Mona Lisa Fuveau

... Enjoyed the film (but enjoyed the post-cinema demi-fraise - beer with strawberry syrup - more) and was proud at how well I managed to follow the French, without much concentration! A sign of improvement I hope!

This weekend in particular has been fantastique! As everyone else's parents have come to visit, Amy and I spent our Saturday shopping, eating and generally having a good time without alcohol. As usual, I got very excited about a sweet shop and between us we ...

NO MARSEILLE for us!!! The captain went by when we had 21 foot waves and winds of 50 gusting to 65. It was sunny but not good enough to dock in Marseille, so on to Barcelona we go. In spite of it, we had a great relaxing day and i had a 3 hour nap this afternoon. Naps are totally not my thing but apparently i was exhausted from our whirlwind schedule. Anyway, nothing exciting. We have seen numerous people in arm slings and just ran into a woman in a ...

Bonjour avec Aix-en-Provence Cherie
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.
We arrived ...

... from the band. At how many places can you do that? The band plays an extended one-hour jam with dancers and self-styled gymnasts taking turns on the floor to scattered applause. Everybody’s dressed casual, white black and Arab. Some people are even wearing hiking boots, just like me! It could be Seattle… or Boulder… or Flagstaff. I’m home… for a couple more days, little blue ball and all.

... towns. It is a little further south and east and is surrounded largely by a cedar forest, so we got a very different, but equally beautiful view from some of the others we enjoyed throughout the day. We had no luck getting snacks, and it was too early for dinner, so we had to cut our visit a little short or starve. On the way home I spotted a boulengerie and we picked up bread, tarts and Lucy got something with nuts.

I'm not sure how much I can get down tonight because I'm dog-tired, but Lucy has gone off to the cyber-cafe and I'm here. Let's see what I can come up with...

Food here is pretty cheap, restaurants are very expensive, so we went back to Les Halles, the marketplace in Avignon to pick up some supplies for some lunches, snacks and dinners. Also, of course, we went for fun because Les Halles is a very cool place. Lucy bought seafood salad, marinated mushrooms (she ...

The ride back to Barcelona goes without a hitch, so there's nothing to do but wait for my overnight bus to Marseilles. Fortunately the bus station is lively and entertaining, especially with the new little Chinese dancing dolls that are all the rage in certain quarters. What will those clever little Chinese think up next? Six months ago those fling-'em jelly-blob dolls were all the rage, but I don’t see those now. It’s nice to see that ‘ ...

I realized today that Marseille is mostly Muslim, it´s Ramadan and no one seems to be observing. This was most evident at a XXX peep show joint sandwiched between a middle eastern bakery and a take out stand. A steady stream of Muslim men in their traditional garb were exiting and entering the place each time I passed by. Oh for Allah´s sake...is not even Ramadan sacred anymore?

I walked back to the hostel and in the common ...

... in Milan so I didn't go for that. I also wanted to go to Southern Italy, but I had heard too much about the mafia down there and their strong control so I figured that I wouldn't be going south of Rome either. Finally, I settled on three destinations: Florence, Bologna, and Venice. I think my reasons for picking Florence and Venice are obvious: because they are among the most beautiful, intriguing, historical and ...

... People are at last realising that the trees are not what cause these deaths, it's drinking and speeding that are the real problems. If you tackle them, the deaths drop. Unfortunately the only way to widen these French roads is to cut down one entire side of the venerable avenue. Fortunately this is now rarely done. Either they make a divided highway (one road in the avenue, one outside) or just remake the ...