The coast between France and Spain

BANYULS sur le MER -- What a drive from Collioure, where we spent the night last night, to Barcelona. The winding roads through the mountains connected quaint seaside villages, each one more picturesque than the next. This is France's answer to Cinque Terre in Italy, although the towns are further apart and the views only slightly less dramatic.

The beaches leave a little to be desired by our island standards, but we all noted how much recreation and activities the French can cram into a small stretch of greyish sand . It's the high season here, too, so the beaches, restaurants and well maintained streets and plazas are all crowded. One would guess these towns are quite different in the winter, returning to their roots as fishing villages and artist enclaves (in fact Collioure has a very colorful - pun intended - artistic past as Matisse spent a lot of time here and did some of his best work inspired by the dramatic scenery).

I am on the verge of culture overload and we still have Barcelona ahead of us.

Collioure, France

COLLIOURE - On our way from Aix to Barcelona to visit the Greenwoods we stopped in the seaside town of Collioure. A truly postcard like setting that inspired the likes of Matisse, this is some of the best France has to offer in seaside resorts (with all due respect to the more famous Cote D'Azur)
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Drive by in St Remy de Provence

SAINT REMY de PROVENCE - A very cool town to which we did not do nearly enough justice, at least in this first drive by. We are headed to Barcelona and stopped here for lunch. Quaint town dripping with history, most notably where Van Gough went nuts. It is the quintessential Provencal town...we'll be back..

The best pizza in Aix

Pizza, in France? You bet

AIX en PROVENCE -- Le Cours Mirabeau is the main drag through X and I directed the girls to the best pizza in town - a little stand that serves it up all day and night. They munched on on it while a street performer played American music to the delight of the summer crowds.

Of course, Chico (bottom of photo) mooched...

Cafe living in Aix

One of a zillion little cafes in Aix that serve up the best Rose

AIX en PROVENCE -- The girls are already getting used to the lifestyle.

Turks and Caicos reunion in Burgundy

Isabel with Havana (right) and the girls (and Chico, of course)

A traditional  Borguoyne lunch whipped up by Isabel

SEVIGNY de ROSENVORT -- We met up with Isabel, who was Savannah's baby sitter when she was just one year old! A random Facebook connection the day before alerted us to the fact that Isabel lives only about an hour form Dijon so we had to stop in for a visit. It turned out to be an over-nighter as we settled in comfortably to her beautiful country house (an old mill) and the girls enjoyed the company of her five year old Havana, as well as numerous goats, chickens and Che the fat cat. It was a perfect stop over and great to catch up with our old TCI friend

Isabel moved to this little town in Burgundy from Hong Kong, where she lived for several years with her husband Perry, a pilot for Cathay Pacific (whom she met in TCI when he was flying for Sky King). Perry still lives there but gets to France about once a month. She is originally from Quebec so speaks fluent French and has made quite a life for herself, including running the 'jite' (sort alike a B&B) upstairs in the two bedroom apartment they renovated beautifully. Havana even has her own business, selling the eggs her chickens produce (1 euro for half dozen and Hubert gave them two thumbs up).

Savannah was the goat feeder

Baume Les Messieurs

BAUME les MESSIEURS - Isabel took us to a very cool place near her house. It's kind of like France's version of the Grand Canyon, on a much smaller scale. This picture shows us looking down into the canyon, which literally reveals the generations of evolution in the earth's history on the stone walls on either side.

Barely visible at the very top of the picture is a town called called Baume les Messieuers which is nestled in the base of the canyon. It's a tiny town and you have to wind down a narrow road to get to it. We enjoyed a traditional local meal there, including local trout that populate the cold water streams which run through the canyon.

A day trip to Beaune

BEAUNE - Beaune (pronounced bone) is a quaint little town in the heart of burgundy, one of the premier wine producing regions in France. It's a prototypical small France town with lots of old buildings, narrows streets and great cafes. The main attraction there is an old hospital, now a museum,  called the Hopices de Beanue. It was built by Belgians (according to Hubert) under direction from the Dukes of Burgundy who had re-located from the region to Bruges, Belgium where a similar hospital existed.

We had intended to spend the night in Beuane, or close by, but we got word that Elisabeth's wedding ring, which she had lost that morning at the Hotel Wilson, had been found, so we headed back to Dijon for the night. Needless to say Elisabeth was relieved and happy to go back.