TravelStream™ news feed for member theskinners on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/theskinners en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:16:14 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/23/1249145388/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/23/1249145388/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/23/1249145388/tpod.html Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:16:14 -0400 Surprise Trip

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Corfe Castle, England, United Kingdom

We woke up in The Duke for the last time. Had breakfast packed up our stuff and hit the road. We were off to see some of the amazing Jurassic Coast. Our first stop was Ladrum Bay. The cliffs here are an orange color and at Ladrum Bay there are some great stacks near the shore. After leaving Ladrum Bay we headed to Beer. This small and charming town is right on the coast. We found a Pub with great beer garden. We had a pint of ale and some lunch in the sunshine then walked down to see the beach.
After lunch we drove through the very busy and crowded town of Lyme Regis to Charmouth. This is supposed to have some great fossil hunting. The beach was packed with tourists and dogs were not allowed on the beach. So after 30 minutes of dealing with the the children of the local tourist we could not get out of here fast enough.
We left the Jurassic coast and headed to the town of Corfe Castle where Kim had booked us a room at the dog friendly Bankes Arms Hotel. This is great little town with the ruins of a castle in the center of town. The Bankes Armes Hotel is located in the center of town and was very easy to find. We went to check in and we were welcomed by the not so friendly staff. The exterior of the hotel looks great. The interior on the other hand...Not so much. It was tired, worn and in need of being redone. The room was small and run down. The bed was very hard with the springs poking up through the mattress. A good night sleep was not had here. We did find a pub in town, The Fox Inn, that had an amazing beer garden that was huge and loaded with incredible flowers. From our table in the beer garden we could even see the top of the castle. We had dinner and a couple of pints in this lovely garden before we went back to the hotel for the night. The next morning we woke up, had a breakfast at the hotel and then walked around town. We wanted to check out the castle but my arthritis was very bad in my knees making walking painful. We decided to skip the castle but we did not want to leave with out having a Cream Tea which is famous to this area. We went to a great tea garden that overlooked the Castle and had our cream tea. Cream tea is associated with the south west of England and is made up of tea served with milk, scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam. Very tasty and a real treat to end our great trip.



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Lands End, England, United Kingdom

Waking up today the weather was much better. We had breakfast and set out on a driving exploration of Cornwall. We drove through St. Ives where we meet a man with seven wives, each wife had seven sacks each sack had seven cats, each cat had seven kits. Kits, cats, sacks, wives we were the only ones going to St. Ives. We then headed to find Men-an-Tol. This is a small formation of standing stones in Cornwall. It consists of three upright granite stones: a round stone with its middle holed out with two small standing stones to each side, in front
of and behind the hole. When seen at an angle from one side, the stones form a three-dimensional "101". No one is sure what this structure is or why it was built but an ancient stone doughnut....well of course we needed to see this in person.
We then headed through St. Just and down to Lands End. This is the most westerly point of the British mainland. There is a great view of the beautiful cost here and because there is nothing else to do in the area it has been turned into a tourist trap of kitsch and useless shit no one needs. Well we went there. We did not stay very long but we went there. You would have thought that they were giving stuff away. There were loads of people there all trying to spend there money first.
We continued on driving through Penzance, where we did not see even one pirate and then came upon St. Michael's Mount. This is a tidal island just off the cost of Marazion where at low tide a causeway is used to reach the island.
Next we were off to the town of Truro. Several years back my father and his wife, Donna were on vacation in England and stayed in a town called Ravenstonedale. When they went to the local pub there was an ale they had on draft from the Skinner brewery. My dad knew I would love the pump clip and he tried to talk the landlord out of it. He was told if he drank the rest of the cask he could have the pump clip. Well over the next several days he drank a lot of the Skinners Ale and he got me that pump clip. After receiving this treasure I got on line and looked up this brewery. To my surprise I discovered that the owner of the Skinner Brewery was Steve Skinner. I emailed him introducing myself and he responded saying if I was ever in the area to stop by to meet him. Well I was in the area and as luck would have it he was at the brewery. He is a very nice man and took Kim and I on a private tour of the brewery and bought us a pint of his award winning Cornish Ale. It was a thrill to meet another Steve Skinner, especially one that is as nice as him.
After leaving the brewery we went to see St. Mawes Castle. This is one of the best preserved castles built by Heney VIII in 1539 to 1545. It was built as part of a coastal chain of artillery fortresses to counter an invasion from Catholic France and Spain. It is constructed in a clover-leaf shape surrounded by octagonal outer defense walls and ship sinking guns.
After a long day of driving we headed back to the Duke to grill up some burgers and relax by the camp fire.

