I spent part of May and most of June traversing the world for a work funded project. I told my boss that I should have to reimburse them for the great experience (although in reality it was really hard to be away from the girls for so long—hey, I’m serious!)
I had business in Hamburg, Germany; Berre, France; and Geelong, Australia. Along the way I also spent time in Nice/Cannes, France; Marseilles, France; Singapore Airport, Singapore (12 hour layover counts, right?); and Nagambie, Australia.
Hamburg
I left Atlanta on 27th May for Hamburg via Frankfurt. Wesley Snipes and I shared the flight from Frankfurt to Hamburg, but he didn’t say much (or at least I couldn’t hear him from my seat a few sections behind his). Hamburg was getting ready for the World Cup (unfortunately I left the week before it started) and had soccer paraphernalia everywhere—I was actually surprised when I flushed the toilet and it didn’t say “GOOOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLL” (or the German equivalent). It was fun to see those preparations; I wished I could have been there for the actual games.
Hamburg was also very cold while I was there--especially since I didn’t pack a coat (hey it was 100 hot degrees in Atlanta when I left and it was supposed to be summer). I ended up buying a coat since I came to my senses and realized I would need a coat in Australia too since it was winter there.
My colleagues and I took a chartered boat tour of Hamburg via the Elbe. I mostly remember that it was cold! 
Nice/Cannes (French Riviera)
I had a few days between workshops to spend alone, so I decided to use them up scouting out possible romantic getaways for Amie and me in the south of France. I arrived in Nice on 3rd June. My first visit to France! I was pleasantly surprised with how nice everyone was at the airport—okay mainly the nice girl at the Avis car rental counter who upgraded my rental car to a big, beautiful and very powerful Mercedes. Who says the French are spiteful? Okay, let me be clear that I don’t believe they are any more spiteful than the rest of us, but I do question if the “nice” girl at Avis was? Big, beautiful cars don’t belong in Nice—there is no place to park them and the streets are so narrow that I had to spit on the side of the car to grease it through some tight spots. Darn that upgrade!
Nice was a lot of fun, but I do recommend renting a scooter and going with a loved one. And do know that the beaches are a bit rocky.
Marseilles/Provence
I paid the 27.5 Euro toll to make the 3 hour drive from Nice to Marseilles on June 6th. Yeah, that’s right, 27.5 euros! At 1.3 USD to 1 Euro, that’s around $35USD! …but the road was realllly smoooooth.
My workshop was at the Berre refinery, which is about 30 miles outside of Marseilles. I stayed at a hotel near the airport, but could conveniently see the refinery from my window.
The stay in Marseilles was a lot of fun! ...and not because of the awful Best Western Hotel that I stayed in. The unhelpful hotel staff, a teeny-tiny closet, and a ripped mattress just didn’t say “Best” in any language.
Two of my French co-workers helped organize a weekend trip around the Provence-Bouches du Rhône department of France. It was nice having somebody that could read the signs! We visited The Abbey of Montmajour, Moulin de Daudet, Les Baux-de-Provence, Aix-en-Provence, Cassis, and Marseilles.
Construction of the Abbey of Montmajour was started in the 10th century, and has yet to be completed.
The Moulin de Daudet was a fun pit stop between the Abbey and Les Baux. We ate a long lunch in Fontvieille (where I was first introduced to the fantastic olives of the region) and then took a long walk that looped around the little town and peaked at the Moulin de Daudet.
I had no idea what Les Baux was before arriving. We were driving up a valley with beautiful mountains on either side when, suddenly, one of my French companions yelled to pull over and park the car. I think I said something like “What? This is it?” Then he pointed to the top of the cliff to the side of the road and said, “That’s it.” Way up on top of the cliff above us was an outcropping of buildings that seemed more part of the mountain than the vegetation. I was in awe. None of my pictures really captured the beauty of this medieval city. The walk up was tough and ended with a cold coke. 
The Mediterranean isn’t like any other ocean water that I’ve seen. It was clear, yet dark blue, and was the perfect temperature for swimming. My visit to Cassis, a small town on the coast, was too short. The little town was for obvious reasons packed with French and foreign tourists. It quickly became my favorite town in France. We took a 1 ½ hour boat tour of the coast. Although I didn’t learn much from the tour guide who spoke French (I think), I did experience the majesty of the highest cliffs in France. 
