Wednesday, May 31, 2017

FB6: Van Gogh and Roman towns

Tonight, we are staying in Avignon.  On our way, we took a detour to St. Remy.  Here, we visited Monastery Saint-Paul de Mausole, once the home to Van Gogh.  It featured some gardens and access to a few rooms where he lived.  There wasn't much to it.  I did, however, realize that dogs were allowed to go into some museums in France.  The US needs to follow suit.  We have seen many leashless dogs in France, but as we drove in, we saw one dog, with a collar on, walking down the street without an owner.  On our way out of the city, many miles from where we saw it the first time, it was still roaming on the sidewalk.



A few steps up the road was the Site Archeologique de Glanum, the remains of a Roman town.  There were signs in English around the ruins, explaining what building was formerly in each location, sometimes including a progression of how each structure was renovated throughout the years, depending on who had taken over.  You were able to see the water and sewer lines and how it worked in the town.



We arrived at the north side of Avignon, near the Palais des Papes, a known highlight of the town.  We went underneath huge stone walls and ended up in a three story parking garage, which was attached to our hotel.  The hotel is very modern and has a friendly staff.  The location is perfect.

As I have spoken about before, I am not a huge fan of cities.  I can't put my finger on why, but I am enjoying this city.  The layout is open, yet feels personal.  Most roads do not allow cars.  There are tons and tons of unique shops.  You don't just have all gift shops with the same items inside like many other cities.  We saw an awesome toy store that I hope to visit tomorrow, a comic shop, a cookie/chocolate store, and a gelato place with around 74 flavors.  Either 74 or 76.  Jeremy found a board game store that I will check out tomorrow.  There is also a nice mixture of architecture in the town, with old buildings meshing well with modern looking areas.



Jeremy informed me that the hotel had laundry service.  I had known that the hotel in the next town offered this, but I figured that it would be better to get it done earlier.  Then, I saw the prices.  5 euros a shirt.  It would cost me well over 100 euros at that price per garment.  Forget that!  I found a laundromat ten minutes away and did my laundry there!

Tomorrow, we will do the palace and then Miles and I will be driving to a cave about an hour away.  Neither of us have been in a cave anywhere near its size.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

FB5, Ochre, the mine, and naps

This morning we started off by going on the longer of the two ochre trails in town.  Jeremy mentioned to Miles that he should be careful because the sand is likely to stain.  So, he of course immediately put his hand in it.


Afterwards, we went down to the Mines de Bruoux.  You have to go with a timed tour group.  Unfortunately, our was in French.  Jeremy got a tablet with some information in English.  The mine itself was very cool, both literally and figuratively.  It was a little slow for us, since a lot of it was listening to the guide speaking in another language.  

There was a nice, young couple, from Paris, that gave us a bit of a translation after each section.  The ochre had been used for rubber at one point and then later, the caves were used to grow mushrooms. The couple were surprised to find people from the United States here, as this is a little bit off the beaten path of most tourists.  


From the mines, we traveled to another hilltop town, called Gordes.  The market was just closing as we arrived, which was a shame.  We explored the small castle/town hall museum, which had some pictures, some photos, and a top floor with costumes.


We were all wearing long pants, due to the coldness of the mine.  It was very hot outside, so we returned to the hotel to nap and relax.  We ate a simple dinner at a local restaurant and went to the top of the town to observe the sky as it neared sunset.

Monday, May 29, 2017

FB4: The Extraordinary Museum, the fort, and the red rocks

We woke up early and on schedule, to Jeremy's surprise.  We ate breakfast in the hotel lobby, with the owner bringing us croissants, jam, bread, scrambled eggs, cantaloupe, yogurt, cheese, and honey.  I ate only a few of these.  We loaded the car and headed towards our first destination, a small town named Ansouis.

When I first picked this place to visit, I had my eye on a museum that called itself the Musee Extraordinaire.  Its reviews marked it as a small, but quirky museum that looked like something that Miles would enjoy.  Besides, it is right there in the name.  How can a museum that calls itself extraordinary, be anything but!?

It was a museum run by a woman whose father was a scuba diver and created the museum from this passion of his.  It was small, but Miles loved it and was asking for pictures throughout.



While in this town, I wanted to visit its chateau.  Unfortunately, when we arrived, it was closed.  It wouldn't open for many hours, so we decided to head out, but not before Miles made friends with the local cats.



