Wow, it's my birthday and Zdena amazingly agrees to drive with me to a tiny Texas town called Schroeder, Texas to see my favourite band - Cross Canadian Ragweed. My birthday fell on a Saturday night, so it seemed like fate that we got to go. We drove to Goliad, Texas first because that's where the web site and tickets said Schroeder Hall was located, but we soon discovered after arriving in Goliad, that Schroeder Hall was located in, well Schroeder, Texas! We asked a local and got directions and drove another 13 miles or so and in the middle of [View Full Entry]

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On Valentine's Day this past February, I took Martina to see one of my favorite bands - Cross Canadian Ragweed. No, they're not Canadian. That's what I assumed also when I first saw the name. Actually, they're from Oklahoma. They are techincally considered Alternative Country, but a lot of what they do sounds like Rock 'n Roll to me - maybe that's why I like them so much. The band is extremely tight, which is not surprising since they've been playing together for nearly 14 years now. The lead singer, lead guitar player - Cody Canada - is really something to [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday we headed off to Les Baux. This was a beautiful town with a Castle and ruins that were definately worth visiting. Zdena's sister Eva wrote a great article about Les Baux for the Prague Post that I thought I would include here, with the writer's permission! Nest of Eagles - Lair of Wolves (Eva Munk for The Prague Post, November 14, 1996) The Alpilles jut out of the fertile Provencal plain like a skeleton's fist out of a flowerbed. The stark massif seems to offer nothing but huge, misshapen rocks, perched like gargoyles atop looming cliffs, ready to launch themselve [View Full Entry]

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Getting the fish was the first thing Albert wanted to do, so the Fishmonger could be cleaning them while we continued shopping. Albert is pointing to the Dorade he chose for lunch.Tuesday began early with a target departure time of 7:30 AM. This was because we were meeting our Chef in downtown Aix-en-Provence at 9:00 AM or so and it was about an hour away, rush hour, parking, you get the idea. We made it right on time and walked to the Tourist Bureau where we were to meet and in about 10 minutes, not one chef showed up, but 2 [View Full Entry]

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Monday was a day without a lot to report and very few photos. We (West, Teresa, Kim, Terry and myself) took off in the huge Mercedes van with the intent of dropping West off at a place of his choosing and then to pick him up later. At least that's what we told him we would do.... The problem was the weather was pretty dark and looked threatening, like rain might be imminent. To compound the problem, West had chosen to cut some corners when purchasing his tires and bought what can only be described as "bald eagle" tires. I mean [View Full Entry]

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This was a shot taken on Sunday morning outside our upstairs bedroom window - fantastic view of the garden and pool.We had a lot of sightseeing to do and Sunday we got started by going to L'Isle sur la Sorgue. The river Sorgue surrounds the city and it has several canals running through it's center. And check out the video of this cool water wheel we ran across by clicking the video link to the left. More information can be found at: http://www.provenceweb.fr/e/vaucluse/islesorg/islesorg.htm It was market day and we did our part - Zdena bought some sandals and cheese. We all [View Full Entry]

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Well, today is the day we say goodbye to Annecy for a week while we head to meet our family in Saint-Remy de Provence. Before we leave, we take a short drive from our hotel up the hill to a beautiful small village called St. Martin Bellevue. We hoped to go and see the church, but a wedding was actually getting started, so we just stopped and looked around and took a few pictures from the outside. The views from up there are just fantastic. Before we left town, we stopped at our favorite Hypermarket once again to pick up [View Full Entry]

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We were looking forward to a full day of sightseeing, checking out places we used to go and later on visiting with friends from the days we lived in Annecy. We started off with a typical Petite Dejeuner in the hotel restaurant and then decided to walk down the street to look at the small village of Mercier where we used to live and to see the house we used to live in. To our surprise, the house had been completely re-modeled and another house had been built on what had been a big yard and garden. It was a [View Full Entry]

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This is where we spent the first 2 days of our return to France, a wonderful small 2 star hotel with elevator and private bath and balcony. We began a long awaited return to France in Annecy, our favorite French destination. The resort of Annecy, which is the region's capital, makes the best base for touring the Haute-Savoie region. Once a Gallo-Roman town, the seat of the comtes de Genève, Annecy opens onto one of the best views of lakes and mountains in the French Alps. Historically, it enjoyed a brief flurry of importance in the early sixteenth century, when Geneva [View Full Entry]

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