There’s no feeling in the world like being out on the open road. It feels like freedom to me. I started today on my trip back to the Midwest, and while there were a few times that I wondered if my decision to drive wasn’t biting off a little more than I could chew, most of the time I was in that wonderful cruise mode, music on the radio, sun […]
Among the most moving sights in France are the ubiquitous monuments to the huge number of dead in various French wars, particularly World War One. Every town and village seems to have its monument, and on most of the monuments in these places, there are listed the names of young men who died, “Morts Pour La France.” These monuments draw me in for some reason, and I’m compelled to read […]
A little over a year ago, I wrote a post extolling the fact that I had managed to go on an easy, two-mile, flat walk. I remember that day clearly because it was so hard. My left leg still wasn’t working right and caused me a lot of pain, I walked like a gimpy cowboy on some old black-and-white western. It took almost all my force to get to my […]
Today’s the last day of our trip to France. We spent it walking all around Toulouse, exploring areas we hadn’t before, having a fantastic last big “official” restaurant meal, all while trying to forget that this was the last day of our trip in France. We started out walking along the Garonne (our apartment is right on the river). We came to a place where water was spilling over a […]
Finally am in a place with wifi, and blazingly fast wifi at that. I uploaded a whole bunch of pictures that I couldn’t before, and organized them into albums for your viewing pleasure. So, in reverse chronological order: Cajarc and Figeac: La Roque Gageac, the beautiful picturesque town along the Dordogne, which was our base of operations for 6 days of visiting the Perigord Noir. The medieval town of Sarlat […]
I’ve fallen so far behind in my blogging about this trip, I had to look back to see what the last post was about. Unfortunately I got hit with an intestinal bug of some sort that lasted 8 days or so, and put the kibosh on fully enjoying Bordeaux and our visit to the Ile de Ré. The two paragraph summary would be: Bordeaux: We really love this city. We […]
I’m finally feeling a little better this morning after a rough two days. We’re back in Bordeaux now, in a comfortable apartment in the nice Chartrons district, just a 15-minute walk from the city center. We arrived yesterday afternoon from Poitiers, where we had a short visit. There we stayed in a super nice place called the Maison de Marc, which was right in the old city center, and served […]
For not posting today, and for giving my SSS Blog subscribers something truly horrible — a link to a Facebook (yes, the evil Facebook) post. I was just too tired after a long, long day to create a whole blog post. I promise not to make a habit of it. Click on it to view the post and the pictures, even if you’re not a Facebook member.
The person from whom we are renting our place in Chenonceau suggested that we visit the nearby city of Loches, which he described as being “the most important city in the world for a very short period of time.” During the period from the 13th to the 15th centuries, Loches was a walled “royal city” where the Valois kings were frequent residents. Constructed on a high outcropping of rock, the […]