time takes you by the hand, directs you where to go (Autun)

Jayne's song reference, not mine, don't like it. But, as she will point out, we ended up at Autun and not Dijon because of advice we had been given by different people, one of whom was a Dijonaise.

Autun

OK, it was lovely, cobbled streets, Roman, another Notre Dame, Museum closed because it was 'random' closure day - Tuesday? WTF? Am I sounding jaded?

Military school.

Roman theatre

 

There was a clear connection to Beaune, there were several buildings with the same Flemish roof tiling, including the Military School and the Cathedral itself.

The Temple of Janus

Cathedral window

The Cathedral was undergoing restoration, but was very impressive anyway. We walked from there to the Temple of Janus and then to the gate on the side of the river. After that it was back to the car, drop the pack and over to the Roman theatre. The theatre itself now surrounds (well half surrounds) a soccer (football, whatever) field. It was good to see it in the original state and being put to good use.

That chalked up about 2 and a half hours of walking in the heat.

THE meal

and so, we bought a nice sort of cake (gateau) for Wonnie's birthday and prepared our salad, dusted the bottles and got ready for the dinner.

While we were waiting for the action to start, we decided to have an aperitif on the balcony. As we were seated there, the hot tub downstairs in the residence of the owners was fired up. I remarked that the spa was on, although it wasn't until later that we found out that Chris (the 74 year old male owner) has wandered back and forth to the hot tub a number of times - naked! In full view of the American girls. I'm not sure they'll recover anytime soon.

Dinner was great. Everyone contributed something. We all had food to be bbqed. We all brought wine. It was a great night. The American and British components were suitably in awe of the Australian prowess at barbecuing all manner of meat and fish to arrive on the plates simultaneously (Brad assumed charge of cooking tonight - just like a weekly family dinner really).

Jude, Wonnie, Kam, Vickie, Chris, Trent, Casey, Tom and Jayne.

After we sang joyeuse anniversaire and happy birthday to Wonnie, it was time to move to the American terrace to complete the lovely night, swap cards, and go our separate ways to Lyon, Paris and Epernay the next day.

As we drove away on Wednesday morning, we agreed the stay had been great but only because of the excellent group of people we had been fortunate enough to share the place with.  Otherwise, both the venue and the owners are tired and slipping and we would not go back there.  The serenity and the possibility of the place are enormous but we have been welcomed much more and the attention to the little details that really count when you are on the road for 12 weeks was really lacking here.  Burgundy is absolutely a place to which we would want to return - the scenery, the little gems tucked away from the mainstream tourist tracks - glad we went off the beaten path.

But now onto God's own country - the Champagne region and a little place just out of Epernay where our hosts are atypically French (not ex-pat Brits) and communication should be interesting...

you've got a friend (Beaune)

Well, Jayne does anyway. Everyone she talked to today became her friend. The day began like most others so far, except the sound of birds and cows dominated our waking. It was perfect, blue sky, no cloud and not too hot.

Beaune

Beaune was recommended to us as a 'must see'. Good advice Maz. We loved the feel of Aix-en-Provence last week and Beaune felt the same way. It was relaxed and happy, a mixture of the old-walled city and the new. We parked the car outside the wall and walked in to see the Hotel Dieu

Radical roof.

or Hostel dieu as it was tagged in some places. What an amazing building! It was built as a hospital in 1443 and actually functioned as one up until the late 1980s. We spent about 3 hours there - give us an audio-guide and we'll stay forever.

After the Hotel we decided to have a look at the antiques market across the road. It was a fundraiser for the local football club. They had some really interesting things for sale and a lot of rubbish as well. I saw some beautiful crystal champagne glasses (although not as beautiful as the ones I have already Ange) and went to have a look at them. Four of the vendors were sitting together having lunch, chatting and using four 

The 'sorrowing Christ'

of the glasses. One of them started to speak to me in French and thankfully Jayne wasn't far away and came to the rescue. They made a joke about the glasses being good to use and poured Jaye a glass of champagne so she could test them. Then, they cut her a piece of bread as well!

