June 11 - Dune du Pyla

Went to Dune du Pyla which 60Km from Bordeaux, in the South of the Arcachon Bay, which is the highest dune in Europe, the Great Dune of Pyla. This dune reaches a height of 107m. At this summit, the view is spectacular with the ocean coast, the inlet of the Bay, the large pine forest and, when the sky is very clear, the Pyrenees Range. This is a great place for parasailers to take off and land from as you can see in the slideshow.

June 11 - Arcachone

In the morning headed off to Arcachon. Arcachon is a great place to visit if you want beautiful beaches and a nice resort town. Arcachon is a popular watering-place, with a fine beach and a mild climate on the Atlantic coast of southwest France 55 kilometers miles southwest of Bordeaux.

June 11 - Bordeaux

Bordeaux is the main wine making region of France. We spent the night here but were tired from all the traveling so we only took a look at some of the central squares. Really did not have time to enjoy Bordeaux's full beauty. In the morning headed off to Arcachon, which is a beautiful resort town on the Atlantic ocean.

Train from Bergisch Gladbach, Germany

June 10

We took the local train from Bergisch Gladbach to Cologne, Germany. From there we caught the Thayls train to Paris, France. Took the Metro from Gard du Nord to the Gard MontPellier station. From there caught the TGV to Bordeaux. In toll, it was about 8 hours travel time mainly on Trains.

Rhine River Cruise - June 9 - Kulb to Braubach

Today after the tour of the Marksburg castle at Braubach, we took a train to Kulb and got on the Klön - Düsseldorfer Rhine Cruises. Their website is at http://www.k-d.com.

There are many beautiful small towns that we saw on the Rhine river such as St. Goarshausen, St. Goar, Boppard, and Braubach. There are the most castles in this area as well. We saw a number of them. On the hills of the Rhine valley are many vineyards which produce the great wine of the Rhine valley.

Cologne Germany - June 9 - Marksburg Castle

We are off to the Marksburg Castle with Ruth and Fritz. Fritz loves taking everyone to the castle.

The Marksburg is a castle above the town of Braubach in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the only medieval castle of the Middle Rhine that has never been destroyed. It is one of the principal sites of the UNESCO World Heritage Rhine Gorge.

The castle was built to protect the town of Braubach and to reinforce the customs facilities. It was built about 1117 and explicitly first mentioned in 1231.

You can find more information at http://www.marksburg.de/default.htm

Cologne Germany - June 8

We are in Cologne drinking a lot of Kölsch (which means beer made in Cologne). It is very tasty. Very light so you can drink a lot. It is about 27 c here but the humidity is about 90% so it is VERY hot.

Johanna and I are staying at her cousin Elisabeth who leaves in Berjisch Gladbach which is a town next to Cologne. We are going to take the train into Cologne and visit the Cathedral (actually go inside). There are is a HUGE protestant convention in Cologne where about 400,000 people have come into the city to celebrate a 'sharper' religion. They are trying to make there religion more enjoyable and as they say 'Sharper'. The symbol of the conference is the fish symbol but it has a shark fin on top. So the fisherman of man is now 'Sharper'

Luc climbed the couple of hundred stairs to the top of the Cologne Cathedral Tower. This was a very long and hot climb. I thought the view would be better but was quite disappointed that the view was not as open as I expected. I took a few camera shots just to get a quick view of the city of Cologne.

Talk to you soon, and hopefully I can get access to the internet on our trip so that I can stay in touch with you nice folks.

Arrive in Cologne Germany - June 7

Took the train from the Gard du Nord - Paris to Cologne Germany to visit Johanna's relatives:

Elisabeth and Norman, Ursula and Bjoern, Ruth and Fritz, Andrea and Wolfgang and Hedwig.

They have been great hosts and looking forward to taking a Rhine cruise from Marksburg Castle to Bacharach and see the famous mountain on the Rhine called the Lorelei Mountain.

Here are some pictures of the Cologne Cathedral, The Rhine River and some of the relatives.

Musee d'Orsay - June 6

The Musée d'Orsay (in English: The Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine, housed in the former Orsay railway station. It holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1914, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography, and is probably best known for its extensive collection of impressionist masterpieces by popular painters such as Monet and Renoir. Many of these works were held at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume previous to the museum's opening in 1986.

Claude Monet is one of my favorite Impressionist painters. His painting Coquelicots (Poppies) is quite nice.

Louvre - June 6

Went to the Louvre Museum today, June 6, 2007. The Louvre Museum is the most visited and one of the oldest, largest, and most famous art galleries and museums in the world. The building was previously a royal place and is famous for holding several of the world's most beautiful works of art, such as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, The Virgin and Child with St. Anne, Madonna of the Rocks, and Alexandros of Antioch's Venus de Milo. Located in the centre of the city of Paris, between the Rive Droite of the Seine and the rue de Rivoli in the Ier arrondissement, it is accessed by the Palais Royal — Musée du Louvre Metro station.



With a record 9.6 million visitors received in 2006, the Louvre is widely seen as the most visited culture and art museum in the world. It is also the most visited monument in Paris.



My favorite painting in the museum was not the Mona Lisa. Please understand that the Mona Lisa is a great work which deserves the recognition. My favorite is a portrait of two sisters by Theodore Chassebiou (1819 - 1853).