I read an article yesterday in the Globe and Mail about a person I have known for a long time, but have never met. The article, written by Ian Brown, was about Jean Vanier who started L’Arche. I had first heard of L’Arche from my neighbour, who often spends Christmas in France, at one of […]
It’s all about the words. This is the inspiration I read in the Globe the other day. It was Russell Smith’s column on art, poetry and blogging. It begins by saying: A blog is a hobby; a blog is a notebook; a blog is a forum; a blog is a piece of art. A blog is
OK, we didn’t use an Uber taxi for our ride from Arles to the airport in Marseilles. Our quote for the 50 mile trip was €150.00. We decided on a taxi, though, because train schedules can change and we needed to catch that plane!! As it turned out our driver was quite amazing. He had
To visit the Camargue, that huge delta of the Rhone river which stretches ever further into the Mediterranean, has always been on my hit list. It’s not just because there is a Rolls Royce named after it, but it is also because, many years ago I “missed it,” while hitch hiking through the south of
The entire city of Arles is a museum unto itself. Yes, there is commerce and village life, but citizens and visitors alike live carefully among the ruins. The ruins, that is, of what was once a great Roman city. A magnificent colosseum, for example, dominates a rise in the centre of the old town, while
Unfortunately holidays come to an end – a necessary evil. For as Shakespeare said – If all the year were playing holidays, To sport would be as tedious as to work; I never want my “sport,” vacationing, to become tedious work, so I have holidays that end. However, you can ease the pain, by having
Midway through our week in Cassis, we decided to inquire about tickets to Arles. We had to vacate our apartment on the Saturday and planned to stay for a few days in Arles, before catching our flight home on the following Tuesday. Normally we would just walk to the train station. However, the station in
I mentioned in an earlier post about the quiet walks around the town of Cassis in the south of France. Here are some pictures. Most of the side streets in the old town near the harbour were very pretty, with lovely flowers, quaint entrances and cobbled walks. For more activity, there were several beaches close
For a small village, Cassis has an extensive list of “things to do.” I remember telling a neighbour, who had stopped in Cassis for lunch while on a tour of the south of France, that we had stayed there for a week. She was amazed that we could find enough to entertain us for that
Les Calanques is the name of the national park between Cassis and Marseilles, which was created to preserve the limestone fjords that jut into the sea at this end of the Cote D’Azur. With their magnificent white cliffs, azure inlets and rugged vegetation, Les Calanques are a national treasure well worth keeping in their natural
