Journal Entry

Jun 6th, 2007

Travel Stamp

Back To Reality

By Ken Broman

We got home last night at around 10:30 after spending way to much time on planes and transferring between planes and getting to airports. The cats were very pleased to see us, but were well looked after while we were gone.

I have many thoughts on our trip and of course a couple thousand photos to troll through looking for gold. I’ll get started on that right away. I’ll post more about our trip (and perhaps a few of the small number of sketches I did) this weekend after I’ve had a bit of time to decompress and unpack and do all the returning to normal life things that one must do after a long trip.

Including starting the planning for our next trip: Mexico! But that trip is a long way off.

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Jun 1st, 2007

Travel Stamp

Having a Nice time

By Ken Broman

We rolled into Nice at around 4pm today and had a horrendous time trying to return our rental car. The area around the station is under all kinds of construction so we ended up circling three times looking for the return spot, still without success. Finally I hoped out of the car and ran into ask, and let me just say, we never would have found it if I hadn't. it wasn't even vaguely obvious. And as a fitting metaphor to the frustrations we had trying to return the car, a rain storm of monumental proportions rolled into town a half hour behind us. Fortunately we were ensconced in our hotel before the clouds let go, but there was thunder and lightning and all kinds of the drama that we just don't get in Seattle with our rain.
 
The last couple of days were spent driving around from one picturesque hill town to the next. About half way into the first day we had to retire the phrase "what a view" to to the redundancy laws in France. But good god, What A View! Miles and miles of bright green vineyards and farmland in the valleys between the towns. We hit about a dozen or so towns it seems like, the highlights being Lourmarin, Goult and Roussillon. In fact it was in Roussillon that we saw what is probably my favorite site, the old ochre quarry.
 
Bright red and orange and yellow cliff faces towering above and a path made of rust red sand. Even the trees had a reddish coating from all the dust stirred up by the visitors. It felt a bit like being on Mars. I think I must have shot a few hundred photos. Gorgeous.
 
And in a fortuitous bit of luck we've managed to hit 3 fabulous markets days in the last 4 days. The best of them being Vaison La Romaine and Lourmarin.
 
Anyway, we have four nights and three days in the Riviera before our vacation must come to an end. It sad, vacation is a lifestyle that agrees with me.

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May 29th, 2007

Travel Stamp

This time from Provence

By Ken Broman

Hello all, sorry we've dropped off the radar but we've been moving around a bit and have been unable to get to an Internet cafe.

We are currently in Vaison-la-Romain and spent the day driving around the indescribably beautiful Cote du Rohn countryside stopping at a number of cute little medieval hill towns, not forgetting of course to do a little wine tasting along the way.

This morning we awoke to the sounds of the weekly market setting up in the square below our window.  We bought a picnic lunch to take with us on the drive and ate it in the tiny town of Suzette on the side of a hill overlooking vineyards.  The sun was out and shinning but the wind was blowing hard and threatened to carry away our lunch.

In the past week we have visited Avignon, where we stayed for three nights and used as a base to travel.  We day tripped out to Pont du Gard, an old roman aqueduct, and Nimes where we rolled into town during the annul bullfight festival (not listed in any guide book, Gretchen). The town was hopping and we had a nice lunch of Paella for Irene and Gardienne de toreau (bull) for me.

Another day we drove to Arles and spent the day, and yesterday we visited the abandoned medieval town of Les Beaux, and the not so abandoned town named after my cat, St. Remy.

Well, that about catches you up. Tomorrow we head for Roussillon and the Luberon hill towns made famous (at least in the states) by Peter Mayle in his books about Provence.

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May 24th, 2007

Travel Stamp

Last Day In Paris

By Ken Broman

We just got back from Versailles where we spent most of the day touring the grounds and getting burnt to a crisp. Really need to find some sunscreen before we hit the South. Right now we are doing laundry and later tonight we have tentative plans to meet up with Marion for a drink.
 
These French key boards are very difficult to get used to.
 
Tomorrow morning we head for provence. Sad to leave Paris, excited to see what's next. 

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May 22nd, 2007

Travel Stamp

Bonjour encore

By Ken Broman

Ken says:
 
We are five days into our trip and have been running around like mad people. We've done the Louvre, the Arc, the d'Orsay, Ste-Chapelle, and beaucoup walking around. Beacoup!
 
Last night we were meant to catch up with France at the Arc, but she never turned up. So we popped in here (Cyber Cube) to see if she left us an email, which she did. Hopefully we'll meet up with her tonight.
 
A week in Paris seems like a long time, but it's still not nearly long enough. I feel like we'll still miss half the things on the list. We'll just have to come back.
 
Irene says:
 
Paris lives up to its reputation and more so.  My impression is it's endless.   After my office job, my feet will soon be going on strike, so perhaps it's just as well that we are headed for the quieter South of France in just a few days – Friday morning.  In the meanwhile, I'm absorbing this amazing city at the rate I best can.  As for hoping to see it all.  C'est impossible, alas.
 
Best thoughts and wishes. 
 
Irene and Ken

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