Alsace without the Internet

I invited you to travel with me and then I do not make any entries; please forgive me.  I was in the Voges Mountains staying in a gite without internet access.  Hopefully, I can catch up with pictures and thoughts.  Today is a day to regroup ... doing laundry (yes, the simple facts of living : ).  At this moment, I am sitting outside in Aix en Provence with a gentle breeze rustling the leaves of a nearby pear tree. 

What have I learned?  There is the amazing fact that there is so much to the world than I have not experienced.  Visiting sights that I have read about has been meaningful.  Although, I have discovered about myself that I cannot "go, go, go" ... no matter where I am geographically, it is good to rest and reflect.  One of the highlights of the trip has been to go into ancient churches (église) and study the beauty of the stained glass windows.  I love color; studying the contrast, depth  and detail of this artform has been meditative ... and for me, opens a window of understanding into the soul of past artists; they had a need to mark the beauty of what they felt and saw through the perspective of the eye of the mind.