We found another piece of paradise in Provence on Monday the 11th when we drove down to Cassis. We took a rather ugly route down from Arles to Marseille, passing many factories and urban housing developments. However, upon arriving in Marseille at the Vieux Port (the old harbor), we were immediately charmed by this city […]

We’re enjoying another fantastic stay at the Domaine des Clos on the edge of Provence, France. We stayed here for four nights last summer while we planned a tour with four couples from Sarasota that is about to start (June 13) in Avignon. David and Sandrine Ausset have created a retreat from an old farm. […]

We’re on the Autoroute heading for our country B&B near Avignon. This year, for the first time, we notice that many of the gas stations along the motorway feature wi-fi, or in French, “wee fee.” How cool is this! Fill up with some insanely expensive diesel and get free internet access along with your $3 […]

We stopped on Saturday in the interesting old university town of Tuebingen, near Stuttgart. The editor of “German Life” magazine had asked me to take several photographs of the town to support an article in an upcoming issue. I’d been in Tuebingen about a month ago but got shut down by rain. Today, no rain […]

There’s this great little pub and restaurant where we like to go with our guests or just the two of us. The place has a unique name, ‘Hell.’ This comes from the time when towns did not have street names but rather, district names. Any place where it was always dark and gloomy was considered […]

Our good friend Mark Schmidt, the same person we have purchased our last three company vehicles from, offered us a ‘test drive’ today in a new VW Beetle convertable. I couldn’t say ‘yes’ fast enough. Jenean, newly arrived from America, poses with the skyline of Rothenburg in the background.

The Romans extended their empire all the way into England and this is well known. What is not so well known is that the capital of the empire north of the Alps (not counting England) was Treverum, later known as Trier, Germany’s oldest city at more than 2,000 years. Trier boasts a wealth of excellent […]

My Volkswagen diesel van takes a little oil from time to time. This is normal for a high performance rig like the one we drive around Europe. Sometimes I have to buy a liter (a little less than a quart) of oil at a gas station. It costs a fraction more than at the dealer […]