georgiawanderer

2009-12-22T21:10:00.004-05:00

Pont-du-Gard near Nimes, France. A real Roman aqueduct. Taken October 2009.

2009-12-22T20:55:00.003-05:00

Lunch on Canal du Midi. Note the warm clothes (and this is mid-day!) October 2009.

2009-12-22T19:44:00.005-05:00

Sitting on the porch at our borrowed house in Sisteron, France with the Malaterres and the Raabs. The house belongs to the mother of Lucile Malaterre (on the left). Late October 2009.

2009-12-22T19:22:00.004-05:00

Our apartment was near the Eiffel Tour. We are out for an afternoon walk. This picture was taken by a couple who were there on their honeymoon. September 2009

2009-12-22T17:57:00.003-05:00

Lonnie telling stories of early days of dating Dee Ann before renewing our wedding vows in Yellowstone Park. July 2009.

2009-12-22T17:53:00.002-05:00

Renewing our wedding vows in our 50th year of marriage. Yellowstone National Park in July 2009.

2009-12-22T17:36:00.002-05:00

Celebration of our 50th wedding anniversary at our condo in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in March 2009.

THE WANDERERS ARE HAPPY AND BACK HOME.

2008-12-15T16:00:00.002-05:00

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A LOOK AT SHANGHAI

2008-12-15T15:34:00.008-05:00

A view of a street market [not sure this is Shanghai].

I asked our guide--the rice harvest time is over and these men on a main street of Shanghai are hoping for work carrying some one's "bundles"---note the large baskets which each man has. [double click on picture to get the full effect!]

We went to the Shanghai zoo and saw the pandas!

We visited a jade museum in Shanghai and leaned that jade can be, and is, almost any color. These tiny musical instruments are all carved out of jade and were on sale at the gift shop. [no, we did not buy them--expensive].

Dee examines a duvet at the silk factory in Shanghai [she bought it!].

JUST A LOOK AT ONE SIGN

2008-12-15T15:28:00.001-05:00

Often the signs were funny after they had been translated into English.

This one was in the area of the Three Gorges Dam information center. [The land dropped off steeply just over the railing.]

INTERACTING WITH THE CHILDREN.

2008-12-15T15:10:00.001-05:00

Mary (Alaska) brought "bubble stuff" and was a hit anywhere she found kids to show her bubble blowing skills.

At one university, we each paired off with one or two students and walked around campus sightseeing and speaking English. I started with the two girls (college juniors) and picked up the young man on the walk. [the holding up of two fingers for a picture seems to be common in China but no one seemed to know why???]

These children all stopped to look and be friendly as we left a visit up the street.

One of our group talking to a group of young girls who have just performed for us.

VISITS TO OTHER REMOTE VILLAGES

2008-12-15T14:50:00.000-05:00

We were greeted in this village by elaborately costumed dancers of all ages who later gave a nice performance. On arrival, we were offered a drink of the local, special "brew." [which was VERY strong].

In several places we visited the apartments of some local people. [Elderhostel pays them for this privilege]. Here, we have just visited this woman's apartment and are standing in the entry way admiring her grandchild.

Outside another village, we were able to get a great photo of this man plowing. We saw many, many people plowing with water buffalo but usually from the train or bus. Here we were walking back to the bus. We also saw one case [from the train] of four men in harness pulling the plow instead of a buffalo.

LOCAL LADIES GET THEIR PICTURE TAKEN

2008-12-15T14:10:00.001-05:00

In the same "earth opera" village, one of our group is checking her pictures of these two ladies. The Chinese were all very friendly and loved having their picture taken. They also wanted to see their picture.

MOUNTAIN VILLAGE TO SEE "EARTH OPERA"

2008-12-15T13:13:00.000-05:00

These musicians are about to go inside to participate in the village performance of their "earth opera" which was performed for our group [i.e. no other audience].

Many of the village people came to watch with us. These men stood off to one side of the room.

On the other side of the room, the local people mixed in with our group. Note the several small children who have huddled up to one of our group members (with the billed cap).

LOCAL TRANSPORTATION--VARIOUS

2008-11-05T17:55:00.002-05:00

From the mountain village that performed the "earth opera."

From one of the cities. This (bicycle) was the most common type of transportation in all areas.

Also one of the cities. Most things seemed to be moved with bike carts like this.

From a farming village we visited. They stopped and smiled when they saw I wanted a picture.

DOING TOURIST-TYPE THINGS IN BEIJING

2008-11-05T17:28:00.000-05:00

We started in Beijing and did a lot of tourist things there.

This is a ride through one of the hutongs of Beijing.

This is the famed bird's nest stadium at the 2008 Olympic Park--with some of our group in the foreground.

