Author Archives: Nadine

summary by number

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Over the 84 days we have

  • visited 9 countries
  • checked out 34 cities
  • slept in 18 different beds
  • encountered 5 different languages; including London english, my love
  • dipped our toes in 5 swimming pools
  • rented 3 cars in 3 different languages
  • ate about 100 gelato
  • read over 60 novels, many more than once
  • walked barefoot on 11 beaches
  • witnessed 2 proposals for marriage
  • felt the wind in our hair in 9 boat rides
  • saw many , many churches 
  • sat on the top of 2 Hop On Hop Off Busses
  • pedaled on 3 bike tours
  • sorted through 6 different currencies 
  • sampled tasty morsels through 11 markets: (12 if you count the one we spent 1 hour skirting the perimeter and never getting in  — you know who you are New Covent Market)
  • became acquainted with 6 different metro systems
  • took the train in the wrong direction 2 times
  • 12 —-  the number of times Rhoneil was asked “No, where are you really from?”
  • 1 time totally drenched by rain
  • 0 — the number of times it snowed
  • 84 – the number times Isy said we make _______ when we get home?

 Living NICE

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We are leaving Nice today.  I could spend much more time anywhere between here and Aix en Provence.  Ideally a nice city place here in Nice, walking distance to the pebbly beach with the fabulously blue water and a lovely country house with fabulous gardens. Continue reading →

If Wiley lived in Spain or France

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1. He’d ride the subway and the city bus.

2. He’d hang with his family as they ate at outdoor patios, and in France indoors too.

3. He’d walk through the airport on leash for his flight.

4. He’d splash in and drink from 200 year old fountains

5. He’d do his business anywhere.

6. He’d pee on market stalls.

7. He’d donate to his many friends with homeless owners.

WILEYMOON

MoonDog: picture taken in France

8. He’d never wear those jingling identity tags.

9. He would be required to obtain his own passport.

10. He would have never been fixed.

Wiley is missed and he would have enjoyed hiking the beautiful paths of mountain Sainte Victoire with us here in France.

life in Costa del Sol

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view from 2nd floor balcony

view down the hillside to the sea; the white in the low centre are whitecaps

Many Europeans (and some from Japan, US and Canada) hit the Costa del Sol on the southern tip of Spain, there are kilometers and kilometers of beaches with soft beige sand.  Surrounding the beaches are “mountainous” areas.  We are staying in a popular hillside town called Mijas pueblo Continue reading →

cuidate

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Our 1st trip outside of visiting the magic kingdom was to Costa Rica in 1998.  As we hung out waiting for our flight to Central America in the LAX terminal, culture shock hit me.  I couldn’t understand the instructions given over the PA by the airline attendant.  I suffered in absolute dread: where were we going & what have I done. Sensing my discomfort, Rhoneil assured me those words were in English… that wasn’t reassuring!  There was an overwhelming mix of passengers including many people headed to Guatamala carrying chicken. Continue reading →