Natzweiler-Struthof

So a while back when we were in Alsace, Kim and I visited a concentration camp in which my grandpa was held prisoner during WW2. Thankfully, he escaped.
I am not sure what to write, how horrible the war was, how we need to stop things like this happening in the future or how atrocious it is that they make you pay to visit a concentration camp! I write this from Germany, in a small Bavarian town, about to eat brotwurst, sauerkraut and potatoes. This is my first time in Germany, and to be completley honest I didn't think I'd like it this much. I thought to myself that the people would all be hard, angry, not funny and that Natzis would still walk the streets. Not really, but predujice and spending 10 months in France with older people has painted a distorted picture of Germans.
My mother is currently doing a one woman show retracing her fathers journey through war, concentration camp, survival and finally in escape. During the writing process she interviewed immigrants in Australia who moved there after the war. French, Polish, Italians and a German, all who fought in the war. I think something we fail to remember in most war situations is that often both sides fighting don't actually want to be there. My mother sat with this old German man as he said he was just following orders as a young man.
Going to the concentration camp was horrible experience, seeing buildings that were made with the sole purpose of humiliating, torturing and killing people. We sat back and said "good thing times have changed', but has it? People still get tortured, people still fight wars, people are still racist and young men and women are still recruited to fight because its an honorable thing to do. I am not trying to make points, I have not truly lived through a war. I was able to hold my Grandpa and tell him his long beard was itchy, I am able to rest my head on a bed, with a full stomach, without fear of bombs, guns or my families safety. Just something to think about next "day of remembrance" I guess.
-morgan

Alsace Vineyard

Well we have hit the halfway mark of our job here in Alsace. We have made so many friends from so many areas around the world. We have eaten so many potatoes and traditional hearty dishes from the area that it becomes quite hard to get back into the rhythm of work in the afternoon. Yesterday we had a day off and visited Struthoff, a concentration camp not far from here, but more on that later. Life here is pretty good, the view is always amazing, the wine at night is last years harvest of the grapes we pick in the day and the conversations are a plenty. It's going to be hard to leave at the end of the week, but we have an exciting adventure in Eastern Europe to look forward to. So for now we will continue working hard and eating even harder.
-morgan

Hunawihr, Alsace

Just a quick little update to say we have made the journey to Alsace and have have started work on the Vineyard. This really is wine country and we are surrounded by vineyards left and right. The work is hard, yet rewarding and we are so very grateful we have a nice big comfortable bed at the end of each day. There is always an abundance of wine on the table and a wide variety of Alsacien traditional dishes at each meal. Needless to say, we are loving our 2 week "job". Hope to keep you updated as we venture out, but days off and internet are rare, but we will try our best.

Rock en Seine

Source: gypsymeblog.blogspot.com.au via Erik on Pinterest

Yesterday was the start of a lovely 3 day festival in Paris called Rock en Seine. In Australia, festivals with such a line up would cost alot of money, so whilst in Europe we are taking advantage of cheaper gigs. We very excited to see Sigur Ros, The Black Keys, The Shins and many other amazing acts. Who would you most like to see play live? Our top 5 bucket list at the start of the year was Beirut (3 weeks time), Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Avett Brothers and Edward Sharpe.
-morgan

family

In January, when we first arrived in France, we took the time to travel around and visit Morgan's aunties and uncle. As we were heading up towards Paris again, we decided we would pop back in and spend a couple of days with them again while we were in the area.
We had a great couple of days in Orleans, just relaxing and spending time with the cousins. Now we are in Lardy and have really enjoyed sharing stories of our year so far and eating great food. Yesterday we went to a park we visited last time we here. As a special thing for summer they had row boats available to take out on the creek for free. It was a fun little afternoon, and great time spent with family.
Tomorrow we head to Paris, for 5 days, then jump on our first plane in a while and visit Scotland.
-kim

Château au Cerilly

Morgan and I had the privilege of being able to stay 2 nights at a friend of a friends Château in Cerily. It was pretty special sleeping in a Castle and we had the most amazing beautiful room. Definatly the most impressive accommodation we have had in our travels so far. We took the time to relax and enjoy the space, as well as explore the enormous Forest of Tronçais.
We are now back in Orleans and catching up again with Morgan's Aunty. Its strange being here again in a different season. The city is quite different to what it was like back in January. Tomorrow we head to Lardy, as we make our way back to Paris.
-kim

Chantier Médiéval de Guédelon

In the village of Treigny, in the center of France, construction is on the go, to build a grand Chateaux. What they are constructing however is not that important, it's they way they are doing it. The Chantier Médiéval de Guédelon is a rather epic place, where they are attempting to build a castle using using the same techniques and materials used in the Middle Ages. Its scheduled to take 25 years, and is funded solely on visitors admission fees.
Morgan and I don't usually got to touristy places like this, but we were highly encouraged to go. What we saw was really quiet impressive. You get to walk around the worksite and watch the masons chipping away at the stones, talk to the carpenters preparing the beams, and see the whole construction process. It was pretty amazing.
-k

more donkeys

After some great little visits to some great French towns we have found ourselves on another organic farm. A loose relative of mine recently bought a 18th century farm house with 13 hectares of fields and woods all around it. Their vision is to restore the house using traditional and eco-friendly building methods and start a small organic farm. On the property they have 5 dogs, 3 cats, 5 new kittens, 5 donkeys, 4 chickens, two horses and a pony. Needless to say we are having fun helping them out and spending alot of time with the kittens. We will only be here for another week but we are making the most of it before heading back into busy Paris.
-morgan

Dijon

Dijon is such a lovely little city. Untouched during the French revolution, it has a mismatch of buildings from almost every era. Filled with churches, multi coloured roofs and if you try really hard, the smell of mustard. We were so blessed to have stayed with a couchsurfing host in the very center of town. He was such a super, kind guy, with plenty of amazing travel stories. This could be one of my favourite towns in France, made so much better by the amazing hospitality of our new friend.
-morgan

Lyon

We have had a lovely 4 days in Lyon. We were very fortunate to be able to stay at a friend of a friend's cousins apartment in the best area of town, while they are off travelling. We spent our days walking up and down the cobbled streets, exploring the parks, enjoying the views from the top of the hills and eating great meals. When we arrived on Monday night we got see Bon Iver play an incredible show in and old Roman amphitheater. It was amazing. Today we are heading north again, and off to Dijon for a couple of days.
-kim

Mont Blanc

The French/Italian alps are incredible. We had 4 days up in the mountains 1900m above sea level and they were great. One day we drove over the French/Italian boarder and went exploring near La Thuile. This walk had amazing views of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe, which took our breath away (or maybe it was just the altitude). We finished the day with pizza in a great little Italian restaurant on the terrace overlooking the mountains. Our host was such an amazing guy, which made this trip all the more special.
-kim

the french alps

So on Thursday we made the 450Km journey to The Alpes! About one hour into our journey our battery died. We waited two hours until someone had jumper leads. A very long and amazing story short... We pushed started the car with the help of 5 people at different points in the journey, we bought jumper leads and got help from 10 people at different times and 13 hours later, 1900 meters above sea level, with no address of where we were sleeping that night saw some familiar faces waving from their chalet balcony. Needless to say we were so happy to be with people we know in such an amazing place. i'll let the photos do the talking.
-morgan

ps. Have you had a chance to enter our giveaway?