Walking through a park, we saw many people doing various forms of exercise and "practice." This man is practicing writing Chinese characters--using a special brush and water, since water is cheap and will "go away" without leaving marks in the park.

OCTOBER TRIP TO CHINA

2008-11-05T17:15:00.007-05:00

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It is now December and, having recovered from our travels, I am adding a few [of our many] photos to our blog.

Our China trip started in Beijing, China and ended in Shanghai. Note dotted lines are train travel; solid lines are plane travel and the heavy, solid line is boat travel on the Yangtze River cruise.

We spent the month of October with an Elderhostel tour group traveling by plane, train and some by private bus. It was a great trip and we saw many facets of Chinese life. About half the time in China was spent on regular tourist-type things and half visiting remote villages and various minority groups [an official category in China] plus lectures by university professors on Chinese history and culture. Lonnie and Dee at the Great Wall of China.

Some pictures of gardens at one Chateau

2008-09-23T12:10:00.000-04:00

We are home now and getting ready for our trip to China in October. Had a little time to upload some pictures we enjoyed.

Following are a few pictures of the gardens at the Chateau Villandry--which we enjoyed so much.

NOTE: DOUBLE CLICK ON A PICTURE TO GET A FULL SCREEN VIEW!!!

2008-09-23T12:07:00.001-04:00

Overview of the gardens from a high vantage point.

2008-09-23T11:47:00.000-04:00

The apple "trees" that have been trained to be "vines" along the low fences that were around the different gardens.

2008-09-23T11:24:00.000-04:00

Two views of the gardens as we walked through them.

27 August 2008 Rouen, France

2008-08-27T10:35:00.000-04:00

Just returned from Tours, France in the heart of the Loire Valley region of France. This is where most of the famous chateaux of France are located. We went down by train last Saturday and spent three afternoons doing minibus tours of the chateaux [2 or 3 each 1/2 day]. Mostly they were interesting and pretty but, I confess, I have now seen enough chateaux to last me a while.

One of the interesting ones was the small chateau where Leonardo da Vinci lived the last three years of his life. The young king lived very near by and invited da Vinci to come there because the king wanted the intellectual stimulation of his company. The building was simple inside and out but da Vinci's drawings and the exhibits of the models of many of his inventions were absolutely fascinating [at least to us].

The chateau which we liked the most was Villandry--and that was for the gardens, we did not go inside the building. The gardens are deservedly very famous and were amazing. They have trained apple trees on a wire about 2 feet off the ground all around each section of planting so it is sort of an apple "vine" and it was full of apples. It is a very large garden with many different sections including both many types of flowers and a very large kitchen garden. There are several chateaux which are more famous than this one but we certainly enjoyed the gardens.

We enjoyed the very French hotel in Tours and had a couple of excellent meals in restaurants [also some ordinary ones]. However, no matter how much French we use, everyone always knows we are either English or American. They usually assume English since Americans usually do not speak as much French as the English.

We are getting organized for our trip to Paris airport on Saturday and flight to Atlanta on Sunday. So, home soon.

21 August 2008 Rouen, France

2008-08-21T03:30:00.000-04:00

Summer seems to have ended in Northern France. The weather is now in the 50's (F) at night and the 60's during the day. It stills rains a lot, but that is Rouen. It does not rain much at a time, just a light rain or heavy drizzle for a while and then cloudy [or Maybe sunny] for a while. School ends tomorrow---for us. We train to Tours on Saturday for three days of Loire Valley chateaux. Have to change train stations in Paris but since we will only have our carry-ons for luggage we will just take the metro. I am home with some type of stomach thing but feeling better.

17 August 2008 Rouen, France

2008-08-17T14:23:00.000-04:00

It is now Sunday night after a three day weekend. Friday was some religious holiday and the French NEVER miss the opportunity to have a holiday if there is some sort of reason.

We did lots since this is our last weekend in Rouen. Friday we took a guided [in French] tour of the Cathedrale de Rouen. The guide was 82 years old and did a nice job. Dee understood a significant amount and I even understood some. He was pleased to have some Americans and the other two people spoke some English and were happy to help with explanations. The Cathedrale was severely damaged during the D-Day Invasion and was completely rebuild after the war. It was started in the 9th or 10th century. It is beautiful--particularly the outside. Monet painted many pictures of the outside in different light and at different times of the year. After our tour there was a concert of two trumpets and organ and we stayed for a part of that.

Saturday we went by train to Bayeux. First some background for the non-history majors.

