ANNECY IN THE ALPS

There's not a lot to do in Annecy, France, but it's a charmer.  There's a beautiful lake here with Alps as a backdrop, and lots of swans gracing water so clear that you can see the lake bed.

There's a canal that runs into and out of the lake through the picturesque old part of town.

I got out early this morning to explore before the streets got crowded and enjoyed a quiet walk along the entire length of the canal.  Come walk along with me.

Walk across one of the several foot bridges crossing the canal and through the old stone tunnels to the street running parallel to the canal where there are shops and restaurants galore waiting for tourists with euros to burn in their pockets.

I'd rather watch the swans!

MONTPELLIER

For the last week my friend Dolly (from Bangkok) and I have been exploring the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France.  Dolly studied French in a small town in this area and can still speak and understand the language, which is great, because I'm totally lost when it comes to communicating in this country.  I'm nervous about even trying to pronounce words in French, because they don't articulate many of the letters, especially at the end of words.  Why put the letters there if you're not going to use them?  In Italian and Spanish, you pronouce all the letters, for the most part, so you don't sound like an idiot as much of the time.  It was great to relax and just let Dolly do our communicating.  I reciprocated by doing all the cooking.

I think my favorite side trip was a day in Arles, where you can take a Van Gogh tour and see some of the sites he painted there.  There were 10 sites where you could view a reproduction of a painting and see the similarities and differences between then (1888-89) and now.  In some cases, the site was barely recognizable, like The Yellow House....then:

Now:

And in other cases, the scene was quite similar, as in The Garden at the Hospital in Arles:

Dolly and I are posing by one of Van Gogh's starry night paintings.

We saw a lot of artists in this park, some of whom seemed to be trying to emulate Van Gogh's style.

One of the sites was near the arena, and we had the best lunch of the week in a cafe there.  I wasn't sure what I was ordering, but this is a tartinette.  It's a toasted rectamgle of bread with tomato sauce, mushrooms and cheese topped with a fried egg.  Of course, there were a variety of toppings available.  Yummy.

It was fun to walk around this charming city in search of the 10 sites.  We found eight before heading east to see the lavender fields.  It's early in the season for lavender, but it was supposed to be in bloom at the lower levels of the region where it grows.  We stopped at an Office of Tourism at the beginning of "the lavender road" and picked up a map to guide us.  I have wanted to see these fields of beautiful lavender for a long time, and I was excited about driving through this area.  After miles of driving, this is the only lavender we saw along the road.

It was a very small field and I would have missed it, but Dolly's sharp eye caught a glimpse as we whizzed by.

The road took us to a hilltop town where we spotted a few small fields of lavender, which are at the left center, but we couldn't see how to get to them.  

It looked to us as if grapes were now the crop along this particular stretch of "the lavender road", and I wish the Office of Tourism would update their maps to save travelers like us from great disappointment.

On another day we visited the medieval city of Carcassone, which is on almost every list of "must see" sites in France.  It's pretty impressive from a distance.

But when you get inside, its streets are lined with tourist shops.  It would be better to go there after the shops close to get a better feel for what the old town might have been like.  We also drove on this day to Castelnaudary, the home of the famous French country dish, cassoulet.  The restaurant I had selected was, very unfortunately, closed for vacation, so we just asked around and were referred to a hotel restaurant.  The cassoulet was a real disappointment to both of us, but we ate some and went on our merry way.  Things don't always turn out as you hope they will.  It looks better than it tasted.  On second thought, it doesn't even look that good!

We drove to the seaside town of Sete on another day where we had lunch at a restaurant on the canal.

On our walk about town after lunch, we passed by this fishing boat where a horde of sea gulls were competing for the fishermen's discards from their morning catch.

On yet another day, we spent a few hours in Aigues-Mortes, the city from which the crusaders left several times.  There were some really nice shops there, and I finally replaced the reading glasses I gave to my friend Kadek in Bali.  This knight was modelling a pair of sunglasses.

On other days we went to local farmer's markets in town and nearby, walked or rode the tram around Montpellier, or just relaxed in our lovely apartment where we enjoyed this patio.

It was a lovely week with great weather and fantastic company.  Dolly and I are good travel mates.  We'll meet up again in Paris later this week.

LOVING LUCCA

I spent a week in one of my favorite places in Italy with my friend Maggie from Sydney.  Maggie is renting an apartment in Lucca for two months and invited me to stay with her, so I happily accepted her invitation.  Lucca is one of those smaller Italian cities where the enjoyment comes from just being there.  It's probably known best for the wall that surrounds it, which winds around the old part of the city for 4 kilometers.

There's a broad walkway where people do just that, as well as bicycle and rollerblade, and there are park benches and picnic tables where you can enjoy relaxing or picnicking under the shade of the trees.

Maggie's apartment is outside the city walls, and it took us about 20 minutes to reach our entry point which was right near the Duomo on the other side of the wsll.

It was really hot in Lucca when I was there last week....92° to 95° every day....so we would go out to the market or shopping or just walking on the wall or around town in the morning and go back to the apartment by 1 or 2 in the afternoon and then go out again in the evening when it cooled down...just like the natives, except they all seemed to stay up later than we did.  I didn't take a lot of photos here, but here are some highlights.

