Trip Home

Fine trip home though the airport way busier than we have ever seen it before. Even an American AirlineS flight to Miami (passengers all seemed to be travelling on Cuban passports). Julio in the VIP lounge took great care of us and as a result we got through the flight in Canjet's tiny Seats well enough. Cabin crew great too.

One note of interest: the bus guide reminded us all that the CUC is soon to disappear. While a date has not been announced he did strongly recommend that we convert all our pesos to CAD as we might not be able to use them on a future trip, depending on when the change happens.

Friends (you know who you are) picked us up at the airport (on a Friday afternoon no less, that's love) and drove us home in short order.  Better yet, when home we were presented with a package of emergency rations.  The package included a bottle of white and one of red.  While the resort wines were inoffensive they weren't all that interesting either (one pay-for bottle of a Chilean chardonnay that Geri had one night aside), so they were were VERY welcome.

Photos going up thoughout the day. Links will be posted later. Also look for a short note on our visits to the Sol CSM and the new Valentine's resort tour we took (will be posted in the apporpriate discussions along with links to resort-specific photos we took).

I Lied – Here’s More

Just some random notes on the trip home:

1. The men’s washrooms at the Aix TGV station have little realistic flies painted on the insides of the urinals.  The attendant told me she thinks they are meant to provide an aiming point that minimized splash.  Not as much fun as the little soccer nets and balls you see here now and then, but more effective I suspect.  Interesting how automatic aiming for it was, even before the realization that it was fake dawned.
2. They also had hand-dryers with UV lights in addition to hot air.  If ever I get skin cancer on my hands I shall know to sue SNCF.
3. We were serious when we said we’d look at returning to the same apartment in Aix to get in that last week there.
4. We’re not so serious about getting in the 5 days we had planned for Paris.  The afternoon and evening we spent there while in transit reminded us both of how much of the city we have seen.  And while the hotel itself was fine for a cheap stay, we really didn’t like the neighbourhood.  Too busy, too much traffic, little street life.  So we not only don’t really miss the time we lost there, Geri the Birthday Girl is not sure they needs to get those days back.
5. Instead we’re thinking of combining our tour of the Coronation Street set in Manchester with a week in Aix, giving the Eurostar a go.  Stay tuned.
6. I had forgotten, if I ever knew, how 70’s space-age-ie de Gaulle is, why it was used as the setting for so many cheesie S-F films.
7. The SAS lounge at de Gaulle was not anything like the Maple Leaf lounges we’ve seen.  But the coffee was good and the croissant fresh and nice, so who cares?
8. Once we got to Brussels, our first plane change, we had to flag down a cart and get a ride to our gate as our incoming flight was late.  Fun.  We got to see some of the access tunnels under the building etc.
9. Pod seats on an Airbus 330 (one of my fave planes, just for the quiet) to Montreal, where we had a 4 hour long wait between flights in the lounge, and then again on to Toronto.
10. I did a mini Steve Coogan film festival.  Liked Philomina, loved Alan Partridge.  Lots of champagne and a nap.
11. Home about 20:00.  Long day.  Up the next early to pack for the funeral and we were on the road by 0730.
12. Photos of the sprint home and a tiny bit of Paris are HERE.

Vacation Cut Short

Geri's father, Theophile (Tuffer) Gauthier, died Monday morning (our time), which was also Geri's birthday.  So we have cut short our trip.

Aeroplan Chris (as we call him now) was great and moved us onto a flight tomorrow at no cost.  Our landlord has also been very helpful and is driving us to the TGV station this morning so that we can catch a train to Paris.  SNCF very good on the change too, and no mention was made of the reasons.  all very impressive save for the fact that we couldn't deal with Aeroplan through their Paris office and instead had to wait for the Montreal HQ to open.

Anyway, we're leaving Aix early and skipping Paris save for an overnight stay before we fly to Brussels, then Montreal, then Toronto, then drive home tomorrow.  Gonna be a long day just chock-full of jetlag I think.

Still, thanks to Aeroplan Chris, we swapped the bizarre routing for the retention of our business class seats and so it should go well.

Thus endeth the vacation and this series of blog entries.  Look for more in the fall when we head to Manchester for one of the last tours of the old Coronation Street set before it is torn down.

Avignon Photos Posted

HERE.

Day 16 (but who's counting?) in Aix

On May Day I headed into Marseille on my own for the festivities. Geri and Vicki stayed 'home' to do whatever it was that they did. I was up and out early.

