The Heart of Provence....and back to Nice (July 4-5, 2008)

After I finished with my doctor appointment in Avignon, Mark and I took a walk (a long one, of course) across the river and had a little picnic while staring at the famous Pont d'Avignon. Then we drove over to the famous Pont du Gard (a leftover Roman acquaduct) that is truly something to behold! We left there and drove to Nimes (where denim came from for all of you bluejean lovers). That is where we had a true European vacation experience. We finally found a place to park our car, and walked around the city about three times trying to find the Roman colosseum and the best preserved Roman temple in the world. We laughed at a hotel called the "Cat Hotel". That became our marker, and when finally trying to leave the city, because of the one-way streets, I think we drove past that hotel about five times! A GPS might have come in handy. Nimes is alot bigger than one would think. We drove in the direction to Les Baux and St. Remy. By this time I was feeling pretty lousy and sat in the car while Mark took pictures of Les Baux (I've been there before). We finally got back to Avignon around 10 p.m., and I was starving. The problem was, my throat is raw and it is very hard to find something to eat that doesn't hurt or burn it. We finally found a cafe that had some soup, and I ate it successfully.

The next morning we planned to get up early (oh brother) and drive to Arles, and then through the Luberon Valley (where A Year In Provence takes place), and then on to Nice. Long day. Mark is doing all of the driving.

In Arles we visited a very interesting Roman museum (after another long walk), then headed out to find the Roman ruins there. Arles is famous for Roman ruins, and they are spectacular. It is also famous, of course for Vincent Van Gogh. We had a delicious meal at one of Rick Steves recommened restaurants, and then took off for the Luberon Valley.

Places seem really close to each other over here, but in the Luberon Valley the roads were so curvey and we went up and down hills so much that it seemed to take us forever to get anywhere. We were looking for lavendar fields, but honestly the ones we saw driving from Chamonix to Avignon were prettier. The highlight was a stop in the hilltop town of Rousillon, where they make paints from the earthen colors. We hung out there for a while, before finally finding the autoroute to Nice.

We arrived in Nice and successfully navigated the one-way streets, eventually finding our hotel and surprisingly, a parking spot just half a block away! (We were too late to turn in our car.)

Here's where we went to KFC and discovered self-service drinks with an ice machine!

My throat was beginning to feel better, so I managed to eat a piece of chicken and some fries, but that ice-cold Pepsi was the highlight of the meal!