As promised, though a week late, a picture many here in the Old World will have made themselves of the gently rolling slopes of Tuscany. Taken earlier it would have been more pleasing but then again: there is something to be said for sleeping in. Especially in such a nice place as Fattoria San Martino, an ecologically managed small agriturismo on the edge of sedate and wonderful Montepulciano. And that ends this commercial.

Yup, the Mack is Back. Kind of refers to the fact that my own internet connection will arrive shortly; in the meantime I’m virtually exploring the local community by illegally tapping into an unsecured wifi connection of some neighbour. The past months brought me to our new home in Brussels, a private air show by Saab in Sweden and the northern parts of Italy, amongst others. The 25 second exposure that you see above and which has been made a gazillion times before, is obviously taken in overcrowded, noisy, smelly, hot and humid, but oh so beautiful Venice. I’ll try and post an accompanying “been there, done that” image of Tuscany sometime next week…

If you don’t know the Alsace region (see our recent sentimental journey): here are some shameless but well-deserved plugs. If you like the image above, love hiking and need some peace and quiet, you can stay at Les Alisiers, a charming family-run hotel tucked against a hillside, and watch deer and fox emerge from the forest while having dinner. In the daytime, either hike around the rural countryside or buy some of the best Alsatian wines at our old favorite Jean Sipp in historic Ribeauvillé or at our new discovery Albert Klee in nearby Katzenthal. And that ends this commercial break.

We started our stay in France some five years ago tucked away in a small and messy hotel in Strasbourg where we had to put the bed up against the wall each day to be able to walk around the four square meters we had to our disposal. Nonetheless, we have fond memories of both the city and the Alsace region and so we went back on a four day sentimental journey, this time enjoyed some good hotels, had wonderful meals, strolled through the countryside, visited our favorite wine growers and drove back to Paris yesterday rested, happy and with 120 bottles of wine in the trunk of our car to make sure the happiness will stay with us for some time to come.

Where I’m from, the Netherlands, we have a political party dedicated solely to animal rights (seriously!) and I figure they’d probably take offence at the Peking ducks on display here (in Singapore). On the other hand, where I live now, France, the party for hunting and fishing (seriously!) probably would take offence at there being a party for animal rights. Don’t you love cultural differences? As for me, I just don’t recommend using this image to learn your kids all about what the duck says…

As I promised some time ago, I finally present you a revamped website! From now on everyone can comment on each post I dump on the unsuspecting visitor. Hope you like it and drop me a note if you run into any problems. On another note, I met the cute girl above in a dirt-poor village on the North coast of Bali. I thought I’d give her at least a small part of her 15 minutes of fame over here…

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Well: eat this! The top room, second from the right, was ours for three nights and I had to dive into the pool with some €5000 worth of gear hanging from my neck to provide you with this image. Place of crime: Bali. Just to make you feel better: I’m back, it snows outside and it’s 45° colder.

In my previous entry I wrote I’m better suited for warmer climates. Well, I really hate to break the news to you, but we’re heading there for some serious R&R. That means no updates on this site until somewhere in February. Til then & have fun in the meantime!

If I had to pick one image of our trip to the south to depict the atmosphere over there: this would be it. Pétanque, the quintessential French game, played by men that look as ancient as the game itself in the shade of old platane trees on a square in the beautiful historic city of Nîmes. Had I been able to add a baguette somewhere, it would have easily scored 121%.

What can I say except: we were on vacation and this is how that looks like in the south of France, in this case in the quaint old port of Cassis that I can heartily recommend. And nope, that ain’t me in the picture: such is the fate of the photographer.