A lovely trip in SUSSEX, England

Last May, all my family went for a long weekend to the South of Britain. We first stopped in Eastbourne.

Lots of wind up the white cliffs...

View from the Brighton Pier

Also in Brighton : the amazing palace that King George V had built as a modest "place in the country "...!!!!

A big medieval fort in the middle of the beautiful countryside

A beautiful cemetery in Alfriston (a tiny and charming medieval village) where "rest in peace" takes its full meaning...
The best part of the trip was that we got to meet up with Mike and Jean, my former cancellors back in Zimbawe, and also known as my "honourary Grand Parents"!!! Il was just excellent to see them...

Family Pic Nic before entering some estate with another amazing castle and other beautiful gardens

Sébastian and I...

Daisy...a flower amongst the flowers!

weekend at the coast (flashback!)

At the end of September, some friends invited us to go to their parents' house at the Belgian coast. There were 10 of us and we did a lot of walking on the beach, by the port and in the village.

The "happy group" resting after a long walk and recovering from the previous night's party...

From this point of vue, the North Sea doesn't look bad at all but usually it's colour is rather brownish and it's always freezing!! Nevermind, the scenery is just great.

This is a typical house from the countryside of the coast. We strolled around in "cuistax"which are small vehicules with pedals and seats. Everybody does that there! It's fun and it actually turns out to be quite a work out!!

Holiday in Cotignac

Just before New Year's, Sebastien and I went to Cotignac where my parents, Julie, my Godmother and her husband were already. The "trendy oldies", always on the internet...

Cotignac is the best place to relax, catch up your reading, walking/hiking, visiting small Frech towns,etc...

New Year's party was at some friends place. They actually live in the same village as my parents in Belgium and have a holiday house 20 minutes away from Cotignac!! Small world...

Christmas Marathon!!

We started running our "marathon" on the 22nd of December with my family on my Mum's side. The picture on the right shows my sister Daisy (right) with two of my cousins.

Dady is 86 years old and loves joking!

Granny is 80 and can bake the best desserts in the world! She is also the sweetest person I know...

After a gargantuan lunch, we gave each others presents and then we all played cards and had some more desserts (my Gran always makes about 6 to 8 different kinds for 20 people...)

On the 23rd we had our "close family" Christmas diner. That's my parents, my sisters and the boyfriends!

The "boys": Thomas (Daisy's boyfriend) and Sebastien with their Chirstmas socks


Julie dancing (Idon't know why but we always end up dancing at some stage of the evening)!

Dad's lovely new ski hat!

After lots of present giving, eating, chatting, drinking, dancing and so on, it's time for a little rest before the next diner...

After a diner on Christmas Eve at some of Seb's parent's friends, we had lunch on my Dad's side with the whole family.

Bonne Mamy is 78 years old and doesn't like cooking!

The "in-laws": my mother and my uncles.

Almost all the cousins getting their gift...

Julie and my cousin Pascaline

We finished our big race at Seb's parents with his brothers (3) and sister. Seb's eldest brother and his wife had just had their first child: Aymeric. Seb is his godfather and seized the opportunity to carry him in his arms (scarry business apparently...!!)

Weekend in Berlin at Christoph's

Last weekend, I visited Christoph Oesterheld in Berlin where he is currently studying. We mainly walked around town so I could feel the atmosphere of this special city. In deed, Berlin was heavily bombed during the second World War and then was "scarred" by the Wall. The thing is that now, they are building new stuff (or old looking new stuff) everywhere and it's really interesting...and a bit surrealistic as well!!

Christoph in his spacious appartement!A monument right in the middle of the former No Man's Land between Western and Eastern Germany.

A piece of the Wall

Famous Checkpoint Charlie Christoph walking around the Holocaust monument: a very impressive succession of huge blocks of concrete aligned on a hilly square.

The most impressive thing about Berlin is the diversity of the buildings. You can find a Classical building of the 18th century standing next to a modern skyscraper and facing a "russian-all-in-concrete"type of building!

Posing if front of the Brandeburg gate.

Thanks Christoph for the excellent weekend, the great parties and the "guided tours", it was great seeing you:)

Hiking in Montana, Switzerland

Just after I came back from Croatia, I went to Montana, a small village in Valais, Switzerland. I was invited there by two friends - Vanessa and Nathalie Vivario - whose grandparents own an appartement there. It was a "girls only" week and the plan was to do walk and hike in the surrounding mountains.


The team from left to right: Nath, Alexia Iwens, Vanessa and myself.


Vanessa and I studied physiotherapy together and when we graduated, we went to Nepal for three months to work as volunteers in a Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Center. We also went on a three weeks trek in the Annapurnas. That's were we got the idea of going on "hiking holidays" again...

After a pretty steep climb...

The scenery wasn't too bad...