I went to a place called les 3 puissances (the 3 powers) in southern Alsace, 35 kilometers away from my home town Mulhouse. 3 markers can be seen: the old limit between France (fleur de lys) and Switzerland (climbing bear).



The old border between France and Deutschland, with the red letters F and D (Alsace-Lorraine became german after the 1871 french defeat and stayed german until 1918) ends here, starting from Duché du Luxembourg. The D marker carries the number 4056 on one side: this is the 4056th marker, one marker every 100 meters.



I'd like to make this 400 km walk one day. If someone wants to do that walk with me, please send me an email. If Werner Herzog wants to join, why not but it's a 1450 $ fee. I need sherpas for carrying my toothbrush.

This happy new year post is kind of boring, but don't you find it boring to have the year changing every year? Why not keeping the same year a few more years, especially when it's a good year? We could have kept 2009 until 2012; or at least until fall 2010. Changing years should remain a personal option, like the border system. For me, France is located near the city of Lens. It's a very small territory, a garden where an old man grows carrots & leeks.

"What is life? What is the process of living? Everyone knows that life can be boring, monotonous, at work, in the family, anywhere. It's hard to make both ends meet, to raise children... And the thing that we all have in common is that we're always thinking about holidays. And then we all head into holidays at the same time, creating huge traffic jams on the roads... It's a real nightmare. Because everyone wants to reach as soon as possible an eventful elsewhere."

OTAR IOSSELIANI