provençal life

after all the busyness of wedding preparations we were thrilled to go on our long-awaited honeymoon (that i'd been planning for close to a year..). we flew from charleston through atlanta to paris where we spent some time at charles de gaulle waiting for our train, which left directly from the airport (quite convenient). while we waited we had our first croissants, albeit from a brioche dorée, but still better than most american versions. the train ride to avignon was lovely and on the way we enjoyed some overpriced oranginas while we watched the countryside go by. we stopped briefly in my beloved lyon, where we got a very quick glimpse of fourvière up on the hill. there also seemed to be some kind of altercation at the station - we saw some station police chasing someone, followed by several minutes of people in uniform standing around and smoking.

two of my favorite words

we arrived in avignon and walked about 50 yards (meters, rather) to the rental car place. couldn't have been more convenient. we got out car and J.R. did a great job driving to our hotel, despite sometimes confusing directions. the hotel was just outside the old city walls, which actually worked very well since we were driving out of town most of the time. our room was lovely and, with stone walls and a window overlooking the small garden. after unpacking a bit and freshening up we set out. we thought we'd pop into avignon to get a quick bite to eat before heading out of town. we had to go a bit farther into the city than we thought - about a 15 minute walk to the city center. looking for something quick, we eventually got a crêpe to go. (so began my pattern of taking pictures of JR eating typically french foods for the first time.) we ate the (surprisingly large) crêpes as we walked back towards the hotel. oh i forgot to mention - the south of france was experiencing a heat wave when we were there so temperatures were up around 95 degrees. of course we're used to that in south carolina (where ironically they were having unusual balmy weather) but we'd been anticipating temperatures about 20 degrees cooler. still, we didn't have the south carolina humidity to deal with.

honeymoon in a bottle

our first stop was the small town of châteaurenard, which is the current site of the frigolet distillery. monks first began brewing this liqueur several hundred years ago in their abbey, about 15 kilometers away. much like the monks who created chartreuse near grenoble. we walked into the distillery's little shop, where we were greeted by the very nice proprietor who gave us some samples of the greenish yellow liqueur. it's made with local herbs and i was a little worried it would be overly medicinal, like chartreuse. but it was very nice - slightly sweet and not overly herby. it's actually made with honey so we thought it was appropriate as our first honeymoon sourvenir.

sweet streets of saint rémy

our next stop was the town of saint rémy de provence. i had initially thought about staying here since it seemed very quaint in the pictures. i hadn't been able to find a hotel but i think staying in avignon worked out better as a hub. the town was pretty and there was a nice little church with a star-painted ceiling. there were some nice little shops with the usual wares - provençal linens, olive wood, soaps, lavender and clothes (indian block prints seem to be in vogue) but everything was pretty pricey. there wasn't much to actually do in the town so we moved on after a quick walk through the main streets.

just up the road from the center of town was the monastery of saint paul de mausole, where van gogh famously spent some time. we were able to see go to his onetime bedroom, with a window looking out on the gardens. if we had been there just a few weeks earlier the fields would have been filled with lavender in bloom but unfortunately the gardens were pretty sparse. still, it was pretty neat to see the area where van gogh painted several of his better known pieces, including one of his self portraits and 'starry night' (just one 'starry' - that's a pet peeve of mine).

fanciful frigolet

if we'd had more time we might have explored arles or nimes but as it was it was starting to get late in teha fternoon so we made our way back towards avignon, making one pit stop in frigolet where we saw the abbey of the liqueur-making monks. there seemed to still be some monks there so it must be a working monastery. there weren't many people around and we were worried the church would be closed. luckily the door was open so we were able to see the elaborately painted interior - everything from the columns to the walls were covered in colorful patterns and figures. once we'd had a look around we decided to head back.

golden glow on the roof

our goal was to make it to the palais des papes with enough time to see the whole complex. we spent the last two hours they were open there. the audio guide was fairly good and there was a lot of interpretive material. they also installed some contemporary art which was neat. the current exhibition focused on african art - the large golden el anatsui was particularly impressive. we explored every part of the building we could - from the pope's quarters (where i was most struck by the pretty tile floor) to the rooftop, which we caught just as the sun was starting to go down. JR (the historian) really enjoyed exploring all the rooms and wished we'd had a little more time.

see the palace in the corner?

we had a few hours before the light show at the palace so we walked around in search of a nice dinner. i'd seen a place advertising beef with roquefort sauce which sounded delicious. we spent a fair amount of time finding a place that had it, passing many touristy looking (read: menus in four languages) places along the way. JR was very patient and eventually we found the perfect spot. it was at the hotel palais des papes, just around the corner from the papal palace. we got a spot outside, where we enjoyed the darkening sky and the breezy weather now that the sun had gone down. JR got a glass of wine and i had my first (of many) kir, which is white wine with crème de cassis and we toasted to our first full day as husband and wife. my meal was delicious, i scraped up every speck of cheese sauce with my bread (when in france..) and JR enjoyed his eggplant dish too. we decided to cap off our meal with a cheese plate, probably one of the best french traditions. everything was delicious and even though we were stuffed we made some room for a little more bread so we could try every tasty morsel.

