Last Days in France

Sunday, June 2

We arrived in Avignon with the Mistral winds.  For those of you familiar with California’s Santa Ana winds, the Mistral in Provence and the Rhone Valley are very similar.  Where they differ is that Santa Anas bring hot, dry weather, while the Mistral brings cool, dry weather.  Much of the area’s life style, agriculture, and fresh air depends upon the Mistral.  It has blown for 2 days (Sunday and Monday).  Today, Tuesday, is the first day I have looked out my hotel window and the tall pine tree is not almost being blown down.

Before we arrive in Avignon, however, we are able to visit 3 Plus Beaux Villages.  The first, Peyre, is very close to Millau, so we get some more views of the Viaduct. 

One of the main attractions of Peyre is a tower built into the Cliffside.  Actually, most of the village is built to take advantage of the cliffs.

We back-track to take the main highway, so more views of the Viaduct.

  We have to climb back out of the gorge and head toward our next village, La Couvertoirade.  This is a medieval, walled village that was built by the Templars and the Hospitalers.  

A couple of young women have set up a stand outside the village gate to sell liquid soap.  

Other visitors have brought their dogs out for walks.  

The village has some very beautiful and very well-made woolen items.  If I needed such a heavy wool sweater in San Diego, I might have been tempted to buy one.  There was a loom set up outside the sweater shop showing some scarves being made.

There is a small Templar church with a small cemetery.  The signs posted say that the Templars meant the church to be small and simple.  Inside the church, there is a labyrinth on the wall behind the altar.  

 There is also a stone labyrinth set outside the entry to the church.

I walk out a gate for a view of a windmill on the hill.  

Mom keeps pointing out these awkward looking stairways built into the walls surrounding the village.

More views of the village:

As we head further south toward Avignon, we enter 2 tunnels carved into the mountainsides.  

We try to go to our third village, St Guilhem le Desert, make a wrong turn at a site called The Devil’s Bridge where some antique cars are coming out, then over a bridge which gives us a view of a river rushing through a gorge that ends in an area set up like a beach.  

We later learn that two young women were drowned here the day after we passed through.  When we arrive at the village, it is a madhouse. People are everywhere with more coming in.  We decide not to attempt a stroll through the village because it will surely be more of a headache to deal with the crowds.  

On our drive to and from the village, we notice what looks like corn growing in very random areas.  Mom says it is bamboo.  Tom and I say it looks more like corn.  As our drive progresses, we have to agree that what we think is corn is probably very young bamboo.  Mom is happy to be right.

We arrive in Avignon, drive around the walled city in search of our Ibis Sud.  The hotel turns out to be a welcome place despite its location.  It even has a swimming pool.  Mom has scoped out a brasserie where she wants us to go to dinner.  It is in the walled city, and we experience a few circulades before finally finding parking near where we want to be.  When we arrive at the restaurant, there is a woman sitting on a chair who is very annoyed that we have made her get up when we ask about dinner.  She tells us the restaurant is closed and can’t be bothered with us.  We choose another restaurant up the block at which I have a dessert to die-for after dinner.

A specialty of the house—seafood platter:

My dessert—a chocolate mousse with salted caramel topping:

Mom and Tom have been to Avignon several times, and I have been there once.  This time, we were all very uncomfortable in the city.  It is dirty.  There is tagging everywhere, including on buildings that I would think would be better taken care of to maintain the historical importance of the city.  While Mom and I wait for Tom to get something from the car, I start to notice young men in sport pants (not sweatpants, necessarily, but those long pants like basketball shorts), who seem to be scoping out the area. I notice one in particular who sits down to watch Mom and me.  He later gets up and leaves, but I see him talking animatedly with a young woman.  We walk further on, and shortly, I see him pass us.  He gives me a look, and I give him one back.  Maybe I am just paranoid because of the movie Taken, but I do think something strange and maybe very dangerous goes on openly in a city once ruled by popes.  After our dinner, all I want to do is leave.  Mom says, do you have the creeps?  And I say, yes.

