Blogs from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Europe - page 5

I had to take the train back to Milan’s central train station to pick up my luggage. I thought I was heading into a new direction towards France but my train went through Pavia, where I started the morning. Milan’s central train station is a beast when you hit it the first time when you are uncertain of where to go. Few staff are helpful. Travel tips: the left luggage office is TWO levels below the train platforms, and it is expensive, nearly 30 Euros for two days for a medium size bag. Don’t ask older police for directions, wait for the younger ones who come to spot check your passport, they speak better English. Platforms are listed late so don’t hang under the departure signs any more than 15 minutes before train is scheduled to ... read more

Day three started similar to all of the others, bright blue skies, brilliant sun and more birds chirping/singing than I have heard in a long time. Obviously they are in their happy place, as are we. We slept extremely well, with the windows open and the only thing we heard was the gurgling fountain in our courtyard. Breakfast started at 730a with the route rap at 830, and we along with our co-riders Ed and Shelley were the first of the group to arrive in the restaurant. This means we were rewarded with a wonderful view of the vineyards while we enjoyed the varied food, with as much healthy or non-healthy options as you wanted. The others straggled in and before long we all made it to the parking area, where Vidal and Scott had our ... read more

Today we woke to a peaceful Avignon and were excited to finally start biking. I walked through the quiet alleys and found take-away coffee as our B&B wasn’t showing signs of movement. As I arrived back Annaliese our B&B owner was also arriving with fresh baguettes and advised to head up to the first floor for breakfast. I let Ken know, who was still getting moving and went up to check out breakfast. Annaliese had a wonderful open kitchen where she had put out a wonderful typical French breakfast of croissants, baguettes, homemade jams and yogurt, fresh blueberries and muesli. She was making fresh strawberry jam in large kettles which looked and smelled wonderful. While waiting for Ken, she shared with me the history of the villa which included the original owner wayyyyy back in 1700’s ... read more

I have jumped from Monday to Thursday, as Ken spent Tus-Thurs exploring Nice, Villafranche and just wandering the wonderful area. By the time I got here he had had an average of 20k steps per day! I was going to have a nice dinner with Ken once I arrived at 9p on Thursday, but due to delays due to air traffic, so by the time I exited it was 1020p, so it was a bit of a slow start to my part of the trip. On Friday, we woke to the daily church bells at 8a from Notre-Dame next door, no way to sleep through those! The day was sunny and beautiful but Ken said it was the least nice day he had since arriving. We grabbed a coffee at the small café next door, and ... read more

L'isle sur la Sorgue looked lovely. A small village with lots of craft shops, cafes, water and brocantes . Those antique/junk shops that France do so well. There was also an excellent campsite just a short walk out of town . What more could we ask for ? What we had not bargained with was that it was Thursday . Maundy Thursday back home. The first day of the Easter weekend. I guess it might be the same in France and the world and his dog would be out for the weekend. Our first problem with L'isle sur la Sorgue was a barred road. We had to follow the diversions round the houses with Silly Sat Nag barking instructions to us telling us to turn round at the next junction, go back the way we had ... read more