Woke up to cloudy skies which was a portent of things to come. Undaunted we headed out to a village of Roman origin, 'course what's not of Roman origin in France in terms of villages? Anyways, we went to Vaison la Romaine, just perhaps a half hours drive from Avignon, to go to their Tuesday market. Our guidebook says it's one of the best in the country and it did not disappoint. It was probably 3 or 4 times larger than the Salt Lake farmers market and was spread out all over the center of town on a network of tiny streets and plazas. About the only thing you couldn't buy were car parts but you could buy anything else. It was fantastic. It sprinkled a little on us towards the end of it and then turned into outright rain as we got back to our car. But we got to see it all and enjoy the experience. It fosters a certain jealousy about these communities more simple lifestyle where everything isn't pre-packaged and over-commercialized. The fruit and vegetables look so appealing, makes the average bloke feel like they could be Julia Child. Or Jules Child I guess if your a boy. It was great. We'd hoped to stick around and see the excavations of the Roman village and the 6000 seat Roman theater but it really started raining so we opted out. We decided to just turn the day into a road tour of little Provencal villages. We ended up in a place called Gordes. It's like the Beverly Hills of villages. Seriously, all it's little stone houses have been bought up by wealthy jet-set folks who've erected beautiful stone walls around their homes with large wrought iron gates and 10 foot tall hedges. We're guessing the houses look amazing since we've seen a lot of "ruins" and their easy to envision as beautifully restored homes. The little town is perched on a cliff overlooking a verdant valley full of cherry orchards, strawberry fields, vineyards and olive trees. My pictures don't do it justice. The damper was the weather. We wanted to wander around the little village more, but it was off and on raining and all of us were losing our patience with it. To cap off the day we drove to a Cistercian monastery famous for being photographed with its rows of lavender in full bloom in the fields surrounding it. It was familiar from the countless images of it we've seen in the past. Though gray, rainy and overcast, it was still amazing to see it in real life and to envision what the fields of lavender look like when they do bloom (We're a month too early to see that). It was a good end to a decent day, despite the weather.
Oh Revwar till tomorrow.
We try to keep Sophie in high spirits by finding parks for her to play in. It makes traveling with her a breeze. She can be cooped up in the car for hours and as long as she gets a chance to run and play she's OK.
The Beverly Hills of Provencal villages - Gordes. Perhaps they should call it Beverly Gordes, but that doesn't sound too classy. Just plain Gordes doesn't sound too classy. Cool place nonetheless.
Our trusty steed - the Ford C Max
That lavender field monastery I mentioned. Looks familiar, right?
