Bonjour from Marseille, Well, we are nearing the end of our grand journey. We have had three couples come visit since our last blog. In April, Garry’s niece Melissa and her husband Jeremy Padbury came to visit us from England. Jeremy is in the Air Force and is currently stationed in England. While the weather was less than perfect, it did not stop us from some sightseeing. Melissa and Jeremy shopped the open-air markets for gifts and items for their home in England, and then took the bus to Cassis, a beautiful little seaside village not far from Marseille where they [View Full Entry]

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While some did, others of you did not get to see the pictures from the last blog. So, here goes again. Happy Easter from Marseille, Since our last blog, we had a wonderful visit (although the weather was not always wonderful) with Nancy and Lou Waltman. In spite of the less-than-perfect weather, we had a great time together, mostly spent walking (lots and lots of it), visiting the sites and shopping the streets of Marseille, and of course trying many kinds of wine. One evening we ate at Etiene’s Pizza, a famous place that Lou found on the web (see pic), [View Full Entry]

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Well, a lot has happened in the past two weeks, so we thought we would give you a quick update and share some pics. We had incredibly good weather when we visited Paris with Kathy and Dennis Gregory. We had great food and visited all the major sites: Eiffel Tower, Seine River, Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysees, Louvre Museum, Orangerie Museum, Orsay Museum, Pompidou Center, Sacre Coeur, Luxembourg Gardens, and more. We also spent a day with the Gregorys in Monaco where, in their 10 minutes in the casino, they won 250 euros. Monaco is a beautiful mountainous [View Full Entry]

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There is nothing like being with family during the holidays. Our time in France has made us aware of this more than ever. Before leaving for Spain, we took Aaron to the calanques (see pic) and to the nearby islands (see pic) to catch some views. On Friday, December 26, we took the high-speed train to Lyon, France, where we spent the afternoon and evening seeing some of the sights of Lyon, including a visit to Notre Dame de Fourviere (see pic). In the evening we ate at one of Rick Steves’ recommended restaurants where we started with a meat salad [View Full Entry]

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Hope this blog finds you all happy and in good health during these holidays. Our Christmas package arrived early (see pic 1). Yes, Aaron arrived safe and sound, and with luggage on Monday morning. We have really missed friends and family, and so we are very glad to have him here—Christmas would have been very empty without him. We head to Lyon on Friday and depart for Barcelona on Saturday and return to Marseille on Tuesday. Hope you enjoy some of our Christmas pictures of Marseille. To all, we wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Garry, Kathy and [View Full Entry]

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Listen up—are you paying attention? We have just two words for you: Cinque Terra. If you like rugged, beautiful seacoast and you want to go back several hundred years in time, then you MUST include the Cinque Terra (= five lands) on your list for visiting Italy. The Cinque Terra is comprised of five little Italian coastal villages on the northwestern Mediterranean coast. We (Janet Johnson, Kathy and I) caught the Italian rail in Genova (= Genoa) for a whopping cost of 4.80 euros each—Italian rail is a really cheap mode of transportation, although they can run a wee bit lat [View Full Entry]

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Well, it is blogger time. Our latest pioneering visitor who has managed to survive Marseille for the past week is our close friend Janet Johnson, who also serves as Kathy’s walking partner when in Lincoln and while here in Marseille. Janet and Kathy have been making walking sorties each day in Marseille—while Garry labors away at the lab. Garry picks up the baguette from the patisserie on his way home, and Kathy and Janet have the wine and cheese ready upon his arrival. Janet and Kathy have been cooking up some fine home-cooked meals. Last weekend we headed to Cassis, one [View Full Entry]

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Finally, someone had the courage to come visit us. Kathy’s sister, Diane, and her husband, Darrell, have spent the past four days with us visiting Marseille, Avignon, Cassis and Nice—one day in each city, getting the flavor of southern France—and then back to Marseille each evening. We joined them for their one-day visit to Nice, which was a 2.5-hour train ride each way. It was a very warm day in Nice, so lots of people down at the beach, some of whom forgot their tops at home. We took several dozen photos but decided to bore you with only a few. [View Full Entry]

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Cassee and Bony Go to China (while Garry and Alan stay home) I am back from China. I and another faculty person from Lincoln and a former student were invited to speak at an International Nursing Conference in Beijing. We had a great experience. The conference people there took great care of us. We were given own translator, a young nurse who spoke excellent English, and she stayed with us from 7 AM to 9 PM every day. They even made the translators stay at the hotel, in case we needed something. We needed a translator as most of the nurses [View Full Entry]

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Well, this week Garry will be acting as chief blogger since Kathy is off having a “wonderful time” in Beijing, China, where she is to give an invited talk. Her plane left Marseille 50 minutes late, which would have given her exactly 5 minutes in Munich to get to her plane for Beijing, but that flight was also delayed. So, I am happy to report that she and her luggage arrived safely. I sent our one-and-only beloved camera with her, with orders to bring back lots of pictures—next week’s blog! Upon Kathy’s departure to Beijing and my immediate loneliness, I found [View Full Entry]

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