last day in France

Today we left Arles.  We drove north to Pont du Gard, a beautifully intact Roman aqueduct (the French call it aqueduc...that’s funny - like, “duck”) that is from the first century.  FYI, that’s 2000 years old.

It was pretty amazing, and big, I might add.  FYI, that’s my hand on the 2000 year old stones.








We cruised through a couple of Provence cities, but here’s Provence in just a nutshell, this time of year.  Hill...vineyard...castle...vineyard...hill...vineyard...cute medieval town...vineyard.

Along the southern coast of France was really the highlight of the day.  Not even kidding.  We took the coastal road for a while, just to add harrowing to our list of adjectives.

Check these out:









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

gelato is real

Image
So, in honour of our pending trip to France and Italy, I have invented (I might even say, "perfected") Vitamix gelato. I share it with you here: Step 1:  get a Vitamix. Step 2: crack six eggs and put the yolks in your Vitamix, make meringue or throw away the whites, I don't care at all. Step 3: whir the egg yolks in your Vitamix for 5-10 min. or until you are confident they are cooked. Step 4:  Add sugar to the egg yolks while whirring.  Enough to make them sweet. Could be honey or maple syrup.  I don't mind. Step 5:  Add half and half to your egg yolk, sugar mixture while whirring away.  Maybe about two cups.  At this point, you will need to put the lid on the Vitamix.   For splashing reasons. Step 6:  Start adding frozen fruit  a little at a time.  Like strawberries or blueberries or mango. Step 7:  Keep adding frozen fruit until your mixture is VERY thick, so that your Vitamix makes that "I can't handle any more" ...
Read more

just getting ready

Image
For the purpose of our up and coming trip, I'm creating this blog as my online journal.  I'm doing it now because I'm SO excited. We are going to France for about two weeks, and Italy for about two weeks. Because I’ve never been to France, it’s mythical.  I have been to Italy, so I know it’s really there, and shaped like a boot, I saw from the airplane.  It was ridiculous. Here’s an up to date picture of my kids: The Youngest Four are coming with us to Europe.  If they behave themselves in the next three weeks.  The adult women get to be married, so they are not coming with us.   So, The Professor (not his real name), Chicken Whisperer (also not his real name) and Silas (also not his real name) are coming with us along with Baby Rosebud who is nearly 13.  And is not named Baby or Rosebud.  
Read more

sobering stopover

Image
With reluctance we left our lodgings in Dierre yesterday, our lovely hostess, Evelyne, sent us off with local cookies and her own homemade jam and kisses on both cheeks. It was good sustenance for a long travel day.  We were leaving the Loire Valley, and making a pretty straight shot south, in a small town close to Toulouse, called Moissac.  This is just a one night stopover, and as I sit up at 4 am because I can’t sleep, it’s "today" already. While we prepared for a "get there fast, major highway" experience, what we really experienced was rolling hills, beautiful valley towns and lush forest, both deciduous and evergreen through the rest of the Loire and the Dordogne Valley. Let me tell you a little about France.  Coffee is amazing.  Local wines are both fabulous and cheap.  Sheep are everywhere, as are cute towns.  Cute towns just never get old.  Ancient stone barns are as common as Scotch Broom at home.  Trees are small, relatively spea...
Read more