The glasses were lovely, but not particularly 'antique' dating back to the 30s. We continued our exploration of the fair while we considered the difficulty of transporting 6 highly breakable glasses. In the end we decided not to buy and went back to let

them know. When they found out we were from Australia one of the men offered to bring home to us personally if he could stay with us. He said good bye to his wife and stood up ... it was all very friendly and lovely. They were such welcoming people.

Jayne's new friends.

Lunch

It was getting close to lunch being over, which means the kitchens in a lot of restaurants and bars close. The main area near where we were had plenty of places to eat but they were quite crowded and the sound of crying children and invasive cigarette smoke kept us walking. I decided to test Jayne's theory of the the Hotel de Ville, town square and eateries. We set off for the Hotel de Ville and arrived to find a beautiful town square devoid of life and restaurants. So, we went back from whence we came and found  a place to eat. I had beef burgundy (of course) and Jayne, in a pre-emptive strike on a later part of our trip ordered quiche Lorraine.

It was very pleasant sitting in the sun eating and drinking and watching the passing parade. There was an older couple at the table next to us who were Dutch. The man asked us where we were from and Jayne decided that she hadn't made enough friends today and wanted to add the Dutch to her list as well. It turned out that he worked in Australia for a year or so. He was a roller-coaster engineer and was involved in the replacement of the Big Dipper at Luna Park as well as working on the ones in the Queensland theme parks. Although he was quick to point out that the one at Luna Park was not built by his company and he worked only as a consultant to try and reduce the noise it produced.

After lunch I accepted the challenge of finding a supermarket open on a public holiday so that we could buy some supplies for happy hour. OK we wanted some wine. I had to drive 30km but we found one!

Notre Dame

Yes, another one! Built in the 12th century it is most noted for it's 15th century wool and silk tapestries that illustrate the life of the Virgin Mary. Unlike Bayeaux, there really were tapestries.

The party continues

We got back to the gite about 6pm. There are 8 people staying here at present, including us. There are two American couples and a couple from Britain. The Americans were still out on sight-seeing somewhere so Jayne invited Tom and Siobhan (Wonnie) over for a drink. Vickie and Kam and Casey and Trent arrived about an hour later and joined us as well. We had a very enjoyable evening that kicked on until sunset - that's around 10pm over here. Tomorrow night is our last night together, the Brits are staying but the rest of us are on the road again, so we have decided to have a communal meal.

We have passed the half-way mark of our holiday and we have just been so fortunate to meet such wonderful people from all over the world.

it's a nice day for a white wedding (Burgundy)

Ahhh, Billy Idol. Good times.

Anyway, we packed and were on the road before 10am. It was a glorious day for the start of the Pentecost long weekend and, just like a long weekend in Australia, everyone was heading for the coast. The traffic jam, or bouchon, was massive heading south. We got caught a couple of times heading north and getting through Lyon was a nightmare.

We arrived in Chalon-sur-Saone in the mid-afternoon and headed for the town centre. Once we found a parking spot we made our way toward the the Hotel de Ville (that's the Town Hall for the uninformed like moi). Each town organises itself around the town hall and the subsequent town square. So, it's the best place to find food and drink.

We positioned ourselves directly across the road from the Hotel de Ville, and being Saturday there were a number of weddings - not all white. In France weddings are not legal unless they have been witnessed by a civil representative. Some people choose to have a civil rep at their church wedding, others have the church wedding, and in one case we saw yesterday, they then decamp for the Hotel de Ville - which in this case was next door. It was quite amusing watching the wedding party and guests move into the church, then out of the church into the Town Hall and then out again for photos on the steps.

There were three weddings that we saw and only one did the church/Town Hall double. Just as we were about to leave, some more guests came tumbling out of the Town Hall and arranged themselves on the steps. There was no church service for this group. So, we waited to see the married couple. Finally, two young men in suits emerged and had rice and confetti thrown on them by the well-wishers and received a big cheer from many of the lunch crowd as well.

Dracy-les-Couches

After lunch we did some shopping to counter Sunday closing and the dreaded Monday, public holiday. It was after 4pm when we arrived at our new accommodation. We unpacked, changed and 

Our new neighbours.

went to the meet-and-greet with the owners and other guests. We spent a most enjoyable evening drinking and chatting and then repaired to our verandah to watch the sun set over the fields.

