PROVENCE, FRANCE

Monday, October 4, 2010:  Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Cotes du Rhone  

Raining today.  After breakfast we go in the car and drove to Chateneuf du Pape.  Went through the mildly informative Museum of Wine, then went up to the ruined castle to park and walk down into town where there was supposed to be a large (collaborative) tasting room.  We never did find it, or if it was where we think it was, it was closed.  Walking from the castle (on top of the hill) to the town I thought I was gonna get blown over!  The wind was so bad!  Then came the driving rain on top of it and we ducked into a church to wait the driving rain out.  Of course, we left the umbrella in the car…

CdP castle ruins

Gorgeous views

We ducked into a place to dry off and taste some wine.  Good enough, so we bought a bottle with plans to drink it while we are here.  (Not sure when, though). 

 

Then we walked across the street to a little Italian place and had lunch (late again, so no plat du jour) (another ½ bottle of vino…), not that we are lushes or anything ;-)

 Inside

Then we went off to Gigondas.  Very pretty town, stopped in a collaborative for a tasting and some coffee and a snack.  Bought a bottle that Michael thought had a pretty label (we have a collection of bottles we will never drink that are for trip remembrances (such as the Iron Horse Cuvee from the Disney Cruise Line).   This one will be added to that in our cellar.

 Michael liked how the bottle looked...

 Snack and some coffee...

Then we went off to another winery outside of Gigondas.  Bought 6 bottles at Domain de Mourchon.  Good & Cheap!!!

Leaving there we were supposed to go to another town, and I saw a sign that said Seguret 8.3 km.  I thought that would be shorter than going all the way back to the main road and then around again.   Note to self…don’t follow small signs in Provence.  They lead to dirt roads, which lead to smaller dirt roads with big rocks, which lead to roads that one is not quite sure really is a road...Okay, so we were a little scared, but the scenery was beautiful! 

Yes, there is a road along those vineyards...

Gorgeous!

 But what's with the blue tree???

We'll see more of the stone huts later on

This would be one of the better roads we went on...

 Pretty views from the village of Le Creset

Needless to say, after our little detour adventure, we were ready to head home.   Nap and then dinner at the Inn (they are called “Mas” in France).  In honor of our adventure (and the fact that we had been in CdP), we splurged on a bottle of Beaucastle.  Good, but still not ready.   Tannins needed more time.

PROVENCE, FRANCE

Sunday, October 3, 2010:  Arles

Checking with Rick

We got up, had breakfast (pretty decent breakfast here at Le Mas des Carassins), and drove to the town of Arles (pronounced Arl).  Nice town with lots of Roman Ruins.  Whenever I am in Europe, it always amazes me how old everything is.  It is so cool.  I love it.   We take a walk around town suggested by Rick Steves.  His guidebooks are very good in terms of describing things and suggesting walks (by him…or in this case, his workerbee who essentially wrote the book), but I find him quite opinionated.  However, I buy a bazillion guide books before we go somewhere, and most of the time while traveling, his books are my go to books.  They come out in the fall, and I will say that there were a few things that were closed (or changed names) since his 2010 Provence and the French Riviera came out last year.  I refer to him as “my buddy Rick,” as in “my buddy, Rick, says…”

Anyway,  we walked around town a bit, and found the St. Trophime Church.  The area above and around the church door is full of sculptured symbolism, starting with Jesus surrounded by the four evangelists (Matt, Mark, Luke & Jack...er John), and the 12 apostles below him.

I really like the chain gang on the way to hell.  Bummer for them.

Then we we saw the Theatre.  It is still in use today as evidenced by the stage and lighting and sound equipment.  Very cool.  I’d love to see a concert or play there! 

 

On the bleachers...

We walked around the Theatre, got lost, and had to jump down an old wall...

 Of course, this is the star of my show:

After this we had lunch outside the Roman Arena.  Turns out that you can’t get the plat du jour after about 1:15, and you must be done lunch by 2ish.  If not, no lunch.  So no plat for us but we did have wine (1/2 bottle of Rose) with lunch.  I’m wondering if this is going to be a habit? 

Then we went to the Roman Arena which is in much better condition than the Coliseum in Rome.  Smaller, though.  

I love Europe and its old buildings and cool squares!

 These were actual windows (and doors) used by people who moved into the arena and built houses in the middle ages up until the early 1800s.

Then we hopped in the car and drove about 20 minutes to the Pont du Gard, a huge Roman bridge/aqueduct.  I find it amazing how much engineering went into this feat.  Not just the building of the actual bridge, but the fact that they had to figure out the perfect slope for the aqueduct…too steep and the rushing water would erode the stone pipe carrying the water, not enough and the water would go stagnant, in addition to figuring out the best path for the water to take (turns out the best path for the source at Uzes was also the longest).   I’m convinced that these people were a lot smarter than we are now, considering all of the tools we have available to us now and that they were starting with no knowledge. 

 
There were a lot of people picnicking, and a lot of people with dogs.  I miss my Peekaboo and of course my kids.   It’s also a lot chillier here than I was expecting.  I was still (mostly) wearing shorts at home.  Temps in the low 70s, but with the wind, it is a bit nip.  Guess no swimming on this trip...but...no swimming under the bridge...if it had been warmer, I would have tested that...

 Gorgeous!

Drove back to St. Remy and had dinner at a place my buddy Rick suggested.  Except it was no longer called whatever it was in the book.  I thought dinner was better than the night before, but Michael loved his lamb stew the night before more.  Of course, there was another bottle of vino…

 Yummy!!!

PROVENCE, FRANCE

Saturday, October 2, 2010:  St. Remy 

Guess I shouldn’t have worried as our flight to Frankfurt was so delayed that we changed our connection to Lyon and picked up the rental car there and drove to St. Remy, where we are staying the first 4 nights.  This got us in about 3.5 hours earlier (even with the 2 hour drive from Lyon).  Otherwise, it was an 8 hour layover in FRA…this way it was only 3.5…I fell asleep at a table in the airport…

We are staying at Mas des Carassins:  http://www.masdescarassins.com/anglais.php .  We got a rate of $163 Euros/night including breakfast.  Pretty nice place.  Modern, clean, lots of Zen type fountains on the property.

Bedroom (with our mess)

Water Closet with stone decoration

Large rain shower with nice tile

Cool sink

Nice gardens with sculpture leading to second pool, another fountain on right against stairs

Entrance to Mas (Inn)

Path leading to main pool

Our first night in St. Remy we just walked around until we found a place to eat on the “ring” road…a road that goes around the outside of the medieval walls (no cars inside).  Cute town, and Michael loved his meal.  Mine was fair, but I love how inexpensive meals are…entre (appetizer), main course & dessert for around 18 Euros.  Also, wine is cheap and good!

 This is the restaurant where we ate dinner

 First night in St. Remy

 I already picked up a Frenchman!!!  (Ok, so he was our friendly waiter...).

PROVENCE, FRANCE

Friday, October 1, 2010:  Travel Day

Flying to Marseille via Frankfurt flight today.  Michael had been in Chicago for a week, only getting home last night, so he had to go into work today to clear his desk.  I’m meeting him at the airport.  I’m a little worried that we will miss our connection into Marseille as we only have 55 min (to clear immigration and get to the gate).  Frankfurt airport also has this stupid bus system, where the plane parks remotely and a bus brings you directly from the plan to the terminal.  Same system going back, bus to plane…