Final photos added!

We have finally uploaded the remainder of our pictures to Picasa (who knew we'd fill their limit so quickly?). After some heavy-handed editing by Emily, there was room to put in our final days on the French Riviera! Just click on any of the slideshows on the left and it'll take you to our online albums in Picasa. Hope you enjoy the show!

Last Day: Leaving is Such Sweet Sorrow

We’re on an airplane right now, cruising over Montreal with about 2 ¾ hours till we reach Cincinnati, then on to Seattle tonight. Our bags are stuffed full, almost to the legal limit, with 1 extra carry on so we can haul back some good beers and wine. We went out yesterday in true French Riviera fashion, with an early morning trip to Monaco (true, not really French, but Riviera all the same). What a funny little principality! It was so lush and gorgeous, with bougainvillea growing out of every nook and cranny, and enough gilded balconies to last a lifetime. We hiked around the town (?) for a while, checking out the prince’s palace, complete with Buckingham Palace-esque guards out front, and the chapel where Grace Kelly is buried. On our way out of town, we swung by the casino, which wasn’t really open yet (not till 2pm), and dropped 5€ in the smoke-free slot machine room, which is shockingly open 24/7 for all us stupid tourists.

Our main goal of the day was beach time, so we cruised back down the coastline to Villefranche-sur-Mer, a beautiful Mediterranean town between Nice and Monaco. After finally getting a parking spot-apparently Mondays are a great day for the beach in France-we hit the sand…or in our case, pebbles! The beach in Villefranche is all pebbles, which is surprisingly much more pleasant than sand. Pebbles come off easily and don’t stick in your bathing suit. The sea was incredible; bright blue and clear, and so salty we floated without any special devices! We alternated between beach and water for over an hour, until we sweated our all of our bodies’ water reserves. Mark especially loved sunning himself half in/half out of the water. We rinsed off European style in a little shower shack on the beach, had some delicious gelato desserts for lunch, and headed back into Nice to get cleaned up for our last night of vacation. After discovering most of the recommended restaurants in Nice Etoile (the swankier part of town) were closed for vacations, we finally found a sweet place called Maison du Marie. I was feeling brave after my foie gras experience in the Dordogne and ordered the fish soup for my entrée. Wow, who knew pureed fish and broth could be so….fishy? Thank God they gave me a bowl of whipped egg yolks to throw in it. Yeah, that really helped. We had an otherwise delicious dinner, walked down the Promenade Anglais one more time, and headed back to our teeny tiny room early enough to get a few hours of sleep before our 7:55am flight. So far our flights have gone well, but 9 ½ hours on a plane should be criminalized. Fingers crossed all will be on schedule in Cincinnati and we’ll be in Seattle by 7pm.

Thanks for following our blog! Sorry for the patchy posts and spotty photo postings (and sorry to my mom for her computer freezing up every time she opens the blog). And and extra special thanks to Kimo and Diana, the world's greatest neighbors for taking such good care of our house and most of all, our cats, while we were away. We can't thank them enough for all they did for us!

We made it to the Riviera, baby!

Greetings from Nice, on the gorgeous French Riviera! We just arrived at our hotel in Vieux Ville, which is French for "Old Nice with hotels that have tiny rooms with funny smells, wet carpet, and random stray cats on the patio." We left Provence this morning after a fabulous day yesterday. We began yesterday with a quick trip to the Pont du Gard, an ancient Roman aqueduct. It was enormous, and we got to go down to the waters below and wade around while tiny fishes pecked at our feet. After Pont du Gard, we took an unplanned detour to the Haribo Bon Bon Museum in nearby Uzes. We paid 6€ apiece for some free samples and an interesting journey of how sugar and gelatin become those delicious gummy candies we all know and love. Unfortunately for us, the sweets machine that gave more free samples was only giving out licorice (like Good n' Plenty), which both of us detest. We wandered through the boutique, and pondered buying a 5 lb. bag of gummy colas, then left before we did something crazy.

