First, here are our images from hanging out in the market with our good friends René, Pascale and their two lovely daughters.

This is a view of the church ruins at the top of the village.  You can see Mont Ventoux in the background.  There will be some images from our trip to the top of the mountain in a later post.

Here is the village of Eygalières with the collines (little hills) in the background.

The happy, absolutely adorable family walking ahead of us. 

Salesmen seem to be the same pretty much all over the world. This guy was demonstrating his great cutting utensil.

The lavender had just been harvested and was all over.

Mmm…sausage.  Very tasty.

The olives were, of course, a highlight and ubiquitous.

As you may be able to discern, this woman is weaving stalks of lavender with a ribbon.  She’s got 20 shoots of lavender … quite impressive.  Each one took her an hour to make.

A typical lunch scene.  Not too bad, huh?

That does it for the market … time to move into the mountains.  We stayed at an absolutely AMAZING place.  Château des Allues.   http://www.chateaudesallues.com/ Although I don’t have any images of the place (they were accidentally erased), it was simply perfect.  The service, room, and exquisite food/wine.

This is the start of a hike we took with X.  As you see, there were vineyards all around.  Our kind of place!  The Savoie wine was a hidden gem.  We didn’t know much before staying there, but it was a nice treat to discover it’s delicious.

This is Château de Miolans.  It dates from at least the 11th century.  On our way back, we stopped for a tour … pictures of that to follow.

Anna cruising down the trail.  X was hangin with me at this point.

The beautiful valley.

Anna and X by the valley.

Touring the Château.  This is the garden that was of great medicinal and magical value in the middle ages.

The Tower of St Pierre, with its commanding view of the valley is the oldest part of the castle.  The tower itself dates back to the 14th century.

X and I hanging out again.  Although the castle was originally built as a fortress for the lords of Miolans, it was converted into a state run prison from 1564-1792.  The Marquis de Sade was perhaps its most famous inmate.  He’s the guy for who the term “sadism” is named.  Yeah, that guy.

Well, that finishes our little tour of Savoie.

Next up will be the trips we took in Provence when Gabi and Philipp were visiting (Les Baux, Mt. Ventoux and Vaucluse).

Until then…

–Jim

So cool with his shades on… sitting in Grandma G’s lap.

Just chillin’ for the 4th of July.  Yes, they have July 4th in France.  It’s just not a holiday. 

A little yoga pose.

X and I enjoying lunch in the quaint village of Gigondas … where they also produce some of my favorite wine.  We (including Anna) were touring the area with Gabi and Philipp.

While not always a fan of tummy time, he’s usually very interested in what’s going on.

More happy tummy time on his new play mat.

Hey!  What’s going on over there?!?

Yum!  Thanks Juan and Sonia.

Alexander and Amandine getting to know each other.  They were born only 2 days apart… perhaps they’re destined to be together? Same first letter?  Coincidence, I think not.  Nicolas and Fannie hosted us for a great afternoon and chance for the two to get to know each other.

Just a little handsome man hanging out with us one afternoon.  He was trying to decide if he was happy.

Sure enough, he was happy!  And totally handsome.  Thanks John and Jenni.

OK, so Amandine has a little competition.  This is Juliette who is a month older … they’re already holding hands.  Juliette is the daughter of Daisy and Thomas.

So, maybe he’s not happy ALL the time.  But, he makes the cutest little faces when he’s about to cry.  Don’t you think?  OK, maybe it’s not as cute for everyone else, but in the interest of introducing you to X, I included it.

That does it for now.  Hope you’ve enjoyed an all X, all the time post. 

Up next will be more countryside around us here in France.

–Jim

So, after spending a little time near Gordes, the road led us to visit the magnificent Ochre Hills of Roussillon.  We were joined by our good friend, Leah.

Apparently, Roussillon sits atop the world’s largest deposit of ochre and was the European capital of its production for use as a colorful pigment in things like paint and wallpaper.  The practice of using the pigment dates from at least Roman times, when they used ochre in building bricks of various colors.  Roussillon had a reputation as the best quality ochre in the world (despite probable dispute from other production sites such as the US and Italy).  Things continued in about the same manner for 2,000 years until right before WWII, when other less expensive options became available.  However, ochre from the region is still used.  The ochre jaune walls in our house is the case in point.  This yellow tinted wall covering is known as chaux and renowned for its thermal properties.  The only downside is no spot painting…  it’s never the same color.  Kinda like painting in fresco.

OK, here are the images from the day:

They say there are 17 shades of ochre.

X had fun hanging out with Anna walking through the old quarry with Anna.  However, since it was bright and hot, he was hiding in his carrier and slept through most of it.  Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to come back when he’s a bit older.

Here’s Leah.

For scale, not the person in the lower right corner of the image.

