"The time has come," the Walrus said to talk of many things:
of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings,why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings."

We have decided that it is time for us to move on to another adventure. We have put our lovely ship "Oldtimer" up for sale. When we started this adventure it was for a year or two and now find we have been living this lovely life in France for 6 years. Time has flown. Please if you are interested or even just curious or know someone who is interested or just curious go to our link :

http://www.apolloduck.net/205461

As you will see the barge is quite wonderful and very liveable. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like to make a rendevous to see "Oldtimer."

Eric and Sudi Berg bergbarge@gmail.com

France is a country in which religion has deep roots. The country was founded and built around monasteries, churches, chapels, basilicas and many monuments with religious orientation. Each village has a church - some in excellent condition cared for by the towns people and some which are barely standing and are severly neglected. Although the primary religion is Catholic the Catholic Church in Rome no longer supports most of the churches. The number of priests has diminished so much that Mass is said usually in only one of the churches of the region. Often a priest may travel during a month from church to church. Each church and chapel is unique and quite lovely.



We met our friends Mary and Jim in Anzy le Duc for lunch . This really tiny village has a very lovely church and monastery as well as a wonderful place for lunch. We rode our bikes from Artaix and met Mary and Jim who drove from Paray la Monial. A delicious lunch.

The Church at Semur en Brionais.

The old door of a Church at Semur en Brionais.

On the way home from our bike ride to Anzy le Duc we discovered this small chapel set in the woods. It was called the Chapel of Notre Dame. It is obviously well cared for by someone and they have trustingly left it open for all visitors to enter. Another very wonderful French tradition.

The Chapel of Notre Dame.

We have seen so many beautiful churches. Often it is the smallest structure which is the most beautiful and elegant. Many of the churches date back to 900AD. They have sometimes been added on to and repaired numerous times but are still standing. When we are riding through the countryside it is often the Church spire which lets us know we are nearing the next village.

Arriving back in Roanne

Incredible sunsets in France. Worth the trip . This is in the Port of Roanne directly across from our mooring.

Spring is the time for the arrival of many new and adorable ducks in the Port.

Ater coming back from the States it is good to be in our own home. There is cleaning, planting, touching up, new carpet, oil changes and many opportunities to put all our skills to work. All is ready on June 12th as we finally leave Port for destinations unknown.

THE REST OF THE WINTER

A Day in Denver. Who would have thought that this might be Mother's Day. That was our 40 something year old son hanging from the "Bull" sculpture outside the Denver Art Museum and our delightful and delicious grandaughter Emily encouraging Thom. Emily was just about to graduate from High School in a couple of weeks. A seriously fun fun day. Oh then there was the motel we were staying in........Just never mind.



The day before we managed a wonderful hike to the "cabins" on the ranch in Minturn. These are cabins that were built in the 1800s and are about at 9000 ft altitude. The dogs - all 4 of them - agreed to be photographed.

The Roaring Fork river in Aspen. Fabulous fishing and quite beautiful.

The view from the deck of our rental house in Aspen. To also be the same place we will live next year. Look carefully this is so beautiful. We can see all 4 ski areas from there. What more could you wish for.

There were herds and herds of Elk everywhere this spring. What a treat. Incredible animals.

February in Aspen - so wonderful.

We are still thrilled and excited to be in the mountains of Colorado. That is despite bone chilling -25 degrees last week and several weeks ago. It went from the -25 one week to +45 the next. Only in Colorado could that happen. Today we have snow , snow, snow. It started this morning and we already have about 6 inches of new "freshies" ( the local word for powder).
We have had visits this month from Heather and Kent a couple we met in France who live in Washington DC area and are spending the winter in Beaver Creek near Vail , Colorado as well as Tracy and Thom and their two dogs Bear and Petey. Unfortunately Tracy fell while we were skiing a double black diamond on Highlands Ski Area and tore her ACL. She was a trooper and used her good leg to traverse and side slip down to the road - as luck would have it a Ski Patroller arrived just as we got to the road. She then road down the mountain in a sled.
Life is Good - we are skiing about 4-5 days a week , hiking, swimming, running and doing all those annoying other real life things like cleaning bathrooms, doing laundry, shopping for food, getting haircuts, grooming our needy dog who is distressed by all the avalanche control (bombing) that goes on on a snowy day.

Colorado At Last !!!!!!!

We are in seventh heaven - blue skies, sunshine, great skiing, glorious mountains, clean clear air, and so much to do and so little time.

We have been lucky enough to visit with friends, have friends come visit ( Tricia and Tom), visit with family and have family come visit. Aspen is an incredible and beautiful place and that encourages visits. Lucky us.

Okay so it was -20 degrees farenheit for 2 days but that was only 2 days. We are back in the sun and there will be powder skiing this week. The snow in Colorado is so dry that it is light and fluffy. Often called Lux Flakes. Beautiful crystalized snow that sparkles.

The skies of France

Sometimes the photos I take simply drive the BLOG. There is no real story with this BLOG - just an obsession with the sky and clouds of France. Partially this is due to the openess of the geography so that we see the sunsets from the barge. The light in Europe is different - soft and often with a slight haze so that it is diffused. This of course leads to my poor attitude during the winter when this haziness becomes an overall grey because the sun is so weak. The latitude is very far north so the summer days are long - till 10:00pm and conversely the winters are really really short with the days ending at 5:00pm.

So enjoy the photos. You can click on this address http://jalbum.net/a/822455/ or you can click on the Jalbum widget on the right side of the page.