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Plymouth, England, United Kingdom

We awoke to gray skies and rain but this is England so this comes as no surprise. I am not complaining...It still beats snow. We had a big breakfast then hopped in the car to go see the city of Plymouth. It was much larger then we had thought it would be. We parked the car then walked around the main shopping area looking for the Tourist Information office. We found out that it is located near the sea front so off we went. On the way to the sea front we walked by this huge anchor from a military ship that was a must for a photo. When we got to the seafront and the Plymouth light house there was a bus rally going on. All kinds of buses. New, old, single decker and double. We walked on to the harbor area and found the tourist information office. We continued investigating the old harbor area trying to imagine the pilgrims boarding the Mayflower and setting sail for the new world from here.
After leaving Plymouth we headed off to Launceston to see the Launceston Castle. This is a 13th century castle built by Richard, Earl of Cornwall. On our way home we stopped at a pasty shop and got some Cornish pasties for a scrumptious dinner.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/23/1249127592/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/23/1249127592/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/23/1249127592/tpod.html Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:15:39 -0400 Surprise Trip

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Dartmoor National Park, England, United Kingdom

After an amazing feast of a breakfast with Justin and Mary Ann we were off to continue our surprise adventure of the South West of England. We drove through Dartmoor National Park. This park is rather large with some very skinny roads. When I say skinny I mean there are bike paths in the states that are wider then these roads. Our first stop in the park was at Spinsters Rock. This is a neolithic burial chamber dating from 4500 BC to 2300 BC. We continued on driving up and down large hills that gave us some amazing views of the surrounding landscape. While driving through the park we even saw some of the famous wild Dartmoor ponies. This area was heavily mined for tin in the past but the last active mine closed in the 1930's. After our exploration of Dartmoor National Park we were off to the surprise location were we would be staying for the next couple of days.
This is the coolest place I have ever stayed and I was thrilled that Kim found such a great place. It is an old 1940's Showman Wagon named the Duke. The owners, Kym and Rick, have 3 places to stay on there property but we think this is the best one. When they first purchased the Duke they told us the interior was covered in linoleum. The work involved in restoring this to the pristine level it is in now must have been endless. The Duke is made up of a Small bedroom in the back a sitting area with a period wood burning stove and a small kitchen area with new stove/oven mini fridge and all the kitchen implements you could need. Because there is not a bathroom in the Duke, Kym and Rick built a separate building off to the side that contains a huge shower, toilet and sink. What a great idea. Each of the units they rent has about 1/5 of an acre of private tree lined property. There is a barbecue and a fire pit. Kym and Rick had really thought of everything. We had picked up some fennel sausages from the farm shop near Justin and Maryann's house, cooked them up for dinner and got a good nights sleep. Check out the Duke's website: www.quirky-holidays-cornwall.co.uk


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/23/1248953500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/23/1248953500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/23/1248953500/tpod.html Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:48:17 -0400 Surprise Trip

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Pitney, England, United Kingdom

As a birthday surprise my wonderful wife Kim planned a surprise trip to the South West region of England. She did an amazing job planning a great trip including finding some great places to see and a incredible location for us to stay. What a wonderful trip we had.
On our way to see our friends Justin and Maryann that live in Pitney and own Moore Beer Co. (http://www.moorbeer.co.uk/index.html) we stopped to see a crop circle that was made on July 19th. The Crop circle is located in Martinsell Hill near Wootton Rivers, Wiltshire. I have always been fascinated by crop circles and it was a thrill to see one in person. I am well aware that many people think that crop circles are created by people with a board and some rope. Other people insist that these circles are made by UFOs. What really made this circle? Who knows. I did some investigating while there and I have come to the conclusion that it was very possible that this crop circle was indeed made by man. It is kinda weird that the circle would end at the barb wire fence at the edge of the wheat field. Almost like the person making it miscalculated how much room they would need to make it. Oops. Ha ha. In this same field two years ago to the day a different crop circle was made. The farmer lost the wheat where the circle has been created and because of this there was a donation box to help compensate the farmer for his loss. The farmer was also selling tea and snacks. There were all kinds of people that had driven out to the middle of nowhere to see this. In the end I believe the farmer has more to gain by having the crop circle in his field then he does to lose. It would not surprise me at all to find out the farmer made or paid someone to make this crop circle. Regardless this is a great work of art that I am glad that I had the opportunity to see.
After our close encounter with possible extra terrestrial art we continued on to Justin and Maryann's. They have a two beautiful daughters and a great house. They very graciously invited Kim, Lily and I to spend the night at their house. Justin and Mary Ann took us to their favorite pub, the Queens Arms, http://www.thequeensarms.com/index.htm. They are good friends with the manager, James, who was very knowledgeable and friendly. This is a beautiful pub with a great beer garden and a beer list that I have not seen the equal to anywhere in the UK. We had several amazing beers and then sat down for a wonderful dinner. After a great nights sleep we awoke and walked to the local farm shop where we got some fresh local sausages, fresh eggs, and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast with some homemade bread that the girls made the night before. We stopped by a local cider mill that was fermenting and distilling cider. We then stopped by Justin's brewery and had a quick tour of his great set up.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/expats/1248112145/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/expats/1248112145/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/expats/1248112145/tpod.html Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:28:15 -0400 Ex-Pats Are Us!

