Leonardo Da Vinci

Okay, I am a big fan of his work..... are not we all.

Here are seven strategies to be more like Leonardo.

* Curiosity An insatiably curious approach to life.
* Demonstration: A commitment to test knowledge through experience.
* Sensation: The continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to clarify experience.
* Sfumato: A willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.
* Art|Science: The development of the balance between science and art, logic and imagination ("whole-brain thinking").
* Cultureç The cultivation of ambidexterity, fitness, and poise.
* Correctedness: A recognition and appreciation for the connectedness of all things and phenomena; "systems thinking."

June 13 - Les Baux de Provence

Les Baux de Provence is a small village in southern France.in the former province of Provence. It has a spectacular position in the Alpilles mountains, set atop a rocky outcrop crowned with a ruined castle overlooking the plains to the south. Its names refers to its site — in Provence, a baou is a rocky spur.

It was built primarily as a defence structure as it was high a top the mountain and could easily launch flaming projectiles as a means of defence.

June 16 - Nice is Nice

Nice is down time for us. Luc is very tired of the marathon visiting so is looking forward to sitting on a beach on the the Mediterranean coast.

We are off to Antibes today as it is less busy then Nice and hopefully a little more down to earth. The play ground for the uber rich is not really my style.

June 13 Arles, France

Arles is famous for two things that we saw. There is probably more but we only spent a few hours in the city. The Roman Arena and many of Vincent Van Gogh's paintings were of this city.

June 13 - Pont du Gard

Pont du Gard was built around the year 19 BC. The aquaduct was designed to carry the water across the small Gardon river valley, it was part of a nearly 50 km (31 mi) aqueduct that brought water from springs near Uzès to the Roman city of Nemausus (Nîmes). At the time it was built, Nimes (France) was one of the bigger Roman centers. The Pont du Gard is the second largest Roman structure every built. It is 1 yard shorter then the Roman Coliseum in Rome. Water was a source of survival and luxury. The Romans at that time had quite complex plumping, even suction pumps to have high pressure water running through the pipes and into fountains.

June 12 - Avignon - Palais des Papes

Avignon is probably best known for its Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes), where the Popes lived for much of the 14th century from 1309 - 1377 known as the Avignon Papacy.

Seven popes resided in Avignon:

Pope Clement V
Pope John XXII
Pope Benedict XII
Pope Clement VI
Pope Innocent VI
Pope Urban V
Pope Gregory XI

In all in tense purposes, the head of the Catholic church could have been centered in Avignon instead of Rome. After being expropriated following the French Revlolution, the Palais des Papes was used as barracks for many years but is now a museum.

Avignon has a walled city which was built by the popes to keep the papal territory well preserved.

June 12 - Carcassonne

Carcassonne is a fortified French town. It is separated into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. The fortress, which was thoroughly restored from 1853 by the theorist and architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1997. For more information on this wonderful city, please go to the website at http://www.carcassonne.org/

June 12 - Millau Viaduct

The Millau Viaduct is a large cable-stayed road-bridge that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France. It is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, with one pier's summit at 343 metres (1,125 ft)—slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower and only 38 m (125 ft) shorter than the Empire State Building. It was formally dedicated on 14 December 2004 and opened to traffic two days later.

The bridge’s construction broke three world records:

- The highest piles in the world: piles P2 and P3, 244.96 and 221.05 metres in height respectively, broke the French record previously held by the Tulle and Verrières Viaducts (141m), and the world record previously held by the Kochertal Viaduct (Germany), which peaked at 181 metres;

- The highest mast in the world: the height of the mast atop pile P2, peaks at 343m.

- The highest road bridge deck in the world, which is 270m above the Tarn River at its highest point. Only the bridge deck of the Royal Gorge Bridge (321m) in Colorado, United States is higher, and is considered the highest bridge in the world, but is only open to pedestrian traffic.

June 12 - Saint-Émilion

Went to a town just 40 km east of Bordeaux called Saint-Émilion. Saint-Émilion's history goes back to prehistoric times and is a World Heritage site, with fascinating Romanesque churches and ruins stretching all along steep and narrow streets.


The Romans planted vineyards in what was to become Saint-Émilion as early as the 2nd centrury AD. In the 4th century , the Latin poet Ausonius lauded the fruit of the bountiful vine.
The town was named after the monk Émilion, a travelling confessor, who settled in a hermitage carved into the rock there in the 8th century. It was the monks who followed him that started up the commercial wine production in the area.



Saint-Émilion is one of the four principal red wine areas of Bordeaux (the others being Médoc, Graves and Pomerol). The same grape varieties tend to be used but in a different ratio, with Merlot and Cabernet Franc predominating, while relatively small amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon are used. The region is much smaller than the Médoc and adjoins the wine region of Pomerol.

Migron, France

My uncle Hubert has tracked down our lineage to the 1700's to the town of Migron, France. It is in the peaceful, ancient village of Migron, in the heart of the Cognac/Pineau producing area, and is surrounded by acres of vineyards and sunflowers.

Migron is about 150 km north of Bordeaux, France.

I will have to put more information about our lineage here.