Provence.
My travel journal says: "Wherever there is water, it is lush. Wherever there is none, it is crunchy."
This is a Mediterranean climate: tile roofs, olive trees, vineyards, palms. In our group, as we travel south, jackets get packed away and sandals come out of the bottoms of people's suitcases.
My travel journal says: "Wherever there is water, it is lush. Wherever there is none, it is crunchy."
This is a Mediterranean climate: tile roofs, olive trees, vineyards, palms. In our group, as we travel south, jackets get packed away and sandals come out of the bottoms of people's suitcases.
En route to Provence, we stopped at Carcasonne and Pont du Gard, above, and we had a picnic lunch aboard the Canal du Midi barge, below.
Chateau des Hospitaliers was another favorite stop. From the gracious hostess Sylvianne to the astonishing lunch she prepared to the eco-friendly vineyard she runs with her husband (they recycle all the water used in wine-making), everything was a delight.
Oh--that lunch? Everything was made from scratch by our hostess: mini-cheese puffs, mini-quiche, figs wrapped in bacon, chilled pea soup with mint, chopped beets with cream cheese, mussels, nicoise salad, melon, hot shrimp, mini-croissant with cod pate. You've got to see the pictures:
Oh--that lunch? Everything was made from scratch by our hostess: mini-cheese puffs, mini-quiche, figs wrapped in bacon, chilled pea soup with mint, chopped beets with cream cheese, mussels, nicoise salad, melon, hot shrimp, mini-croissant with cod pate. You've got to see the pictures:
Segue to Arles with this dusk view, above, of the Rhone River. The river fascinated Vincent Van Gogh, who once lived here. Our two days in Arles included a visit to the hospital garden, below left, where Van Gogh recovered from his ear injury; a prowl of the Roman arena, below center; and a detour to a local grocery for me, courtesy of an elderly lady, below right, who wouldn't let me buy "bad" fruit at the local Monoprix, so she led me to her neighborhood grocer. She had no English, and I had little French, so I couldn't convince her I wanted to buy a fruit knife, not fruit. I gave up and just enjoyed her company as we walked along the boulevard.
In Nice, we connected with a former student of mine, Bill, left, who was plopped into the city not speaking French but who now speaks it like a native. He developed a passion for scuba diving and an affection for a French girl. Bill took us scuba diving at Cap-d'Ail, and when I asked him if he planned to buy a boat to facilitate his hobby, he told me that a boat slip (which you can see in the background) can be leased for between $50,000 and $75,000/year. Add that to the price of a boat, and you can see why owning a boat isn't as cheap as owning scuba gear. Below are more pictures shot in Nice: