I had decided sometime mid-2017 that I should plan an adventure for January. Something big, and in the right direction for summer. Patagonia had always intrigued me, and January would be summer there, which is pretty much the only time one can visit someplace at the bottom of the world. I had traveled with Active Adventures in NZ in 2016,…
September 11: Homeward bound & some musings
When I booked this airplane ticket I was of course aware of the date and it’s significance. And while I tend not to fly on 9/11, I was more interested in getting back to the U.S. than in being superstitious. I flew on 9/11/01 into NYC with a couple of Hasbro colleagues, landing just 15 minutes before the first plane…
September 9 & 10: Biarritz and a train to Paris
As my weather app had predicted, and despite being told by natives that the weather forecasts aren’t always right on the Basque Coast, Saturday was a completely rainy day. So rainy and windy that I wondered if it was some remnant or beginning of one of the hurricanes that hit or are due to strike the U.S. Occassionally it would…
September 8: Final drive; and now Biarritz
Today I had one last long drive, and had to finally say goodbye to Penelope, the Mazda M3 with the British GPS lady, after 2,536 miles through France. Countless roundabouts, many toll booths, narrow lanes and high speed autoroutes, through many of France’s most beautiful regions: Normandy, Brittany, the Loire Atlantique and the Loire valley, Dordogne, Provence, Cotes de Rhone,…
September 7: Carcassone, the Medeival one
The day after the full moon dawned sunny and windy, and I set off across the Aude River to the first, original Carcassone, up on the hill. Originally part of the Roman Empire, as it appears much of this region was, the original site was founded as early as the 1stC. The City suffered long periods of occupation at the…
September 6: On the road, and on my own, again
It was only 150 miles from Nimes to Carcassone, but I was drawn to a little museum 18 miles in the other direction — Le Musee du BonBon — the Haribo Museum near Uzes. For those of you who really know me, you’ll understand completely my urge to visit a palace to those nothing-but-sugar gold bears. Since Kimberly had headed…
September 5: Some more Arles, then Nimes
My most important project of the day was to effectively mail some boxes to the US. The post office was just down the street, and I was so very pleased and relieved when the paperwork that I filled out didn’t raise any French eyebrows and the boxes were out of my hands! We then spent the morning seeing some sections…
September 4: The Carmargue & Arles
We were excited to leave this Roman city and head out for a day of being in the countryside. We were lured to Arles in part because of its nearness to the national park which abuts the Mediterranean and is known for pink flamingos, white horses and black bulls. The Camargue is a National Park that lies just south, between…
September 3: Everything is ancient
We left Avignon by mid morning with several stops planned on our drive towards Arles. Just over the Rhone are two places on the must see list: La Chartreuse, a Carthusian Monastery, and the L’Abbaye Saint-Andre Gardens, behind the walls of the Fort. Both are located in Villanueve-lez-Avignon, which by itself is a charming hillside village with views across the…
September 2: Avignon
After two wonderful weeks at La Bastide dans Le Luberon, the beautiful and very French country house of Tim and Danielle, it was time to get back on the road and continue my journey. For the next 4 days Kimberly is with me (yay!), so I can share my explorations and adventures with a friend. First stop, Avignon. One cannot…