layers of history

we were able to linger over dinner and still had enough time to make the very short walk back to the papal palace. they have an illumination every evening in the summer and we wanted to catch the english version. the show was really impressive. the projections covered all four walls of the courtyard we were inside and were so elaborate. they told the story of avignon and the palace, although not in a very linear way. still, the visuals alone were really stunning. poor JR nodded off a few times (normally that's all me!) because he was so tired. he hadn't slept at all on the flight - he never does - and of course we'd been pretty go, go, go. after the show ended (about 45 minutes, longer than i'd expected!) we did the 20 minute walk back to the hotel. the town is really pretty quiet at night as far as we can tell, although we did pass one or two bars that must have had some people in them.

the next day we set out east. our first stop was a tiny town that we stopped in only because they were having their weekly market. we stopped into a little bakery where we got some pastries, followed by a little bar where we grabbed a table for some coffee. JR wanted to try an espresso and i got a latte. the waitress seemed rather surly at first but when she came back with our drinks she pointed out the little heart in the foam on top. when i told her it was our honeymoon she got such a kick out of it, even saying she had goosebumps. (incidentally, that's how i learned the french word for goosebumps). we stopped at the little market - all of about 12 little vendors set up in the square in front of the church. we got some tomatoes, pears, and a few cheeses for our picnic later on and put them in the little insulated bag i'd brought.

heart of the town

a little farther east we stopped in l'isle sur la sorgue, a charming little town with a canal running through the middle. it was at this point that i realized my camera battery was dead and my spare was back in the hotel room. luckily i had my phone so i made the best of it. the town was full of cute little shops, bakeries, bookstores, and antique shops. we stopped in a little artisanal shop where we got some saucisson (basically salami) with herbes de provence, a mixture of various regional herbs that they put on everything. at some bakeries we got a baguette to round out our picnic fare and some meringues for dessert.

le spread

our next stop was fontaine de vaucluse, a tiny little town established near the source of the sorgue river. we wanted to have our picnic before we got into town so we stopped just outside near the river where we found a little bench that we thought would be perfect. it was a very picturesque spot and would have been perfect if it weren't for the bees who terrorized us. they were very interested in our cheese and were not easily dissuaded. still, the creamy brie/bleu cheese was delicious and our saucisson made for the perfect addition. even our 2 euro convenience store rosé was very nice.

looking up

we ended up walking up to fontaine de vaucluse since parking in the town itself was so scarce. we paid the usual 4 euro (about what we paid everywhere) and walked uphill to the middle of town. in the center there was a roundabout and just next to it was a bridge over the remarkably clear water of the sorgue. you could see all the greenery below, just beautiful. there were waterwheels here and there. the town was bordered by hills on one side that loomed above us. (vaucluse means closed valley, which seems appropriate.) on one of the hills was a castle where apparently pertrach once lived. thomas jefferson visited this little burg and wrote home describing its charms.

green (not really) water

from the middle of town we followed the path to the source. along the way we stopped at an old paper mill, powered of course by a water wheel, which was supposed to have a small museum inside. while there were displays of old techniques used to create paper, there wasn't much a museum per se, at least not that we could see. most of the space was devoted to a shop, filled with paper goods presumably all made with paper created on site. we passed shop after shop mostly filled with clothes and souvenirs. eventually we made it to the source of the river. the actual source is way down below in a small cave so we couldn't go down and touch it (the rocks surrounding it were quite steep). there were metal strips attached to certain parts of the rocks that were used to measure the water level so that area must have flooded at some point. despite the day being (once again) very hot, spots around the source were oddly cool with a refreshing breeze.

gorgeous gordes

our next stop was the hilltop village of gordes. picturesque really is the best way to describe it. the tiny town is plopped on the top of a hill, with the church steeple towering above it all. like a miniature mont st. michel almost. we stopped at a cafe with a small terrace on the side of the hill which looked out on the fields and stone buildings below. JR enjoyed a beer while i had my usual kir and wrote a bit in my journal. of course the best view is of the town, rather than seen from it, so we walked around the road to get a better look. from here we could see all the little houses built out of the side of the cliff, with trees dotted in between. as a reward for our walk we got some ice cream once we made it back to the town proper. lavender (because provence) and butter pecan (just because).

