Days 5 and 6 – October 11 & 12

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Hi everyone, thanks for your interest in reading our blog.

We decided to leave the hotel around 9:30 since we had no idea where to drop off the car and get to the train station. As Jim packed our luggage in the car it started to rain but we knew the weather report for Provence was going to be 75 degrees when we arrive later in the day. The one thing that really helped us so far was the GPS we brought with us. We never got lost and always found what we were looking for. Jim punched in the address for the drop off point for the rental car and we hit the road. French drivers are disciplined and always use their turn signals. As we approached Caen we filled up the car with diesel and found the rental car drop off, much easier than we thought. Europcar was the agency we used and they made it easy to pick up and drop off the car.





Across the street from the rental car drop off is the Caen train station so we waited for our first train, to Paris. As the train arrived Lisa noticed our car was right behind the engine and we were standing 10 cars away. With luggage in tow we ran like two criminals running from the police. We got on board just as the doors closed, whew. We learned a long time ago the reason trains in Europe are on time is because they wait for no one



The first leg of the trip is a train to Paris (St Lazare station) and it takes just under 2 hours – quiet and uneventful. From there we have to transfer to a local metro train to get to the next train station (Gare Lyon) for our second train ride and we have about 45 minutes. We arrive at the Paris station and there are a million legs running here and there and everyone is in a hurry. Our heads are on swivels as we are trying to find out where to go. We find a ticket machine and of course the instructions are in French so we have some trouble getting two tickets for the local metro. We stepped back and watched one of the locals work the machine and finally figured everything out, purchased our ticket, jump on the local and make it to Gare Lyon station. This leg of the trip is about 3 hours and the ride was nice and smooth even though we are going around 200 mph. We have a late lunch on the train and arrive in Avignon around 5:30.



From there we pick up another rental car and head for St Remy. Before we get to the hotel we stop off at a local market to buy some wine, water, and snacks (still no good beer to be found). We get in around 7:00 or so, and take a walk around the hotel grounds. Our room is on the ground floor and typically small but we have a large patio area with two small sofas, table and chairs and hedges all around for privacy. We unpack and head back to the town center. St Remy is a cute little village and we start our exploration. We get our bearings, stare at all the wonderful desserts in the windows, and go to an Italian restaurant for dinner. We were hoping for pizza but the first thing the waiter say to us is, “no pizza tonight” so we settled for pasta instead. We get back to the hotel in time to listen to KNBR on our laptop for the last couple of innings of the Giants game. Every now and then we would lose our Internet connection and quickly log back in so that we could hang on every pitch called. Giants win, WOW!



Friday – October 12

Today we take a drive to Les Baux. This town is called the “dead city” and is carved into a rock 650 feet above the valley floor. There are castle ruins and some of the ancient walls still standing. Other than the tourists going through, it is pretty much a ghost town but impressive to see. For our next stop we head to Glanum, an archaeological site. The original city was settled in the 6^th and 7^th centuries B.C., by the Romans. After purchasing a ticket we are handed a map with some descriptions of the site and off we go. We get to walk up the main street and through the houses but there are no roofs or walls but we can clearly see the floor plan. Some columns still exist and the structure for the thermal baths was immediately recognizable, very cool to see.



Today is supposed to be the best weather we have had in Provence and Lisa wants to take advantage of one of the two beautiful pools we have at the hotel. After our tour through Glanum we head into town for a little more exploration and to pick up something to eat. We bought a small mushroom quiche, a sandwich; bottle of champagne, and of course some sweets to enjoy by the pool. We walk back to the hotel and spend the next 3 hours soaking up the sun that we missed the last couple of days. The hotel grounds are very nice with olive trees, potted flowers and at least ten fountains of various designs. Jim only wishes his olive trees had as many olives as all the olive trees on the grounds. The pool was very, very, very cold but we both had aching feet so we couldn’t resist soaking our feet in the pool. It took an hour but Lisa finally got in the pool all the way. Boy was it cold! This was a very relaxing and enjoyable day. This is the kind of day we would have wanted for our anniversary so we have declared every day of our vacation as a celebration of our 15^th anniversary. It is still hard to believe we are in Provence and still have many days left to our vacation.

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Photos

Hotel Pool
One of the two pools at our hotel, Les Mas Des Carassins

Comments

[Mom]

The pictures are great! Keep having fun!

[Jason]

Jim at the pool
You guys are awesome. Happy anniversary. The photo of Jim at the pool is one of the best - that's a vacation!