Aix a lot different at 0600. Broken glass, pools of urine and folks who clearly have had a long night staggering about in small numbers while the city workers start the clean-up. Ain't tourist towns grand?

Some nice views from the train but photos impossible.

The rail station alone was a bit of fun. Some nice views, though not as nice as they would have been before the taller apartment buildings obscured the line of sight to the port.

Walked down to and around the Vieux Port for a bit. The port a bit standard, but fun for what it is. Especially enjoyed the fishers and their boats. They pull up, dock, you pick out your fish and they clean it for you on the spot.

There are many more varieties of eatable eels than I thought. Was tempted by the cockles, but couldn't imagine them making it home is good shape; plus wasn't sure how to seviche or cook them.

Walking there and then after around, just killing time, much fun. Happy to go back. Untouristy, kinda gritty and lots of Arabic being spoken (I never got a chance to use my 5 standard sentences and assorted nouns), different kinds of shops and restaurants. Worth a week at some point.

The May Day march itself was fun. A little more chaotic than I am used to. Less regimentation, more a fun-fest than an organized event, though it had that aspect too. Had some chats here and there, took lots of photos, but when they were an hour late in getting started I decided to head home.

Back in Aix I napped, big surprise.

Next day we saw Vicki off to Corsica. On the way back from the bus station e checked-in with a restaurant The Bible (Lonely Planet) says serves real bouillabaisse. We went to make a reservation for Monday night as (a) Monday is Geri's birthday and (b) it takes a couple of days to prepare and the restaurant is not likely open Mondays. Turns out they have stopped serving it. Chatting with the server she recommended a place in Marseille (Chez Michel, near the Plage Catalan). The restaurant patrons chimed-in (every occupied table had something to say).

Needless to say we're having dinner at Chez Grand-mere at some point this week. If you look you'll see a photo I took of the restaurant with two senior women at an outside table killing a bottle of red. :-)

After we retired to our local for a beer and to plan the week. The result of that was that we established ourselves as regulars and now get a free beer for every two we buy. And we scheduled Avignon, Arles and possible Cassis for this week before we head to Paris.

This trip a nasty one for me and my relationship with the French rail system.

I HATE the Rail Europe website. Clunky and stupid. Best I could manage for Avignon was to Marseille on a local train and then back through Aix on a TGV. Took about an hour to get there, but in the station and looking at printed schedules I realized that we could have taken a shuttle bus to the TGV station and then the TGV to Avignon and save 20 minutes. No biggie, but the site should have told me that (and says it will). Then I couldn't make the machine at the Aix station print our tickets. The station attendant got a good laugh out of showing me how simple it really is. And it wasn't over yet: Geri pointed out that my polo shirt was on inside out.

I popped out into the parking lot and gave the rental car agency workers who were washing cars something to think about by my taking off and the putting back on my shirt.

On the way back the post-modern design of TGV stations (all we have seen this trip anyway) got me and I first entered the offices of the sales and info staff, despite that 'access interdit' sign and then I almost broke my face trying to leave the ticket sales area.

Just so you know, the glass panels with the solid white horizontal stripe are the automatic doors; the panels with the broken lines are the walls. :-)

On the up side, I finally figured-out that the TGV trains are single units, other than the locomotives. There are no separate 'cars' in the way that there are on the trans we're used to at home.

Small compensation for being a goof elsewhere, but the best I can manage. :-)

Loved the shuttle bus into the city from the TGV station (sorry: many smaller cities have a 'regular', city-centre train station, then a TGV station further out of town as the TGVs can't use the older lines. A regular city bus it took a while to get us to the city centre but it was an interesting ride plus the bus very high tech. Look for the photo I took of the screen that tells you where you are and when the next stop is coming.

Avignon fun, the Papal Palace and the Pont d'Avignon worth seeing. We had consistently very, very good food. And at dinner a wine (AOC Ventoux) we have never seen or tasted before and we quite enthralled with. The white. Way fab.

The market, Les Halles, was also fun. For those who have been to the st. Lawrence Market in Toronto imagine something just bumped-up a bit and with bars that allow you to pay for a glass of wine and wander around doing your shopping with it. Lots of tripe and organ meats. Yum.

The papal palace quite the old pile. The Pont d'Avignon a must I guess, but not too spectac. Geri danced on it but mostly because of the wind.

