Auckland Harbor

Waitematā Harbour

Waitematā Harbour (locally and commonly referred to as Auckland Harbor) is the entrance to the northern and eastern side of Auckland from the Pacific Ocean.  Auckland is described as an isthmus and has the shallower Manukau Harbor on the west and southern side of the city.  It is Auckland Harbor where the large cruise ships and yachts dock.   There are several wharves one of which, Princes Wharf, has been redeveloped into a public space with restaurants, a Hilton Hotel, and shops. The buildings here are designed to look like ocean liners.  Complaints from the city with some of the venues, i.e. Hilton, charge that public access is too frequently denied.  Hilton claims they are protecting the area from drug dealers. (I guess big pharma is trying to set up business there.)  Whereas the access restrictions seem to apply when private functions are in progress. Another contentious project is a proposal to build a wharf to accommodate the Americas Cup.  Opponents fear the harbor will be compromised.  UIKeyInputDownArrow

The harbor is straight down the hill from our apartment.  We took the 20 minute walk down for lunch, and found an area bustling with cruisers.  My first discovery was a burger is lamb, not beef.  The restaurants we saw on Princes Wharf had the “hurry up and serve me tourist” in mind.  We walked further along the water front where a former Americas Cup boat with its most impressive keel is mounted and then across a draw bridge where we saw some other pretty impressive boats. A big crowd had gathered to watch three rather muscular guys having fun diving, cannon balling and belly flopping into the Viaduct.  Over the draw bridge the area became more resident apparent with kids in a play area and food trucks.  At the very end we found the 1% again.  Docked were some yachts the size of an apartment complex.  Chief among them was Senses owned by Larry Page.

View from the Viaduct

Tonight we went to the local cinema to see The Shape of Water.  I gave it 5 stars for excellent story telling, beautiful cinematography with a consistent tone and atmosphere, and top notch acting.  If you have a chance before the Oscars, go.  

Photos of the day are at flickr.

Edit

City of Sails

Sunrise, Auckland

I asked Wayne how he would describe the feel of Auckland. He said, “youthful, exuberant, casual.”  I agree.  Even the mortar and brick feel that way with restaurants that seem to spring up in every open space, highrises under construction and new roads everywhere.  A strong Asian influence is evident with sushi bars on every corner.  There is an abundance of laughter among groups, smiles grace every face that greets us, and niceties are in regular use.

Sky Tower

We ate lunch at the foot of the Sky Tower, Auckland’s answer to the Seattle Space Needle.  Today scattered showers came and went, and we opted for a visit to the nearby Auckland Art Gallery, saving the top of the Tower for a sunny day. The Gallery holds a mixture of New Zealand artists, European art and contemporary exhibitions.  It is tiny in comparison to European and US museums we have visited.  The building was recently redeveloped and has received 17 architectural and 6 design-related awards.

You can see pictures at flickr.

Up, Up in the Air

Auckland Harbor from The Metropolis

Yesterday (or was it the day before yesterday) I felt like Tom Hanks in The Terminal, forever trapped in LAX.  But, airborn we did become finally and stayed such for 15 hours.  We were fortunate enough to be in an exit row with plenty of leg room, unfortunate to be next to the bathrooms where people gathered to chat and stretch.  So, sleep was sporadic.  

View from The Metropolis. Lower right corner is houka land where we had pizza.

We disembarked to a sunny warm Auckland, a nice transport to town, and a lovely 26th floor apartment in The Metropolis.  The location is convenient to restaurants, parks and the harbor.  There are millions of young people (ok thousands) in the area. Auckland University and the University of Auckland are nearby.  Smoking the houka seems to be a favorite pastime for them. All the open air restaurants serve the houka at tables where it is shared around.  

It is brutally as steep here as San Francisco.  We trekked up and down for 30 minutes to the local market, Countdown,  then later realized the same market was a 3 minute walk the other direction. Exhausted from jet lag and mountain climbing, we ate pizza and inhaled second hand houka smoke before retiring early.

