Flowers & Faith in Nice

It's no surprise Nice appeals to creative individuals. Henri Matisse lived here for 37 years and one of the buildings he called home (the tall yellow one in the centre below) is close to the Mediterranean, Quai des Etats - Unis and the Cours Saleya daily flower market.

Old Nice

Most of the clay rooftops visible in the header photograph above are part of the old town proper and this section of Nice is a must see for anyone visiting the area. The wonderful thing is it's not just a tourist destination all dolled up like a Disney set. It's home sweet home for a great many Nicois.

Housesitting in Nice

We arrived mid January to begin a month long house and parrot sit in Nice, France.

L to R: Jake, Petra

Oxford: Town & Gown - Part 2

As mentioned in f Oxford is known as a 'town and gown' community and during our stay we actually did see a couple of academics wearing gowns.

Oxford: Town & Gown - Part 1

We spent the first week of 2016 in beautiful Oxford, home of the oldest university in the English speaking world. We crammed a great deal into our stay and for that a reason I had no idea where to begin this post. SO after much procrastinating and deliberating (fourteen days, in fact!) I realized the only logical decision is to dedicate two posts to Oxford. Part one will focus on the town proper.

Hampton Court Palace & Gardens

Mid December through early January we were fortunate to do a house and pet sit near London and on December 29, 2015 we visited Hampton Court Palace.

Chichester

Most of the time we plan our next destination with care, but sometimes it's those serendipity last minute decisions that take us to some of the more memorable locales. Take for instance the short six days we had between December housesits. We knew we wanted to remain in the south of England, but where? John suggested Chichester and I'm ever so glad he did. It's a gem of a town.