Paris: Ile de la Cité

A good night's sleep performed miracles and I was ready to begin my second day in France, refreshed and free from jet lag. Our destination this morning was Ile de la Cité, the island in the River Seine where the city of Paris had its origins.

Ile de la Cité, Paris

Aix-en-Provence: Cézanne's Hometown

The city of Aix-en-Provence is the mid-point between other major cities in the south of France. As such, both of my visits there have been little more than brief lunch stops on the way to somewhere else. The first time, while travelling from Arles to Monte Carlo, we arrived a little early so I had trouble even finding a proper lunch (but I had no problem getting a glass of rosé).

Cours Mirabeau, Aix-en-Provence

Opera and Shakespeare in Verona

This week I’m back to my posts about Italy, picking up in the north as we journey from Lake Maggiore towards the Adriatic coast. At mid-day we stopped for lunch in  the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Verona, a city best known as the setting for Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet as well as its Roman ruins and summer opera festival.

The Verona Arena

A Taste of Rome on Piazza Navona

The highlight of my visit to Rome last summer was dinner on Piazza Navona, one of the city's most popular squares. Located in Rome's centro storico, historic centre, the square takes its oblong shape and dimensions from the Stadium of Domitian which originally stood here.

Rome's Jewish Ghetto and Pantheon Neighbourhood

While visiting Italy this summer, major restoration projects on the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain altered a planned walking tour, taking us instead through Rome's Jewish Quarter and then on to the ancient Pantheon. 

Theatre of Marcellus

The Via Veneto, Rome

La dolce vita. The sweet life.

You're probably familiar with the phrase even if you've never seen the iconic Fellini film of the same name. La Dolce Vita depicts the hedonism of 1950s Rome. It also made the Via Veneto famous.

Gardens of the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild

The Cap Ferrat peninsula in the south of France is home to the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, a spectacular pink mansion in the grand belle époque style. The villa is famous for its gardens - nine different themes featured in all.

Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, Cap Ferrat

Tossing a Coin in the Trevi Fountain

The film Three Coins in the Fountain popularized the custom of throwing a coin into Rome's Trevi Fountain and thus ensuring your return to the Eternal City. The first time I tried my luck, the currency was the lira; more recently I used a euro coin. And now I've  planned another trip to Italy, so I'd say the ritual works.

The Trevi Fountain, Rome

Eze: Perched Village of the Côte d'Azur

High above the azure waters of the Mediterranean Sea, wedged between the scenic coastline and the rugged Alpes-Maritimes, Eze Village is one of the perched villages of the Côte d'Azur. The medieval town is referred to as Eze Village to differentiate it from the beach resort, Eze Bord de Mer, 400 metres below it on the coast.

Eze Village

Monte Carlo

St. Remy de Provence, July 2012 - We boarded our motor coach this morning at 9:00 a.m. and reunited with our cruise director to say farewell to Provence. We were about to embark on the final leg of our journey with Avalon Waterways enroute to the French Riviera and the tiny principality of Monaco.

A couple of hours later, Mont St. Victoire rose in the distance as we approached the city of Aix-en Provence for a mid-day lunch stop.

Mont St. Victoire

Afternoon in Arles

Arles, July 2012 - This was the last day of our Burgundy and Provence river cruise with Avalon Waterways. We'd spent the morning in the French countryside touring an olive farm and the hilltop town of Les Baux de Provence. Following lunch on board ship our afternoon was dedicated to a walking tour of Arles.

Tour de la Cavalerie and Arles City Gate

Dan Brown's Inferno: Florence in Photos

Dan Brown's latest novel, Inferno, was released on May 14th, just in time for a rainy long weekend. It was hard to put the book down as I followed Robert Langdon on another thrilling chase through the streets of Florence and Venice. And it prompted me to look up my photos of some of the locations from the book.

Inferno opens with a mysterious character running north from the Arno River, behind a palazzo with a crenellated tower, through Piazza di San Firenze toward the spire of the Badia.

Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

Piazza di San Firenze and the Badia Spire

"X" is for Aix-en-Provence

This is Day 24 for the

Blogging from A to Z Challenge

for 2013.

The letter for today is a tough one but my choice of topic, the town of Aix-en-Provence in France, is known simply as 'Aix' (and pronounced 'X').

As the name suggests, the city of Aix is located in Provence. A large fountain at the centre of La Rotonde once marked the entry to the town.

La Rotonde Fountain, Aix-en-Provence

"D" is for Dolphin

This is Day 4 for the

Blogging from A to Z Challenge

for 2013.

My topic for today is the dolphin, an aquatic mammal found all around the world. There are both common and bottlenose dolphins in the Mediterranean.


In communities around the sea it's a popular subject for statues and fountains. Depictions of the dolphin in art go back to the Minoans at the Palace of Knossos on Crete. The Fontana del Moro in Piazza Navona in Rome also features a Moor wrestling with a dolphin.

As we travelled to the south of France, the first place I noticed the dolphin was on a statue in the Camargue town of Aigues-Mortes. The fountain sits at the base of a statue of St. Louis, King Louis IX of France.

Dolphin on a Statue of St. Louis

Lyon - Silk and Gastronomy

Our second day in the city of Lyon begins with an optional excursion (39 Euros) to the city's Silk Museum and a foodie's paradise, Les Halles Paul Bocuse. The tour began at 8:30 a.m. with our departure for La Maison des Canut in the Croix Rousse area, where the art and history of silk weaving in Lyon were explained.

The Silk Museum of Lyon

Rome and the Vatican

Roma, May 2010 - We had been travelling through England, France and Italy with Trafalgar's Contrasts of Europe train tour. Now in Rome, this would be the group's final day together.

Visitors line up along the Vatican Wall

Grand Tour Rome

Firenze, May 2010 - We were about to embark on the final leg of our journey with Trafalgar's Contrasts of Europe train tour through England, France and Italy with a short trip from Florence to Rome's Termini station.

Before checking into our hotel, we took an orientation tour of those same ancient sights that had attracted earlier travellers on their Grand Tours of Europe. We drove past the Baths of Diocletian and the ruins of the Roman Forum to arrive near the Arch of Constantine for a tour of the Colosseum.

Arch of Constantine