France was a natural place to spend time in. Of course, this is where my very close friend Ghislaine lives. I had visited France before in 1977, 1982, 1993, and last year 2002. It is definitely a country where I might settle, and it is growing in appeal. I now have many friends here, my French is improving, it has a very rich cultural past and present, and it is not as far from my family as Southern Europe.

And I love the French wines and cheases! Pretty much all the meals were served at the homes of Ghislaine's friends and relatives, so I did not get the chance to taste restaurant food this time.

Pictures

- Ghislaine at her home in Orléans, just south of Paris, France. I met Ghislaine the first time in 1973, when she was moving to Sweden, where she lived 17 years before moving back to France. We have many, many good memories from spending time together. Ghislaine speaks good Swedish, so I did not have to struggle with French all the time
- Ghislaine and Rain (picture taken in 2002)
- at the beautiful home of Ghislaine's sister (she has 8) Marie-France with husband Claude. This is located in the beautiful Sologne forest a bit outside Orléas
- The chevre farm near the home. They make excellent goat cheese!
- The beautiful home of Ghislaine's friends Jan-Jacque and Caroline, in Tremblay just south of Paris
- The gardens at Versaille. I couldn't help posing next to Bacchus, the wine God
- Beautiful western Provence. Pont D'Arc is in the Ardeche, a tributary to the Rhone river. This is a bit north of Nimes and the Mediterranean
- Nanou and Jeans in their home in Luz-StSauveur in the Pyrenée mountains, near Spain. Jeans is one of Ghislaine's two brothers. I had visited here in 1977 and this is where I actually started producing phrases in French
- The arrow points to Jean's and Nanous's home
- Jean's and Nanous's home
- The town of Luz. This is a ski resort in winter
- Mountain view from Luz. This is a ski resort in winter
- The chateau in Luz
- Gavarnis, the end of the road with the incredible circle in the Pyrenées as backdrop
- The easy hike along fairly level ground to the high hotel. This takes 1-2 hours for most people
- The snowpack was heavier than normal this year, so pretty much all the trails above the high hotel were covered by snow. By gingerly threading my way, I managed to get almost all the way up to the big waterfall - close enough to get the spray in my face
- The view down to the high hotel far below