Novotel - Avignon (Sud)

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 ...

We have enjoyed many good meals in France, but two stand out from the vast number in restaurants that tend to offer a menu with generic dishes (well prepared though), rather than distinctive cuisine. This could relate to our budget of course.

Nimes
We arrived in Nimes in the late afternoon and booked into the Hotel des Tuileries, a lovely hotel in the old part of town very close to the Arena. The host, Andrew, recommended a ...

... driver behind us). Ok, so he was waving and flashing behind us and we had no idea what he was going on about so we figured he was either mad or had never seen a car with a right side driver, but then later realized when he drove by that he was only pointing out that the bulb had blown.

Finding the resto was a bit of a challenge, the 3 others (4 including the one we found out was closed on the website before ...

... lavender is that the fields look pretty much the same before and after harvest. Frankly, I enjoyed the wine tasting experience more in California. The people were much more friendly. At one Domaine the woman stared silently at me as I sipped a series of three reds, starting with Cotes-du-Rhone and ending the Chateauneuf.

We enjoyed our morning in Orange the most. We started with breakfast at a cafe on a square, did a little window ...

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.

... us Tiramisu (sp?) for dessert which was also quite good. He's actually from Italy and has lots of American friends, so he spoke very good English with us.

A couple of funny things today -

1) Lyon - We had always read that for French men, "the world is their restroom". They will go anywhere, any time, the urge strikes. We're at the market in Lyon and turn around and there's a boy relieving himself on the tree right in the parking ...

... in Avignon, most people took a nap while I went on a walk with Kristin and did a little shopping. We all met up for dinner at a small restaurant and had a planned meal of salad, chicken, gnocchi and pannacotta. It was very tasty and it was nice sitting with my friends and chatting. After dinner we went for a walk to the Pont d'Avignon. There is a famous song about this bridge, it goes: Sur la Pont d'Avignon, on y danse, on y danse. This means, on the Avignon ...

... and early years are projected onto huge limestone pillars. We also visited St Remy - a lovely town with lots of boutique type shops where we could have done a lot of damage had we had longer to browse the shops! Basically was a drive through with a drinks stop but had the best coffee yet in France (not a lot to beat to date!).... Settling down to watch France v Italy now - enjoying having the soccer during acceptable viewing hours for a change! Bye for now...

... scenic view. We took an all girls picture because the guys were off getting the food for today's picnic lunch. We sat in a park area just past the palace. They ripped baguettes in *************** around ham and cheese. We also got some chips and a box of tomatoes to share. This was the perfect lunch. I really wish we could eat lunches like today's every day. For dessert there were cherries, apricots ...

... day while listening to my Ipod and says "hastie i think your Ipod is broken i can only hear music in my left ear" so i look at him start laughing seeing what the issue is and return "mate don´t worry about it its fine i can fix it later" so Adam then fumbles around saying the whole time "don´t worry man i can fix it" after about 5 minutes he finally realises he hadn´t actually put the right ear piece in his ear. And don´t worry people ...