Interesting Places

Mont Blanc

June 19, 2022: Chamonix. The glaciers of Mont Blanc blaze white as they reach through the clouds. Chamonix waits at its foot, giving rest to adventurers.

Annecy

June 15, 2022: Annecy. At first Annecy disappointed: it was hot, it was crowded. Then, in a shady alley, we sat sat with locals and slipped our feet in the stream. Ah…

The Calanques

June 07, 2022: Cassis. We turned the final corner of the hot, dusty, Calanques hike. We found the “hidden beach”. Though beautiful, it was already crowded and overrun!

Carcassonne

June 07, 2022: Carcassonne. Madam Carcas threw a fatted pig over the La Cité battlement to burst at the feet of the besieging enemy. Dispirited, they withdrew.

Lourdes

May 13, 2022: Lourdes. In 1858, the Virgin Mary appeared a young peasant girl at Lourdes. Each year, 5 million pilgrims seek healing from the waters of the grotto.

Honfleur

May 11, 2022: Honfleur. Honfleur’s old port is a living impressionist painting, with colorful fishermen’s houses reflecting in the basin.

Andorra

June 3, 2022: Andorra. Jean and I added Andorra, another European micro-state, to our “been there” list. The tiny country, population 80,000, has an area of only 181 square miles.

May 11, 2022: Giverny. Claude Monet’s gardens in Giverny inspired his painting for more than forty years. “My Garden is my most beautiful masterpiece” he said. We visited his home and garden in May, and found it inspiring as well.

Village of Martyrs

May 23, 2022: Oradour-sur-Glade. Oradour-sur-Glane, Village of Martyrs, ranks among the most tragic places we have visited. On June 10, 1944, just four days after the D-Day invasion at Normandy, Nazis killed everyone in the village – 642 men, women, and children.

City of the Dead

October 14: The lonely necropolis (“city of the dead”) of Saqqarah and of Dashur boast the oldest pyramids and the first carved tomb hieroglyphics. Unlike at Giza, there were few visitors aside from ourselves and our guide, Bassem.