The very nice park and wonderful trees adjacent to our apartment.

On the Road Again

San Diego Skyline

We left San Diego with some regret in our hearts.  When visiting here, we are always tempted to sell everything and move.  Then we remember there are other places like Italy, Japan, Russia, Alaska.....just calling our names.  Today we have a long day’s journey into day after tomorrow.  I think!  We left San Diego at 11:30 am on Wed Jan 31 and will arrive in Auckland, NZ on Friday Feb 2.  Those of you who have crossed the International Dateline understand.  It’s difficult for me to keep this straight.  Although it is Wednesday here, it is already Thursday in Auckland where our reservation requires advanced notice for airport pick up on Friday.  Added to the travel ordeal is our 11 hour layover in LAX.  Rather than sitting in congested wait areas and listening to intercom announcements for 11 hours, we bit the bullet and bought a day pass for the AA Admiral Lounge.  I highly recommend spending extended airport time with the 1%.  Waiters circle constantly asking if they could serve you.  All food and drink is gratis.  There are showers, a beautiful bar area.  And, you could hear a pin drop.  We’ll check back in here tomorrow from the souther hemisphere.  Or is that day after tomorrow?

AA Admiral Lounge 

Old Town

Olde Town Selfie

UIKEYINPUTDOWNARROW Old Town San Diego founded in 1769 was California’s first settlement with only a mission and a fort. Some of the original buildings remain.  But for the most part it’s a tourist destination with some history but mostly ticky tacky shops and medium grade restaurants.  The best part are the huge and varied cacti.   We tried the tacos and found our IB Street tacos to still be the best beyond compare.  

Tonight was the best sunset yet.  A few more pictures are at flickr.

USS Midway

USS Midway Flight Deck

 We spent the day down at the San Diego Navy Pier where the cruise ships dock, the ferry runs to Coronado Island, the harbor cruises depart and the really, really, really big USS Midway is docked.  On board the Midway one is free to roam through out the hanger and the flight deck as well as quarters below deck.  There are dozens of docents around to answer questions. They were interesting to talk to and reminded me of my Uncle Carlton and Aunt Juanita, docents at the Marine Museum. San Diego is where the Top Gun Navy pilots train.  One docent told us that a sequel to the Top Gun movie again starring Tom Cruise is being filmed.  The docents are convinced that Tom will retire after that sequel and come to the Midway to be a docent.

The control area of the ship requires a tour, which we took with a docent who described how the ship operates.  What a complicated and necessarily coordinated set of actions required to run an aircraft
carrier.  They could take off and land an aircraft every 45 seconds.  I was surprised at the variety of aircraft, too.  The Midway served during the Korean and Vietnam actions and was retired in 1992.

ART sculpture on Imperial Beach

The best tacos in the world

See more picture of the USS Midway at flickr

Balboa Park

Selfie, Balboa Park

We spent this 80 degree day at Balboa Park.  We couldn’t stop smiling!  Balboa Park is an urban masterpiece of museums, theaters, open space, restaurants, and the San Diego Zoo.  

1200 acres practically in the center of San Diego have been set aside for residents and visitors to mingle.  Buskers performed here and there; Girl Scouts were selling cookies; non-profits were promoting good will; a drumming group was practicing; everyone was just chillin’ California style. These were only a few of the very civic, inclusive activities that abounded.  We visited the San Diego Museum of Art and focused on a a show of modern Latin American art from one man’s collection. Art was followed up with a charcuterie platter in a lovely open air restaurant.
You may see photos of the day at flickr.

Well, You Say It’s Your Birthday

UIKEYINPUTDOWNARROW

Sunset, Imperial Beach

One of our favorite things about Imperial Beach are the sunsets.  Every night is a different show of color.  We are still waiting for the green flash, though.  I particularly wonder at the silver light on the water. 

