We visited the Vieux Port of Marseille on Thursday the 14th. We were on our way to the port of Cassis, which with its sleepy feel and million dollar bungalows seems a world away from the bustling, crowded port of Marseille. Marseille is the second largest city in France with more than 800,000 (registered) inhabitants. […]

The first time Jim ever went to France was on assignment for the European Stars and Stripes newspaper. He drove around the Alsace and into the Vosges Mountains and then, near the end of a long day, was on his way back to Darmstadt, Germany and homebase for the paper. The only problem was, Jim […]

Maybe you’ve heard of the Mistral wind, that howling, horrific atmospheric anomaly that comes out of the north and down the valley of the Rhone in the wintertime in Provence. Today I saw evidence of its power at the Chateau of Les-Baux-de- Provence, first stop after picking up our guests at the Avignon train station. […]

Jenean and I met our new guests today at the TGV station in Avignon, France. We were totally impressed with this new and beautiful station. Our guests arrived exactly on time at 12:57 from Paris. Comments we heard were “that was a better trip than our plane ride over the Atlantic,” and “why can’t America […]

We found another piece of paradise in Provence on Monday the 11th when we drove down to Cassis. We took a rather ugly route down from Arles to Marseille, passing many factories and urban housing developments. However, upon arriving in Marseille at the Vieux Port (the old harbor), we were immediately charmed by this city […]

We’re enjoying another fantastic stay at the Domaine des Clos on the edge of Provence, France. We stayed here for four nights last summer while we planned a tour with four couples from Sarasota that is about to start (June 13) in Avignon. David and Sandrine Ausset have created a retreat from an old farm. […]

We’re on the Autoroute heading for our country B&B near Avignon. This year, for the first time, we notice that many of the gas stations along the motorway feature wi-fi, or in French, “wee fee.” How cool is this! Fill up with some insanely expensive diesel and get free internet access along with your $3 […]

We stopped on Saturday in the interesting old university town of Tuebingen, near Stuttgart. The editor of “German Life” magazine had asked me to take several photographs of the town to support an article in an upcoming issue. I’d been in Tuebingen about a month ago but got shut down by rain. Today, no rain […]