This is the Bascilica of San Frediano.  Lucca has about 100 churches.

Here's what a lot of people comes to see....the Guinigi Tower where you can climb up 230 stairs and walk around the garden at the top.  

Here's a view of it from the wall.

We went shopping one day and I thought this display of tools and gears made of chocolate was picture worthy.

This is the aquaduct near Maggie's apartment.

Her apartment was one of eight in a renovated farm house...it stayed very cool on the ground floor and I was grateful for that.

Her street was very pleasant to walk.

We went to Pisa on the train and saw the famous Leaning Tower.

Pisa is a pretty city with lots of shopping opportunities, and the Arno runs through it.

Here's Maggie making some kind of statement about life, I think.

Maggie really likes to shop, and her enthusiasm is contagious.

We had a very relaxing week together...going to the local markets, shopping, enjoying two concerts, Puccini and Mozart, and eating delicious Italian food.  And I'm sure Maggie is going to enjoy Lucca (a relief to me since I recommended it to her) as well as exploring other cities and villages in the beautiful province of Tuscany.

NO BUDA, AND ONLY A PEEK AT PEST

I didn't plan this leg of my journey very well.  I'm spending too much time traveling to get from one place to another.  So I had only two days to see Budapest, and you can't do it justice in that time.  My back was still in spasms and I decided I had to forego some sightseeing to get to one of the famous thermal baths here.  I booked myself for a healing massage at the oldest bath in the city.  I couldn't get in until the second day, so I had to take it easy on walking the first day.  I walked down Andrassy Boulevard mid-morning because it's supposed to be one of the most beautiful walks on the Pest side of the city.  

Who knew that there are two parts to this city--Buda and Pest.  Not me.  Anyway, Andrassy Boulevard takes you to Hero's Square, where you start to see the tourists.  I had to wait for a few minutes to get a good photo because some young guy decided to climb up by the horses at the bottom of the pillar and I really didn't want him in my picture.

The Italian embassy was right across the street and it warmed my heart to see the white, green, and red flying.

Adjacent to Hero's Square is the Museum of Fine Arts.  This photo is for my friend Andra.  We saw this Tolouse Lauttyrec exhibit in Avignon.

I decided to check out the museum's permanent collection, which is dominated by Dutch art.  I discovered a new (to me) artist whose one painting in this museum's collection was spectacular.  I wasn't allowed to take photos in the museum without a license, but I found this painting by the Austrian artist Max Lenz online.

After the hour long walk and 3 hours in the museum, my back gave out again and I had to head for my apartment where I was in bed for the rest of the day.  On the way, I stopped for an early dinner and had the obligatory bowl of goulash soup.

Every apartment is a liitle different in terms of the "extras" provided, e.g., salt. pepper, oil, etc.  But I was provided something here that was a first for me...condoms!  I had a good laugh when I saw them in the bathroom.

The following day, I walked again down Andrassy Boulevard because the spa is located in City Park behind Hero's Square.  It was a really nice park with lots of family oriented activities.  There was a nice lake there.

The spa is really beautiful.  And it's huge.  This is about a quarter of the outside pool area.  Then there are several pools in that yellow building.

It's very easy to get lost trying to find your way around.  It took me 30 minutes to find the room where the massage was done, and that's with a map!  I got immediate relief from my back spasms with the massage and then I spent close to two hours in the thermal bath.  It was a rejuvenating experience.  I met three lovely young women, two from Boston and one from Canada and we chatted the whole time about travel experiences and other sundry topics.  They recommended a restaurant near their hostel, and because they were clearly "foodies" like me, I went to find it.  

I had ordered and was waiting for my meal when the three of them walked in.  I was surprised because they were going to go shopping for souvenirs, but they couldn't find any shops in the area and were starving like me.  So, Sammy, Katerina, Jen and I enjoyed a traditional Hungarian meal together at, of all places, the Bali Cafe, and happily engaged in yet another gabfest.  These young women were absolutely delightful.

When I got back to the apartment, I wanted to relax a bit before I went to take a cruise on the Danube.  I was so relaxed after the massage and thermal bath that I nodded off and didn't wake up until close to 8 p.m.  I had to repack my luggage to get my check-in bag under 15 kilo (avoid Ryan Airlines unless you're traveling light) and also arrange for transport to the airport, so I missed the cruise.  I can't believe I was in Budapest and never saw the Danube or the Buda in Budapest.  I did see the Danube from the train coming into the city, but I really wanted to do the cruise.  I got what I really needed, though--pain relief, and it seems to be lasting.  

I flew to Milan today and am now on my way by train to Lucca, west of Florence, one of my favorite towns in Italy to meet Maggie, my Sydney friend, who will be spending the summer there.  I'll be with her for a week.

So I shortchanged Budapest, but I did get a few photos that will give you a feel for the Pest side.  This is the Opera House.

And this is a typical city street.

I don't know if this is an important building, but it should be.

I think I need to come back here again to give this lovely city its due.