And in keeping with the theme of the blog.

That's all, folks!

Lourdes: the last stop.

I know, most of you are thinking to yourself, “Holy cow, how long can he makes this damn travelogue last? This is worse than that time Cousin Ferdinand and his wife, Magnolia came over and made us look at all 500 of their slides from their vacation to the Great Plains.” Well folk, I’m pretty much thinking the same thing. So in the interest of ending this thing in a timely manner, lets take a quick look at Lourdes.

The sanctuaries, including the grotto where Ste. Bernadette had the apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Boulevard de la Grotte. True DisneyCatholique!

But in truth, Lourdes is actually a very cute small town, at the foot of the Pyrénées.

And the Pyrénées are drop-dead gorgeous. I would love to have a few days to explore the mountains.

Coincidence? Or a sign from the powers that be?

We had been home one week. Richard got his monthly old-person magazine put out by the Association of Ancient Rinkled People. (They keep sending stuff to Dad at our address, too!) Anyway, it had an article of the 5 best places to retire abroad. And there, in black and white, listed as a totally awesome place to spend your golden years, was the region of Languedoc-Roussillon, France: as in Nîmes, Uzès and Le Grau du Roi.

Well, you think that didn’t raise some interest around the old homestead! We did stop at every realtor in the south of France and look at the pictures in the windows. We did grab 4 or 5 publications listing real estate for sale in the départments of Ardèche, Vaucluse, Gard, Drôme, Hérault, Landes, Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Hautes-Pyrénées, but we did not put a down payment on any property. I am regretting that caution at this moment.

I’ve always said that I was going to buy a villa in the south of France… you never know!

Mer Méditerranée – Le Grau du Roi

Technically speaking, we are still in the south of France, I just felt it was time to mix it up a little.

Le Grau du Roi is an amazing little town on the Mediterranean Sea. It is too far west to be considered part of the French Riviera (Côte d’Azur), but who cares? Both Richard and I fell in love immediately.




The Mediterranean Sea is pretty amazing. I could get used to that lifestyle!

Look! Mes pieds sont dans le Mer Méditerranée!

Le Sud de France – Nîmes.

When you think of Nîmes, you should automatically think of denim. Denim was first made in Nîmes. So Richard and I wore our Levi’s when we traveled there. It was hot; we were foolish. Fortunately, Nîmes is shaded.

It also has the most amazing coliseum, said to be the best preserved of the Roman era, but not the largest. It, like the theatre in Orange, is still in use. They are setting up for a rock concert.

Le Sud de France – Uzès.

I have already mentioned Uzès and how much I liked it. I’ll post just a handful of pictures to show the beauty of the town.

The tower at St. Théodorit:

Rue St. Théodorit, billed as the most picturesque street in Uzès.

The Uzège was the first Duchy of France. I offer no explanation. The Duke and Duchess of Uzège live here. Parts date back to the 11th century.

And the Place aux Herbes, Uzès’ quaint main square.

Le Sud de France – Orange.

Orange is a small city (population about 30,000) about 20km north of Avignon. It has the distinction of being the warmest city in France (average annual temperature). It also has this amazing theatre from Roman times.


So, we came, we saw, we touristoed; at full speed. I’ll explain the rail system to Orange later. (This is a view looking over the rooftops of Orange.)


One truly amazing thing about the theatre; it is still in use.