With seagulls as alarm clocks and the sea all around us, it’s damn hard to stay in bed here in Camp Ellis. Yesterday morning I thought for sure it was 7 and it was just 5:30 am. Time to get out to the porch and check out the sea. We […]
We’ve arrived, and are officially on vacation. As per my custom, I only really feel that I’m on vacation after I’ve spent a little time on the beach and taken a shower. Emerging at 6:53 pm with the sweet summer light reflecting off a distant rock jetty, yeah, now I’m […]
Last night I picked up a new iPhone 4. What a change from the olden days. I actually have had a cellular telephone since 1992. I bought the first one from a guy in Hadley, and it came in a little plastic basket, and had a corded handset. I remember […]
I read a story in the International Herald Tribune at the airport that described a smart idea…using cellphones to unlock doors at hotels and vacation rentals. With the amount of time people spend looking at their phones, it seems to make a lot of sense. In Stockholm the Clarion Hotel […]
From Bordeaux After 30 hours of transport, nothing feels better than hitting the pillow of one’s own and very familiar bed. Even though it took another hour to fall asleep, I came home to a new housemate living in our house. A dog, adopted from my sister, who is named […]
I often try to get at least a short ride in wherever I visit. So this morning after breakfast in the kitchen, I borrowed a one-speed and pedaled off down the road. As I was advised, I took the quick left and the road soon became quite narrow, passing by […]
We drove out into the countryside today to meet two people who are very involved with the local gastronomy. This is a big part of the appeal of France, that there are so many people who love food and live lives that are involved with producing great food. Our first […]
Tonight at the Chateau La Thuiliere, dinner was served table d’hote. Which means, all of the guests assembled in a grand banquet room to dine at one big table. There was a couple from Japan, reticent and on the far end, a French couple from Toulouse making their first foray […]
This morning I took one of France’s regional trains out to Mussidan, on a hot sunny day. The station was busy, but most of the people were boarding the TGVs heading to Paris, not as many taking my line inward that ends up in Lyon. Few things can compare to […]
In the village of Sauternes, there are dozens of wine producers who focus on the same sweet white wine, known by the same name. It’s pale yellow and as it gets older, it turns slightly darker. It’s hard to chug more than a small glass because it’s very sweet. But […]
Today the pedestrian-only streets in the prosperous city of Bordeaux were mobbed, people were wall to wall because it’s one of the only two times per year that stores in France are allowed to have sales. For the first two weeks of July and again in March, stores can lower […]
We met a man the other night named Eurl Jean-Marie Bitaube, who is a traiteur. His specialty is summer escargot parties, and we followed him in his little white truck to a trail in the huge Foret du Landes, which is a 2.4 million acre planted pine forest, the largest […]