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Denge, kent, UK, England, United Kingdom

A while back I saw a web sight with these sound mirrors that were located about an hour and a half away and I thought they were fascinating. I did some more research and found out that they were now on an island and only open to the public a few days a year. Well we wanted to see more so we found out that there was an open day on July19. We set the day in our calendar and went off to see these spectacular remnants of a dead end technology.

A forerunner of Radar, acoustic mirrors were built on the south and northeast coasts of England between about 1916 and the 1930s. The ‘listening ears’ were intended to provide early warning of incoming enemy airplanes and airships about to attack coastal towns. With the development of faster aircraft the sound mirrors became less useful, as an aircraft would be within sight by the time it had been located, and radar finally rendered the mirrors obsolete.

From Wikipedia:
Denge is a former Royal Air Force site near Dungeness, in Kent, England. It is best known for the early experimental acoustic mirrors which remain there. The acoustic mirrors, known colloquially as 'listening ears', at Denge are located between Greatstone-on-Sea and Lydd. Several were built along the south and east coasts, but the complex at Denge is the best preserved. The mirrors were built in the 1920s as an experimental early warning system for incoming aircraft, developed by Dr William Sansome Tucker.
Acoustic mirrors did work, and could effectively be used to detect slow moving enemy aircraft before they came into sight. They worked by concentrating sound waves towards a central point, where a microphone would have been located. However, their use was limited as aircraft became faster. Operators also found it difficult to distinguish between aircraft and seagoing vessels. In any case, they quickly became obsolete due to the invention of radar in 1932. The experiment was abandoned, and the mirrors left to decay. The gravel extraction works caused some undermining of at least one of the structures.There are three acoustic mirrors in the complex, each consisting of a single concrete hemispherical reflector.[1][2]

• The 200 foot mirror is a near vertical, curved wall, 200
  feet (60m) long. It is one of only two similar acoustic mirrors in the
  world, the other being in Maghtab, Malta.
• The 30 foot mirror is a circular dish, similar to a deeply
  curved satellite dish, 9m (30 ft) across, supported on concrete
  buttresses. This mirror still retains the metal microphone pole at its
  center.
• The 20 foot mirror is similar to the 30 foot mirror, with a
  smaller, shallower dish 6m (20 ft) across. The design is close to that
  of an acoustic mirror in Kilnsea, East Riding of Yorkshire.

While we were there the world leading expert on sound mirrors Dr. Richard Scarth was there giving a sort lecture on the sound mirrors. It was a very interesting and fun afternoon.

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Ramsgate, England, United Kingdom

Hello Everyone!

I thought I would write a quick note about the happenings here in the Garden of England... that's Kent County's motto. We have traveled a lot so far this year but I thought you might be interested in everyday life across the pond. Before I start though I am happy to say that TravelPod is getting a face lift! Finally! They have cleaned things up on the "inside" and will be updating the "outside" very soon. It is certainly an improvement!

Anyway, 2009 has been pretty good so far. The winter seemed long but not as long as it seemed in Michigan! Hard to complain when we kept hearing about snow, snow, snow. In January a crazy thing happened here... a huge ship lost it load of timber. Ok, well what is so interesting about that? Well, it washed up on Thanet beaches!! Here is a link to a video of the news: Timber Video I have also included some pictures. So tons of wood washing up on the beach is crazy enough but throw in a bunch of crazy people taking the wood and it just becomes comical! The cars here are not big and very few people have trucks and such so people were tying it to the roofs of the car, letting it hang out the back, etc. Many even resorted to cutting it up in the parking lots of the beaches. I'm not sure what the plan was for all this wood but it had been swimming around in the North Sea for weeks... that can't be good to build with. So the authorities warned that this is in fact stealing and advised the 'takers' that they needed to fill out paperwork for the wood.... now how many people do you think really filled out the paperwork?

