Three weeks goes by remarkably fast when on the trail of discovery. And here we are, packing our bags and making last-minute plans for our return. We`ll head to the Marseilles airport in a few hours, return the rental vehicle (a 7-passenger SUV Citroen C4), hop on a Boeing 767 bound for Paris, chill for a […]
Last day!
It`s hard to believe that today is our last full day in France! We`ve been here three weeks and it went by so fast. It was quite an amazing holiday…two holidays in fact. The first part, in Paris, was an urban holiday in a city with much history and culture. The second part was totally […]
Aix-en-Provence
The plan was to travel to Aix (pronounced like the letter X) to visit the Oppidum d’Entremont, an archaeological site and former capital of the Celtic–Ligurian confederation. It was settled between 180 and 170 B.C., then abandoned 300 years later after the Romans took over and moved the settlement to modern-day Aix-en-Provence. Aix is a beautiful […]
A day of rest…
Yet another hot day! So much to see and do, but somehow, a day of doing nothing seems suddenly very appealing to us and to our hosts. The children jump in the pool and practice their play while the adults do the kind of boring things adults do when they don`t have kids to take […]
Marseilles
Our trip to Marseilles begins with a 1+ hour drive along the toll highway run by Vinci, the French construction company that runs all the toll highways in France (and all the parking lots in Paris). Vinci also runs the parking lot where I work. Anyway, our first destination is the beach…a nice little public beach […]
Sur le pont…
Avignon, for a brief period of time, was the seat of the papacy in the 14th century. More importantly, it is the topic of an important nursery rhyme for us francophones. A half dozen popes reigned from here before Avignon was overthrown as the centre of Roman Catholicism and returned to Rome. Further down the […]
Trip to the Gorge
The trip to the gorge is almost as eventful as the actual visit. The “shortcut” Erin’s cousin is taking is torturous, with narrow roads down steep hills punctuated with the kind of sharp S-turns that you only see in car commercials. The scenery is breath-taking, especially as we crest the top of hill and see the […]
Zipping along
This morning’s adventure is at a nearby zip-line facilty called Acro-branch…a place where children and some adults can attach themselves to a zip-line and fly from tree to tree. What a great way to burn energy and adrenaline. The boys jump off the platforms without much fear, while the girls tend to make sure their […]
The Graniers
Last night when we arrived in Manosque, Erin’s cousin David told us his family had gone off to “the Graniers” near “Ding” and that we’d be joining them the following day. This morning, after a quick breakfast and shower, we head off to “DIng” — or rather Digne-les-bains, a small town where the Tour de […]
Leaving Paris
Leaving Paris was not easy because it’s such an easy city to fall in love with. My sister ordered us a cab for 12:30 and it took us all morning to repack our suitcases and clean up. The cab arrived on time and we arrived at Gare de Lyon in plenty of time to find […]
