April, usually a beautiful month full of sunshine and spring flowers has been turned on it's head and spilling rain everyday, but a few. Nothing worse than a gray rainy April. Another lesson in living in the now as that is all we have. 
Living in the present is something that Jean and I have been pursuing for awhile now, but every once in awhile it seems to become even more important. The more we get ahead of ourselves, the more we persist, the more something resists.
Coming down the homestretch of Jean's dissertation he ran into a HUGE - BIG _ GRAND - snafu, in which some data was later submitted by a lab resulting in Jean having to redo all his data analysis. This is the time when emotions have to be put aside and the work just has to be done. Being present in the moment is required. April rain didn't help either!
Lyon, a Gallo-Roman settlement situated a few hours from Paris, Avignon and Geneve is often a city one waves to as they pass by the on the train. This time we decided to take a direct line and spend a day and night in the city on the way to Geneva.
The old ville has been renovated as a pedestrian area with fantastic shops and gastronomic restaurants every ten yards. Spending a week there and you still would have more places to eat than time. The Gallo-Roman remains to modern architecture, not forgetting Romanesque and Gothic buildings - Lyon has preserved its ancient districts echoing with memories of its 2000 years of history.are as good as those seen in Paris and the vibrancy of the city is felt throughout.
Zoé’s February vacation quickly descended upon us. Heading off to Geneva we started our journey by visiting some dear friends, Debby and Mark, whom I met in graduate school umpteen years ago Together with our other friends Kathy and Don in Salinas, we used to meet each February for almost ten years to cross country ski at Royal Gorge in Tahoe. Life moves on and we haven’t seen them for quite awhile and Mark is now working at the World Health Organization and Debby is enjoying the life of an expat in Geneva while their young adult girls are starting a life of their own. 
Our first stop was the town of Geneva where Zoé immediately spotted the 150 meter water spout shooting into the sky.
“Where does she learn this stuff?” I asked Jean.
“Her comic books, her kid’s newspaper. Who knows? She knows more than we do these days.”
Her interest in not just comic books, but non-fiction and pieces of historic information amaze us. Who would think she would know about this water spout and how tall it was?
Toussant (All Saints Day) is celebrated by a long weekend for those working and a ten day vacation for the schools. The French love celebrating their saints and so who is to complain. Toussant, Nov 1 is the day after Halloween when everyone buys hugs plants of fall flowers and visits the graveyards of their ancestors, picnicing, praying, and enjoying the sun. The ancient stone cemeteries are full of life and colored with orange, yellow, purple and bordeaux colored flowers.
Taking advantage of the vacation we headed down to Costa Brava and Barcelona for a few days. Costa Brava is the bay of beaches between the French Border and Barcelona. Roses the largest bay is a grand bay with miles and miles of white sandy beaches. Stretching down the coast further are small bays, beaches, fishing villages and inlets cut between jagged cliffs and expensive homes built on the edge of the coast. Similar to many beautiful places it especially reminded us of the California Northern coastline. 
Costa Brava Spa Surprise - a beautiful family day spa
Our car pointed south for our Touissant (Fall) vacation towards the Costa Brava beach resort of St. Felieu de Guixols and Barcelona. Our attempt was to have a bit of repose time at a spa as well as see the sites, but of course the challenge with spas is to find one that allows and invites children. Voila!!! We found it and we highly recommend it; the Magma Thermal Leisure Center in Catalonia, 20km south of Girona. Situated at the base of a major hiking area lies a long two story building, sleek in architecture both inside and out and immaculately clean and pristine. Opened in 2002, the thermal leisure area’s grand space is massive with it’s two story glass windows overlooking a grassy meadow, chestnut, oak and occasional beech trees, and the Guilleries mountains . Visiting the thermal waters provides a relaxing and playful break from hustle and bustle of Barcelona and has something for everyone from infants to seniors. The leisure center, 870 square meters of thermal water surface and 45,000 square meters of garden, includes a central spa with a temperature of 36◦ C with a counter current river, pressurized water cascades, hydromassage benches, bubble basin and hydromassage beds all layed out in a spiral-like pool 1.5 meters deep. Set above the central spa are two hydromassage jacuzzis for 8 people with a temperature of 35◦ C. Set below is a toddler’s playground set in a pool 5 meters wide and 30 cm deep as well as a four lane 25 meter swimming pool at 28◦ C. 
We actually started to take a day trip to Marseilles by train, but the train was cancelled (yes it does happen) and we realized we would be too late for lunch. As a detour we decided to hangout in Avignon, visit Zoe's favorite park above the Palais du Papes and bask in the Provencal sun. As you can see it was a lazy, great day.
May 2007,
Mom and Dad have come to visit for two weeks. At 83 and 86 they are a marvel at traveling across time zones and enduring the long plane flight to France. Visiting with us and Zoe-Pascale was their main objective with of course a little bit of shopping for Mom in the Uzes marche. Walking her to school, then trekking back to the Tabac (where you buy newpapers and cigarettes and lotto tickets) for the Herald Tribune and back to the Bar du Marche (the happening cafe in St. Quentin) Mom and Dad went every morning. The cafe booming with tourists this time of year kept Mom busy visiting with English speaking tourists from various countries. By the end of the week they knew exactly what to order and were on first name basis with Natalie and Ramon the new owners. Jean and I would take our morning 5K walk and often join them for a cafe creme before starting our work for the day.
Zoe-Pascale's good friend Sofia-Elena from the Lycee in Marin and her Mom were coming to Nice for spring vacation. What better reason to take a quick train ride (just the girls) and spend a few days with them. To my great luck I was able to use a carte enfant I had bought for the train the year before (and expires within a week of this trip) providing Zoe and I with tickets at 50% discount. Round trip for 105 Euro from Avignon to Nice was what I like!
Leaving on Tuesday morning from TGV station in Avignon, Jean and Pantoufle sent us off with great fanfare. The next two days were full of conversation, good food, laughter, beach, walks, carouels, parks and a bit of shopping for the ladies!,
Last year we indulged in a ski vacation with Club Med in the French Alps which was worth its value. However, this year on a bit more of a budget we headed off for Vaujany in the Alpes d'Huez region (French alps) of France. What we have been finding is that there are hundreds of little valleys and resort towns that are built for vacationers, families, and winter and summer activities. Vaujany one such town has been building new apartments for rent with a mini shopping area full of ski shops, restaurants, a market, an indoor swimming center and gym, ice skating rink and ski resort. It has blended tradition with modernity and provides skiing, swimming, skating and trekking facilities in the beautiful mountains of France. The village is connected together with covered stairs and escalators as well as a van service to the cable car starting point. From the village you take one of three cable cars up the mountain to the ski stations.