 We have made a genuine attempt to stay out of the towns in the small villages, but En La Marre has taken this to a new level. We are 10 minutes, by car, from the closest village, surrounded by farmland, populated with cattle. There are plenty of vineyards too. You can't get more country than this.

The 'barn'.

Pentecost Sunday

We were curious to see if the Pentecost weekend translated into large numbers in Mass on Sunday morning. I was skeptical. And I was wrong. It was standing room only.

Again, the church is an historical feature, vaulted ceilings, carved timber altar - but we forgot to check how old it is. It is in Couches and is St Peter and Paul's. Lined up at the door were 20 kids, dressed in white albs. At the beginning of Mass they were called, individually by name by the priest. They replied, "I am here" and walked to apse and took a seat behind the altar. After the homily, the kids walked to the back of the church and were presented with a candle. It was lit and they processed to the altar and formed a circle around it. The priest then presented each child with a cross to wear around their neck. The candles were then placed at the front of the altar and kids returned to their seats behind the altar itself.

Although there was no Bishop, we assumed that this was the French version of a confirmation ceremony. And what a great day to welcome the youth of the Parish into the church community as adults - Pentecost Sunday.

Chagny Markets

Priorities.

After Mass, we were on another kind of mission, to get to the local markets before pack up so we could get essential provisions (cheese, bread and ham) and have a wander around. As with all the local markets, there sights to see that apparently are not notable to the French but to us they are quirky or remarkable.

Nothing unusual here.

After the markets, we went to Mercurey, another local village, to taste and buy some local Burgundy wines - another first as the cellar we happened upon had a system of wall display casings in which they have bottles of wine grouped in reds and whites made by various local vignerons. We did not know what was the procedure so we watched for a while and then a lady who was tasting the wines explained that you purchase a card loaded to whatever amount you select and then you use the card to insert into the display fridge and you choose either a tasting or a glass of the wine you wish to try. The tasting amount is obviously cheaper than a full glass and the card gets debited and you continue to taste until you run out of credit. We generally refuse to pay for tastings in Australia but really, since we know nothing about the Burgundy region, dropping in at a random vineyard is a lottery and as the lady said at the cellar, this way she does not feel obliged to buy a case of wine if she does not want to since she has paid for the wine she has sampled anyway.

We purchased a couple of bottles and then headed home to sit on the verandah and write these few words. It's just after 4pm so happy hour will commence shortly. Almost, we've just been invited to drinks with the other guests. It's a tough life.

the carnival is over (Aix-en-Provence)

French driving school.

Well, actually, the carnival is yet to start. Monday is yet another French public holiday and this is a big 'festy' weekend across the country. It will be interesting to see if the Pentecost celebrations translate into big numbers in church on Sunday. I am somewhat skeptical. But, in every town and village there is some form of celebration. In Vaison, the carnies have moved in and taken over the car park. In Aix there was a stage set up in the main street.

Aix-en-Provence

Aix (pronounced X by locals) made the list because it is the home of St Eugene de Mazenod, the founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Back home, we are fortunate enough to be an Oblate Parish. And what a beautiful city Aix is. The sun was shining, the people were out, the cafes were full (it's pont day, Monday is a public holiday). 

One of the many fountains in Aix.

Every street was narrow and the shops were lovely. It was a real delight. If it wasn't so expensive - thanks to the beautiful people of Hollywood - it'd be a great place to retire. There are literally hundreds of fountains, Aix is known as the city of fountains. There would have been five in one block of the main street. So majestic and dominating, some small and under-stated and others being put to good use to chill the bubbly.

A fountain being put to good use.

 

The Oblate chapel.

We set out on our own pilgrimage because the Tourist Bureau hadn't heard of St Eugene. Apparently the old saints are cool, the new ones, not so much. So, we found the current Oblate church in the main street. Its steps are used constantly by people stopping to rest and at lunch time it becomes a meeting place for the Uni students. I hope a few of them wander in through the doors occasionally, the steps and the plain facade hide some really beautiful features. The vaulted ceiling is amazing and creates this beautiful light space. 

Just across the road and down about 75 metres or so, was the original Mazenod mansion where St Eugene was born. Jayne picked it from a black and white photo. It really hasn't changed that much over the years, although the trees are taller.

