Well, this is kinda "rortish". After a break for Christmas and our separate but excellent holidays, we've had a torturous three weeks back at work and now we're on another week's holiday! Yes, this is where the non-teaching majority will be baying about the holidays and the breaks and the non-stop relaxation: normally I'd argue, but I can't really muster the willpower nor the ammunition for a successful cutting retort. You win! (or do we.....?!)

We've enjoyed our first real extra day of the holidays today by riding Taipei's increasingly ubiquitous YouBikes through all sorts of backstreets and byways from near our place, across the river into Shilin and the mouthwatering breakfast temptations of 1bite2go. It was fun way to get the hunger going and to wake up before diving into that most decadent of meals out; the weekday, working day, breakfast. This place has a really cool vibe and although we've been there just a couple of times, it is definitely one of our new favourites. Nestled in and around this restaurant are two French boulangerie and from the wide viewing windows to perv on the pastry chefs it seems as if you won't need to travel to France to experience all those delicate flavours anymore.

We docked our Youbikes before breakfast, and I might mention, it cost us zero dollars for the adventure as we made it to the other side of the river within 30 minutes. As registered users, the first 30 minutes of any trip are free, so....gotta love Taipei! Wandering across the Shilin park, we thought we'd take advantage of the stellar weather and have another look/see at the summer residence of Taiwan's former ruler Chiang Kai Chek. The gardens of the house are still maintained quite meticulously and it is a beautiful public park space these days. As on our previous visit, the residence was closed, but I think it's probably the least interesting of the offerings here: it looks from the outside nothing much more than a restored 60's era, slightly too garish and ostentatious Chinese version of "stately" Wayne manor (for you Batman fans out there!). The best part of the gardens were the seemingly endless beds of a dazzling variety of roses, in various states of bloom. Cass saw many she'd never seen before, and some were so rare as to not a bloom be seen!

We wandered down a majestic pathway of rake thin, sky-high palm trees on parade, before heading past the theme garden with strange curved living sculptures which looked to me like vomiting brontosauruses. Onwards an intricate set of  criss-crossing paths led inexorably upward to the  "Pavillion of Matronly Happiness" built in honour of the big man's mum and a spot where he himself would often contemplate grave matters of state. The view these days is filtered by ever growing trees, but in 1963 when built, must have offered a panoramic 360 degree view of his dominion.

Upon returning to the Youbike station, we were to discover that their increasing popularity meant every one of the 50 at this station were booked out! We decided to walk back home and strolled back through streets and over bridges in the bright, unseasonably warm sunshine. A stop at SOGO to grab some sandwiches for a meal later in the day, a few exotic treats for sometime later in our week of holidays, and we were a little puffed when we eventually rolled into home!

While writing this and fixing the photos, I'm eagerly awaiting the delivery of my first batch of pies which I ordered last week. A Taiwanese/Kiwi guy has started a business called Leo's Tuckshop (it had me at the name!) which delivers his NZ modeled pies island -wide. I'll do the taste test and if they're any good, I'll let every Kiwi and Aussie I know how to order them so we can keep this guy in business...Fingers crossed!!

Photos: Cass with Godiva chocolates (a present from a student) and flowers. Some interesting dog outfits in the pet parlour window. I finally decided to part with my 27 year old ugg boots which have been held together with tape for a few years (so sad!). The rest are from our adventure today!

Well, looks like I've been struck down by the virulent "man cold", you know that disease that equally affects both men and women, girls and boys yet seems to be especially persistent and virulent in the adult male? You know that one that enables most people to "soldier on" at work and at home with little or no complaint, but for some reason strikes down those strongest in society with extra crippling symptoms and suffering? Well, I have that one!

We've been rudely awaken back to reality these last two weeks at work after our whirlwind grand tours over Christmas. Cass was exhausted for ages, suffering delayed jet lag and just coping with the mental strain of day-to-day teaching after her two weeks trekking round France. I've been ensconced in seemingly endless meetings to talk about our latest programmes and combined with some quite bone-seeping cold spells we've been pretty tired.

We still had a few interesting experiences lately. On our way home from work one day we experienced our river road being re-tarred. It is one of the very few roads in the local area that doesn't demand timed parking fees, so subsequently it's packed with parked cars at all hours of the day and night. Instead of just shutting the road off for a few hours, or overnight, when the road needs maintenance they just bring in an armada of tiny forklift trucks and lift all the errant vehicles onto the riverbank! Job done and the little champions wheel back in to lift them all back into their parking places...can you imagine?! I took a little video of the road being  re-tarred.

