Avignon
Trip Start
Aug 25, 2008
1
18
22
Trip End
Oct 28, 2008
Avignon,
Provence,
France
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Sorry for the delay in posting this blog time has flown by.
We left Antibes after a very happy time exploring the French Riviera and headed into the mountains again first stop was Grasse on a hill top the town is famous for its perfume manufacturing, as they don't do one like Castrol R40 it was a drive through.
When we were in Bavaria Irene recommended the Route Napoleon as our way through the French Southern Alps.
What a fantastic road climbing over mountains, dropping into valleys and hairpin bends so tight that I could feel Linda squeezing me tight, this leads me to another thing I noticed in France, When we stopped for fuel or to pay at the never ending toll as I left and said goodbye I was wished Bon-Route.
Now I know that Bon is good ,so why are they wishing me Good route? Not bad these French people after all.
The road goes through mountains then on ledges with a steep drop and no rail more squeezing.....I like this road.
We stopped at a small café high in the hills and I got a lesson in French...... for the last week or so I had been getting by on café latte and expresso,, not so here it's a café au lait and café noir grande. Still enjoyable all the same then came the fun bit trying to get the bike off the centre stand I had made the mistake of parking on a slope facing uphill, one very heavy bike on a gravel surface of the car park is not easy to push off its stand. Linda pushing me rocking the bike back and forward and trying to drop the clutch at the right time...sheer madness.
We followed this fantastic road for 4 hours all the way to Avignon when thanks to our Tom Tom we found the hotel we had booked on Wotif the day before easily.
It was off to the centre of Avignon and sight seeing in another fantastic city and the historic bridge over the Rhone. Just great.
Dinner in a street café in the market square and a taxi back to our hotel, The taxi ride back was different, we jumped in told the driver the name of the hotel in our best French then as we drove off I realised we had company, strapped into the front passenger seat seated on a towel was an elderly lady who we assumed was the drivers mother, weird mobile granny sitting service.
Tomorrow we start going North.
See ya
