Oot and aboot

Musée d'art contemporain in Nice. Niki de Saint Phalle (sp?)

Celina and I in Madrid. I look so happy because I was recovering from the stomach flu.

Rachel and I Madrid's equivalent of Central Park

Madrid!

Rachel told us that this building used to be the post office until they realized that it was a little excessive to deliver mail.

Madrid is pretty.

View of a church from a little window in the palace.

Another view of the church.

Madrid is crowded! This was not New Year's Eve, but looks like it should have been.

More pics from break

I think I've spent more time in Père Lachaise than in any other spot in Paris. It was colder this time, with a light dusting of snow, but the sun was shining nonetheless. This is out of order--Paris was the last leg of the journey.

This is the upstairs part of the club Celina and I went to in Paris to go swing dancing. A guy we met there: "So what brings you to Paris?"  Me: "Just swing dancing, really." It was fun, and then a 60 year-old man gave me his number. 

Churros in Spain! Our first "meal" of the new year--maybe around 1am.

New Year's in Madrid

I wandered around the botanical gardens for an hour looking for plants that were still alive while Celina and Rachel got their hair cut.

Aix in snow!

So, for the first time in 20 years, there has been an accumulation of snow in Aix. Last Wednesday morning, I woke up to the view of eight inches of snow piled up in my courtyard. The city just did not know what to do with all of it. My university was shut down for a good five days, meaning that my final exams were moved from last week to next. It all melted in about 36 hours, but they still felt it necessary to keep school cancelled. I was not opposed to that. Everyone love's a snow day. Or five.

Steven in the snow!

Celina in the snow!

My courtyard in the snow!

My courtyard when it's not in the snow!

We made a new friend--in the snow!

So these are some pics from Roussillon, Gordes, and le Colorado Provençal, where Laurie and Lisa (our new French friends) took Elizabeth and I.

Where we picnicked at Gordes.

Lisa, Laurie, and myself

Lisa bravely picking les figues de barbaries (sp?) 

The view from our picnic at Gordes. Pretty much the best picnic view ever.

Colorado Provençal

One last picture from Brêtagne for good measure. (One of the few pictures from this group of posts that I took--my camera ran out of batteries. . .)

I should try and remember the names of the places we visit. Oops. Photo credit to Laurie.

Village des Bories (sp?)

Le Colorado Provençal--no really, that's what it's called. This is where painters used to get their pigments.

It's pretty.