The former Mazenod mansion.

We continued our pilgrimage in search of the Church de la Madeleine. And while we found it, a decent photo was difficult to get. The sun was in a bad position and the front area was a car park of sorts, where an enterprising young local lad was procuring a few € for 'watching your car'. As it turns out, there is only a facade of the original church where the young Eugene attended with his family.

The facade.

Next on the list was the Cathedral de St Sauveur. Everything was really close, fortunately, because the temperature was rising and lunch time (read closing time) was approaching rapidly. The church itself reflects a number of different architectural styles and is obviously a tourist spot because we witnessed two Japanese tour groups go through. Eugene attended here as a parishioner and returned as a priest to preach, amid some controversy. The facade is dirty and crumbling in parts, while other sections have been cleaned. But again, the facade does not indicate what's inside. It was amazing. A massive organ that dominated one side of the church. Beautiful stained glass windows, a side chapel that had a vaulted ceiling that was lit by natural light.

St. Sauveur's.

The organ

The apse.

And with that, it was lunch time. Our mini-pilgrimage was complete and the Cathedral closed for lunch. Truly. We headed back to the car that was craftily parked a couple of kms out of town, above ground, and drove back home to see the remaining sights of Vaison. You'll be surprised to know that it too, is a Roman town.

Vaison-la-Romaine

Despite the fact that we have driven and walked through the main street a couple of times, the extent of the Roman ruins is really hidden by their clever use of geography (and a couple of latter day fences). Much of what we saw was similar to Orange and Arles so I won't replicate photos or go over old ground, but Jayne was surprised by the advanced use of glass back in the 1st century BCE, so there here's a photo of a glass bowl.

If you're looking for something witty, you've missed out.

The other point to being here was that we actually were able to walk around the ruins, with an audio guide. The weather was perfect, unlike our time in Orange when we didn't really get to look closely at the ruins. And, although we saw the Arena at Arles, it was not close to its original form. Vaison doesn't have an arena, it has a theatre, but it is brilliantly preserved and looks original (even if parts of it aren't), so it made up for the Arles experience. And this venue is also in current use for choir recitals (without the iron scaffolded seating).All in all, it was great day.

The view from the top.

And tomorrow ...

Sadly, tomorrow is pack-up-and-move-on-day. We haven't managed to do everything that we wanted to in this part of the world since we lost two days to rain. So, the good news is that we'll have to come back! Yay! Anyway, we need to do Cannes when the Film Festival isn't on. So Western Provence still has much to offer us.

Tomorrow we are off to the Burgundy region, to a little village in between Autun and Beaune called Dracy. It is about 400 kms and four and half hours away. We'll be there for four nights, before heading towards the Champagne region. And so tonight, we celebrate tomorrow's departure with a bottle of Champagne. Just waiting for it to chill at the moment.

still thinking about the fall of Rome (Arles - Pont du Gard)

Today was all about the Roman influence and what they built. Although the most frustrating moment of the day was at the first sight of the Pont-du-Gard. I wanted an arty shot through the trees, but there was a man standing in the middle of the shot with his movie camera, filming the bridge. I waited for

Still not moving after 1,000 years.

 at least 5 minutes and gave up. He was still there filming as we walked onto the bridge itself. What a rivetting film-maker he would be ... here's 10 minutes of a static object being static, although you might notice in the foreground the numbers of people moving to and fro. What a ... I'm not allowed to use the words I'm thinking.

You know, you can make an educated guess about country of origin by clothes. Seriously.


Arles

We went to Arles today mostly because they have a significant array of Roman artifacts/ruins like Nimes but they did not close shop in anticipation of the weekend feast for Pentecost (the next in the series of May public holidays) and we could go to Pont-Du-Gard afterwards on the way home. Not that we want Arles to think it is Nimes' poor cousin ... in fact is they have our undying admiration for a couple of reasons:

1. they do not have sub-terranean car parking (Jayne hates it),

2. they do not close their major attractions for the feast of Pentecost.

We left early by Jayne's standards and started by finding a free above ground car park which is always a bonus.  We had a lovely breakfast (great coffee and croissants) and wandered into the town to happen almost immediately on the Roman amphitheatre. It was much closer than it appeared on the map and like most of France's monuments, is undergoing significant renovation and therefore offered a reduced entry tariff. 