Our next destination was Fort Buoux.  We parked our car outside the gates and started the trek towards the fort.  On the way, we discovered an outcrop, that according to Jeremy's translating skills, labelled itself the largest outcrop in all of France.



We continued up the path and into the fort.  Once inside, it looked like it was mostly just grass and some remnants of the fort, but we soon discovered that the mountain kept climbing and more and more buildings continued to come into view.  It really surprised me just how much there was to the fort and how much remained.  We climbed to the very top and I cowered around the large stones, unable to bring myself to the edge.  Miles had less difficulty of course, but was still happy to begin our descent.



It was finally time to drive to our final destination for the day, the commune of Roussillon.  Towns in France call themselves communes, so I should have been calling them as such all this time.  Roussillon is known for its ochre colored rocks, which used to be mined around the area.



We are staying at a newer hotel in town, and the accommodations looked very nice...until we got to the rooms.  First we went to the second floor, which looked like any other decently sized hotel in existence.  Then, they brought us to a door with a low overhead, via a small windy staircase, to a loft area, with two rooms.  We took the slightly larger room.  It had a nice balcony, but there were parts in the room that I could not stand straight up in, and I could not stand straight up in the bathroom.  I was not happy.

I wasn't impressed with the guy that was running the hotel, and this impression was reinforced when he led us to the pool later.  The pool was across the very small street in a large open garden area.  Miles and I swam for an hour while Jeremy read in his room.  We returned to the room and cleaned up.  I did not enjoy bending my head to avoid the ceiling while showering, nor the few times that I hit my head on the door frame to exit my room.  As we left this time, I noticed that someone else was at the front desk.  He smiled.

We walked up to the top of the town, which had amazing views of the French countryside and the town.



I began having allergy problems and headed back alone to take some allergy medicine.  After feeling a bit better, I headed down to have a talk with the new frontdeskman.  He understood completely, and gave us a new room on the second floor with very high ceilings.  It had nearly double the space, but no balcony.  I couldn't have been happier.

I returned to Jeremy and Miles.  Jeremy informed me that he was content with his room.

Since Jeremy was nice enough to let us eat and Miles' restaurant choice(the same restaurant) the last two nights, we thought that it was only fair that he chose the place of tonight's outing.  He picked a restaurant with a balcony.  Miles said that his burger was, "the best hamburger of my life."  For those following the blog, he has now had the best pork and beef of his life so far.  Jeremy had macaroni with escargot, which he had never had before.  I had stuffed zucchini, tomato, and pepper, with rice.  It was all very good.

I took the following photo, asking Jeremy to smile.  At least he tried.



Tomorrow, we will be walking the ochre trail and going into a mine that purports to be ten degrees Celsius, which is 50 degrees Fahrenheit.  I will be bringing my jacket.






Sunday, May 28, 2017

FB3: The Gorge, part II

This morning we woke up later than we had anticipated.  Jeremy gathered the Gorge maps from the hotel owner while we slept.  We were to backtrack with our car, take a 24km loop route with great views, and then continue on a larger loop around the Gorge, which would lead us back to the beginning, near the lake.

On our way to the loop with the view, we found a 200 meter rocky hiking trail.  It was enjoyable, with some nice viewpoints near ledges.  This, of course, meant that I took one glance over, took a picture, and then quickly retreated a few feet to be at a safe distance.  Jeremy had no issues with the heights and encouraged Miles to stand next to him.



We found the loop and went halfway around, where we found a cafe on the cliff side.  After a quick break, we continued about 30 seconds before we hit signs that indicated we could not go beyond.  Apparently, we were supposed to take the loop coming from the other direction, because half of the route is only one way!  We backtracked and skipped the other half.

We continued the greater loop around the Gorge.  We encountered a bridge with people going bungie jumping.  Miles asked if he could do it.  I said no.



At the highest point, our car indicated that we were at an altitude of 1210 meters, or roughly 3960 feet(if I remember Jeremy's translation correctly).  I am too tired to look it up now.  Eventually, we hit the lake.

We rented a paddle boat for an hour and a half.  We took it under a bridge and into the Gorge for some beautiful sights.  On the way back, Miles and I jumped in an swam in the lake.



When paddling, I noticed one boat off to the side, where all four passengers were staring at their phones.  This made me sad.



