One afternoon we took a break and took the metro down to the Confluence Museum in Lyon. The museum is at the southern tip of Lyon where the Saône and Rhône Rivers meet. I loved the light and bright architecture on the outside and entry areas of the museum. Then once inside, the exhibit halls…
We’ve been waking up before the sunrise to go to our favorite bakery in Lyon (Boulangerie de la Martinière) and since we were up so early, we decided to walk along the Saône River (it joins up to the Rhône River just south of Lyon). Along the east side of the river, vendors were setting…
The Amphitheater of the Three Gauls is right by our apartment. It was built in 12 BC and enlarged around 120 AD under the reign of Emperor Hadrian. This amphitheater seated up to 20,000 people! The amphitheater was part of the federal sanctuary of the three Gauls dedicated to the cult of Rome and Augustus….
James is feeling better and we have been walking around our neighborhood a lot. There is an odd wall near our apartment that says “Curiosity killed the cat, nine times…” It is funny that the text is in English. But I suppose that is an English expression. Did you know that Lyon is known in…
It is funny how I always make a mental note of the veterinarian clinics I see as we travel around Europe. Everywhere we stay, there is always a vet nearby. And every time I say to Chris, “There is a vet but we aren’t going to need it.” It is just a nice peace of…
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…