ochreS is right

since we had a bit more daylight left we figured we could squeeze in a quick visit to roussillon. this little village is known as the 'colorado of provence' for its odd preponderance of orange rock formations. this particular soil composition exists only a handful of places in the world and it was really rather surreal to see this bryce canyon-like scene in the middle of the luberon. we walked along the sentier des ochres, following the path down into a small valley as orange cliffs and trees rose up on either side of us. there were some really beautiful variations of orange and yellow in the color of the rocks and i was sad not to have my camera to capture the detail better. the loop we walked didn't take nearly as long as predicted but that was just as well since we figured we should be getting back fairly soon. the town of roussillon seemed rather colorful itself, although most places were starting to close up and we didn't really have time to explore in any case. the ride back was largely uneventful although we did stop once along the road to see some of the vineyards up close.. only to discover the vines were covered in little white snails! escargots plus (future) wine, how much more french can you get. we had hoped to eat at a little place called fou de fafa, which we were mostly delighted by because of the flight of the concords song. i read that it was actually really good but foolishly failed to make reservations as advised. sadly when we walked up a sign in the window read 'fully booked'. we ended up at another lovely spot, though, which featured fresh, local ingredients that changed often. i got a seafood platter which about six or seven different fruits de la mer, while JR had a sampling of mostly meats that he really enjoyed. we sat out on an otherwise empty street full of closed shops and had a very nice little meal. stupidly we had failed to buy any wine (apart from our picnic rosé that was long gone) to bring back and have in the hotel room. we looked in vain for an open grocery store but there were none to be found. too tired to stay at a bar, we went back to the hotel room slightly disappointed, mostly in ourselves.

ye olde horlage

the next day we packed up and headed out, trying to squeeze what we could into our last day in provence and still making it to nice in time to catch our train. we stopped at salon de provence, again primarily because they had a market that day. before we made it there we found the clock tower and its eponymous boulangerie below. we had some very tasty pastries before heading to a cheese shop nearby. i'd recently read that you can ask to have cheese vacuum sealed and (after looking up the french translation) thought i'd try it out. success! we picked out two good-looking cheeses and had them emballer-ed sous vide. we strolled through the market, admiring the sun-dried tomatoes and olives but didn't buy much more than some saucisson to take with us. i had a vague hope that some of these markets would include handmade ceramics or carved wood from the region but no such luck. it  could be that only the bigger, more touristy cities have such things. we did, however, clean up at the local casino (a grocery store, not a casino sadly) buying chocolate, wine (lesson learned!), cookies, and soda in anticipation of our ferry ride to come.

hello gorgeous

next up was a slightly longer jaunt, to aix-en-provence. it's a bigger city so getting into the city center was more of a hassle. rather than look around for parking (and already getting nervous about time) we settled for the first pay lot we came across. our plan was to have a nice lunch and see what else we had time for. we were closer to italy and we could definitely feel the influence, as we passed many a pizza/pasta restaurant. we picked a bustling restaurant with several rows of tables outside. we had a fantastic meal of pizza and caprese salad with the freshest mozzarella and tomatoes, marred only slightly by my spilling wine all over the table and myself. i think it may have gotten on the waitress' shoes a bit (not bad when you consider what could have happened!) and she was.. not thrilled. not what i'd call my finest moment. still, i managed to catch the glass before it spilled completely and the manager (definitely not our waitress) even gave us little glasses of lemoncello when he heard we were on our honeymoon. yup, definitely inching closer to italy. by the time we left the restaurant we had time for little besides stopping at a patisserie (always a priority) to get a caramel eclair with speculoos (those biscoff cookies delta gives you? yeah, those) bits on top. heavenly! we also popped into a souvenir shop to get the last of our provence souvenirs (lavender, herbes de provence, soaps).

wine country

since provence is the heart of rosé country we knew we wanted to stop at a winery on our way east. i had identified one weeks ago that looked promising and picturesque so we made our way there. we passed a number of other wineries along the way and part of me thought we should just stop at one of them but for whatever reason we pressed on to chateau gassier. there was a very nice girl working there who gave us a tasting. she didn't pressure us to buy anything but we ended up getting a bottle. we even got scratch-off cards for some reason and JR won us two wine glasses (great, more breakable things to pack..) which was neat. apparently they screen movies and have events at this particular winery. the setting, with the craggy gray mountains looming in the distance, was quite nice and it was definitely worth the small detour.

from here we had our longest leg of the day, although it didn't seem to take terribly long. as we approached the big city of nice JR was (understandably) nervous about finding our way and being on busy city streets. he did a great job though and we only had to backtrack once. we found the train station easily enough but it wasn't immediately clear how to get to the car rental return area. we (and the car) made it unscathed so all was well. i have to say that the french road signs, even at smaller roundabouts, were almost always very clear. JR did a great job driving and it was great having the freedom to go wherever we wanted. in retrospect we may have crammed a bit too much in sometimes but there's just so much to see and it's hard not to feel like you're missing out on seeing a great little town. the one big downside of driving was all the tolls.. they really added up by the end. in any case, we made it to nice with enough time to get a coffee and buy a few drinks before catching our train.

next stop: italia!