France and Spain, May, 2013

I flew Air France to Paris, took a fast train from CDG airport to Bordeaux, picked up a rental car there, drove east a few hours to Aquitane and Perigord districts for a few days.  I continued southeast to Arles, Aix-en-Provence, and Avignon in Provence.  Later I drove on high speed toll roads to Girona, Spain, followed by Barcelona, and back on the toll Roads to Zaragozza, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Biarritz and then back to Bordeaux to return the car.  From there I took a really fast train - which operated at a fixed speed of nearly 100 MPH non-top to Paris where I spent a few days before returning home/
I will start with a few of my favourite photos.
The baby shots from from the old town in Bilbao.

I was crossing a plaza of an evening in Bilbao when I came upon a drama that had been going on some time. Some teens had been playing with a soccer ball when a young dog joined in, seized the ball, and kept it.  At times, there were four human teens pulling on the dog and the ball, and several others of all ages offering advice from the sidelines.  The ball was fatally wounded in the action.  The kids pulled on the ball, which translated into Dog as "Bite harder."  Someone phoned Mama who came and told the dog to release the ball and as things became far less amusing after that, I took my leave.

The girl is the dog's mistress, the tall, plaid jacketed boy is the ball's master, and at the bottom, the fine shoes and square purse indicate the very stern arrival of Mama on the scene.  This is from a series of 18 photos.