Mercure Avignon Cite Papes 3m

... the wind to walk across the bridge in the evening to Avignon for dinner. This morning we went on a wine tour (I know, but it is too hard to resist) around the Cotes du Rhone with Phillipe, a very competant and helpful local guide. We ended up at Chateauneuf du Pape drinking wonderful reds which has been a wine hightlight of the trip - the village has the most amazing view of Provence ...

... of the dishes (which were written in a flowery script that made the names even harder to decipher), and the waiter struggled to translate. So we thought, well it’ll all be good, and none of it seemed to be brains or tripe, so we each ordered one option of all three courses. One of the first courses was no longer available so we both had a salmon dish. Now I’ve eaten a lot of salmon but this was the best ever – firm ...

... and i haven't been in touch, but i'm here now.....i think i will just need to have jason drive me there before i loose my nerve....

so i was told at dinner that the ******* had plateaued off today as i did not feed him any salad. i think thats a bit of a misnomer, as plateau seems to imply level off to normal levels, but in this case, its like level off at 80% instead of 120%. so basically, i am destined to a life ...

... and anchovies. Hmmm.

Now Lucy is gone, I've cleaned the apartment and am ready to face the world again with no friend, driver or translator. Lucy is not only terrific company, she is also talented and useful. I will hoof it to the other side of Avignon where I will pick up the TGV train to Paris. Catherine and Laurent have promised to pick me up and take me to dinner before dropping me at my hotel near the airport. Au revoir, Avignon!

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.

... little place, that looks as if it would right at home in the 70s. The room is small (we're not at Hilton anymore), but we have a balcony overlooking our new favorite Provencal restaurant. Free internet and free parking go a long way to make me happy! The decor is hippy chic, with lots of colored plastic, and hip seating and such. But the location is great, the rates are good, and we have a balcony.

After getting settled in, we took a ...

... France and a few different cheeses. She taught us how to look, smell and taste the wine so that when we went to a real wine tasting in Provence, we would know a little about what we were talking about. Ross got to meet a few more of my friends and we had a nice time. The next day, we woke up very early to get on the bus before 7am to head to Provence. After a two hour bus ride we arrived in Arles. This small town has a Roman history dating back 2000 ...

... there before we drive through to Italy. We are a little nervous about our lack of Italian! Deb's three years of French at school have served us admirably here and has helped us throughout the trip. The kids have asked a number of times if Italian is going to be my thing, but I suspect they may have latched on to the meaning of sarcasm....never mind- we'll give it a go. We'll update again in a few days. Here's hoping the All Blacks beat England again tomorrow....

... nostrils (and brain) were a bit confused and I couldn't decide on anything! Antibes Got into our campsite in Antibes in the late afternoon - the campsite was really close to the beach which was handy. And also close to the zoo, we heard lots of weird animal noises during the night! Daz did a really good job of backing the bus into a narrow driveway while Scotty and Mat directed angry French traffic around him.

... Popes lived here for seven centuries before moving to the Vatican and left behind the largest gothic Palace in the world - pretty exciting stuff from the outside, but lucky we didn't pay to go in - as there is absolutely nothing to see on the inside as it was stripped of its innards during the Reinaissance. Off to Nice tomorrow and watching an arty film tonight (yay!)