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1. Just how bad is the traffic in Rome? You know it’s got to be rough when you see 3 nuns and a priest hop into a vehicle, buckle their seat belts and all make the sign of the cross before the driver starts the engine.

2. Here in Canada, I’m accustomed to seeing calendars featuring brawny, good looking firefighters of the month.

On the streets of Venice, you can pick up similar calendars featuring young, handsome gondoliers. I get that!

What surprised me, though, were the 12 month calendars featuring similarly young and handsome priests. Who, exactly, is the market?

You’re probably familiar with photos of athletic gondoliers plying their trade piloting tourists through the canals of Venice.

But what do gondoliers do in their down time between clients?

Well, as you can see here, chatting on the cell phone is a popular past-time.

Rocking back on a chair dockside and letting loose with an Italian song or two is another option.

When this fellow ran out of tunes, he started playing fetch with his dog. I hoped the dog could swim.

I got up to watch the sunrise three days in a row at our country hotel in the Tuscan hills. The last day I couldn’t resist making the time to paint the place as it appeared in the warm morning sun.

And this is Podere Salicotto near Buonconvento, IT. A fabulous place of wonderful views in an unbelievable ‘top of the world setting’ graced with the superb hospitality of Silvia and Paolo.

You can see more of this fabulous place at: http://www.poderesalicotto.com/

Smiling, sunny, Tuesday afternoon greetings from Piazzalle Michelangelo in Firenze, IT.

So here we were in Pienza, Italy, enjoying the town where Franco Zefferelli decided to film his version of Romeo and Juliette. We’d strolled through the town. We’d soaked up the vistas overlooking the Tuscan countryside. And, we’d just finished a fabulous lunch – Insalata Caprese and Pumpkin Ravioli – served in the warm September glow of an outdoor courtyard ristorante.

As we made our way back up the street, a literal chorus of voices drew is in their direction. (more…)

According to Harvard researchers a mid day nap is a great way to maintain or increase your productivity through the afternoon hours.

Apparently this phenomenon is not news to the Provencal population in southern France. When the hot summer sun is high in the sky, mid day siestas are nigh on to mandatory. The shops close and business stops to accommodate a bit of refreshing down time.

A chalkboard sign in a St Remy olive oil shop says it this way: “In Provence, the sun rises up twice a day. Once in the morning and once more after the nap!”

Darn right civilized, don’t you think?

Here’s a pic that is, as they say, nothing to write home about. Just clothes drying on the line.

However, sometimes moments arrive in your life in the strangest way.

After living out of a suitcase for a while, the prospect of clean duds had a certain appeal.

As I hung the freshly laundered clothes on the line in the warm morning sun and the fresh Provencale air, I was accompanied by the sound of church bells ringing from the nearby village of Rognanas.

A brief moment of ‘divine domesticity’.

We spent five days staying at Mas St Antoine near Avignon in southern France. It’s a wonderfully peaceful spot – well located for seeing the sites of the region – hosted and managed by Kerrin and Keryn a very hospitable Kiwi couple from New Zealand. You can learn more about the Mas at http://www.massaintantoine.com/

Here are a couple of images from our stay. (more…)

We were browsing in the factory outlet of the Haribo Candy Factory near Uzes, France, when all of a sudden we heard the sound of a piccolo being played, and quite beautifully, too. The sound seemed to come from the direction of the parking lot.

As we made our way back to our car, we were intrigued to find the musician traipsing across the lot in the direction of a tour bus, followed closely by a growing collection of teens. (more…)

Parisians are well known for their fashion savvy. Older women, especially, are decked out in what we Canucks would consider Sunday best – even though they may only be taking the dog for a stroll or picking up a baguette from the corner boulangerie.

As we noted this week, even young schoolgirls seem to have a way of wearing their everyday duds that oozes style.

I suppose, then, that I shouldn’t have been so surprised by this sight. (more…)