Tonight Phil and Kathy invited us to dinner at their home.  San Diego is very hilly, and their home sits high above Olde Town where they have an expansive view of the harbor and downtown.  It was Phil’s birthday and included a group of their friends who had not previously met one another.  We were an interesting group of 3 scientists, an engineer, 2 artists, a psychiatrist, a school superintendent and a 14 year old.  Kathy prepared 2 fabulous paella, one meat and one seafood.  She also made ice cream.  I now know my next birthday present request.  We tried to analyze the psyche of the country in this Trump era.  No conclusions or remedies were found.  So then we just had more wine.

San Diego Bay

San Diego Meet Up

Coronado Hotel, Coronado Island

We started our day with a drive through Coronado Island, over the Coronado Bridge and into San Diego.  Coronado Island is not an island.  It is connected to Imperial Beach with an isthmus.  It is a pleasing way to get to San Diego.  And the view of the bridge from the island as well as the drive over it is breath taking.  Our final destination was the Fashion Valley Mall and the Apple store.  We needed a device we thought could play our iPad movies on the tv.  Lunch was had there at a place called Stacks where one uses an iPad to choose the basic entree. An image of that entree appears, then one “drags” images of extras onto that choice.  For example, if one chooses a burger, one can then drag pictures of cheese, lettuce, etc onto that burger.  We needed to call the waiter over 3 times for instruction.  The resulting food was very good, though.  Plus, all the waiters had washboard abdomens.

Tonight we had dinner with Phil and Kathy at Au Revoir, a San Diego French bistro.  Food was great, company wonderful, French waiter delightful.  We shared stories of family, recent travels and local politics.

PS The Apple device would not work to display anything provided by Comcast.
&*^%*^%@$%#% Comcast.

View of the Pacific from Condo. It’s like being on a ship.

Imperial Beach Condo 

Coronado Bridge

First, Imperial Beach

As we take off for two months in New Zealand and Australia it is 20* in Wareham. We are looking forward to a stop in sunny San Diego for a breather and time Kathy, Phil and Lola.  It will be good to wriggle our toes in the Pacific, shake off the ice of New England and drink Margaritas with the family before the arduous 36 hour trip. 

We arrived in San Diego at midnight our time but 9 pm here.  For a brief time we though we would spend midnight in Philly.  The Boston flight had mechanical trouble delaying our departure by an hour and a half.  When we landed in Philly we had 15 minutes to get off the plane, change terminals, and board our flight.  Thank god I can still run.  And, credit to the airlines, our luggage made it too.  We are in the same condo of 2 years ago in Imperial Beach, a cool community about 15 miles south of San Diego and about 1 mile from Mexico.  It’s comfortable and fun returning to this little funky community.  It’s a blend of Mexican Americans (who are the friendliest people), surfers, a few (few?) old hippies, some rich folks, and vacationer sorts like us. No building along the beach is higher than 4 stories.  And, there is amply open space and access to the beach.  

Imperial Beach.  Midnight moon over the Pacific

This morning we awoke to a chill in the air.  It’s predicted to be in the low 60’s for 2 days.  We aren’t complaining.  The sound of the Pacific surf, the sight of early morning surfers and the thought of lunch time tacos were enough to shake off any chill.  Today has been spent shopping for some staples and recuperating from our 12 hours of travel.  Oh, and eating street tacos. 

View from Condo looking toward San Diego

View from Condo looking toward Mexico

Tijuana from the front of the condo.

Do You Know the Way to San Diego

Seville and the Road to Lisbon

Wayne and John at the 

John and Kathy Lima drove to Seville from Lisbon yesterday.  They have been spending the winter in Lisbon since January, and offered to pick up us and take us to Lisbon from where we will fly home.  We went to the Abades Triana for dinner.  As yesterday's lunch, the presentation and service for exceeded the food.  But we had fun walking there and back.  Kathy and John recalled places they had stayed in the past.  This morning we packed up and headed for Lisbon.  John took us through the Algarve area, which is beautiful.  We stopped in Sesimbra for lunch.  Sesimbra is an ocean side village whose main industry is tourism and fishing.  The tourists go for the beach.  We went for the octopus.  

