Hotel Mascotte Aix En Provence Aix-en-Provence

... in devil ears, 1 batman, 1 Spiderman, a copule dudes in masks, 2 girls with just some random fake blood on their face, 3 poorly represented Village people, and a guy who we think was Peter Pan, but he had cardboard fairy wings so we're not sure. All in all, Halloween ended up being a pretty fun night, but we certainly missed being home for this day! Now we are off to the Rhone Valley for some great wine... in a CAR! Stay tuned.

... figured this out and got on the right boat - well, a different boat anyhow. <br><br>Driving onto the boat we followed the sign that said &#8216;Embarkments&#8217;. I love how so many words in French are similar to what we use in English, but with slightly different meaning. I certainly feel as though I am embarking on something this evening. Something completely new and unplanned - even to us who hardly do ...

... it doesn't matter with the wide range of accents our country has anyway (scowne or scon? It's only scon once you've eaten it...). I'm finding Contemporary French History really interesting, especially as, for once, it's not about the French Revolution. The seminars should really help my written French too, but unfortunately us 'étrangers' stick out like a sore thumb when she calls out the register : Sharrlot Tooowinszend. And I know what you're thinking, a register ...

Bonjour avec Aix-en-Provence Cherie<br>Since the last news we have visited the Cote D'Azur spending time at Monte Carlo and Antibes. We stayed near Antibes at a place called Biot and at night you could hear the seals at nearby Marineland - very strange. It was still quite hot and stickey with more mozzies. Monte Carlo was wall to wall money with billions of dollars in boats and cars. Antibes was similar but it had a lovely old town as well.<br>We arrived ...

... I lived here- that&#8217;s the epiphany of any trip for me- Skyping my wife every day and eating instant noodles. The big grocery chains charge more than a &#8364; for a pack, but you can score in the Vietnamese shops for a quarter that. So I buy an electric water kettle for inn-room coffee and noodles. It&#8217;ll pay for itself in the long run. Ever the creative one, I experiment putting Nutella in my coffee, figure ...

... a narrow valley with high cliffs on either side. The Abbey was founded in 1148 and construction and growth continued into the 13th century. It is still in use today, it's brothers having celebrated the 850th anniversary back in 1988. We took a very quiet tour of the Abbey. Silence is demanded as that is one of the vows of the brothers. When we were in more public areas the tour guide described the history of the order ...

... to be the sole link between Our Father and earth. Eventually the Vatican one out again and everyone moved back there. Maybe it was due to St. Peter's which is far more impressive than the small but atmospheric cathedral we visited here. However, the park, the ramparts, and what is left of the Pont du Avignon are far prettier than the Vatican City and made a great visit. Not limited to just the touristic, Avignon has a hip and thriving locals/student ...

... more known for its glorious use of summer fruits like peaches and plums than for hunter's stew. Although we found ample excellent meals here, especially anything related to lamb or rabbit, we'd still favored the food in Tuscany and California to Provence. Our favorites were probably the simple picnics leveraging their unbelievable goat and sheep cheeses, fresh fruit, and cured meats. Our best meal wound up being at a tiny town not on anyone's map ...

... a minority over here) 2. you must not leave the house unless you look like you are going out to a 5 star hotel for dinner! (this means that they dress well - you should have seen the cats bums we were getting when we went out in our thongs.....) 3. the fellas love a manfume! (thats aftershave!) 4. we believe that toulouse is the home of the dapper tracksuit! (gold voelure ...

... steam train and I remembered seeing snow on the ground and that as the train left, I saw lights glistening from the houses, Christmas decorations all alight and glowing, the stars sparkling in the early morning sky and Santa's reindeer and his sleigh flighing over head of my train. This dream made me feel at peace, and hopefully it was a good omen as to what was to come and from what I later found out after doing some research on some dream websites, it had been.