We are in Lyon, France! We arrived by train from Marseille. It was a high speed train and that is good but it was the most crowded train we have been on in Europe! We booked two seats (not all trains need a seat reservation but for some high speed trains it is required and…
We decided to leave James at home to rest and we took the metro to the Palais Longchamp in Marseille. The metro in Marseille is very modern and clean. The gardens were huge and we wandered around for quite a while. James would have been tired but I know he would have loved the dog…
We were walking around the port in Marseille, France when I heard “Bourbon Street Parade” in the distance. I got excited and wanted to find these musicians I heard. We walked over to the Promenade Louis Brauquier and there they were – a bunch of musicians jamming with my favorite New Orleans jazz tunes!
Across the port from our apartment is a big public area with museums, parks and a mall. There is a walkway around the Place D’armes Du Fort St Jean that leads to the MuCEM museum and it has beautiful views of the water. We even heard kids screaming and jumping into the water (there were…
I hope you are having a great Valentine’s Day! James the Poodle has been wearing his heart bandana. I took some portraits of James for his Instagram fans and I also had some cards printed. James has a few friends that send us mail throughout the year with cards and photos and it is so…
An absolutely stunning black standard poodle named Siba won the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show this week in New York City! I love this photo of Siba and her handler Chrystal Clas: I read that while at Madison Square Garden, Siba ran out of chicken and they got her some grilled chicken sandwiches from McDonald’s!…
Right after the new year, we were in Dallas, Texas. I always love *wandering* around Walmart (something I learned from my Grandma – funny I was always in a hurry when I was a teen shopping with her but now I know why she loved wandering Walmart! It is always full of fun surprises!) In…
Since we can see the Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde from our apartment window, we decided to walk up and see it one day. It only took about 30 minutes to walk up there. The views from the Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde are great! You look out over the entire city of Marseille and…
We decided to take a day trip to Aix-en-Provence. It is a short train ride from Marseille. I’d heard of Aix-en-Provence because it is a popular city for students at FSU and UF (and other schools in the US) for studying abroad. I didn’t study any foreign languages at UF but I wish I would…
Marseille is definitely one of my favorite cities in France. I’ve been waking up before sunrise to walk James and I just love the view from right outside our apartment’s door: I usually walk James around the grounds of Abbaye Saint-Victor and we look out over Fort Saint-Nicolas and the Mediterranean Sea. And before bed,…
I am not much of a candy fanatic. In Germany, I do tend to buy Haribo Gummy Bears. And they are yummy. But even better are the Haribo Tagada Strawberry gummy candies and you can only find them in France! The Red ones are the strawberry flavor. You can find other colors and flavors but…
When we first talked about moving overseas, we played with the idea of taking our Toyota FJ with us. But we were worried it would be WAY too big. Most European cars are so small. We have a friend from California that moved to Switzerland and he sent his Toyota overseas. He had to remove…
Join us as we show you our apartment in Marseille, France. I am really loving Marseille – it reminds me a lot of Los Angeles. The city slowly slopes down towards the Mediterranean Sea so almost everywhere in town has a water view. What do you think of our top loading horizontal axis washing machine?…
Our travel days are usually pretty uneventful. But this time, in Marseille, France, we had quite a day! So we decided to recap two of the stories on video.
I celebrated my birthday this week and Chris asked me what I wanted. I told him I wanted a balloon! I love seeing all of the fun balloons at the grocery store near the checkouts. Chris found a pretty balloon with flowers that said Happy Birthday and he also brought me some tulips! They are…
James is our first Poodle and our first white dog. I’ve seen dogs with tear stains on their eyes and mouths in the past and I didn’t realize it was so hard to tackle! When we moved to Washington, DC, James got bouts of tear stains that were really bad. The vet told us it…
James found a new friend! His name is Dusty and he is a big horse! I wish I had video of it – James would run along the fence and Dusty would run along with him! They would go back and forth and it was so cute! Chris was in DC and when he came…
My cousin Mike told me I had to try huckleberries when I was in Montana. I didn’t know anything about them. I looked at the grocery stores and all I found were jams and candies. I wanted fresh huckleberries. I finally started asking around – it turns out that the huckleberry is very perishable and…
We didn’t have any plans for our anniversary this year, but plans found us! We ended up going dancing with a bunch of new friends and I got to break in my new ballroom shoes. We were recently in Montana and I found a shop that sold dancing supplies. Almost everything was square dance themed….
Today is our 17th wedding anniversary! We were married on December 14, 2002. I still remember our entire first dance routine. It was so much fun to learn and our dance teacher, Jim Pounds, was amazing! Happy Anniversary Brownie! I love you! And no, you don’t have to buy me any furniture. (He mentioned getting…