Category Archives: France

summary by number

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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 →

Hindsight is 20/20

Posted on by

The trip had been going very well to this point.

After seven and a half weeks in, with “only” four and a half weeks to go, having already gone through a mini-tour of Costa Rica, a harried border crossing, Nicaragua, London Heathrow, Seville and Malaga/Mijas during Semana Santa, then Barcelona and five days on Las Ramblas – all without incident – we spent almost a week in the relaxing confines of Vauvenargues and the slower pace in Aix.

Maybe there were no previous incidents because I was always in the right place at the right time. Or maybe it was because I was more vigilant before. Whatever it was, I let me guard down, and I was an easy strike for… pickpocketers! Continue reading →

If Wiley lived in Spain or France

Posted on by

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.