Our friend Jim came into town in February for a visit. We took a trip to Athens but also spent some time poking around Kent. Canterbury, castles and such. As you can see from the photos Lily missed her Uncle Jim! We are looking forward to meeting Jim in Amsterdam in October to celebrate his birthday.

Spring finally arrived in early March. Spring lasts a LONG TIME here. Starts end of February, early March and by my Michigan blood, it's still spring here (temps in the 60s). We had planted a bunch of daffodils last year so the garden exploded. This year we bought tulips so next year it should be amazing! We are getting a huge wind farm off the coast just north east of us. So we have a frequent visitor to the port of Ramsgate... the huge Sea Jack out of Rotterdam. This thing hammers the bases into the sea bed. There is another massive sea jack that won't fit into our harbor that will actually assemble the wind turbines. It is supposed to be live next summer. Pretty cool. We should have a great view!

April brought our friends Kim & Karl over for a visit. We went over to Brugge for a day. Had a great time of course! Their trip coincided with the Planet Thanet Beer Festival. A must do with a brewer in the house (Kim brews beer for North Peak Brewing in Traverse City). This was also the venue for the launch of Gadd's Bottle Shop. Steve is doing the promotions for the Bottle Shop and running things like tastings. The festival was good. We had a great time.

Activities in Kent picked up in May. Lily and I had to see the bluebells so we went to King's Wood. Great walk. Amazing bluebells. Lily had a blast hunting. Just after I put the camera away a herd (about 15) deer ran right in front of us! I think it scared the hell out of Lily. She was almost run over. Of course once they went past she wanted to follow! NO! Just after the deer incident a mouse ran across the path in front of us. Well, this is more on her level and she has been a bit obsessed since finding the mice in the garage... the hunt was on!! Steve and I headed into London for a DEVO concert. Great show! It is so much fun running into London for a show. There were two beer festivals. And you know we have to attend these... to promote the Bottle Shop of course! One of the festivals was held at an old mill. Took a few pics. We plan to go back for a tour of the mill itself. There has been a mill on that site since 1227! These are dates I still can't comprehend. So the weather people here cannot predict the weather to save their lives... not even 24 hours in advance. We are becoming accustom to this however in May the Met Office (our Weather Channel) decided to predict an entire season and said that we are going to have a warm, dry summer. Well, you can imagine the humor we found in this! We shall see. I must add that as I write it is rainy and cold outside.... that's all I have to say about that. The last Monday in May is a holiday here (our Memorial Day) and there was an air show at Manston (an old RAF airport very near the house). We decided to go. Glad we did! Got to see the Spirit of Kent, a Spitfire from WWII. Very cool. I couldn't help thinking as this ONE noisy plane flew about the sky, what must it have been like living in this area during the war. Reading a couple of books on the subject. Again a history I have a difficult time comprehending. It is hard to imagine war at your doorstep.

June has been good so far. Summer hours (half day Fridays) have started at work... yeah! All the towns are having open gardens. For open gardens the residents open their gardens to the public. Pretty cool way of getting ideas and admiring some pretty amazing English gardens. We are heading to Minster, a small town near us for their open gardens this weekend. I can't wait! Last weekend Steve stepped out into the garden and could hear a band playing. Well, this sparked interested so we lassoed the dog and went for a walk. Down at the prom there was a car show. This was the end of the Bucket & Spade Run. So from my understanding 'bucket & spade' means beach.... for instance, "They went on a bucket and spade holiday." So these Bucket & Spade Runs start somewhere inland and basically convoy to the coast. This year they headed to Ramsgate. There were lots of great cars to see. European cars, American cars and even some custom hybrid cars. The American cars are fun to see with the steering wheel on the correct side and the big loud engines. After walking around looking at the cars we then continued our walk around town. On our way through town we walked by a bakery to find a very classy black and hot pick birthday cake in the window that had a Playboy Bunny on it. Right next to a Hannah Montana cake... so depending on your daughter's maturity level.... What father would not be proud to get his 14 year old this birthday cake on her birthday. Did we mention there is a slight problem of teen pregnancy here?

