Formule 1 Salon de Provence Salon-de-Provence

... Enjoyed the film (but enjoyed the post-cinema demi-fraise - beer with strawberry syrup - more) and was proud at how well I managed to follow the French, without much concentration! A sign of improvement I hope!

This weekend in particular has been fantastique! As everyone else's parents have come to visit, Amy and I spent our Saturday shopping, eating and generally having a good time without alcohol. As usual, I got very excited about a sweet shop and between us we ...

Curse the Mistral - it has been blowing for 3 days non stop and it is gale force and freezing cold. It appears to have abated slightly this afternoon and our local guide informed us that it stops after either 3 days, 6 days or 9 days so we are hopeful. Last night it ws like sleeping under a jet ready for take off all night. Poor Big Mama got rocked around and it takes a lot to move her. A big ...

Bonjour avec Aix-en-Provence Cherie
Since the last news we have visited the Cote D'Azur spending time at Monte Carlo and Antibes. We stayed near Antibes at a place called Biot and at night you could hear the seals at nearby Marineland - very strange. It was still quite hot and stickey with more mozzies. Monte Carlo was wall to wall money with billions of dollars in boats and cars. Antibes was similar but it had a lovely old town as well.
We arrived ...

... 8230; window open inviting… people like ants scurrying around below in a hurry to go nowhere… a big porcelain pot over in the corner… But I’ll have to keep looking. There’s one more possibility, another place here close to the gare. I feel like a bird scurrying around with a piece of straw and no place to lay it down. That’s the only thing Jesus said where he really blew it. "Do the ...

so today we arrived in Avignon (where I lived for 6 months when i was at university). I kept pointing out all the new arrivals and shops and Jason so kindly reminded me that they had 15 years to just 'pop up' so maybe they weren't that new after all.

had a very yummy dinner at a resto called New Ground (but typical french service). Tomorrow we need to fix the rear break light in the car (very nicely pointed out by a ...

... also a player in this dish. I tried Lucy's salmon and it was excellent. The mousse spread on bread was particularly good.

For her main course Lucy had sea bream filets and scallops on fish mousse, cardomon flavor and Norway lobster cream. I had tartiflette with fresh salmon, reblochon cheese and potatoes. It came in a little ceramic pot, rather like a classic French onion soup with the cheese melted on top. It was ...

... br>Back closer to the center of town, we went to La Chartreuse de Vileneuve Lez Avignon. It was established in the 14th century by Pope Innocent VI when he became pope and had other fish to fry across the river. It is a Carthusian Monastery, one of the order's largest in Europe. Lucy and I decided that the Carthusians, even back in the day, had a much more enviable lifestyle than the Cistercians. Everything was more ...

Believe me you don't want the story but here are a few photos and videos of what was a wonderful adventure for the most part.

The bull running was a random and free event - just next to lovely beach. Camargue horses are breathtakingly beautiful in the wild.

Unfortunately no photos of characterful and cultural city of Arles because only took the camera out one day - the day we went to The Camargue obviously.

... and alcohol. They took me as far as Briancon. I began to think that if luck was on my side Montpelier was conceivqble. 15 seconds qfter being dropped off I was picked up by a French guy who was going somewhere East of Aix-en-Provence, perfect. We travelled a few hundred kilometres together, until Aix. He spoke no English but we got along just fine. Though I had made good progress light was fading and I still had 2 hours to get to ...

... the physician of Charles IX. Henri IV also consulted him. The French are still curious about the astrological predictions he made, and publications come out every year claiming that his predictions are coming true (and explaining them all - if you buy the book...). Our old favorite restaurant had gone out of business and was for sale. Time marches on with is melancholy aspects as well as progress. Tomorrow I'll drive back up the Rhone valley and enter Switzerland.