A short drive from there landed us at the Lima's apartment.  It is very nice, comfortable and homey.  There is a great view of a plaza where various activities can be enjoyed from women dancing to men practicing Tai Chi and kiosks selling goods.  Across the plaza is a hill covered in colorful buildings and the Castle sitting atop.  

Wayne and Kathy admire Watson's Work

We set off to explore that little hill with its very steep, narrow roads.  Our first discovery was the wall photographs of Camilla Watson. She uses a method that lets her develop photographs onto wood of people who lived in the area.  They are hung along the streets.  What a wonderful way to remember and honor the people of the neighborhood.  

Wayne in the Pantheon Dome

Further on our walk we visited several churches, rich with tiles and the Pantheon.  Originally the Church of Santa Engracia, it was converted in 1916 into a Pantheon where Portuguese personalites are entombed.  

Dinner tonight was at an Italian restaurant on the Rua Augusta, a pedestrian way with restaurants cheek to jowl.  After dinner we walked down to the river where live music was playing.  

Pictures of our glorious day at flickr.

Plaza de Espana

Wayne at the Plaza Espana

Today we walked to the Plaza de Espana in the Parque de Mariea Louisa.  The Plaza was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition.  So by relative terms it is new to Seville.  The architecture is a mis of Renaissance Revival and Moorish Revival.  In other words, fabulous.  There are tiled alcoves along the plaza that represent the different towns in Spain.  People were sitting in them for a portrait with their home town alcove.  

Torre del Oro seem from the Abades Triana Restaurant

Our other goal of the day was to check out and have lunch at Abades Triana Restaurante.  It sits on the other side of the Canal de Alfonso, has a glass front that offers a view of the Torre de Oro across the canal.  I had a whole bass baked in Salt, Wayne had duck and we both shared Iberian jamon.  The presentations were above board.  The jamon was shaved and presented at the table. The bass was uncovered and deboned at the table.  The view was nice with kyakers, scullers, and rowers continuing up and down the canal.  We decided to book a table for dinner with the Limas, who are coming tomorrow to take us to Lisbon.  
More pictures at flickr.

Polishing the Silver

Iglisia Salvador

A day of exploring took us to the Iglisia Salvador which is constructed on the remains of the 9th century main mosque in Seville.  It faces the Plaza del Salvador which was busy with bars and patrons. The Church of the Savior is Sevilla’s 2nd biggest church, and is decorated in the Andalusian Baroque style. Baroque doesn’t exactly jive with my personal decorating tastes. It’s a bit, um, ornate for me. The cathedral was absolutely dripping with silver and gold leaf, and everything that could possibly be covered with ornate carvings was packed full of ‘em.It’s a great chance to see one of the floats that is carried in each year’s Holy Week Parade. There were 4 of them just dripping with silver (Oh, that Inquisition did pay off) and being polished by a devotee.  

We spent another evening sipping wine and watching the bats fly from the Giralda Tower.  Tomorrow John and Kathy come from Lisbon to spend the night.  They will drive us to Lisbon for a visit and then our flight home.  

Pictures at flickr.

April Fools' and Moor

Olive Groves Granada

On April Fools' Day we drove to Granada to see the Alhambra.  Wayne has wanted to visit there since he studied about it in College.  I've also wanted to go since my college days and learning of the Moorish designs.  We got the rental car out of the garage (an ordeal in itself), maneuvered the 5' wide, pedestrian packed streets out of Seville, drove 3 hours, parked and walked to the ticket gate.  APRIL FOOLS'   There were no tickets, no more entries allowed.  In fa

ct there were no more tickets available until May unless one wanted to get in the 4am line the next day as described to us by the guard.  I guess we've become a little cavalier as well as naive.  On the positive side, the drive was beautiful with surprises of snow capped Sierra Nevada mountains around Granada.

