Today was one of the best days so far! The weather was upwards of 20 degrees, and the sun shone brightly over Provence. We left Avignon around 9:30am after enjoying some of the breakfast goods we had purchased yesterday, and made it to St. Remy de Provence within a twenty minute drive. It's basically a small town with very ancient looking buildings (the good kind), and a handful of shops and restaurants. There was a small market on the sidewalk selling produce, which was cool, and the town is supposedly known to be a getaway for celebrities looking to escape the public eye... alas, we didn't see Brad or Angelina, but the town was beautiful. After walking around a little, we traveled just outside the town, where there was an ancient Roman city, or at least it's ruins. It was incredible! Each section had plaques that showed what the ruins would have looked like intact, and there were so many to walk through. We went on to get a glimpse of the asylum that Van Gogh was held in, but you weren't allowed to walk through it, so we didn't really go in depth there.
We continued our day by driving another fifteen minutes to the magnificent town of Les Baux de Provence. At first we drove right through without seeing anything but a cool mountain vista that could be walked up to, but after driving back we discovered the mountain vista held the medieval city of Les Baux, while the current town is in the valley and is very small. We found some parking and made the hike up the mountain to the small city of Les Baux. Beautiful. The town is basically uninhabited except for hotels, and small shops and restaurants. We quickly found a restaurante for lunch which seemed to be popular, and found a seat. Best... lunch... yet! I got a marinated tomato and mozarella entree while Lindsay had a Rabbit Terrine. Both were very nice, and were followed up with a fish main course for myself, and a pork dish for Linds. Sounds simple enough, but they were both prepared with masterful skill, and were incredible. The sun was shining, the wine was flowing, the view was great, and it all made for a great meal experience.
After lunch we walked through the streets of Les Baux and made our way to another magnificent ruin of an old fortification on the top of this mountainside. It not only offered the eerie views of a tower fortification long laid to waste, but also offered the most incredible views of the Provencal countryside, and the Alpilles mountain range. We must have spent three or four hours touring the ruins, amazed at all the view points that were offered up. After spending some time in the shops, we made our way back down to the car and drove another ten minutes to our hotel just outside of Les Baux.
This place was a little weird to find, as it had no real address just a street name. I made the choice to jus follow this street I had found, and voila, there it was. The Cotes des Olivades, a four star hotel that we paid next to nothing for. Our room is fantastic! we have a terrace balcony that views over the alpilles mountains, and even overlooked the setting sun. I enjoyed a little cognac and hooked up to the internet, while Lindsay tried to sleep off a minor headache from the sun, and you know what... life was good. We freshened up for dinner, and made our way down to the hotel restaurant. We figured as a four star hotel, it would have to have a great restaurant... and it did! We had another incredible meal that certainly ranks up there, and are now back on our balcony playing some skip-bo and drinking a bottle of wine we purchased in Rocamadour.
Tomorrow we head down to the French Riviera where we'll be staying in a town called Eze. From there we'll spend the day in nearby Monte Carlo! We'll do the tourist thing there, and then say goodbye to France :-( as we head into Italy! :-)
It's insane to think that it's been about two weeks in France, but it's been such an incredible experience. The people here have been WAY nicer than people have made them out to be. They totally appreciate the effort to try and speak their langauge, and have met us half way every where we've been. The north of France has definitely been my favorite, but the weather in the south has rivaled the north and quite efficiently. I'm looking forward to the next two weeks, Italy and a couple of days in Geneva. Should be great! I might post some pictures tonight, but if not, tomorrow night for sure. Click on this link to check it up, and if it doesn't show the pics, I'm sure it will in another day. Cheers!
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