Which was very impressive. The Mistral was blowing. 80Km steady with gusts over 100. Clear blue skies. Hell to walk against and I almost felt sorry for some of the smaller kids. Very impressive, glad we were there for it, but it did lead us to think that a day and a half was enough and we headed home to much warmer weather (25) and virtually no wind, just as much sun.

Changing our tickets meant I now have a E14 credit to my account with SNCF, reason enough to return, no? :-)

Lots of white kepis in Avignon. The Legion must have a base nearby.

GREAT lunch at Brasserie La Conservatoire. Dinner and a half of Vendoux at Le Cerveau du Theatre. Both get raves.

The Hotel Boquier cheap (E60), cheerful (GREAT staff), clean and simple and very well situated. Breakfast was over-priced though. Photos posted.

Back in Aix, we did some shopping for the Big Day tomorrow and then popped into our local. Got a bit of a show when some of the locals started acting up and had ice water poured on them, then everybody just settled back in. Couldn't understand some of the (I think) insults going back and forth, all my questions got us for all sides involved was “they're crazy”.

Entertaining and confirmation that Geri knows how to pick a bar. :-)

May Day

Geri and Vicki vegged in Aix while I jumped on a train and headed to Marseille for the May Day manif.  Fun, but a lot less organized than I am used to.  Less formal than Toronto's and much more mixing.  Little of the 'we're here, you folks are there' stuff.  Lots of kids, music and dancing.  And a giant white elephant I never really figured out.

Wore my CUPE hat and got some looks, some comradely conversations here and there.

The location for the manif would normally have been spectacular, it being in the park around a triumphal arch built in the 1830's as a memorial to the Marseillaise (of French national anthem fame) who marched from there to Paris in 1792 to save the revolution.  But right now, like much of central Marseille, it is a construction site.  So the crowd was forced to form a wide circle around the arch in a roadway instead of flowing around it.  Even so I would say about 10,000 people.  Perhaps a bit more. 

I got in some walking around before and after though.  I liked the city.  Nice and gritty, not too gentrified even down by the old port, despite having been last year's European City of Culture.  Huge North African population, I really should have made more of an effort with my Arabic lesson podcasts.

I'm already looking forward to going back at some point.

Photos HERE.

Day 12 (I think) in Aix

Not much to say so this will be short.

Whereas in Barcelona it was noticeable that women were in non-traditional occupations in big numbers, here in Aix things look a lot more like at home. Waste collection workers, cabbies etc are all men.

My mother have been a fine French cook after all. The boulongerie where we get our bread has hot dogs (high-end hot dogs but hot dogs nonetheless) rolled-up in croissants. My mother did a version of this when I was a kid with Pillsbury 'crescent roll batter in a tube'. Sometimes with a bit of Velveeta cheese. One or two of those and a beer a nice lunch with a bit of nostalgia thrown-in for good measure.

Photo of such a lunch HERE.

Geri spotted a new kind of Dink yesterday: the Dink Street. Need a photo before we leave. NEED a photo.

Lots of well-heeled (literally as well as figuratively) middle-aged men here and the bikes to see around Aix reflect that. My BSA 441 fantasy is nothing compared to the 50's Guzzis, 60's cafe BMWs you see here. A fair number of them too.

Photos of a demo by a lawyers' union HERE.

The City has a “Mediation/Securitization” service. Kinda like warm and fuzzy police. More info on the service HERE.

Slow day today but very restful. The Granet Museum (so-so). Vietnamese lunch. Nap soon, then dinner. Tomorrow Vicki and Geri amusing themselves here in aix; I'm off to Marseille for a May Day rally. Photos to folow of course.

Day 9 in Aix

1. Les Deux Garcons is a ritzy brasserie on the main drag, Le Cours Mirabeau. You're not supposed to take photos in it as its owned by the local mafia and they get tense around camera but I snuck a couple. Enough to give you a sugar overdose but quite pretty in some weird wiggy historical sense. Look for photos HERE.

2. The bartender/owner at Le Bar PTT, our newly-identified local, is a hoot. He has now identified us as ragulars and Geri gets kissed on both cheeks, I get a handsake. Not long before I get the two kisses the other regulars get I'm sure. Am shying away a bit. He's well-lubricated all the time and his replacement on the night shift gets up to speed on arrival with four quick shots. Both are continually on the edge of disaster wheil pouring or delivering glasses to the table soutside, but somehow seem to manage it.