The three of us.

Another image of Leah.

Yep, Anna caught me again.  Not hard.  As you may notice, I am fully stocked with equipment … a blanket in my cargo pocket, just in case X gets cold in the summer heat.

More of the various ochre shades.

This is the view from a restaurant we ate at in the village.

Another view from the restaurant in the deepening afternoon light.

Almost time for a golden, red sunset

On the way out, we liked this door and garage.  Plus, the wall color is one of many shades in the buildings of the village.  The village itself has been a protected village since WWII and now benefits from virtually no modern development.

One last image of the cliffs before we headed home.  As you notice in the background, there are still plenty of vineyards nearby.

Ok, that does it for the ochre of Roussillon.  Up next is a post of Little Alexander. Until then…

–Jim

OK, I know this post is lacking much text.  Sorry, it’s about the lavender this time.  Up next is the ochre in Roussillon.

Till then!

–Jim

Before I get into the post, allow me to share a little background.  Chad is one of my first cousins (one of 5 on my mother’s side). Growing up, although we didn’t live in the same city and see each other more than a few times a year, he was always more like a brother to me.  In school, Chad always pushed me to get better grades … because he always seemed to have better marks than I did.   We also shared hunting and fishing with our fathers (his father is my Uncle David, who you will see later in this post), which provided lots of male bonding time.  Once we both finished undergrad, while I commissioned into the Air Force, he moved from the Ivy league to the Big Ten for med school.  After the requisite 4 more years of college, he did a residency in Chicago where he met a beautiful girl, Andrea (or Andy).  She’s a lawyer with an effervescent personality, brilliant and beautiful.  They seem perfect for each other.  Fortunately for Anna and I, we had 6 months in the US when we could hang out and spend time with Chad and Andy.  I think it came as a surprise to no one when Chad and Andy decided to get married.  I was honored when Chad asked me to be a groomsman.

So, here we are … in addition to standing up in the wedding, I managed to snap a few images.  Although my work pales compared to their official photographer, Erica Rose, I had fun making some images.  I felt a little better prepared than I was for Gabi and Philipp’s wedding.  Below are some of my favorites from that weekend.

The rehearsal dinner was held in the penthouse of their old apartment building (they moved to Minnesota right before the wedding to start new jobs).  As you can see, a rainbow fortuitously appeared.

The harbor was very pretty as well.

Andy with some of her girls.

The venue was great.

Here you can the cake Andy picked out for Chad.  If you aren’t a big gamer (I’m not), you probably won’t recognize the symbol.  It’s a helmet from the video game HALO, of which Chad is an aficionado.

On either side of the mass of buildings is the Sears/Willis Tower (its new name) and the Trump Tower alight in the diminishing sunset.

Uncle David has been one of my inspirations for getting into photography.  He and his late wife (Aunt Cheryl/Chad’s Mom) are both accomplished photographers.

Mike’s camera phone was not cooperating … Julie was trying to get an image, but I think it’s time to upgrade.

So, T (another of our first cousins), who you may remember from Julie and Mike’s wedding post wasn’t too keen on being in this image.  Yet, here he is.

So, I am not quite sure what’s going on here, but this is Jeff (another groomsmen) with a little help … doing what?  Well, I’ll leave that to you.

So, after the rehearsal dinner and rooftop party, most of the wedding party took the party to other late night establishments.  Julie, Mike and I went back to the hotel to catch up with Anna and X who were resting after a long day.

The morning of the big day, I treated Chad (and the males in the wedding party) to a lunch at a quintessential American male establishment, Hooter’s.  They have great … owls.    OK, so the food wasn’t the best, but it was the same thing I did before my wedding and it was kinda fun.  Chad was a good sport.

After lunch, it was back to the old apartment to get ready.

Speaking of quintessential, this is classic T.    He even caught the guy on TV’s attention.

Chad getting ready to deliver his big lines.

Since I was standing up, I don’t have any images from the actual ceremony … so, I’m going to skip ahead to the party bus which took us to several great locations in the city. This one is the “Married With Children” fountain, also known as the Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park.

Chad and Andrea brought a little more class to the fountain.

Andy is a gorgeous bride, don’t you think?

I was again honored when Andrea asked me to pick out a little bubbly for the pictures.  Of course, I felt Dom Pierre PÉRIGNON from Champagne, France was apropos.  But, since he’s not the most affordable, I balanced that with several Gloria Ferer and Chandon California sparkling wines to get some more mileage for the money.  However, the Dom was BY FAR the best and seemed a perfect match to the union … I think the Wine Advocate captured it best in their tasting notes:

While I am still working on the images from the wedding, there are a handful from two different trips to “northern” Wisconsin that are ready to be posted. The first was a trip to the Miller family cabin, and the second to Uncle David’s home with a stop to our good friend Coree’s cabin nearby. Unfortunately, since I was busy talking and catching up with everyone while we were staying in Southeastern Wisconsin, I don’t have any images from that time. Nonetheless, and without further ado, here are the images from “Up North.”

