books in English

Windy Wednesday, January 22

Posted on by Susan

What a windy day – all sorts of things are blowing around. It is not pouring rain though, as it has been for two days straight.

Despite the rain, we drove to Lagos yesterday, about an hour from here. It’s a cool walled city and you have to park outside its walls. Luckily it wasn’t raining when we got there, so we could walk in to the fairy-tale-like place. We had lunch at a very old restaurant and it was interesting to see the artifacts and wall hangings displayed. After lunch we walked around and I went to Owl Story, an English language used book store that’s impressively stocked.

We drove back, still largely escaping the rain although overnight it started again and seems to be ready to begin anew today.

At least it isn’t snow.

Saturday: Arles

Posted on by Susan

Saturday is market day in Arles and the amount of vendors selling everything imaginable is huge. There are baked goods, paella, chicken turning on a rotisserie, and many kinds of fish. Clothing, books, and household supplies are all there, and so are fruits and vegetables. I walked straight down the street for a half hour and still saw more sellers.

I bought a French language Little House on the Prairie and another book that the kind bookseller proudly found for me – a book in English. Not that I needed any more reading material.

We had apple pastries and coffee at the market, then headed to the Arles Archaelogical Museum, where a Roman barge from 50 A.D. was excavated from the Rhone River about 15 years ago. It was hard to believe the boat was found in such great shape although it required three solid years of intense work to preserve and reassemble it.

There was a small Christmas parade through the streets later in the evening, with a horse, bagpipes, Santa, and a snowman who encouraged ne to pose with him and his bear friend.


photos: at the Christmas parade; the Arles-Rhone 3 barge; spices for sale at the market

Saturday: Pecs, Hungary

Posted on by Susan

Today we drove from Gyor to the city of Pecs, in the center of Hungary. Pecs has a 2,000 year history and is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a city filled with many cultures and it is a wonderful place to walk around with lots to see and do.

Like other ancient cities we have visited, the very large city square allows for limited car traffic. It is similar to a massive pedestrian mall.

We walked around all afternoon, stopping for lunch at a tavern, then coffee and dessert at a cute coffee shop run by a very nice and friendly English-speaking man and his much quieter wife.

I like to check out the English books section in bookstores we come across, so I did that. Most bookstores have at least a few shelves of books in English, and my biggest fear is not having a book to read (This won’t happen. My suitcase is full of them.)

Our little hotel has a decent gym in its medieval cellar, so I will spend some time there in the early morning.

photos: Pretty Pecs; the delicious reasons I need to hit the gym; city government building