We drove into downtown Uzes, which was in the throes of their crazy Saturday market and grabbed a quick lunch of galettes and cider in the 95+ degree heat. Cider goes down really easy when you're sweating it out instantaneously. After Uzes we made the drive to Avignon, at which point I was pretty much done sightseeing for the day. We walked through Avignon, seeing the Palace of the Popes and the gardens surrounding it, with a great panoramic view of the Rhone River valley. Since going all the way on to the famous Pont du Avignon cost more €, we just walked underneath it and took a bunch of pictures. We high-tailed it back to our hotel in time to soak in the pool for a while and chat with our fellow guests, motorcyclists from Grenoble (in the French Alps). They invited us out for a beer in town, which ended up turning into more beers, something called a Monaco (beer, grenadine and lemonade for Emily), and a phenomenal dinner at a local 'gastronomique' restaurant. We had tons of great food, great wine, and most importantly, great company with these new friends. Merci, Patric, Lucia, Kristophe, and Jocelyn! We will never forget the great time we had with you!

We left Provence this morning and headed due southeast for Nice, with a quick detour at the Chagall Museum and Matisse Museum. Highly, highly recommend the Chagall Museum--it was a fabulous collection of some of his lesser known works, as well as some unbelievable stained glass windows, sketches, and a lot of good personal history. It left me wanting more, the sign of a great museum! Matisse was also a good collection of his works, intermingled with those of Rodin and other contemporaries. While it was interesting to see how similar the styles of the time were between sketches, sculptures, paintings, and other art forms, the layout of the museum left something to be desired. No good flow, but still great works of art. We are now sitting on the 'patio' of our hotel, watching the crowds marche on by, and getting ready for our evening promenade. We have Wi-fi here, so we will post our pictures as soon as we can.

Emily’s Birthday: Wine-ing and a Whole Lot of Bull

So, it’s my second birthday spent in Europe (the last one being my 30^th in Spain a few years ago). We have decided that any overseas birthdays don’t count, so technically I’m 31 still. I got to plan the itinerary for the day (aka, the Rick Steves “Villages of the Cotes-du-Rhone” driving tour, pg. 507-519). Today was all about seeing the cutest Provencal villages, tasting some delicious wines, and soaking in the atmosphere. We wound our way up the Dentelles de Montmirail, a gorgeous mountain range decorated along the way with olive groves and almond orchards. We visited so many adorable hilltop villages, built for security from barbarians and other evil marauders, now hotbeds of pottery-making and artisanal ice cream shops. It was quaint to the extreme. Every other building was a ‘cave au vins,’ so we did our fair share of pre- and post-lunch wine tastings. Watching Mark ask each vintner about the type of “raisins” they used in the wines was a highlight for me. We had unbelievably patient and friendly pourers, who took the time to answer our questions. We ended up with 3 bottles of wine in the car at the end of the day: 2 Cotes-du-Rhone and 1 dry Muscat. With each bottle we add to our collection, someone at Delta Airlines is hearing a “ka-ching!” sound coming from our suitcases. But at 4-9Euros a bottle, how could we pass it up?

For lunch, we had a plate of local specialties in Suzette, including a dynamite olive tapenade made right in the town. We have been so lucky to sample the local cuisine in all of our stops, and have become pretty adventurous when it comes to tasting things that are unrecognizable to both of us. We ended our scenic loop in Gigondas, a town that seems to be completely dependent on the wine industry, and has a large cooperative that serves samples from literally hundreds of local vintners. Feeling overwhelmed and overheated, we headed back through Avignon to our b&b, after a lengthy battle with our TomTom, who insisted on trying to take us down some roads that did not yet exist. We decided to dine in St. Remy again because I was craving pizza (I know, I know, but it’s my birthday). When we arrived in the downtown, we noticed many of the main streets were blocked off and there were gigantic gates lining the main road. Tons of people were milling around, and there was obviously some big event about to take place. Based on our incredible powers of deduction (aka, reading posted signs), we learned that tonight was going to be a running of vachettes (small bulls) down the streets in anticipation of the next day’s ‘corridas,’ a version of bullfighting. The excitement was palpable, and there was a nutty marching band playing up and down the streets getting the crowds all riled up (see our videos on Picasa to get a taste of the atmosphere).