3. The bar's regulars have loud disagreements over the previous night's tabs with the staf while the bar tender continues to pour us drinks he doesn't charge us for until we force him to.

4. I've settled into a rhythm with the available papers. Even number days are beer and L'Humanite. Odd are rose and Liberation. Seems to be working so far. Liberation I read at home online and is no surprise. L'Humanite a bit dumbed-down. But no where near where The Times (London) has gone. The Guardian sold out this morning so I got one for Geri. My god, it has become just another tab or close to. A pentasyllabic The Mail.

5. 200 neo-Nazis held a celebration on Saturday of the 125^th anniversary of Hitler's spawning. Thankfully outnumbered by 500 protestors.

6. Having a fabulous time.

Random Musings From My Desk in Aix

1. The big news today? I bought a bottle of a local red for less than $4.00 (under E3) and it is (soon was) quite drinakbale. That's as cheap as it gets in our local shop. So I guess it's official: there is no such thing as a bad bottle of wine here.

2. When I retire, if I ever retire, a one bedroom apartment here in the old bit of Aix could be had for about $1300 per month. Less in the newer areas. Not bad for a winter escape.

3. Bar toilets have created some problems for my travelling partners, I now know more than I really need to about the various angles in which female humans may urinate.

4. The shine has definitely faded from the 'new' (20 years now?) public toilets here. I miss the old wrought-iron public pissoirs.

5. A tiny restaurant almost under one of our windows called La Table has great lunch food and is done-up like a 1950's litchen. Chef helps serve. First time in my life I actually enjoyed zuccini.

6. The bartenders here all seem to drink while working.

7. Vicki and Geri scored a round on our bartender yesterday. Sadly, not me.

8. Geri is a garage sale addict. She'll miss much of the best bit of the season but today it came to her as there was a flea market right outside our door. Mostly usual stuff I think, but an awful lot of women's undies. I thought it worth a photo. Got an odd look from the stall operator.

9. We found some high-heeled skis in a small sculpture gallery.

10. Le Woohoo is a great little bar. We're already committed to our local (besides, it is a bit of a walk), but much fun. On the north end of the old city near the wall. Look for it if you're in town. Photos posted today too.

11. Mail delivered 6 days a week. To your home. Horrors.

12. French shoe sales women have scary eyes and sharp teeth.

13. Areas where you can only walk have their disadvantage. You learn more than you really want to about people you've never met when you're minding your own glass of plonk and somebody walks by with their old mattress.

14. Starting to see meaning in scooter model names.  Think I'll give the Dink Theorum a rest.  Though Geri did find me a Big Dink today.  Had to celebrate with some fine Indian food and beer for lunch.

New photos posted.

More Aix Nonsense

Yesterday a rainy day. There are worse things.

We spent an hour or more at the market buying veg and such. Much fun tasting, to the point where I don't think we've bought a lunch here since our arrival.

Or a dinner either, since the market makes cooking took tempting. Four evenings now spent cooking, drinking wine and eating. Then flopping with a glass and a book or catching-up on photos or doing laundry while listening to podcasts. Kinda like having a cottage in southern France rather than on Lake Simcoe. :-)

A great way to spend time on a rainy day is on the little electric buses that work the old part of town. E0.50 means you can get on any bus within an hour. For a day's worth of access to any bus in the regional system you pay E1. What we would consider the regional municipality is well-served by buses.

There are three routes for the electric buses. You can get on and off anywhere, though the connections to the rest of the transit system are fixed stops like what we're used to. We did the last route today. The bus a bit hot (we found it so anyway, though we kept seeing people in jackets and wearing toques) as the day was about perfect but after we got off to stay, around 11, we saw that the sides of the buses had been taken off. Would be fab on a reasonably warm day.

They are a little unpredictable as the route changes now and then if there's a delivery vehicle etc. in the way. Streets not large enough for passing even for this little things and so its not unusual for it to start down a street, come across another vehicle and then back up, go looking for another route. This isn't a tourist bus either, but the way people get around the older bits of the city.