The Alcazar

We appeased ourselves for the previous day's disappointment and visited the Savilla Alcazar.  The Alcazar is a royal palace still used by the royal family.  It was originally built by the Moorish Muslim kings and is regarded as one of the best examples of mudejar architecture on the Iberian Peninsula.  So, there!, Alhambra.  The buildings open one after another into courtyards filled with the aroma of orange blossoms.  There are 17 1/2 acres of gardens.  To us the most beautiful room was was the Hall of Ambassadors in which a semi-spherical vaulted ceiling has golden pendants made to look like stars in a night sky.  Hopefully, my pictures will do a sufficient job to illustrated the various tiles and plaster work which is almost lace-like in appearance. We were surprised that the Moors ruled here for  700 years.  That is not an occupation.  That is a permanence that remained in architectural design, influenced music and language.    

Night Life in Seville

It is true that Spaniards disappear during the afternoon to reappear at night.  Most places close and stop serving lunch at 4pm. This suits are napping time just fine.  They open again at 8 or 9 for dinner and shopping.  The above picture was taken at 10pm to show how many people are still out, eating and strolling.  The temperatures are perfect for encouraging this.  It has become hot in the sun during the day but cool at night.  

Pictures at Flickr 

Video at YouTube

Seville

Andalusia Vineyards

Yes, that is a vineyard.  Just one of the miles and miles of vineyards that we saw as we drove from Valencia to Seville.  Once the vineyards vanished, then the miles and miles of olive groves appeared.  I thought that Greece had more olive trees than I had ever seen.  I believe Spain now holds that place.  And, in between the vineyards and the olive groves were acres of grasses (oats and barley I think) so green it was surreal.  I kept trying to capture it all in photos, but alas I'm afraid I failed.  

Seville Apartment

Our VRBO has a distinctive Spanish flair to it.  Marble floors and stucco walls give way to high ceilings and wrought iron works. We are on the bottom floor of a 3 story building that encloses a courtyard.  There are some drawbacks, but the location overcomes any negatives.  We can walk to the most interesting and beautiful parts of the city.  A few steps from the apartment is the Seville Cathedral and the Alcazar.   

The Cathedral of St Mary of the See

The Seville Cathedral is the largest Gothic cathedral and the third largest church in the world.  The scale and volume of the space can take your breath.  Notice the size of people next to the columns.  They are completely dwarfed.  It has the longest nave of any cathedral in Spain.  The many chapels are so ornate that I found them almost vulgar.  But they are filled with Della Robin sculptures, Murillo paintings and undisturbed stained glass.  There is an orange garden adjacent to the Cathedral that was filled with the aroma of orange blossoms.  

Cathedral at Night

The bell tower or La Giralda has bats.  Bats in the belfry.  Our very funny waiter on our first evening confirmed that for us. And then he said, "they shit all over everything."  On our third evening we sat at an outdoor table beneath the tower, listening to flamenco music, drinking sangria and watching the bats fly.  

photos at Flickr

The Pig on YouTube

Cathedral on YouTube

Valencia

Estancia del Nord

We spent two days in Valencia in the Zenit Hotel on the edge of the Barrio del Carmen and across from the Estacio del Nord (north train station). The train station is considered a jewel of the city.  It was built between 1906 and 1917 in the Moderniste style which on the exterior boasts high relief sculptures of flowers and fruits and an interior ablaze with mosaics decorating every square foot.  The wrought iron canopy of the train platforms finishes the feast.  We didn't arrive at this station but at the high speed train station a few blocks away.  We spent the remainder of our 2 days on foot admiring the mixed architecture of Roman, Medieval, Moderniste, Gothic and contemporary buildings.  We spent time in 5 of them.

The Valencia Cathedra

The Valencia Cathedral is believed to sit on the site of a former mosque.  This is true of many buildings in Valencia that were either razed or converted when the Moors were defeated and driven from the city.  Many aspects of the Valencian architecture give a nod to Moorish design.  Like many structures that have existed through millineum, the cathedral is a mixture of Romanesque, Baroque Renaissance and Neo-Classical but predominantly Gothic.  There is a beautiful octagonal tower of white stone at the Transcept.  And the Vatican claims the Holy Grail is here.  I can attest to that.  I saw it.  Tell Monty Python they can stop the quest.  