I was near one of our local restaurants last week when I came across the waitress scooping up a tiny black, whimpering ink spot. It turned out to be a shivering, too weak to stand little puppy about two months old. She took it into the restaurant and tried to give it a little water and asked that I watch it while she went to consult the local pet shop and get some food. On her return I suggested she take it to our vet's, Dr. Yang, as I know he takes in rescued animals. I offered to pay for any treatment the puppy might need. Subsequently, early next week I dropped in at Dr. Yang's, paid some cash and discovered the puppy to be the most friendly, affectionate and healthy of creatures! My happiness was tempered by the sobering news that they could keep her just one week.

I decided to break the ban we have in place on private emails to all the school faculty and staff and risk one. I never do it, and decided that this was a worthwhile exception, so sent it to 322 people! The cute photo tugged the heartstrings of a few, but it ended up that one colleague told the local coffee shop owner who knew a woman who wanted a puppy. He rang her and she went with her two kids to inspect and happily, decided to adopt her. It was a very pleasing result, but I found it a little traumatic: there was no way I was going to let her get "the injection". Thankfully, it didn't come to that decision.

Adding to our tiredness has been the annual preparation for Cassy's Book Club dinner. They each host a dinner party once a year and go out for the other meetings, but it seems to be a gargantuan effort to feed these women! We, as always, have to visit every specialty store in Tienmu to source the ingredients for the various courses. Cass couldn't get caster sugar this time, so cleverly used the food processor to whip some regular sugar into shape for her pav! Anyway, suffice to say it was a huge success as always and the non humidity in the atmosphere made the pav the "best ever". They had Australia champagne, French red and various exotic cheeses and meats as well as guacamole to add spice to the pumpkin soup

We got a new Kindle paperwhite the other day to supplement our aging and fading Chinese equivalent bought some years ago. Cass is reading her next Book Club novel, The Dovekeepers, on that. I'm still a big Stephen King fan, so I'm trying Dr. Sleep. Photos: Taipei 101 on New Year's Eve, dining out at the upmarket "Saffron", forklifting cars onto the riverbank and the very cute saved puppy (who was saved, quite coincidentally, on the same day that I brought home two hissing spitfire brown kittens exactly ten years ago!)

There are also more poems on 詩 (Shi)

There are many superlatives I could use to describe my wife, and she does have a myriad of talents and interests apart from being very cute. The one perennial would be that she is a true and dedicated Francophile: her love of the language and the country, its people and customs, the look, the feel, the ambiance, in fact virtually anything associated with France (including her shoe closet!). So, when she suggested that she venture off again to France with her mother for our two week winter break, how could I argue?

They have now made this trip three times over the years, the last two times, each of them travelling independently from their respective countries to meet in Hong Kong before flying onward together to Paris. It has worked really well except for a slight hiccup on the way back this year, but I'll get to that later.

Their destinations were a mix of four different cities, much how they have planned their previous successful itineraries, with TGVs whisking them between cities right into the heart of centraville. This time the plan was to fly into Paris, catch the fast train straight from the airport to Lille before spending time there, travelling onwards to Strasbourg and then to Reims. Finally, they would spend a requisite few days in gay Paris to bookend the journey.

The TGV trips were fast, efficient and very rapid, yet gave the chance once again to view the French countryside, the tiny farms and villages along the way as well as people going about their everyday lives. Lille had a big wheel that was an excellent first stop to get an overview of the city and take the first of Cassy's 700 photos! (I'm sure Valerie has more….). Lille was a delightful small city that exuded all the flair and charm that exists in most cities in France: the stunning architecture, the fastidiously cared for gardens and public spaces and a myriad of options to stimulate the intellect. They visited the Musee de Beaux Arts and found the collection quite extraordinary but perhaps an even greater discovery was the first of many "Paul's" delicatessen/boulangerie from which the girls sourced the delicate and scrumptious sandwiches and eclairs that were the theme of their trip! One amazing highlight was taking a local train for a day trip to the town of Lens, where there is a dramatically stocked and visually dazzling boutique autrement of The Louvre. It was a glacial masterpiece all on one level, taking advantage of the acres of land available in this country setting. Priceless and inspiring Roman, Greek and Egyptian artifacts vied with halls of medieval masters and Cassy's favourite impressionists for viewing time.

Another TGV, another city and Strasbourg delighted on some similar and some different levels. European Christmas markets are some of the most exciting outdoor markets anywhere in the world and Strasbourg's rivaled the very best of these. C&V wandered, shopped, marveled and tasted their way in and around the stalls, drinking in the atmosphere and sights and sounds. They journeyed on a batorama through the city's series of streams and canals (even through some locks!) where they enjoyed a different perspective of the layout of the city and its architectural gems. The Strasbourg Cathedral was leviathan in scope and size, an intimidating presence which Cass says dwarfed the Albi cathedral, which I had found the most imposing I'd ever seen. Another feature of the city was the Palais Rohan, the Alsace region's jewel of baroque style, housing an exceptional treasure trove of fine art, furniture, decorations and other.