We thought we had lucked something here when we read that this amphitheatre was in fact bigger
than Nimes.  In the main arena we witnessed local school kids participating in sessions to learn to be gladiators - just a walk from their local high school to the arena where it really happened.  There were a number of guided tour groups and maybe we missed something by not being on one of these (albeit they were all in French). Without the offer of an audio-guide, we were met with the spectacle of a Roman theatre festooned with lots of iron scaffolding seats. They use it for current bull-fighting displays - nice. It's great that they are using the venue, but as a visual of a time long past, it was less than inspiring.  We wandered around and took what photos we could, but we thought the theatre at Orange was far more impressive - even in the rain.

School excursions are so cool over here.

We wandered around some other Roman sights and made our way over to the Museum of Arles Antiquities which had an impressive array of artifacts spanning many centuries of history before the Common Era. I didn't realise that the Romans had mastered glass blowing in the 1st century BCE and produced delicate glasses. There were also bowls and jugs on display as well as a range of other things that their civilisation brought to the rest of Europe. There were lots of school excursions on here too - we both noted one boy though who looked particularly forlorn - bored or friendless we couldn't tell but no one else seemed to be noting his despondence - and he was trying to be noticed. Anyway, we wandered back through Arles, bought our baguettes for dinner tonight and drove out of town towards the next testament to Roman greatness, before the fall - the great Pont-Du-Gard.

Funeral stone.

One of the Caesars.

Pont-Du-Gard
In terms of bridges, this one rates. Far more spectacular than Pont D'Avignon and still largely intact. It is situated in a reserve/park where lots of French people come for picnics and bushwalks and swimming and water related activities. It is a really beautiful area. Sadly for us, there were too many school excursions and bus tours on the day, but, we worked around them.

 There was precious little signage within the area - no surprises there, so the dude at the Information Desk was constantly being asked the same question in a variety of languages. How do you pay to get in? It was all covered with the parking charge of €18. Pretty good value for a day's entertainment.

There was also a museum near the info centre that focused more broadly on the Roman use of water and their amazing plumbing systems, but it also provided some interesting information on the actual construction of the bridge. Although, this would have been superfluous had they provided audio-guides like every other tourist attraction.

Anyway, unless Jayne wants to add anything, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

The aquaduct bit.

like a bridge over troubled water (Avignon - Chateauneuf du Pape)

Do you really need a caption?

The title for this post was the basis for some discussion. Jayne wanted to call it 'sur le pont d'Avignon' but I reminded her that our last French titled post was also our least read and no-one but her had heard of the song anyway (if you have heard the song, please comment on this post). Apparently it is some song she used to teach the kids in her French classes ... last century! In the '80s! ZZZzzzzz.

The reason for the visit to Avignon was to see the former seat of power of the Catholic Church and the Roman bridge. Jayne confided later that the only reason Avignon made our itinerary was because of the song she used to teach the kids.

Avignon

About half of the Palais

For the non-Catholic readership, Avignon is known as the City of Popes, as nine Popes resided there and ruled the Church from there, not Rome. So, the main attraction is the palace that they built within the walls of the city. What you won't find in any of the tour guides is that it is also known as the 'city of violent wind'. They certainly got that bit right. The wind was gusting up to 60kmh while we were there. I swear I saw a brown dog blown off a chain (Jayne says no-one will have heard this saying, if you have, please comment - yes, it IS a competition).

Looking up the chimney in the kitchen.

Our day commenced in the usual fashion. The duelling GPSs continue to disagree with each other and we find our way despite them. We arrived at the 'above ground' car park (no more underground for Jayne) to find the mayor had closed half of it and threatened to tow the car if you parked there. In a totally unFrench response I drove further down the street and parked. Unlike the 100 or so others who ignored the notices and parked there anyway. When we returned in the afternoon their cars had not been towed away. Civil disobedience in France, who'd have thought it?

The palace itself was amazing. Parts of it are being restored - I think restoration work is keeping France afloat financially. We arrived with a school group and a Japanese bus tour - YAY! Didn't see either of them again. I think the Japanese would have been in the next country before we had finished our visit. There was, after all, no Mona Lisa or the like, in front of which to be photographed. No delays and no audio-guides for them.

