Wednesday, September 20, 2006

The "Carbonnière Tower"


Off in the distance you see The Tower of Constance. This structure has walls that are 16 feet thick. I would hate to have to run cable vision though that. King Louis IX
(Saint Louis) stayed here when he was in town. It was also used as a prison and many of its 'guests' were French Huguenots. Because I am subject to whimsy on occasion I thought maybe some disgruntled Huguenot prisoner got out of this prison and decided he wanted to put as much distance between himself and this tower as he could. So, he left and founded the town of New Paltz. . Maybe,.. maybe not, don't know.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Aigues-Mortes, the entrance.



This is one of the entrances. It was odd because the side we were on was quiet and open and when you went through the door you were in the center of a thriving village. If you click on the picture and enlarge it you can see the village inside.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Our trip to Aigues-Mortes, the walled city.


We took a trip to the walled city of Aigues-Mortes. Pronounced Egga-Mort. It's huge walled city about a half an hour from us.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Buda Castle


My wife went to Budapest, Hungary on a business trip for a day. Now, that's a sentence I never thought I would say. She was very impressed with the city and gave it the thumbs up for a future weekend trip. She surprised me and wanted to take pictures on her trip . I tried to offer her camera's of quality, but she wanted small, small, and smaller . I came up with this crappy digital about the size of very fat credit card. She was happy with it. She came home with this picture which I thought was great. She a resourceful and crafty woman and that's only 2 reasons why I love her.

Budapest, I come to find out is actually two cities. Buda and Pest with the Danube flowing between them. My wife said it was very clean and the shopping looked plentiful. Unfortunately, her business meeting and flight schedule prevented her from doing much shopping. Hence, the green light for us to go back.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

It's Saturday, time for a walk.

We try and walk every day we can. My wife's under the impression that it is somehow good for your health. I would dispute this but she has the worlds doctors and health professionals on her side. Me being out numbered, I walk. Saturday is a great walking day in our village. This picture and the following are the sights of one such Saturday. I hope you enjoy it.

Tower again


This Church tower is the tallest structure in our village. You saw it in the previous post as well as this one. It is difficult to take a landscape shot without including this majestic tower. It begs to be photographed.

A Horse!


South France is horse country. They're all over the place. The climate and terrain is similar to our American west. Its dry and plenty of grasslands to graze in. I don't know much about horses but they all seem generally happy and well adjusted here.

Europeans on bikes


There are also a lot of bikes. Like the horses, the bikes seem happy and well adjusted.

Saturday Market


On our way back we always cut through town. There is this one street that has a Saturday market going on. There are vendors all the way up this street selling all kinds of food.
the produce is very fresh and the breads wines and cheeses are all locally made.
There are :. . . . .

Shrimp and calamari


Assorted sea dishes.

Chicken and stuffed tomatoes


This had a great aroma as you walked by.

Veggies


Very fresh, home grown stuff. ..

Fruits


And the fruit! Oh man. Delicious!

And of course wine


And the local vineyards get into the act.

That's our usual Saturday walk. After walking through the market we usually return home with our hands full of baguettes and whatever else looked good.