England was LAST invaded in 1066 by William the Conqueror Duc of Normandy,France) and he won the battle [and the crown of England] at the battle of Hastings. This is a very famous event in English history since no invasion has occured since. In the near years after the battle [currently assumed to be within the next 50 or so years] someone [not known who today] commissioned a tapestry depicting the story of why the battle and of the battle. The tapestry still exists today and is over 1,000 years old! It is about 18 inches high and over 70 yards long.

It is called the Bayeux Tapestry [or Tapisserie de Bayeux] and that, dear friends, is why we went to Bayeux. If you have any interest in history, it is a very good visit. Afterwards we visited their Cathedrale which is quite pretty and worth a visit. As we were leaving, a wedding party arrived so we waited and watched the bride [who was quite pretty] and her entourage get organized and enter the church. Since the Cathedrale is a big tourist attraction, the church was not closed for the wedding but we decided not to actually attend their wedding.

It was a two hour train trip each way but it was a fun day.

Today we made our last 2008 trip to the Sunday open market [called a marche] in one of the city squares. We have gone every Sunday. One of the ladies even remembered us from last year on our first visit this year!

This is our last week of school. Next Saturday we are off to Tours, France by train for three full days of visiting the chateaux of the Loire Valley. Then back to Rouen for a couple days and then back to Georgia the end of the month.

UPDATE FOR THOSE WHO CAME IN LATE

2008-08-03T12:28:00.001-04:00

Our only official newsletter [email] was from the early part of our trip to Belgium. A quick look back to bring one up to date.

We visited Gent, Brugge and Brussels while in Belgium for two weeks in May. Enjoyed everything but were a little disappointed in Brussels [I think Paris has spoiled us for most other large cities]. We went by high speed train to Paris where we stayed several days. Had good visits to several museums and a very good meal at a restaurant we went to last year.

Then to the barge, L'Heritage, for the month of June. We rented a car and went sightseeing for a few days before starting to move. Among other places, we went to the official head-waters of the Seine River [a spring coming out of a grotto]. Our friends, Bob and M.J., joined us for the last two weeks of June and we traveled to Dijon. The weather got warmer [but never too hot] and we traveled through 119 locks!!--luckily all managed by lock keepers.

We came from Dijon to Rouen where we have rented an apartment for two months while we go to school. The school is good and we are learning a lot of French---though we have no hope of learning it all.

3 August 2008 Rouen, France

2008-08-03T06:51:00.000-04:00

My Mother seems to have recovered from her health problems and so we hope her situation will remain stable.

We are now in Rouen and have just finished our fourth week of French school. This is the same school we attended last year. We returned here because it is the best school we have attended so far---this is our fourth year of coming to school in France. I might actually learn to speak French one day! Dee Ann of course continues to improve.

We have three more weeks school then we go to Tours, France for about a week for some sightseeing in the Loire chateaux area. then we return to Rouen for a few days before flying back to Atlanta.

2 August 2008 ROUEN, FRANCE

2008-08-02T06:59:00.000-04:00

Our apartment building is on the corner, across the street from the Seine River [the same river that goes through Paris]. Here is the view from our balcony. Unfortunately, it is somewhat noisy but we have adapted to it.

Rouen has a big Armada of sailing ships every four years. Our schedule this year happened to coincide with the big event. We spent two 1/2 days walking along the quay looking at the ships. Lots of fun but tiring.

update 27 July 2008 Rouen, France

2008-07-27T14:05:00.000-04:00

27 July 2008

This weekend we went to see a French movie [Journey to the Center of the Earth] on Friday afternoon [with the school], went to the town of Dieppe on the sea shore on Saturday [an all day trip (there and back by train)]. Dieppe is a very pretty town on the beach. It is the nearest beach to Paris so it was somewhat crowded. We took a promenade by sight seeing boat--out to sea and back. also took a sightseeing ride around town on a little train. Had a wonderful seafood lunch at a highly recommended restaurant in town. Dieppe is a major fishing port so all the seafood is Very fresh. The wives of the men on the smaller fishing boats sell last night's catch at stands right outside the tourist office.

We go every Sunday morning to a large outdoor market [called a marche ] and buy wonderful things for next week's meals.

Today we heard that Lonnie's 94 year old mother is ill [she is in a nursing home] so we wait with much concern to hear about her [we hope] recovery.

Initial Post

2008-07-27T13:52:00.001-04:00

27 July 2008

Rouen, France

Greetings from Lonnie and Dee Ann:

In previous years we have sent to family and some friends an email newsletter while we traveled during the summer. Our son, David, has started a blog for his family "doings" and he has inspired us to try the same rather than sending email. Everyone can thus follow our travels, or not, as they wish.

We will try to update more regularly and to put in more of our experiences since should be easy for you to not bother with things that do not interest you.