Life in England is good. Still perturbed by the language though not as often. Steve was watching highlights from NASCAR and neither one of us can remember exactly how they pronounced Pocono but it took us a minute to get it. I do find that we are using some of the terminology. Words like bin (garbage can), nicked (stolen) and rubbish (garbage). I also find myself saying goodbye in a high-pitched tone. All the Brits do it, even men. It's quite funny. Steve's favorite term is 'local'. As in, "I'm heading up to my local for a pint." It means your nearest pub. Everyone should have a local. Ours is pretty good. Nice selection of beers. It is still mind-boggling how expensive things are here. Can't wait to shop when we go back to Michigan for a visit. We need another sea shipment! We just got back from our evening walk and took some pictures of the crazy skies over Ramsgate. We had thunder and lightening (I love this) and hail before we left for the walk.

Hope all is well back in the States. Miss everyone a bunch. Can't wait to see you!

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/22/1241536200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/22/1241536200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/22/1241536200/tpod.html Mon, 11 May 2009 13:24:54 -0400 Amsterdam Weekend.

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Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Off to Amsterdam for a weekend of fun. We went with Beth and Adam, Andrea and D'Andre. We took the early ferry over and drove in. We were planning to stop at Keukenhof on the way but put it off until our trip back because we hit a bit of traffic and were running late.

We had a blast in Amsterdam. The weather was good except for a bit of rain one day. Steve and I managed to find a fabulous market... I don't know how we missed it before. Bread, cheese, meats, fish.... part of the market was all organic. Steve found a back scratcher for 2 euro... I've been replaced for 2 euro!!! Had I known I would have bought him one years ago! We hit all of our favorite pubs and of course falafel!! Yum! Tried a couple of new restaurants. The first place we had been eying for a while. It used to be a soup kitchen. Unfortunately it wasn't that great. We were a bit disappointed. The other place, Cafe de Prins... was quite good. Cheese fondues... mmmmm. We also hit the Pancake Factory because it's so yummy.

We made a couple of Amsterdam maps in Google maps. Check them out if you are planning a visit!
General Map
Free Wifi Map

On the way home we stopped off to see the flowers at Keukenhof then popped into Dranken Geers to stock up on beer and Fanta Lemon. As always a good trip.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/21/1240179780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/21/1240179780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/21/1240179780/tpod.html Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:48:09 -0400 Provence and the Cote d'Azur

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Monte-Carlo, Monaco

So let me start with how we found our place to stay. After much searching Steve found the French version of Gumtree or Craigs list and used Google translator to find a few places. We settled on an inexpensive place centrally located and Steve contacted them. Well, when you use a foreign website to find a place you will probably also find that those you contact don't speak English. Our contact put us in touch with her daughter who "speaks" English. I put that in quotes because she doesn't speak it very well but with the aid of the translator we were set. Yet another reason I need to work on my French!! Our flight didn't arrive until late so we didn't anticipate getting to the flat until about 11pm. We called the daughter and she sent her children to let us in. The flat was like staying at your Grandma's minus the Grandma and towels..... good price, lacking small amenities. We made due with some dish towels, yes imagine that!

Our first day was to be a driving frenzy. I wish Travelpod had a better way of putting in your location as we had multiple that day. I've thrown together a Google map so you can get the jest: Map Link. We set out early for our 2.5 hour drive to Monaco. We had to do it. It's Monaco! We thought we would take the highway there and hug the coast on the way back. Little did we know that most of the highways in France are toll roads.... About 25 euros later we were in Monaco. We will avoid the toll roads in the future! Monaco is crazy. There is so much money there you cannot comprehend! The yachts in the harbor and the crazy expensive cars. Dang. Monaco is less than a square mile but it is stuck to the side of a mountain so lots of up hill walking. The Monte-Carlo grand prix is in May and they were already setting up bleachers. We made our way around the harbor from the casino. Again the yachts.... Who owns these?? Up the hill to the palace and the cathedral where our beloved Grace lies. The streets are so narrow and packed with souvenir shops. I read a wonderful biography on Grace and her life in Monaco with Rainier. It seemed surreal to be there. We grabbed a quick baguette sandwich from a street vendor (we were not dressed to go into a restaurant for lunch, nor were we willing to part with the cash!) and made our way back toward the casino. As I said we were not "dressed" so we couldn't go into the casino but you could see the money all around. What a crazy place!