After waiting for about a half an hour without anything happening, we ate at a nearby Italian bistro. When we finished dinner at about 10:30, the crowds had swelled considerably, and a large truck was pulling into the middle of the street, right in front of us. Cowboys in full gear were riding horses up and down the road, obviously getting ready to do some rodeo-ing. Someone in charge of this whole shenanigans shot a starter pistol and we dove behind the barricades, pushing several small children out of the way in the process. Hey, I’m not going to be gored by a bull on my birthday. After about 20 minutes of anticipation, the running began. First, the cowboys herded a bunch of vachettes down the street into the truck. Exciting, but not really too dangerous. We crossed the street to a more unprotected area without barricades, just bales of hay to stand on (thanks, honey) and that’s when all hell broke loose. The vachettes were let out of the truck one at a time, and local idiots hopped up on testosterone chased them down the street in an effort to either tackle them or ride on them. The cowboys essentially were just for show now, as the inmates took over the asylum. The second bull almost broke free of the mob chasing it, and again, I dove for cover, this time pushing old ladies out of the way. Where was Mark, you ask? Why, near the edge of the street, filming this whole thing! After watching four vachettes get harassed, I’d had enough adrenaline rushes to last till my next birthday, and we hustled to the car before they released the next bull. Make sure you watch the videos so you can get a full understanding of how crazy this really was, because my words don’t do it justice!

The Road to Provence

Who knew the modern part of Carcassonne could be such a wild town? Apparently, there are drag races on the main rue all night long, as witnessed by Emily, whose earplugs kept falling out. Anyway, after a restless night of sleep, we had a lovely breakfast at our bed and breakfast and scooted our way out of the Languedoc region and into gorgeous Provence. We made Arles our stop for today, and spent a great afternoon in 100+ degree temps to see the Roman ruins of the old city. We shade-hopped our way through the city, starting with a delicious lunch of beautifully presented (and equally delicious) salads at a bistro. Evidently in Provence, everything comes sprinkled with a bit of paprika—who knew? We meandered past the Café Nuit, the very one Van Gogh painted, which is now crammed with Japanese tourists and overpriced menus. After that, we went back to ancient Roman times, visiting the ruins of a classical theater (which, at 4pm daily, still hosts ‘gladiator battles’), the underground cryptoporticos that used to house shops in the forum, an enormous amphitheater used today for the French version of bullfighting (ribbons are used, if that gives you any clues), St. Trophime church and its cloisters-of-much-decay and the adorable Musee Arlaten, devoted to telling the story of old-timey Provencal life, its clothing, traditions, myths and superstitions, and foods. Those of you from Wisconsin, think the Streets of Old Milwaukee-the French house.

After spending several hours in Arles, and losing copious amounts of body weight through sweat, we drove on to Maillane, destination for our next bed and breakfast. In case you didn’t know, Maillane is famous for being the birthplace of poet Frederic Mistral…and that’s about it. Seriously, even people we spoke to in Provence didn’t know where Maillane was! We’re staying in a gorgeous old home (built in the 1750s), and our hostess, Nadine, is helping Mark with his French (mainly because she doesn’t speak English). We’re all set with a/c and a pool, both of which we used to the fullest extent on our first night. Since Maillane has one restaurant, we traveled a few kilometers to Saint-Remy-de-Provence, otherwise known as “the city where Van Gogh spent his last months in a hospital before shooting himself.” Seriously, it’s on the sign as you drive in to the town! We had a delicious dinner with lots of herbes de Provence on everything. Let me take a quick second for my “Ode to Goat Cheese.” For breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert, the goat cheese we’ve eaten here has been amazing. We’ve had it creamy, rolled in pepper or herbs, and-the best-fried in a flaky pastry. Some is strong and musty, while others are almost sweet, but always it’s been a treat. Stay tuned for my “Ode to Toilets with Toilet Seats.”

After dinner, we drove to Les Baux, a hilltop town that has two levels; the lower level is the current town, inhabited by mainly residents catering to the tourist trade for the upper level, a deserted medieval town. We wandered around the ‘new’ part of town (new in France = 1700s) and found our way to the entrance gates for the ‘old’ part of Les Baux. Voila, the gate was left open, and no ticket takers were in sight! So, we walked in to the ghost town, barely illuminated by lights mounted in the stone walls, and luckily we had a tiny penlight that helped us through the areas without lights. It was completely empty that night, and all we could hear were the occasional bat fluttering overhead and the winds blowing through the stone structures. A few times, Mark ventured into darkened passageways while I waited outside, reliving the first time I saw “The Blair Witch Project.” Needless to say, it was totally creepy, but at the same time, a once in a lifetime experience for us. We drove back to Maillane through some hairpin rocky roads, just the slightest bit relieved that we weren’t part of some ritual sacrifice on top of the mountains.