The Central Market

On Sunday we strolled through the Central Market, the one of the oldest and largest in Europe.  The building is art nouveau with stained glass and mosaics.  But the food!  The food!  There are over 1000 stalls each specializing in seasonal produce, fish, meats, cheeses.  

La Lonja

Across from the market is la Lonja, the 15th century silk exchange.  It is one of the best examples of Gothic civil architecture in Europe.  There are the most amusing high reliefs sculpted into door arches  and on columns.  Pictures on flickr will include a dragon breast feeding from an angle.  A woman collecting excrement from two men, a devil using a bellow to blow up an animals anus.  Boy!  Those silk merchants were rascals.  

L' Oceanographic 

In the 1957 the Turia river flooded in Valencia causing significant damage and killing 81 people.  In response, the river was rerouted south of the city, and a greenway created in its place. At the end of the greenway and the edge of the Mediterranean is the City of Arts and Sciences.  This complex houses a planetarium, an interactive museum of science, an opera house, and the Oceanographic center.  All the buildings are impressive glass and steel structures.  We visited the Oceanographic park where each building represented different aquatic environments.  Most of the display is underground with a setting that seems more naturalistic. 

Monday in Valencia at flickr.
Tuesday in Valencia at flickr.

Barcelona

Placa Real

We've been in Barcelona for the past 2 days.  We forgot how bustling a city is after our time in Provence.  As soon as we alighted from the train, we were met with throngs of people rushing through the station, transferring to the underground, taxis or busses.  We took the underground to Placa Catalunya, a large open tiled square with sculptures, a fountain, people everywhere and pigeons galore.  It was only a 10 minute walk from there to our hotel.  We're never sure what a hotel will bring when it was found through an internet search.  But we hit the jackpot with Hotel Catedral.  We are adjacent to the Barcelona Cathedral and the Barri Gotic.  

Barcelona Cathedral Cloister

The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia (colloquially known as La Seu) is Gothic and built in the 13th-15th centuries.  We couldn't understand why the facade looked newer and more modern than that until we overheard a guide explain it was constructed in the 19th century over the "nondescript exterior".  The interior is quite lavish with gold everywhere.  Mass was being conducted while we were there so our observations were limited. My favorite part was the cloisters where 13 white geese are kept to commemorate the martyrdom of Eulalia at age 13. Wayne kept insisting they were being fattened for foie gras.   La Seu sits raised above the Placa. The Placa is always filled with people and performers.  Sunday there was a small band playing on the steps and locals dancing a traditional ring dance.  Across the square very athletic young men were performing gymnastics.  

The Barri Gotic is not as old as one would assume with this name.  Most of it was built in the 19th and 20th century.  There are Medieval buildings to be found, however.  We liked walking through the labyrinth of small streets and then suddenly finding ourselves in an open square.  Favorite among these was the Placa Real, a place we remembered from 20 years ago.  There are restaurants cheek to jowl here.  On the afternoon of our arrival, we just picked one with a vacant table outside and on the square's edge.  Luckily they had a wonderful paella and grilled squid.  That night we returned to the district and had tapas where one self serves from an array of tapas and is charged by the number of toothpicks on the plate.  

Casa Mila

Next to La Seu is the Antoni Gaudi museum.  Our intention with our one full day was to visit some of the Gaudi buildings.  The museum seemed the perfect place to start.  The curator has done a thorough job of documenting Gaudi's life and explaining his design sources and inspirations.  Two of Gaudi's best know buildings are within a few blocks of one another.  We admired the exterior of one and explored the interior of the other.  Originally built as an apartment building, today La Pedrera houses commerce on the ground floor, 4 private residences and the remainder opened for tours.  The main courtyard is beautiful with frescos and undulating walls.  Each apartment occupies a floor and circles completely around the interior courtyard.  The roof is amazing with stucco chimneys that look like stormtroopers from Star Wars and glass covered arches. 

