Testing to see...

if I can use blogger from my iPhone. Looks like I can.

Heathrow - London

Well, I haven't written anything in a while, and you may be wondering why. Well, it's a long story, but unfortunately, every piece of electronic equipment that I brought along on the trip was stolen. That includes even ipod and cell phone! Briefly, Gaffer and I had just arrived in the middle of Barcalona with the intention of returning the rental car when this guy on a moped told us at a stoplight that our tire was flat. Strange, we thought, but rolled up the window and decided to ignore him. Low and behold, our car started to clunk after the next light and there we were stranded on a major avenue of the city, wondering how to get hold of Avis, who's office was not far away. While doing this, another guy on a moped stopped and tried to get us to go to a nearby garage, but we cheefully told him that we would not need his services. While my attention was diverted, one of his collegues and snuck behind my back and stole the backpack holding all of my electronic equipment. Computer, all my backup photos, all the video I had taken, the video camera, the digital camera, cell phone, ipod...even my car keys and passport. He was long gone within the 60 seconds it took for me to realize that all was lost. A cop was over after a short while, but what could he do? Anyway, I'm over it now. We check into the hotel in Barcalona and on Monday I got a temporary passport. The one bit of good news is that much of the photo data of the trip is on a separate hard drive I brought along, which is kind of malfunctioning and which I hope to at least recover most of our trip. No one injured, no one hurt. I'm here at Heathrow, and will be stopping here for a couple of hours before getting back home.

Last day in Aix

Tomorrow is our last day in Aix. We have been here almost a week and what a week it has been. Yesterday, I had some internet trouble and couldn't post anything. But I will try to get some video up tomorrow. I have quite a bit of stuff on tape which I need to organize. Yesterday, we went to a town called Isle sur la Sorgue, Fontaine de Vercluse and saw the Abbey de Senanque. The Abby of Senanque is the abby which the Gaffer has a painting of on his living room wall with the fields of lavender in front of it. It is a working abbey of Cistertian monks, and you can get a tour of the place. Very nice. Today, we discovered a terrific seaside town of Cassis. it is on the south coast, fairly close to Marseille. It's like a miniature Nice, with a nice harbor and lots of cafes and restaurants. The ocean is a kind of turqoise color and all around are terrific cliffs, which you can see from the coast on boat trips. Quite honestly, we have done so much, and I have so much video which I just can't fit on You Tube, I feel as if I am not giving a true representation of all that we are seeing. I plan on putting many more photos and video on the blog when I get home, so don't quit checking the blog even after we have returned home.

Tomorrow, it is a day to relax and kind of recover, at least for me. It is our last day in Aix, and we are just going to hang around town and visit a museum or two. I have been doing all of the driving on the trip, and I can tell you there have been some quite hair-raising incidents for me. It's not so much that the drivers here are rude or aggressive, if fact I have found the drivers in Europe to have become decidedly less aggressive in recent years. it's just that we have been forced to park and drive into spaces so tight that the side of one's car is literally on inch away from one's left or right side panel. The garage in this hotel, for example, is so small and the spaces so tight, that it is required to back into the garage and park your car in reverse! Thank God we have a small Opel Corsa. Needless to say, my nerves are a bit frazzeled at the end of the day, and I really look forward to a cold beer or a nice glass of wine.

I'll try to get some video up, but if you don't see any, it is because of internet trouble here in the hotel. The rest of our trip is as follows: Tomorrow - last day in Aix. Saturday - mad dash back to Barcalona. Sunday and Monday are just hanging out in Barcalona and Tuesday we head home.

Please feel free to comment on this blog, or email me at josephweir@mac.com as I really have no ideo if anyone, except a few are even looking at any of this.

Marseille

Yesterday, the Gaffer and I decided to take a bus to Marseille from Aix instead of driving to avoid parking hassels, etc. Marseille is a much more interesting place than any of us had expected. There is a definite Arab feel to the town, but it was not nearly as menacing as we thought it would be. As French cities go, I would say that it is definitely underrated.

The Luberon Mountains

The Gaffer and I explored the region of Provence known as The Luberon, which is a mountain range about 25 minutes drive from Aix. Notice how much better shape the Gaffer is than me......I must be a real lard ass....

It's Asaragus Week!!!

After breakfast, let's walk around the market.....

Aix-en-Provence - Video

Toward the end of this video, you will notice that I lose my train of thought.....that is because I was ever so slightly drunk, I think.....too much wine toward the end of the night.....I actually forgot which town I was in as I was filming....sorry to sound like an idiot!