Mme. et M. Benaut in St.James's ParkThere are very, very few people in this world with whom one cannot help but fall completely in love.
This is a photograph of two of them: the indescribably wonderful Mme. and M. Benaut, over from Adelaide on the London leg of their Grand European Tour.
We had such a fantastic time together for which I cannot thank them enough.
Mme. and MB are truly wonderful, warm, loving, generous people and such brilliant and stimulating company. I hated leaving them and must confess that on the train out of London I felt a deep aching sense of loss and just wanted to turn the train around and rush back to their hotel to spend more time with them.
They have already visited our Lynn in Tewkesbury (please see here, here and here) and as you read this, they will be speeding their way across the Channel to Paris and the welcoming arms of Eric, to whom I can only say "You are in for a wonderful time!"
Tune in tomorrow (and for the rest of the week) for lots of photos and fun!
And don't forget to follow our lovely couple as they travel around France, Italy and Germany.
28 comments:
What a fabulous photo! You've really captured their delightful charm, and from the brief description of your time together, I can tell that they're every bit as wonderful as Lynn described. I can't wait to read more about your fun day with them!! Waaa, I don't want to wait a whole month to meet them, I want to go hang out with the now!
Hi Mme and M. if you're checking in! Have a great time in Paris on the next leg of your fabulous European journey!
They are every bit as wonderful, Katie, and well worth the wait.
Hi Dive,
I spent my teenage years growing up in the same street in Adelaide as MB.
As you can now well guess, my life was changed forever.
MB has always spoken kindly of you... glad you all had such a great time.
There is a photo in our local paper of the crowd outside Buckingham Palace on Monday. If I look very close I am sure I can imagine you 3 in the crowd!!!
Glad you had a great time, looking forward to seeing more......safe journey M&M.....
Aaawww. You had a lovely time - and fell in love! :D Isn't blogville wonderful? So when are you going to see them in Adelaide?
Hi, Rob.
You grew up with MB? Cool!
MB will curse me after yesterday. Hee hee.
Yes, we got caught up in all that mess outside the Palace; they were clearing away tons of junk and hospitality suites and stage gear.
Mum, they will be boarding the Eurostar in about an hour.
Joy: Blogville is indeed a wonderful little place. I'm getting old now so I'll only be able to do one trip to the east, and not for a few years yet, but I want to do Japan, The Philippines, Australia and NZ all in one long trip (a lot cheaper and less exhausting than four separate long haul flights).
Old? Who told you that? You're only as old as you feel! All in the mind :D
Can't wait to show you around the Philippines. I know you don't like the heat, but apart from that, I bet you wouldn't want to leave once you get there! You'll love the people, the food and the chill out lifestyle.
And make sure you don't visit Australia during the summer. You'll melt in 2 seconds!
I'll collide with my fiftieth birthday in November, Joy. That truly sucks.
And I plan to go in Spring (Japan) to see the cherry blossom, so it will be autumn down under.
I know when your birthday is, but age is just a number - I sincerely believe that. And besides, you have that boyish charm about you - especially when you get tongue-tied when stood next to a beautiful woman!
Wow, you'll be experiencing 3 different seasons: spring in Japan, autumn in Oz and summer in the Philippines! Woohoo!
Boyish charm? You have a facility for euphemism sufficient to make me splutter coffee all over my monitor, Joy.
Summer in the Philippines? Yikes! Do you not have a season when it's around 65 degrees F with a nice breeze?
Oh Dive, of course you love them and they you. They are those kind of people and you have developed such a special friendship between the three of you. I can tell this is going to kick the travel piggy bank into a new level of collecting! Everyone from your little group here is starting to have face to face encounters.
Katie's right, that is a fabulous photo. You captured their essence! Glad you had a days worth of crazy fun! I'll be waiting to hear more about it. :D
Oh, and news flash: 50 is hardly old. Hasn't been for some time now. (And you are still 49 for Pete's sake!) You only go to bed so early because you get up in the middle of the night to get ready for work!
I do love it when blogs collide, Shan.
And Mme and MB are naturally photogenic.
As for the "old" thing; some days I feel 28, other days 108. Today I feel around 70.
What a great Benaut Blog you've done! I knew you'd get on. They are so warm and interesting. So glad you had a great time.They're off to Paris next (links of their tour will be at my blog if anyone wants to tag along, like me!) and how i envy them. lol! What a great host i bet you were in London, Dive.
We can go to Baguio - as it's always nice and cool up there. Remember? I told you they have chimneys up there! Or we can go somewhere closer like Tagaytay, which is the second summer capital of the Philippines. :D
Aren't they just wonderful, Lynn?
They had a marvellous time with you, both at your home and at the Beckford; MB said he stepped out of the car and immediately felt like he was with lifelong friends.
I would advise everybody to follow Lynn's links as Mme and MB invade various European countries and meet many of our Blogville neighbours.
Joy, I love the sound of Baguio! When I get home I'll Googlemap it and daydream.
Well we made it and i`m typing on q french keyboqrd so qll the a's qre 'q's; gosh; everything is not zhere it should be: Dive deqr; ze hqd the ,ost zonderful ti,e zith you yesterdqy: q better guide to the grqnde city of london could not be found qnyzhere; ever:
Ze qlso fell in love :)
Thqnk you everyone zho left ,essqges; i zould reply to one qnd qll but ze qre guests so cqn`t spent too ,uch ti,e on the co,ptuer:
,uch love to qll;
,,e (MMe § MB) xxxxxx
Hee hee! What perfect Franglais, Mme.
I'm so glad you made it safe and sound.
Lynn and I miss you both terribly. Thank you again for a wonderful and fun day.
xxxxxx
When are the Benauts coming to Pasadena?
Dive, I'm older than you are. I'll let you in on a secret: once you hit 50, you start getting younger.
I'm sure you could have sqeezed yourself in between the two of them for the night at their hotel.
They sound exactly the way I had pictured them.
Thanks for sharing
lovely! i love the whole idea of when blogs collide!
(i'm older than you, sugar! and it does get better!) xoxox
Hi, Petrea.
Younger? Oh, God, no! Please! I've BEEN younger and it was awful.
Rich: My pleasure.
Savannah: In my case it gets bitter, rather than better.
Hey ho.
xoxox
Oh I know what you mean, Dive, I wouldn't be 27 again for anything. Maybe I should have said "better."
I think that the Benaut pair need to come to see the prairie here in the states....
All the corn on the cob you can eat.....
I wouldn't mind my 27 year old body back again, Petrea, but the rest of my 27 year old life was icky!
Hey, Maria. Don't forget the Cornhuskers! I've got to see them play before I die; if only so I can wear a corn cob hat!
What lovely people. I love them too.
Hee hee. They sure are, Neetzy.
What a great recount of their visit Dive. You write so well and make us feel like we were there. I can't wait to meet them. Hopefully they'll still be jet lagged and going at a much slower pace! Not sure I can keep up!
Hi, Michael!
Mme and MB were so looking forward to Paris and to meeting Eric and yourself. They are such lovely people I'm sure you'll have a great time.
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