Back in town, we set out for a much needed dinner.  Unfortunately, the restaurants did not open until 7:00, so we had half of an hour to spare.  I wanted to take a look at the shops, but noone wanted to join me.  I left them behind and looked myself.  One of the shops were closed, but had an interesting theme inside.



I ended up finding something I really liked in one of the shops, just as it was closing.  We decided to eat outside for dinner.  There were a few flies around, and Miles was getting very irritated with them.  He asked me why it wasn't bothering me.  I explained that it was very pleasant outside.  I continued that for most of human history, there were not modern conveniences like air conditioning, and that people spent a lot of time outdoors and they didn't let these things bother him.  He responded with the quote of the trip so far, "It's not my fault that I was born in a house."

 We will be going to sleep early tonight, so we could wake up earlier in the morning.  I set my alarm for 8:00.

Saturday, May 27, 2017

FB2: Rock throwing and the Verdon Gorge

Today...was a rough stomach day, to put it mildly.  It is almost 11:30PM, and we have had a long day.  But first, let's back up to last night.

While trying to buy gelato, I realized that my credit card was gone.  Thinking back, the only place that I had used a credit card, was at lunch.  I called up the French restaurant, and while we were only able to communicate by the phone equivalent of hand gestures, they indicated to me that they have a credit card.  I couldn't figure out if it was mine, but it was worth checking out.  Miles went with Jeremy to the beach while I went across town to the restaurant.  As luck would have it, it was indeed my credit card.

We had not been on the beach til this point, and had not gone close enough to inspect it.  Miles had asked if he could play in the sand, before heading off with Jeremy, and I had said yet.  When I reached them on the beach, I discovered that it was not a sand beach, but a rock beach, with beautiful, clear water and very gentle, barely waves.

Apparently, Miles had befriended a nearby couple that did not know English well.  They were trying to help him skip rocks in the ocean.  I sat next to Jeremy while he played with a tripod and his camera.  This included hanging the camera upside down on it and keeping the lens open for long periods of time to capture more light.  Meanwhile, Miles hung out with the couple and continued to throw rocks.  It was fun to watch him interact with them.  He has quite an ability to befriend strangers, and apparently this included non English speaking ones.

The next day, we decided to head out to Avis rental cars earlier than we had planned.  We went next door to the rental agency and were greeted by a sign that explained that they were closed and to go to the train station instead.  This was a 25 minute walk.  We were told by the receptionist that we were supposed to have been contacted, and she left a message for other workers, but that no one had done so.  We would be called by the manager to discuss possible compensation.  This never happened.

Jeremy decided that the two and a half hour route was too boring, and so decided to take us on the scenic route, travelling through the park to the town with our hotel rather than taking the highways.  I was the driver and he was the navigator.

We stopped about halfway, at a lone restaurant, that also served as a hotel and bar.  Miles had pork, which seems to be his "go to" dish on European vacations, while I had simple chicken.  Miles and I tried a dessert that we saw a nearby table try, called a profiterole.  It was a scoop of vanilla ice cream, surrounded on both sides by a pastry that was drizzled with chocolate, with whipped cream on the side.  I should have taken a picture, but somehow I didn't.

Luckily, my stomach settled down for the next part of our driving journey, which had many stopover areas for pictures of the view.  Before we hit the majority of views, however, we came across a bridge going over a stream.  The stream was a hotspot for people who wanted to lay by the rocks near it or go for a walk in the water.  Miles bravely crossed right through the stream, which had very cold water.  He also skipped rocks across it, a newly resurfaced curiosity of his.
 

Here are some of my favorite views:



A little while later we arrived at our destination, Moustiers Sainte-Marie.  We are staying at an 8 room hotel, with an owner that barely understands a handful of English.  Miles has his own bed around the corner from my bed.  It is down the hill from town.  Before departing, I asked the owner for suggestions for a small walk.  He did not understand, so I indicated "short" with my  hands and a walk by using my fingers to make a walking motion.  He took a map and highlighted a route up to a chapel on the mountainside.

We soon found out that this map was grossly out of scale.  Roads that looked long were traversed in two seconds.  The small windy trail up towards the chapel, through a nearby grotto took thirty minutes of scaling the side of the mountain!  What kind of ridiculous map did he give us!?




After we made it to the chapel, we took the shorter route back down and into the center of town.



We found a small, quirky Italian restaurant, had a late dinner, and then walked back to our hotel.  Miles is asleep and I hope soon to be.  Tomorrow will be our primary day of hiking.