Grandma Chris and X got along famously.  Of course, she was there for his birth, so they are well acquainted.

Grandma Chris and Auntie Sarah playing with X, while Grandpa Mark watches.

Mom and X by the side of the cabin… in great afternoon light. As you can see, he loves to raise his eyebrows.  Don’t know who that looks like!

Auntie Sarah modeling the light.Her sparkling blues provide great contrast to the red paint, don’t you think?

X wasn’t quite as fond of the light.  He prefers to keep his right eye closed a little … just like Dad.

When facing away from the sun, X was happy as can be to watch Auntie Sarah.

Still not happy with that bright thing off to the left…

Here we are…

Grandma Chris and Anna hanging out on the dock of the cabin.  It’s a very cute, quiet location … great for kayaking, fishing (even if you don’t catch anything with the best night crawlers), and of course watching movies.  I’ve heard the winters can be equally nice in the snow.  We’ll see.  Although this was my first visit (finally!), I look forward to going back many times in the future.

Now, further up north … on to Uncle David’s beautiful home.

X took his first fishing trip with Mom.  Although the pair didn’t catch anything, don’t they look cute??

Even when he wasn’t fishing, he liked just chillin’ on the boat.

X and Anna hanging out on the chair at Coree’s place.

Uncle David, X, Anna and I decided to take a little hike around his place.  Turns out X loves hiking.  So much so, he falls asleep nearly every time (this one no exception).

Walking down the road.

The three of us over the pretty Teal River Flowage.

X and I by the North Home sign (in Norwegian).

Ok, the next post will have images from the Chadrea Wedding.     Stay tuned!

–Jim

Since you have already seen Alexander’s first few days, I’ll skip to his first trip (Arles).  If you haven’t seen his first few days, here’s that post http://jimanna.com/2010/06/announcing-alexander-james

Although tough to discern from this image, it’s the top of the Roman Amphitheater in Arles, known as Arènes d’Arles in French.  The yellow, lichen covered stone are the top of the arches of the amphitheater.

This is the commanding view looking out over the city toward the Rhône River.

Another view of the arches that is a little easier to discern.

Other side.

A second city/river view.  This is near where Van Gogh painted several of his famous works in 1888 such as, “Starry Night Over the Rhone” and “Café Terrace at Night,” but more on that café later.

You can see how withered the rock is.  Of course, that’s not surprising since it was built in the first century of the current era, just a few years after the Colosseum in Rome was built (around 80 C.E.).  It was initially used for chariot races, and gladiatorial fights.  After the fall of the empire, it was converted into a walled fortress for a couple hundred homes.  It remained that way until the early 19th century, when it was returned to it’s original state.  Then, it was (and still is) used for bull fights, concerts and other large events.

As you can tell, it’s a large forum and can hold up to 20,000 people.  A bull fight here apparently made a large impact on our painter, Van Gogh.  After presumably seeing a bull fight, he re-created the scene in his painting, Les Arènes.  This was just before he cut his ear off.  Some speculate he used the example of a matador cutting the bull’s ear off as an example.  I’m not so sure…

Pretty pink flowers with the tricoleur in the background.

Pieces of columns from the partially collapsed Roman Theater in Arles … just down the road.  Although these columns aren’t, the theater is still in use today.

Here is what it looks like today.  Talk about a historic venue!

France is known for it’s random acts of romanticism and Arles is no exception.  This couple seemed to spontaneously stop, kiss, then carry on as if nothing happened.  Delightful!

The Arles city hall, complete with fallic, I mean historic, obelisk.  It was erected by Constantine II, who was also born in Arles, in the 4th century.

This is the courtyard of the former hospital in Arles … and another site of a couple Van Gogh paintings.

A random street in Arles.

This is the Van Gogh Café … guess what happened here?  Yep, still another famous painting.

So, that concluded our time in Arles.  You may ask why we don’t have any pictures of little Alexander on his first outing.  Well, that’s because he was sleeping through almost all of it.  Not to worry, there will be plenty more for him in the future.  Perhaps even a few that he’ll remember.

So, until the next outing…

–Jim

These first images are from beautiful port town of Cassis.

This is a view from a boat of the Cap Canaille.  It’s a staggering cliff that rises nearly 400 meters above the sea and is one of the highest cliffs in Europe.

Another view of the cliff.

After seeing this amazing bluff as we exited the port, we came to the Calanques of Cassis.  These are sorta like smaller versions of fjords.  They are very impressive and are reachable by either boat or hiking.  We opted for boatng this time, but next time, we’d like to hike in.