Back in the car we headed out. There are three roads that head west from Monaco. One hugs the coast, one is about half way up the mountain and the third is way up the mountain. We got several recommendations to drive either the middle or the upper corniches. We chose the middle so we could stop in a neat village called Eze. This town is built on the side of the mountain. It has tiny little streets that are a maze. Because the town is built up you don't realize that you are hugging the side of a mountain until you happen to catch a glimpse of the view through a private courtyard. The view was breathtaking! Lots of art shops and one olive oil shop we wouldn't even go into because we knew we couldn't take any home. (We don't check luggage)

From Eze we went to Nice. There were a few things to see in Nice but the MOST important thing in Nice was 'the best gelato in Provence'! This is a MUST! There was no distracting me from the good stuff. The place is Fenocchio. Not to be confused with Pinocchio which is kitty-corner on the same square. If there aren't masses of people waiting patiently around you... you are not in the right place. I had lavender and jasmine. Steve had rosemary and thyme. I know it sounds weird but we were in Provence and this was Fenocchio! All four were really good. I wanted seconds but Steve refused. Nice was nice. We stuck to the old town. Walked along the promenade. Rocky beach. We decided to stay in town for dinner. Found this great place called L'Escalinada. We started with the house specialty ribambelle: chick pea salad, artichokes, fried zucchini flowers, cuttle fish, stuffed grape leaves, calamari, etc. Yum! Then for entrees we got the Nicoise salad (we were in the birth place) and gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce. Both were fabulous but let's talk about the gnocchi for a minute. I love Italian food. I love gnocchi. The French however have taken a yummy thing and made it melt in your mouth. I'm not sure what they did but I am sure it wasn't a healthy alteration. It tasted like butter. WOW! This food did not help our commute home. We still had a two hour drive home. It was the longest two hours ever. We took the toll roads.... we just wanted to lie down!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/21/1240352880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/21/1240352880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/theskinners/21/1240352880/tpod.html Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:43:58 -0400 Provence and the Cote d'Azur

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Aix-en-Provence, Provence, France

We are off to Aix (pronounced X, like the letter) and Arles. This had us going in a different direction than we had in past so we went through the nearest town to the flat, Istres. I say through but what really happened was we were trying to go through and ended up in a parking structure. Istres was having its market day so the streets were closed. Well, since we are in a parking structure anyway lets have a look around. I am so glad we did. This was a fantastic market. Why, why, why can't we have a market like this in England? Or the US? I could spend all day in a market like this. The tomatoes... the olives... the spices... did you see those strawberries? I think they were the most beautiful strawberries I have ever seen! And this being Provence you have the soap guy and the perfume guy and the guy with all the great provencial fabrics that you just want to make into napkins or a table cloth. We walked around jaw dropped for a while and then thought we should be getting to Aix.

In Aix they too had a market going on. I could do this all day!! And lucky for me there isn't a lot of things to do in some of these towns. Not a ton of sights, no major museums... just relax at a cafe. After a wander around Aix we decided to motor on to Arles. This town has some sights. As I said before we were avoiding the toll roads which
was nice. We got to see more rural Provence. And another aqueduct popped up before us. Not a tourist attraction like the other. Just an old aqueduct... no big deal. Well, we stopped and took some pictures. This was just as impressive as the Pont du Gard. Do you think the Romans had any idea their structures would still be standing now???

Arles is another town with some Roman ruins still in tact. There is Les Arenes (the arena), Theatre Antique (amphitheater) and the Thermes de Constantin (baths). We wandered around most of these sights. Much of the Arenes has been replaced over its long life. Walking through you see old with new and wonder how they chose which blocks to replace and why they didn't replace that one that is almost weathered away. It will probably take them ten times as long to repair this structure as it did to actually build! They still do bull fights here as well
however these are provencial fights, kinda like flag football. The bull lives, the guys just have to grab flags from the horns and head. More my style of bull fighting. Steve determined that this is the Arenes in the movie Ronin... just a bit 'o trivia there for you. Having wandered about the town we opted to have dinner in. We stopped by the local grocery and picked up stuff to have the big salad. I wanted to taste one of those big crazy tomatoes (which are so good by the way) and we were starting to get pretty tired... tired of driving, tired of walking, just tired. So back to the house we went and had the big salad with wonderful fresh ingredients like to big crazy tomato, marinaded garlic, olives, a couple cheeses, some bits 'o sausage, etc. Yum.
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