The drivers friendly. Clearly a lot of the passengers are regulars; everyone gets caught up on everyone's news. Waste workers flag the bus over for a quick exchange of news with the driver (I suspect a bit of chatting-up is going on as well :-) ). As with most city workers we have seen, the drivers women. You can ride up front with the driver if you went to school with them or are particularly old it seems. :-)

Geri found us our local. Bar PTT on Place de Richlme. Corsican owner, though he is, as most are here, a support of Marseile Olympique. Tiny, might hold 12, plus four tables out front. Corsican beers. Grossly over-salted heavily roasted yummy peanuts in a bucket on the bar (dip your plate as needed). Floor covered in buts despite the prominent no-smoking sign. Friendly bar tender. Regulars. I could live here. There. I could live there. :-)

New drink, very local and similar to the lemonade-and-beer shandy in Barcelona: a moncaco. 3 parts lemonade, 1 part grenadine, 3 parts blonde (lager) beer. Corsican beers dandy. Pietre Rossa a bit odd. Brewed with cherries added. Surprising pleasant when it's hot out. Surprised I liked it. But then was surprised I liked orange juic and beer in Costa Rica, so I shouldn't be.

The electric bus (Diabloline) took us through an upscale residential bit of the old city. Who-ha. Buried in it was a cafe that uses what is likely a 16^th century fountain to keep a large supply of rose cool and ready to drink. We tried to find it this afternoon. No luck. But the search will continue...

The quality of public services here is quite astounding. Daily garbage pickup in urban areas. Street cleaners (the place is immaculate) all over the place.

Some noticeable investment in same too. Look closely at what seem to be street corner garbage cans and watch a bit and you'll see a city worker come by, bend over, stick a key in the pavement and a 2m by 2.5 m by 2m segment of the pavement with the bins on top rises up. Under those two bins (garbage and recycling) is a huge elevator-like box. It's emptied automatically by the truck the city worker is driving and 2 minutes later it disappears back into the pavement. Very impressive. As are the street cleaning machines of several different sizes that wander the old town and the street cleaners with brooms who work the touristy bits.

The BIG NEWS: Donkey sausages. Lovely. Now we have something to bring home as gifts for all. :-)

Geri found, of all things, a Quebecois bakery. Best bread we've had yet, and that's saying something.

Am a little interested in the erosion of the dividing line between patisseries and boulangeries. Is that a regional thing or something recent that I am just noticing?

Not so great are some of th beers (though not the Corsicans on offer at our local). Seems churlish (not to mention a bit late and useless) to complain when the brewery has been going since 1128, but Grimhagen needs to roast its hops for an additional hour or 2,000.

Brand of scooter I haven't seen before was spotted today. Called a 'Business'. While the Dink and dinkiness generally are a barometer of the ideological struggle, the People's scooter was a direct branded attack on corporate hegemony. This would seem to be a direct response. It may be that as the Dink doesn't disappear but moves to the sidelines of history, the People's versus Business struggle for scooter supremacy will or has become the primary contradiction of our epoch. But the objective reality is such that the supporters of both, the lackies of corporate capitalism and authoritarian capitalism, will, through an upright application of thought reform (perhaps in the form of a Scooter Antis Campaign) and vigorous struggle sessions, be exposed as capitalist roaders. Literally.

On a more mundane level, spring has truely sprung here and pollen is visible everywhere.

New photos posted. Am trying to start new albums (mostly) when posting rather than adding to existing.

A Lazy Monday in Aix

We wandered around most of the morning. Stumbled onto a market that included a stall selling honey and with a glass-sided beehive on display (took one photo and then backed away fast.  Bees making a break for it not something I want to be there for).  

Found the only monument/memorial to the Armenian (there are also a number of Armenian restaurants in the newer bits of town) genocide we've seen I think.  It's location, right on Plaza de la Rotunde (the centre of the town) suggests that there's some conection.

Went by the tourist office for some info, then in search of the morning market. We found it, after making a wide circle, literally a stone's throw from our apartment. The narrow winding streets make it impossible to see any distance or hear anything unless it's happening right beneath your window.

Bunch of rather elderly moss and calcium-covered fountains about the old town which were clearly once intended to provide water. Definitely not decorative. Fed by warmish springs. Supposed to be especially pretty in winter.  Steamy and all that.

Anyway, we got to the market and immediately regretted having stocked-up at the supermarket yesterday even if by 'stocked-up' I mean two days' worth of food. Last time we go there save for milk and wine. I'm already playing, trying to find recipes to match the ingredients we can buy (the massive asparagus aside of course; Geri can do what she will with that, I'll slip off to Marseille for the day).

The market is open daily. Zowee.