Monday, June 2

Before we explore any more, we realize that we need to confirm our plans to return to Paris for our flights home on Friday, so we head to the TGV (fast train) station to purchase tickets. Tom has to scope out the situation since we also need to return our car and haul our luggage onto the train.  Well, my luggage is the problem since I brought a huge suitcase.  An agent gives us the times and price breakdowns, and we consider taking first class.  I say, Pourquoi pas?  For those of you who travel abroad and/or are considering travelling abroad, it can be important to make sure that you have a credit card with a chip technology in addition to the magnetic strip we rely on in the United States because some places will not "approve" a credit card with just the magnetic strip.  We ran into this problem several times, including at the train station.  Thankfully, I had my chip credit card with me so that we could complete our ticket purchase.

After taking care of our train reservations, we are on the road to St Remy, a village not too far south of Avignon.  It is at St Remy that Vincent Van Gogh spent some time in a hospital and is also where he painted over 150 pieces, including some of his most famous works such as Starry Night.  Nostradamus was born in St Remy, and one of our hunts was to locate the Nostradamus fountain we have previously photographed.  

We do some shopping, and Mom finds a place where the woman makes/sews tablecloths, napkins, placemats, and the like to order.  Mom orders round placemats because she has not been able to find any to her liking.  While the placemats are being made, we have lunch at La Reine Jeanne, a small hotel and restaurant where Mom and Tom stayed in 2004, where we celebrated Tom’s and my birthdays in 2008, and where we are finally celebrating birthdays and Mother’s Day again!

The food is excellent and is created by new chef-owner Fanny Rey.  We didn’t know anything about Fanny Rey until Mom Googled her.  Fanny Rey was Top Chef in 2011.  She also ruled the kitchens at the Paris Ritz.  The menu at La Reine Jeanne is very simple with 6 starters, 6 entrées, and 6 desserts. 

 We dine on the patio where there are a few others taking lunch.  Two Frenchmen in a corner linger and light cigars.  Two young women are ecstatic that Fanny Rey comes to greet everyone.

Since the shops closed for two hours, we could have an after-lunch stroll, including picking up Mom's special order.

After we pick up the placemats, we head toward Glanum, an ancient Roman ruins site.  I have a problem spraining my left foot metatarsal which makes walking very painful, so I am not up for walking, and we are feeling the effects of full stomachs and a little bit of wine (whine).  We also do a drive-by of another Plus Beaux Villages, Les Baux, which has more Roman ruins, but we end up heading back to our Ibis.

Roman gate as we drive back through St Remy:

Tuesday, June 4

First on our list today is Pont du Gard.  Pont du Gard is a Roman-built aqueduct that we have previously visited.  

We take our traditional pictures of Tom at the ancient olive tree, only we are not quite sure which one has been the tradition, so we take pictures at all of them.  We will have to match up pictures from those previous visits to figure out which was Tom’s tree!

There are more children toting workbooks and clipboards.  France is a very dog-friendly country, and many people visit historical monuments with their dogs.  

A hiker (in the white baseball cap) crosses the Pont with his dog, who trots on the wall.

We meet Aidan the boxer who has a tail!  I find out that it is now against the law to dock tails in France.  What is even more fun is that I talk with Aidan’s parents entirely in French.  I have been doing most of the talking in French throughout our trip, and several people have complimented me, so I am really encouraged to use my language skills.

Mom and Tom and Pont du Gard.  

Fig trees.

On an extra added attraction to today's excursion, Tom takes us to a village called St Laurent.  We try to navigate the very narrow streets in the car, but it becomes impossible!

 A cat and his buddy have been watching:

We also drive by the entrance to a bed and breakfast, Annette's place, where Mom and Tom stayed after there had been some major floods in southern France.  

A rather odd sight was to see young women dressed as if they were going out on a night in the town, but in the middle of the day.  Hmmm....

The Rhône Valley in Southern France is well known for its wines.  