The room below the Chapel.

The opulence that the palace must have seen its day can't be overstated. They described the food consumed at one Papal coronation. It's a shame we can't remember all the details, but among the thousands of capons and chickens were 39,000 eggs. That's a lot of crepes or quiches. An interesting rule of table was that you could only eat what was in reach, sorry no passing food (so to speak). So if you weren't important ...

 The palace has been stripped by a number of different groups. The Revolution is responsible for a great deal of vandalism right across the county - in the name of liberty. What rubbish. It was pure testosterone driven destruction. They removed every head from every statue or carving, no matter how small. So egalitarian. Later groups had the same concept. It was used as a soldiers' barracks at one point. They decided they needed more space so they put extra floors in - those high ceilings, so difficult to heat the room anyway. Despite all of this, it survives, largely intact and parts are being restored to its former glory.

It is a true marvel of its time. The gold statue of Mary dominates the skyline. The square is massive although not as big as Fatima.

Lunch

Walked from the palace to the square for lunch, trying to avoid the wind and keep the sun. Found a place where Jayne could have Quiche Lorraine (I know, we weren't in Lorraine, but I had pizza and we weren't in Italy either). The waitress asked were we American :-( no, Australian. Ah, 'skippy' she replied. Is that better than the Crocodile Dundee comments from La Rochelle?

Pont de St. Benezet

Another Roman bridge. In gale force winds. I might let Jayne tell this bit of the day. 

I apparently forgot to tell Brad the bridge was the real reason we went to Avignon - had he taken an interest in my early teaching career, he would have known that Sur Le Pont D'Avignon was taught to each Yr 8 at St Mary's Liverpool for each year of my tenure as French teacher.  Anyway, no way was I doing a tour of France without standing on the bridge - generations of Liverpudlian Catholic girls will attest to its import on their formative years...  I was so excited when I saw the bridge, I totally missed the entrance to the tour and the gale force winds that belted us around when we left the protection of the old city's walls to approach the Rhone river.  Eventually worked out how to get in and paid, requesting audio-guides en Anglais.  Climbed up to the start of the bridge tour and found ourselves listening to Russian (we think) so while Brad took artistic photos, I trudged back to get the girl to recode the guides.  Once in English, we set off across what is left of the bridge - destroyed not by the revolutionaries this time but the force of the Rhone river over hundreds of years. The original bridge actually spanned the entire Rhone which is pretty wide (spans an island in the middle of the river) but sections were washed away over time despite rebuilding and eventually the local population gave up. The Rhone won and St Benezet who was told by God to build the bridge (hence his canonisation) lost.  The wind was ferocious out on the pont but at least the audio guide proved to Brad that I am not the only one to know about the song... and I got to kind of dance on the bridge, if only to stay on my feet in the wind.

Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Clearly I am bad Catholic (Brad again). I have always known Chateauneuf-du-Pape as an excellent wine brand. The pope bit didn't register. Until today. And, in ignorance, I thought it was a winery. Sadly, or happily, depending on how much time you have, it is a wine region - like Mudgee. So, the search for the perfect Chateauneuf-du-Pape wine could take weeks. Sad face, no time. We went into the first cave we passed. Winner! I'm hoping a bottle will make it home. It was quite interesting, just a shopfront - until you walked into the limestone cave at the back for wine tasting. Ahhhh. I might never come home.

What's left of the 'new castle'. Luckily the wine survived.

But, there is a dark lining to every silver cloud and Chateauneuf-du-Pape certainly had one. I may have mentioned, once or twice, about the narrow french roads. Today, at an intersection in the village of Chateauneuf-du-Pape I met two trucks. No they weren't heading in the same direction (thank you Renee Geyer) and I was in between. I even folded in the side mirrors. I am going to write a book when I get home. "101 Jobs I Could Never Do". Number 2: Truck Driver in the French country. Number 1: Priest (think about it, no comments necessary).

Anyway, we survived and the car is still intact and we had, in the boot, 6 bottles of Chateauneuf-du-Pape. It's a wonderful world.