By this stage, the girls had almost literally walked every street and lane of these two French cities, perhaps counteracting their daily feeds of goat's cheese, delicate cakes and pastries, flan, quiche and macaroons. They were saving themselves for the Champagne caves of the Reims area, to which their third TGV flew them. A bus tour to the cave of Taittinger, allowed them carte blanche to revel in the tastes and sensations of this special destination. A foppish, prissy (and of course, stylish!) gent lectured them on the art of the making, appreciating and drinking of the product and gave their group a tour of the facilities, whereupon they were left to sample ample quantities of the product! This theme persisted throughout their stay and they managed to have a few more "samples" here and there to accompany their sweet takeaways from the boulangerie!  The Reims Musee de Beaux Arts was visited and revealed itself to be of the same stellar quality of all the preceding galleries and musees. A particularly interesting and unexpected highlight was the site of the signing of the armistice to end World War Two, signed at a school in Reims with high ranking Nazis. The site is now preserved for posterity and has some powerful historical displays as well as documents and furniture in situ just as they were when the treaty was signed.

I don't think Cassy would contemplate visiting France without at least some days spent in her favourite spot in the world: yes, that's right, gay Paris, the ballerina on the jewelry box of the world! After again being jettisoned into town on the TGV and cleverly finding their hotel with the minimum of fuss (full credit to the navigators who did this across all the unfamiliar cities in their travels)they immediately embarked upon a whirlwind of shopping, eating, observing, travelling and admiring to pack as much as possible into their final three days. Their small but plush apartment (with a gratuitous dishwasher!) at the Citadine near Les Halles was the perfect hub to the spokes of their exploring wheel. Cassy just loves that Paris metro (I reckon it smells like an old wino's month old trousers) no matter what anyone says, and they journeyed on well-trodden paths to boutiques and stores and museums and galleries all over the city. They took a scenic cruise on a tourist boat on The Seine as the sun melted away to evening, experiencing the day and night views of all the bridges and the famous edifices lining the right and left banks. Their trip to The Louvre was undertaken under clear blue skies, but their Eiffel Tower ascent was marred by a ban on progress to the top deck owing to high winds….lucky they'd been before! It was a magic day for them, climaxing with Cassy hailing a recumbent pedicab driver for the trip back to their apartment across the other side of the river and the city: it was quite enchanting to get yet another perspective of this, no doubt even enhanced in favoritism, city.

The Musee de Arts Decoratifs was filled with wondrous objects to drool over; the coffee eclairs were as sweet and delicate as they had been all over the country, the pichets as rich and meaty and the goat's cheese as delicious and aromatic, while the Paris night light show danced and pulsed captivating the two enthralled. What whirlwind, wondrous weeks were had!

A tiny hiccup when Valerie's return seat was unrecognized by Cathay Pacific, necessitating her travelling on another airline home. The downside was not travelling together as far as Hong Kong, the upside an upgrade to business class from Bangkok to Sydney. I was so glad to welcome my girl back home, but I don't mind her spending that quality time with her Mum as they both enjoy it so, so much. It's a bonus for me when I see that sparkle in her eyes as she speaks about the wonders of the Gallic world….those French! 

This is a selection (less than a tenth!) of the photos.

Fukuoka airport prepared me for the rest of my trip. Even though the custom's officers wanted to search my bag (quite thoroughly), they bowed, smiled, apologized and curtsied to the point where I ended up thanking them for the inconvenience. The palpable couth and sophistication in this magical society enveloped and captured me again for the next 5 days.

After a night at a business hotel, some stuttering, quickly improving Japanese at the ticket office, with tickets in hand I boarded the punctual limited express to Nagasaki. I resorted to my old trick of resting a cup of tea on the windowsill and not a drop was spilled in the entire journey: just checking the quality control! Gurecki was there to meet me and we walked, trammed and sauntered our way through to his quite majestic new home and venture, The Class, an angular white post-modern combined business and home settled quite snugly in an ancient neighbourhood on the gentle slope leading to Nagasaki Temple Town. It quite delicately wedges its way onto its reverse battleaxe block and cleverly makes use of nearly all available space while leaving the occupants with a great sense of space, light and privacy: quite a neat trick in a downtown Japanese city suburb! Although I had seen pictures, my first impression and subsequent tour confirmed that this was, indeed, a beautifully designed architectural gem for both living and working. We enjoyed each other's company immensely for the next four days, splitting our time quite amicably between Nagasaki and "big sister" Fukuoka.

