and it's been going pretty well. I'm coping really well with all the French but then I could speak it pretty well anyway before--you just have to shift up a gear or two here because some people have such thick Southern accents that they sound like they're speaking through a mouthful of dry cake that's got stuck to the roof of their mouths! But I'm learning to cope with that too! And I've met quite a few other people..and some very interesting ones too, I might add!

More tomorrow, I'm too tired just now, I'm going to bed!