It's summer in the South of France and for me that means seasonal allergies. Worse still, my supply of Claritin has run out. (This blog sounds like a commercial so far). The French stuff that I purchased delivers a knock out punch. Not only am I always sleepy, but also very punchy! Even more than normal! I owe apologies to numerous french waiters and hotel staff for meeting their innate rudeness or indifference with something far less than standard Canadian polit...

Eight and a half years ago, we made a reservation to stay at a little wine estate in the Languedoc region of France for a month after our second daughter was to be born. For years I'd dreamed about a place in the south of France surrounded by old stone walls, endless rows of vineyards and tall shade trees. A place where I could hop on a bike with a big basket on the front and peddle ten minutes along a dirt road to a nearby village for fresh, crunchy bread, aro...

"So kids, tell me what impressed you most about Michelangelo's David. And please, don't say his bum or his penis." I could see their brains recalibrating their responses as we waited for our meals to arrive after an eventful day in Florence and now on the outskirts of Cinque Terre. "I liked his eyes," says Mira. "I liked the veins in is hands," says Shannon. OK, not bad, I think. They were paying attention afterall. "And his nipples were really detailed," a...

I'm really not sure how we ended up here in Lucca. Italy was never on our list of countries to visit on this trip. Not because we didn't want to. We just wanted to make sure we had at least a few weeks, and preferably more, to slowly savour everything this long dreamed of but never visited place had to offer. That wasn't in the cards (or the budget) for this trip. We had to pick our European stops carefully and Italy is not what you'd call a budget destinatio...

Captain's Log. May 13, 2014 Somewhere off the Coast of Croatia Dalmatian Islands Crew: Tim Mercer (Skipper), Debbie Meade (First Mate), Colin Joyal (Cabin Boy), Rhian Christie (Chief Steward), Mira Mercer (Stoker), Shannon Mercer (Quarter Master), Kaya Joyal (Botanist) and Mhari Joyal (Surgeon). I was awoken at 2:30 am by the sound of the sloop's rudder thumping loudly against the limits of its radius. "Damn," I thought lying snug in my aft cabin bunk, "fo...