We're a bit short on counter space (our only criticism of the apartment) but I think I could easily make some pasta. Just an excuse for the sundried tomatoes and provencal sausage I saw today.  And a chance to play with one or two of the literally hundreds of local olive oils for sale.

On the food and drink side of things we've each discovered some nice wines.  Though they still have sulphites I've now tried a couple of 'biologique' reds and been very happy.  One cheapie that was drinkable, if also forgettable.  Our landlord left us a white Cote du Rhone that Geri wasn't crazy about but that I liked.  And Geri scooped a bottle of a really quite fab white Burgundy that has had the effect of making it hard to convince her to try anything else.  :-)

And the goat cheese...my god the goat cheese... :-)

Cheeses generally. And the hams. Which I guess is to be expected as Provence and Catalunya were once one. Some of the traditions run in parallel. Interesting too the language. Our landlord is Parisien and moved here when he and his partner retired. His French typical of Paris and we can talk and joke casually.  To my ear at least his French is clear and precise and spoken slowly.

Restaurant/bar and tourist office staff have a blunter accent and a different cadence. Didn't think of it until just now but kinda like the difference between Catalan and Castilian. Harsher consonants and fewer vowel sounds???

Anyway, after the market we sat at a cafe overlooking it and worked at convincing ourselves that we didn't need to buy a year's worth of groceries this morning. A beer and some olives and goats cheese were a necessary assist. :-)

Rain threatened after a chapter or two of our shoulder bag books had gone the way of the beer, cheese and olives and we made it to the Monop for some wine and then home. The sun back out so perhaps after bread, cheese, olives, humous and a glass or two we'll head out.

Nap. Did I mention nap? A lot of services, shops etc are closed between 13:00 and 15:0 anyway, so what's a couple of tourists with a drink in them to do while digesting lunch?

There's are two bus routes through the old bit of the city. One runs past our door. Tiny electric buses. Fond memories of the similar electric buses in Florence and Rome, nice way to see the city and with transit tickets priced at E0.50 and each route taking about 40 minutes to do a circuit, a tempting way to find every North African restaurant in the old city. We can expand the search later.

Not just North African either.  I have my eye on a Senegalese place 5 minutes from us (2 if I don't stop to take repetitive photos of squares and street and statues and fountains and...).

Sadly, my Arabic lessons not getting a lot of attention. Another rainy day needed for that I suppose. All I can reliably do at this point is ask people if they speak English and where the train and bus stations are. Remarkably useless given the effort I have put in.  They have no reason to speak English (nor do I) and I don't need to go to a train station for another 3 weeks.  :-)

But you know, a nap might help, might sharpen the mind...  :-)

And it's raining again, so no guilt over lost time.  And after all, almost 3 weeks left, so really, what's a nap in the greater scheme of things vacationish?

Aix Photos Now Appearing

Aix photos, current and future, will be appearing HERE.

Barcelona to Aix-en-Provence Musings

Writing this as we wait for the train to leave Barcelona Sants station. Pretty painless. We splurged on a taxi as neither of us had gotten a great night's sleep. Noted again how the city is dead at 0800 in the morning. No people, hardly any cars etc. Anticipating a bit of a panic (on my part) at Valencia station as we have just an hour to get our tickets printed and figure things out.

One of the new TGV cars, we're in first class (thanks for that WE Travel, we didn't ask for it but much appreciated) on the upper deck and so to the extent that there's anything to see at 285kph we should have a good view, though at the moment we're still in the long, long tunnel out of the city from the station.

Very odd: no wifi on the train.

I never got to have churros and chocolate for breakfast and it was only when we drove past the CCOO office in Barcelona on the way to Estacio Sants that I remembered I had not heard back from them. Guess we're coming back to Spain at some point. Need to take the other Civil War walijng tour anyway. :-)

Train running away from the cars on major highways, but clearly the track isn't up to carrying us at full speed. Ah well, I could use a nap. I have just the thing to put me to sleep too: a lengthy podcast on the work of the economist Minsky. Knew I was saving it for something, this is, apparently, it.

Green right now but very dry-looking landscape. Hilly, churches/convents/monesteries on top of many, plus as we toodle along, mountains in the distance (north of the track) with snow on the tops.