Breakfast in Sarlat, Lunch in Albi, Dinner in Carcassonne

We got a good start on the morning in Sarlat and got down to the local market (which was pretty much everywhere in the city) and strolled through booths of people selling fresh produce, sausages, cheese, breads, nuts, pate, and wine. We sampled some fantastic cheeses, a bit of pate, some local wine, and a bit of sausage. They have these fantastic little strawberries bursting with an amazing aroma and flavor so we grabbed a tub of those, bought some sandwiches, and packed up for the morning to head down further South. On the way out we stopped at a grocery store to grab some water (and a biere de garde for me). At the grocery store, you had to pay 1€ for a grocery cart. They had these little grocery carts which I found out you can’t bring past the checkout line without setting off an alarm. Everywhere in Europe they are well beyond the concept of charging people for plastic grocery bags. They simply don’t give you any (people bring their own) but you can buy hefty grocery bags at the checkout for reuse.

After a few hours drive, we took a quick detour to Albi which since it was a bit off the beaten path, it was a nice relatively quiet city. We ate our lunch in the shadow of the overbearing church (St. Cecile’s Cathedral) that was there, created after they exterminated the Cathars, an almost Buddhist like religion, as a tribute to Roman Catholicism’s dominance. We toured the church, strolled another local church and cloister, grabbed some ice cream for Emily, and headed back on the road to Carcassonne.

We arrived in Carcassonne, checked in to our B&B, and jumped into the hot tub to relax. At this point, I do need to notice, the temperatures have started to rise a bit. We are well into the 90’s now.

After our soak, we headed into the heavily fortified/walled city of Carcassonne. We found a nice little restaurant for dinner and meandered through the streets which were fortunately a bit less crowded at night. I can’t imagine what it would be like during the day. As the sun set and the lights of the town began to light the massive structures, we took a walk between the massive inner and outer walls and got some great shots. We’ll hopefully be getting them posted soon! Tomorrow, on to Provence!

Old Man River and Foie Gras too!

We just returned from dinner, each of us having eaten the equivalent of an entire duck, and are about to settle in and weigh the ethical dilemmas of eating foie gras. Today was an unbelievably gorgeous day in the Dordogne River valley, and we took full advantage. We left early this morning (okay 10am is early for us these days) and rented a canoe at a local river port and began our journey down the Dordogne River. Stunning views of rock formations, caves, and the cutest dang towns in all of France (so far--Provence, we're talkin' to you!). We had several stopping points today on our 16 kilometer journey (that's about 160 miles-really). Our first stop was La Roque Gageac, which roughly translates into The Rock Gay Jack. Weird, right? We hiked up the hillside to a little old man's version of ancient caves (Troglodyte, in fact). I think he just made up a bunch of random signs and artifacts and arranged rocks in random formations, and charges stupid tourists 5€ to see it. Oh, wait...
After La Roque, we headed down the river past Castelnaud, an old chateau/defensive base. We decided not to stop there, but grabbed some cool pictures of it. On to Beynac, another adorable village contest winner. We were hungry for lunch, but sadly enough for us, all 3 of Beynac's restaurants don't serve food between 2:30 and dinner! So, after hiking up the steepest streets in all of France, we came down bitter and hungry and sweaty. What better to lift our spirits than dessert for lunch? 2 beignets, a walnut tart, and something called a Delices later, we were happy as clams. Returning to our canoe, we paddled our way furiously down river to our pick up spot. There, we boarded the bus from "Speed" to get back to our car. Seriously, our lives were in the bus drivers hands and he was looking under his seat while driving to find his sunglasses!!!
Back to Sarlat to clean off the dirty river water and sunscreen, and then we went our for a delicious 4 course dinner of foie gras, baby duck bills, duck tails, and fried duck feet webbing. Only kidding about the last 3, but we finally did eat our first foie gras (fattened duck or goose liver pate), and it wasn't bad! Like a creamier version of liverwurst. We're headed out to Carcassone tomorrow, and may not have internet for a while. Enjoy the pictures and keep checking back!