One of the most well-known and usually expensive wine is from Chateau-Neuf-de-Pape.  

Mom finds a spot to sit while Tom and I go on a wine-tasting tour up a street we last visited 5 years ago.  Mom and I had tasted and purchased one from one of the shops while Tom had visited another.  One interesting wine fact we learned then was that the red wine should sit for at least 5 years.  This visit, the shop Mom and I went to is closed.  Tom and I stop at another shop where there are some fellow Californians chatting with the wine seller, a young woman from Denmark who came to learn French, then who stayed, married, and is raising a family.  After we purchase some wine, we stop in at the shop at the bottom of the street where Tom had bought his wine before.  I much prefer the wine here, so I buy a white and a red.

We decide to start looking for a place to eat, and the place of our choice, of course, has stopped serving.  Mom and I duck in the Office de Tourisme while we think about what we want to do next.  

Back in the car, we take a few detours before coming back into Avignon by the famous bridge, Pont Saint-Bénezet.  In French class, one of the first songs we learn is “Sur la pont, d’Avignon.  On y danse, On y danse.”  Today, the bridge appears to be simply unfinished, but it did span the river on and off through several hundred years since most of the arches were damaged and/or washed away by major floods.  There is too much traffic to try to stop, but I get a pretty good picture on a drive-by.

It has become our tradition to share a bottle of wine in our rooms before dinner.  Even so, we still have quite a few bottles of our Couly-Dutheil!

Wednesday, June 5

Our last day touring the countryside.  Tom would really like me to see Glanum, and Mom would really like to see Gourdes, one of the Plus Beaux Villages we only saw in a drive-by because there was no place to park, so we head south again.   

Our route takes us through St Remy, and it is market day.  Tables and tents line the streets.  I stop by a display of spices and find some Fleur de sel de Camargue, a special sea salt that is hand raked and harvested in France. The name Fleur De Sel comes from the aroma of violets that develops as the salt dries. Only the premium, top layer of the salt bed is used. Each signature container is sealed with a cork top and signed by the Salt Raker who harvested it. Mom and I also stop in Sandrine’s shop to get Tracy a “new kitchen-warming” gift.

Down the road at Glanum, we pay for parking and cross to the site of the ruins.  At the beginning of the walkway, there is a marker that says that the olive grove was a favorite place for Vincent Van Gogh to paint.  Near the visitor center, kids picnic, their backpacks piled around an olive tree.  The Roman ruins are a small site with some well-preserved columns.  Living areas, the bath house, wine-smoking house, temples, and grave markers have been excavated and marked.  We stop for something to drink before getting back in the car to head for Gourdes.  Gourdes is perched on a hill, and there is traffic clogging the road in and out.  Many people pull over to the side of the road for a view shot before actually entering the city.  After some searching, we pull into a spot that appears to be free; however, a man comes over to argue with me that the car has to have a handicap plaque even though Tom is using a cane to walk.  We start to leave, but I insist that I want to see the village, so I am dropped off for half an hour.  Down one of the narrow, winding streets, there is a crowd.  All the traffic and traffic control is due to the fact that there is a movie shooting at one of the cafés.  I am actually looking for the café that was used in the movie A Good Year.  It is across the street from the new film site.  Due to filming, there is not much else where I can go.  I dawdle, looking for souvenirs—some fleur de sel de Camargue mixed with Herbes de Provence and soap.  I am back at the spot where Mom and Tom are supposed to pick me up, and I end up waiting for over half an hour since they have had their own adventure looking for lunch. 

Once back at the hotel, we share our wine and head downstairs for dinner.  They are serving daube!  Mom has been complaining that she has not seen any “real” French food on the menu anywhere, so we all choose the daube, which is excellent.  Out wait-person is Alexandra, whom Mom has admired for her industriousness.  From our first petit dejeuner, whenever you see Alexandra, she is always busy.  If there is no one in the restaurant, she gets the vacuum and starts sweeping through the lobby.  We ask for her picture since this is our last evening.