Dozed on and off through the Minsky pod. But it seems to have registered somewhat as I have an idea for a column based on it (I think. I should check and see if I listened to something else right after and owe a credit to someone else. :-)

VIA may have good reason to be ashamed of its limited route structure and slow speeds, but it blows the TGV off the on-board food tracks. The toasted (but then packaged with lots of humidity so that its sogginess could be assured) hard-boiled (yet sludge-like) egg, tomatoes (hard and crunchy) and tastless cheese sandwich I tried to eat made it into the garbage pretty quickly. Good potato chips though.

For that and a diet coke for us both Geri had to walk 3 cars.

Last time I travelled on VIA 1^st class I had a hot meal delivered to my seat, it was something I'd be happy with in a restaurant and came with a slection of wines, was preceeded by my choice of drinks and finished-off with a really nice dessert and a cognac.

I think we'll pack a lunch (like all the other folks in our section) for the trip to Paris next month.

Some compensation in the views (we're right on the Med coast) and the odd castle that I think might date back to when the pre-French were trying to keep the Moors bottled-up in Spain.

And what looks like a kite-flying contest. A tonne of cars parked mebbe 200m from the track with a bunch of kites flying above them. I've stopped trying to take photos at this speed. And the stops we've made so far haven't done much but give us a view of the inside of a tunnel.

Even though we're not anywhere yet, nice to be in France. My French has decayed considerably over the years but is still better than my rudimentary Spanish and my near-non-existent knowledge of the Catalan language. And as we learned once or twice, if I spoke a few words of Spanish (sorry, should be saying 'Castillian') in a spot outside the touristy bits and was taken for a non-Catalan Spaniard (hard to imagine, but if the phrase was simple and one I have used a lot...), what came back was rapid-fire Catalan.

On that point (sort of), the national government has declared the attempt at a referendum on independence illegal, but over 90% of Catalans polled say they are committed to recognizing the result. And about 60% in favour. Especially since the collapse of the Spanish economy and the massive cuts to services in order to bail out the banks (and the accompanying corruption both of which have generated a lot of indignation, hence the huge 'idignado' protests, unlike any other country I can think of, other than Iceland, right now) there's far more of a day-to-day connection to the EU for most Catalans than there is to the Spanish state.

Just grabbed a wifi connection in the station at Nimes. But be that but the place also looks kinda worth a quick visit at some point...

Wish me luck getting our tickets sorted when we change trains in an hour or so... course by the time anyone reads this it will all be done one way or the other.

As it turns out I didn't need luck. What I needed, though I didn't know it, was to have Geri pounced on by one of several station staff here in Valence. One of whom was extremely helpful, better yet, who  complimented my French, and gave me pointers on things in Aiz-en-Provence while printing out out tickets for me.

Right now he is my favourite person in all the world, especially since Geri dumped me and the luggage to slip out for a quic smoke.

There are 15 minutes worth of train departures (just departures) on the board here right now. Showing ten trains. This town about twice the size of Cobourg. The station mebbe ten times the size of ours and I doubt if it sees ten trains pick up passengers in a day. Two people travelling 1600km in first class paid less than $400CAD.

We would have paid over $1,000 had we waived the sandwiches. :-)

There's a sign apologizing for the wifi being down. I'm getting a bit twitchy. Can't recall the last time I was without internet access for this long.

Bit of a mixup when we changed trains and we wound-up having to get onto different cars just to avoid being left behind, but all sorted and we're established in the Aix apartment, a simple dinner under our belts and looking for to a few days of lolling before starting to explore the region.

More photos, though not many, to come tomorrow.

Last Thoughts on Barcelona

I found a whole new varoiety of Dink, the super dink.  Don't believe me?  Photos HERE.

If you haven't read the last and every other Italian travel postcard, the fact that there is a Korean scooter called a Dink is evidence that colloqial English is not yet ubiquitous; therefore globalization is not yet hegemonic.  So, each trip to Europe, I measure the progress of capitalist globalization by way of a count of the number of Dinks of various models that I can find.

It has been a while since I was able to find a Dink 50, let alone a Dink 150 or a Grand Dink (known to the cognicenti as the 'Big Dink'.

Today however, I came across a whole new kind of Dink: a Super Dink.

We can but hope that this signals a whole new resurgence of Dinkdom, and of popular resistance to globalization.

As well, it seems on close observation, that gin is quite popular here.

Finally, nobody told us that today was some kinda Christian holiday.  Parades with Jesus on a stick all about the place.  Bit annoying.  Had they but known we were here this weekend I am certain they would have put it off a few days so as not to interfere with our holiday.  Still, a good day if not a god day.