Home again

Today was the most beautiful day, even with the wind, the sun was shining! I could never live in a climate without sun.

Tomorrow we were heading for Nimes and its totally awesome Arena (read Colosseum if you are stupid). Curiously, Jayne requested that I google the Arena because sometimes it's closed if there are concerts on. No concerts. No problems. Um, wait, the whole site is closed for the next five days because of the Pentecost festival. WTF? Seriously! How Catholic are the French? It hasn't translated to bums-on seats in church. 

So ... no Nimes. We are heading to Arles instead. Stay tuned gentle reader for who knows what awaits us tomorrow?

clouds in my coffee (Vaison la Romaine)

actually, there were clouds everywhere. The cloud cover was heavier than yesterday, so we waited for it to clear. *sigh* It didn't happen. Writing this at nearly 8:30pm it is starting to break up now.

The rain has reduced the number of photos - again.

The markets of Vaison la Romaine

They were pretty cool despite the weather which kept away the shoppers as well as some stall holders. There was the usual fruit and veg, and meat and seafood, and cheese, and spices and olives and ... you get the idea. There was also leather goods: belts and bags, clothes; new and pre-loved, and knives, there are always knives.

I'd pay for that.

Anyway, we purchased our stuff for dinner. The prawns and chillies proved to be a bit of a challenge, but we did it. Tasted OK too.

Sadly, the rain continued and we both needed to go home to dry out varying bits of clothing - boots, shoes, hoodies.

The real challenge was dodging the old French women and their umbrellas. And then they'd meet a friend. It was an orchestra of brollies designed to block the road. And they didn't care - at all. They shop, they live, they drive and park their cars.

We shopped, we retreated home to the dry. Over the rain dear reader. I was in Oz when the drought officially finished and I have no desire to bring southern France into flood.

Vaison la Romaine Medieval City

 Bloody hell, the rain stopped, so we decided to make the most of it. We headed for the medieval city on the other side of town. There were the usual impediments: narrow roads, one way streets, cars driving at you too fast, trucks in appropriate places blah, blah, blah. Anyway, we arrived safely. The remnant bit in the photo is called 'the chateau'. What? It's no chateau. It's not even a fort. It's just a wall really. Well, a couple of walls.

But, it has been built on a really high point. Well, that's a surprise - unless of course you've been following our journey through the Norman conquest of 'where ever' and their desperate need to build castles on ridiculously steep rocky bits (technical term). It does have a nice view though, see the photo. We are staying up on the left in the green bit.

Ye olde Roman Bridge

The bridge was somewhat underwhelming. I'm not sure if it was because of the truck parked on it, or the old French women (beware, really) who descended upon it when I decided to take a photo. 

The Romans made use of what was there, like huge, hulking slabs of limestone - we would have demolished it and started all over. Just in case that you dispute the authenticity of the bridge, here is it's stamp of approval.

Not sure what Xs and Vs and Is mean, Whatever.

We walked across the bridge (the old Roman one) and back into town. It was a very different sight from the morning. The market stalls were gone although the crowds were probably larger.

It really looked like a different place without the stalls and the umbrellas. There were lots of other shops that we hadn't noticed in the morning.

Part of me is polished and new.

We found the Roman ruins, but they were craftily fenced from the public to ensure the best views were paid for. Despite this, I stole a couple of shots through the fence (see left).  We will be back, just didn't have time today.

Anyway, tomorrow is another day. Hopefully a drier one. We will venture further afield to see what 'sunny' Provence has to offer since we only have three days left until we start to head north once more. The eastern end of this area will have to wait until the next overseas tour. The plan is to take in Greece and Italy, assuming they haven't been foreclosed on before we come back ...

I got a new haircut, it cost me just 6 bucks (Vaison la Romaine)

I hate selfies

OK, it cost €19. I don't know where Tim Rogers gets his hair cut - but having seen it, I wouldn't want to go there anyway. Jayne also had her colour touched up. It was a stressful experience, but it was all good in the end. The hairdresser didn't speak English and while Jayne's French is more than passable, hairdresser language is rather specific and not in the dictionary.