My host was teaching a few classes on the first afternoon, so after guiding me around the general area and pointing out some possible places of interest, he left me to explore. The restored Dejima island was a gem to anyone who knows the history of the circa 1600 Dutch traders confined to this island bolt-hole and/or readers of the wondrous historical fiction novel "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet" (the dexterous imaginings of the brilliant David Mitchell). I wandered the buildings and exhibitions and was transported back to that period by some subtle and high quality inclusions…just so Japanese (by that I usually mean spare, no fuss, top quality, minimalist and thought provoking). The Dejima wharf area (which must be abuzz in summer) led me naturally to the commanding Nagasaki Art Museum, which appears as a glass galleon docked on the harbor. It is a quite stunning two block piece with a glass bridge linking the buildings spanning a small canal (it is also designed by "The Class"'s architect!). Its soaring vaults of triple height allow floods of natural light and curators carte blanche to display works creatively. The highlights were a surprising quartet on the back wall: two majestic Picassos from the 20s, a detailed Dali and a brooding Miro.

We had a few interesting sojourns as Gurecki guided me around the city. A visit to his father-in-law's gravesite was preceded by us both being invited to share some traditional "omochi" (rice cake) pounding. Here's me and Gurecki! We dined in and I was served traditional Japanese breakfast one day and Gurecki's famous breakfast burritos the next. We wandered the river, past the famous and photogenic "Spectacle Bridge" all the way up to the famous Okunchi temple and the Shinto shrine beyond. We were entertained by a supremely knowledgeable and articulate man on the history of Nagasaki and the entry of foreigners into Japan's closed society: even Gurecki learned some gold! We spent an afternoon soaking at an "onsen" high on the mountain. The outdoor wet-edge pool was a touch surreal: as we sat, soaked and chatted, we overlooked the back part of the city far below and ground zero where the bomb detonated less than 70 years ago to obliterate this picturesque city.

Our trip to Fukuoka gave me another chance to survey the countryside of this delightful southern tip of the main islands. Birds huddled together in their hundreds on calm waters, fishing boats bobbed and farmers tilled away on frozen fields. We were joined by Himiko and her mother and we had an Orient Express moment in our semi divided enclave with table and reading lamp. After checking in to our functional little hotel after a bus ride from the station, we lunched together then split up to further explore. Fukuoka impressed as a bustling small city, typically overloaded with gigantic department stores spilling over with designer and brand name boutique outlets. I had to do quite a search the next day before I discovered an artisan style jewelry store to buy something for Cass. We browsed in an old fashioned speaker/turntable/vinyl record store then spent some time in a generously stocked bookstore with an incredible array of English titles of all genres.

After a few hours sipping some beers in a cozy bar we again met up with the girls for a yakitori dinner before sliding away after that to enjoy a few more beers and a real catch up. We discussed all the world's problems and, as always, solved many of them: if only we could remember those solutions the next day we'd be Koffi Annan and Ban Ki Moon! The Japanese "snack" culture is still alive and well: I didn't see any change in scenery from my early days in Tokyo and Nagano back in '86….very comforting. By this time my Japanese was just starting to click into gear again….shame I only had one more day! We ended up wandering into a wine bar/karaoke joint that we at first thought was someone's living room. It was homely! Gurecki shattered a few Stones hits with a loud, local gentleman and I consoled a small group of workers who were "emotional" late in the night as they were on a last night out together after working together for a decade or more. We had a ball!

After some killer ramen (people line up down the street for it) and another wander and look here and there, I farewelled the departing Gurecki/Obayashi clan as they trained back to Nagasaki. That evening I shopped for my sweetheart and eventually found what I was looking for. On my travels I stumbled across quite magical scenes in the parks and malls surrounding the big department stores. Here's a Santa train and also a sea of lights. During my short trip I ate my fill of sushi, sashimi, yakitori, ramen, sukiyaki, okonomiyaki etc. and caught up with my freshly blooming mate Mark, who is finally crawling out from under the psychological yoke of our old (for him) shared workplace. He reckons it takes about 6 months to shake off all the baggage: we'd better prepare!

Christmas Day was weird, weird, weird! I flew out of Japan in the morning and arrived in Taipei midafternoon before having a Christmas meal of 7/11 noodles on the street! This was the beginning of a week and a half back in Taipei without my darling: it was interesting, but a story I'll share another time. Pictures will follow soon.