We had a dinner party in Aix-en-Provence. I found it to be beautiful with its confusing arrangements of narrow streets (that are yet to be properly mapped—I never found my church after 3 hours of driving in the confusion.) I enjoyed the best dessert of my world tour here. 
Marseilles was vast with tiny streets. I know Americans who would call many of the streets “narrow sidewalks”. The Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde is a magnificent feature of the Marseilles skyline. It can be seen from nearly every square meter of the city. I liked the posted “Impressive Figures” sign that listed the grandeur of the site in measurable detail. The wrist of the child Jesus is an impressive 1.1 meters!
This region of France is enchanting. From the mysteriously-blue Mediterranean and whispy-white cliffs of Cassis to the rolling olive orchards and jagged mountains near Les Baux, everything seemed to be surreal. Ahhh, I really crave the fresh olives—never had better.
Singapore
I left France on 14th June. Took a flight from Nice to Frankfurt and then on to a 12-hour delay at the Singapore airport. It was in Singapore that I realized that I left the touristy oil-paintings that I had purchased from a local French artist (who probably imported them from China…but I chose to believe otherwise) on the plane from Nice to Frankfurt. ArGGG! Of course, Lufthansa never tracked them down. I think I was more upset over the fact that I would have to find another gift for Amie.
Singapore airport was very, very nice—the most comfortable airport I’ve ever been to. It had every American restaurant, every store, and every convenience that a first-class traveler could possible need. The place was immaculate! After a refreshing shower, I spent time using the free internet kiosks to compare the exchange rate in Singapore with Australia to determine where I should get gifts for the girls. I ended up putting off my purchases until leaving Australia—less to carry.
I really liked their display of police protection—several groups of rifle-carrying police walked up and down the terminal scowling at all in their path. I had to take the picture incognito and with the thought that if they saw me I’d be tortured until I revealed my secret identify.
Geelong
I arrived in Melbourne, Australia 6am Friday, June 16th. With a cup of hot-chocolate in hand, I watched the sun rise while waiting for a co-worker (who had arrived earlier in the week) to pick me up. It was chilly, but I enjoyed the warmth from my new German coat. Everything seemed different—but maybe it was because of the awful jetlag I was having. Even the sun seemed to rise differently than in the northern hemisphere. Well, it was winter now and just two days prior I had left summer—that was a little odd. Driving on the left side of the road was a little nerve wracking as well. A 9am work meeting seemed more like a dream then the bad idea it was to attend so soon after landing.
On Saturday, our Australian co-workers took us on a tour of the Great Ocean Road. We only drove about 2/3rds of the 38km drive, but it was enough for me to find my retirement community—Apollo Bay. Of course, I’ll need to learn to surf to fit in.
It was cold enough to require the average American to wear a coat, yet we saw hundreds of Aussie surfers facing death pretending like it was warm enough to surf. 
We took a detour from the Great Ocean Road to visit the Otway Fly Tree Top Walk. The walk was on an elevated walk through the top of a rain forest. It was interesting, but being winter probably the wrong time to visit, as we saw no animal life of any kind. 
Our Australian hosts felt bad that we didn’t see any wildlife, so after work one day we drove out to a field and he pointed out a few wallabies. Later, in Nagambie, I saw a wild red kangaroo (much bigger than wallabies) , which was quite impressive in size and speed! 
(Yes, thats a picture of road-kill ... I saw its leg about 20 feet away.)
I ended my visit to Australia with a quick trip to Nagambie, a small town 1 ½ hours north of Melbourne known for their wine orchards and skydiving. I don’t drink wine, so I had to go skydiving. Of course I paid 100$ to get proof, see the video (Click Picture for 4mb Video). 
Before I left Geelong, I had to take a picture of a few of the odd statues they had everywhere. Not sure what the story is behind them, but it better be good. 
Return to Atlanta
I arrived back in Atlanta on 26th June. I remember waking up in a cold-sweat during my flight from Sydney to LA because I suddenly realized that I had told Amie to pick me up at the Atlanta airport 12 hours earlier than I would arrive. Woops. You really have to pay attention to the AM and PM on those long flights. The girls were asleep when I did finally arrived back in Atlanta at 11pm. Of course, I woke them up. Ahhh its good to have a home and a family!
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