We continued on our way to Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's famous unfinished church.  The area seemed more of a tourist destination that we remembered.  The facing park was beautiful with blooming red bud trees.  But the front of the church was packed with tour busses and lines of visitors.  We elected not to go in.  We had been in before and had a dinner date we needed to be back for.  Instead we visited Michael Collins' Irish pub where we repeated our experience of 20 years ago and had a refreshing beer.  Nothing had changed.  It is a terrific Irish pub with a very long bar extending through 3 rooms, dilapidated tables and showcases full of dusty stuffed birds, one mangy fox, and IRA uniforms.  The bartender was from County Cork but didn't know my ancestors from County Claire.  

Continuing in the vein of our nostalgic agenda we returned to the 7 Portas for dinner.  I have two sea snail shells from a dish we had on our first visit.  Wayne was determined to collect more but we couldn't determine from the menu which dish to order.  We finally looked up the snail on the internet and showed the waiter.  He not only got us the dish but later brought a bag for our snail shells.  Off the Valencia tomorrow.  
Saturday in Barcelona on flickr.
Sunday in Barcelona on flickr.
Barcelona Gymnists on YouTube
Music at the Cathedral on YouTube
Dancing at the Cathedral on YouTube

Avignon and Chateauneuf du Pape

Selfie at the Pont d'Avignon

 Avignon is a beautiful and completely walled city.  One can drive the perimeter of the old city with the ramparts on one side of the road and, on the northeast of the city, the Rhone on the other side. From 1309-1377, it was the seat of the Catholic Church.  The Pope was French and just decided to stay at home. Home became a new Popes' Palace in town with a castle in the hills.  Thus, we now have the famous Chateauneuf du Pape wines.  More about that later.

We stopped in the Place l'Horloge (the ever present Old Town Place of the Clock [tower]) for a great lunch of duck.  Our waiter was upbeat and friendly.  As a side note, we have had nothing but pleasant and gracious encounters with all the French people.  The characterization that the French are rude is completely wrong.  After lunch we roamed the streets and came to the Popes' Palace.  We've been inside before and wanted to spend our time outdoors. The exterior is ample delight for the eye.  It is a remarkable International Gothic style building.  

The Pont d'Avignon once served in the Middle Ages as access for the local bishop who refused to live in Avignon because of the dirt and lawlessness.    Soon, though, the bridge became unsafe due to numerous floods.  Today only 4 of the original 22 arches remain.  

Rhone Valley from the ruins of the Popes' Chateau

Chateauneuf-du-Pape is a village about 7 miles north of Avignon.  The ruins of the Pope John XXII's castle dominates the top of the village hill.  From there one gets a panoramic view of the Rhone Valley, the Rhone River and mountains.  Almost all the land is planted with grapevines.  The vineyards use small red stones to mulch around the vines, a unique sight to me. The wine is known as Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  The region permits 13 different variety of grapes but the blend must be predominantly grenache. The yearly production is around 13 million bottles of which 95% is red and 5% white.  Rose is not permitted.  We had a tasting in the village and bought 2 bottles.  Pictures of the beautiful Avignon and the Chateauneuf-du-Pape area at flickr.    

A video of the valley is at YouTube.

Nice, Antibes and Aix

Fort Carre, Antibes

Since both the Chagall and Matisse Museums were closed today, we left Nice early.  We did attempt to drive to the Cimiez neighborhood where Matisse lived and worked.  We were so frustrated by blocked roads and one way streets that we just headed out.  We wanted more of the Mediterranean life and stopped in Antibes.  Antibes is also a resort town where huge luxury yachts moor.  But it also has a charming old town enclosed by 16th century ramparts and Fort Carre, where Napolean was imprisoned. Napolean had moved his family here just prior to the revolution.  Picasso lived in the Chateau Grimaldi for 6 months and left a number of his works behind.  The Chateau has become the Picasso Museum.  We found a bakery where we picked up quiches and tarts for dinner.  The ride home offered a different view of Mont St. Victoire.  

Pictures at flickr.