This picture doesn’t do the sheer rise of the cliffs justice, but at least it’s a start.

Back in port with the restaurant lined harbor.

The town Cassis is not to be confused with the French word for blackcurrent berries (also Cassis), from which happens to be a popular Burgundian drink, crème de cassis (and part of a Kir Royale).  This Cassis is a small town of about 7,000 inhabitants.  There are a few who fished (witnessed by this little boat), but it’s a very touristy town and also makes very tasty wine.

Another view of the port. It’s a great place to enjoy the café scene while enjoying a drink.

This is about the only image I have from the first place we stayed.  It was on the outskirts of Aix-en-Provence and owned by a wonderful family whom we’ve had the pleasure of getting to know a little better.  Suffice it to say, it was a very comfortable spot and were tempted to stay there for 2-3 years, instead of just a month!

This is from the same place.  At the table with Anna are Keri and Leah, two of our best friends in the south of France.  They have really helped us feel comfortable here.  Keri is American and has lived in France for 20 years, so as you can imagine, she is a wealth of information and invaluable to avoid as many faux pas as possible!  Leah is a Brit who works with me and has been a good friend and working partner.  Unfortunately, her significant other is back in the UK, so she understandably spends a lot of time back with him (or, he out here).

The fountains of Nice are lovely in the summer and sublime as ice rinks in the winter.

We were visiting the city of Nice with our very good friend, Tom, who came down to visit for a weekend (he lives in Belgium for the moment so it wasn’t too long a flight!).  This is Cours Saleya in Old Nice (Vieux Nice) where we had a lovely lunch together … in spite of an interminable traffic jam on the way into the city.

Just down the street.  If you look close you’ll see interesting nomenclature on the building … Le Block.  Sometimes it’s cool to throw in English words.  Other times, not so much.

Other times, it’s not the nomenclature, but the sculptures that are interesting.  This appeared to be a normal building … until you look up.  Then, it became a fascinating one.

A Bird of Paradise flower in a garden we passed.

After a little time in Nice, we drove further west to the beautiful, hilltop village of Èze Village.  On the way, we HAD to stop by the fruit vendor to pick up some strawberries for Anna.  She didn’t have many cravings during her pregnancy, but strawberries and ice cream were definitely among the few.  But, upon reflection, she always craves those, so maybe it wasn’t pregnancy specific.  Either way, we stopped, bought some way overpriced fruit and enjoyed it at the top of the hill.  Where this image was made:

It’s even prettier on a sunny day.  You may recall from one of our posts in 2007, it’s one of our favorite places.

After Nice and Èze, we drove home and shortly thereafter, Tom had to depart and we moved into our current place.  I’ll include a few images in one of my next posts.

Until then…

–Jim

Philipp about to drive to his wedding.

Gabi right there with him … no superstition here!

The officiant (mayor) reading the vows and ceremony.

As this was a civil service, it wasn’t long before the bride and groom were signing their marriage documents.

This is where Anna came in.  She was Gabi’s witness to make it official.

Gabi and Philipp’s hands on their family book.

Apparently, it’s a Bavarian tradition for newlyweds to saw a log together.  Gabi’s father, being a consummate outdoors man helped make it happen.

Much of the food was cooked by Gabi’s mother.  It was delicious!

Slicing the cake.

Interestingly, all the women in Gabi’s family (sister, sister-in-law, and adopted American sister … everyone except Gabi) were pregnant at the wedding.

The family proper.

Family and friends

Aren’t they cute?? They’re like this *almost* all the time. 

It was a great ceremony, party and visit with Gabi, Philipp and their whole family.  We were so pleased to be a part of it.

After we left Bavaria, we headed down to France to begin our new life in France.  The next post will (finally) have some images from our time here.

Until then…

–Jim

This lighthouse is a part of Bill Baggs Florida State Park.  It’s supposedly the same place that Ponce de Leon named the Cape of Florida when he explored the region in 1513.

The lighthouse was first built in 1825, but damaged in the Second Seminole War.

It was re-built in 1846 and is now the oldest freestanding structure in the area.

A manatee swimming just off shore.

Which is the stick and which is the bug?  I can’t tell!

These next images are from the Miami Zoo.  As far as zoos go, it’s a very nice one.

The always graceful flamingos.

I think this tortoise looks quite sage, don’t you?

Soaking up the sun.

Cute, but poisonous.

This little one was a bundle of energy and stopped only for a split second.

And why wouldn’t you stand like this?!

Well, that wraps up our Babymoon.  It was a great trip, but we were anxious to get to France, settle and and await Alexander’s arrival.  The next post will have a few images from our friends Gabi and Philipp’s wedding in Germany.

Until then…

–Jim