That occupied our morning, which was a good thing because the rain has continued. It is supposed to clear tonight, but in the interim, we have decided not to go visiting the sights because they are generally outdoors. Anyway, we still need to confirm accommodation after Provence, so I have a bit of internet work to do. The British school holidays have begun and that is having an impact on the availability of accommodation. Not to mention that next weekend is another long weekend in France!

Itinerary update
We are here in Vaison la Romaine (Provence) until Saturday the 26th. After that we are heading north again to get closer to Paris. From the 26th till the 30th we are staying in a converted barn on the land of a chateau near the village of Dracy which is about 45 minutes from Beaune. Check it out, http://www.france4two.net/index.cfm?sid=26977&pid=413222 we are staying in Pinot Blanc. Following that we will be somewhere around Reims, champagne country, until June 2nd. From then until the 14th we are in Paris and after that ... well, the Loire valley and Alsace/Lorraine, but we're not sure where.

In other news
The rain has continued, although it is much lighter this afternoon. We managed to walk into the village and back which took about an hour. Thankfully the rain held off until we got home - Jayne would have killed me otherwise. You know, straightened hair and rain don't get on.

So, it's almost happy hour and then it'll be time for me to cook dinner. Pasta with fresh tomatoes, zucchini, garlic and ham. Quite tasty.

au revoir

it's raining again (The Mediterranean Sea)

it seems like a never ending theme. Everyone we meet tells us that the weather is unseasonal - just like the weather we left at home, but, climate change? Rubbish! Hmmm.

Anyway, this is an amalgam blog that brings us from Alaigne to Vaison-la-Romaine in Provence. There are pictures, but not many because it was raining. Der.

Jayne's first close up of the Mediterrean.

So, on a rainy Friday in Alaigne we headed for the coast, hoping things would be different. And they were! It wasn't raining, but it was windy enough to blow a dog off a chain. The markets were packing up and we went for a walk down the beach side promenade. As usual we walked in the wrong direction and ended up at the river. *sigh* Turn around and walk back.

How fresh is the seafood here?

The coast here is like everywhere I guess. Partially overly developed, dependent on holiday money. There wasn't a lot happening outside of the lunch trade but we knew that was about to change on the weekend. They were hosting the festival of wind. OK, I might have made that up, but it is associated with water sport and wind. Given the 'mild breeze' the day we were there, who'd be surprised?

Getting in some practice.

Our last night in Alaigne, we went wine tasting. It was about 200 metres from the B&B. No cars required. A village of just over 300 people and they have their own winery - amazing. 

Curiously, we both found the whites to be a better option than the reds. We haven't found a lot of great whites (we haven't hit the Chablis region). They also do a Bag-in-Box (BiB) deal, that's a wine cask for you Aussies reading, serious value.

We left Alaigne for Provence with no particular stop overs. Jayne decided that Montpellier might be interesting and from what I saw, she was right. There are no pictures because we didn't stop. However, we did circumnavigate the old city and attempt to park the car in an underground station. I drove the car down the narrow path, took a ticket, rubbed the front wheel against the barrier, bent around the corner - to be faced by cars, cars and more cars - and Jayne said, "Get out of here". So we did and resumed course for Vaison-la-Romaine.

Jayne on the balcony at happy hour.

And we got there! Another delightful little gite in the vineyards. It is really beautiful, views of vines from every window, a few minutes from the Roman village and close to a lot of other Provence tourist attractions. We could probably stay here another week and not see everything. Hmmm, maybe we need to come back.

All hail Caesar!

Sunday and the rain begins again. I was wondering whether it was because we were attempting to visit another Roman amphitheatre. Too much paranoia? You're probably right. We made a valiant attempt to see the site before the thunderstorm - unsuccessfully. We sheltered where we could, but we weren't able to look through the area that was under excavation, or other areas that were out in the open.

I have such a headache!

Fortunately, the theatre also had a Musee attached. Unfortunately, it was across the road and it was raining more heavily. 

The static display had some wonderful sculptures and artefacts from the original sight of the theatre.

Alas, poor Yorick.

Anyway, tomorrow the weather forecast is much the same as today so we will do the obligatory breakfast run and attend to hair cut/colour needs as well as visiting local sights to see - Tuesday the markets here are renown across the region so they will command our attention as well as the local Roman ruins and a winery or two at the local vignerons' cave.