Mercure Cavaillon Luberon

... As is usual here, it's been an uphill struggle trying to organise it all, but it seems that all paperwork is fianlly done, mainly thanks to our legendary tutor here, who bought us a coffe and told us "ze word for zis yearrr iz 'frrreeedomm"! So on to the studying now! I gave a presentation a few weeks ago which went really well, and the lecturer said was 'impeccable'. However, I don't think all my work will carry on in this direction, so I will make my excuses now: the ...

... came down near us but we were lucky and just got debris on us. But enough whining about the weather.
Avignon is extremely beautiful and we have a lovely view at night of all the castle etc all lit up as we are camped on a sort of island in the Rhone. We arrived yesterday and explored the town and went to the Popes palace which is the best preserved castle of its age in France. We then ...

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 ...

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 ...

... room exhibitions on fabric printing in the Provence style, a furniture collection and portraits from a locally prominent family and some paintings. The first floor was given to a temporary exhibition of photos of famous people and artists, sponsored by Paris Match magazine. We enjoyed it, but were not sure why Sharon Stone was included.

The guide books recommend seeing the Arch du Triomphe in Orange. It is very large and ornately ...

I'm so sad that I didn't bring my camera to our special "splurge" belated birthday dinner. It was so beautifully presented! We went to a hole-in-the-wall place with 8 tables that came highly recommended. Those people were right. It was a world-class meal and exceptionally reasonably priced by French standards. I'm not sure how he's paying the bills with only 8 tables, but my hat is off to the chef/owner. It's a good thing ...

... a handy little passport with pictures, addresses and phone numbers.

My little camera ran out of power, so I only have pictures from the morning available to upload. I'll have to do the rest of the trip pix when I get home.

Tonight we are having our big dinner out at Le Tout Petit, a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that comes highly recommended. We made reservations for a very early dinner at 7:15. Bon appetit!

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.

... to hotel at Avignon for next day's adventure. Weds was bus hopping day, I miraculously managed to catch two buses that start from Avignon, spending morning in St Remy, in time for their justifiably famous market day, and afternoon in Isle Sougues, the town of water and watermills. St Remy has her market eachWed, and it is absolutely worth a visit, you have to catch the 7:40 bus from Avignon, but early is good, not so many shoppers/tourists yet, you see the ...

Sorry Kids, I know it has been a while since I have written but things have been so crazy lately. This entry is for like 2 weeks ago but everyone keeps asking me to update so I am trying. That week was pretty slow considering everyone was still getting over the P. Dubs being here and all that. Which by they way, I feel like I am totally getting taken for the $4,000 that I paid for the "Lacoste Experience." When I first got all the info about this program, they said we paid this ...