Avignon Wine Tour

Today we learned all about the wines of the Cotes du Rhone region and how to evaluate them, pair them with food, open the bottle, etc. We tasted several different wines, had an excellent lunch, and saw some great scenery along the way. It was a good way to spend the day -- never rushed. It's amazing how we've learned through these adventures that cramming all that you can in a day is not always the best choice. It also helps to know that we will continue to travel and that anything we miss we can see in the future.

Pont du Gard and Uzes

This is an aqueduct built by the Romans 2000 years ago. Very impressive structure. It was also neat to see people swimming and kayaking in the river below, just like I'm sure was done in Roman times.

After we went to Uzes, a neat little town that provided the water source for the aqueduct. It was fun to walk around the town and hang out, without worrying about touring anything.

We got back to Avignon and finished the day walking to the Avignon bridge to see it lit up at night.

Avignon and Experience in Luberon

We arrived in Avignon yesterday at about11:00, after an uneventful bus/train trip from Vaison la Romaine. Our host here in Avignon is a lovely woman who is certainly a kindred spirit. When the conversation some how turned to politics, she was quick to acknowledge that the only person worth a damn running for President was Bernie Sanders. She greeted us with wine and good conversation, and it was such a pleasure to spend time with her.

After our check in we toured Avignon, seeing the Popes Palace and the famous bridge that now only goes halfway across the Rhone river. Avignon is a walled city with castles and ramparts, and it was really neat to see.

After our touring, our host made us and a family of three from Arizona an excellent meal where the wine flowed like water. What a great experience.

Today, we toured the Luberon, seeing lavender fields and neat little towns. Our tour turned out to be private and our tour guide was originally from Sicicly. What a great day.

Grand Fondo Mont Ventoux

Well today I had the best bike ride I've ever had in my lifetime. 206 out of 579, 5 hours and 39 minutes. I was obviously not the strogest rider out there, but I was there for the experience, and what an experience it was.

The ride started at 7:30. I arrived at 6:30 to get a good spot and was probably still 200 people from the front. This is the way it looked in front of me when I got there. 

My promise to Sue in exchange for letting me do this race was that I would be very cautious at the start and on the descents. That worked out fine as I was able to really experience the ride and all of the beautiful scenery I saw along the way. Gorgeous lavender fields just beginning to bloom, mountains of course, a a gorge that we road around for like 15 miles that was awesome. Then, when we got to Ventoux I saw a sign someone painted on the road for Vincenzo Nibali and realized I was riding a Tour de France climb, an perhaps the most iconic one at that. 1 hour and 45 minutes later I was at the top, passing a rider or two that had nothing left and were walking their bike up those last few meters. There is no way I would give in to any such desire. I can say I road to the top of Mont Ventoux without stopping and can be very proud of that fact. Here's me at the summit.

It goes without saying that I owe Sue big time for giving me this day. Looks like I'm going to have to figure out how to get Wimbleton tickets to repay her. Well that's an adventure for another day.

One last picture of Mont Ventoux, from just below the summit.

Vaison la Romaine

Well, we left Nice yesterday morning on our way to Vaison la Romaine. This was the diciest part of the trip as I had to arrange for a car to take us to Vaison from the train station in Avignon. I also was at the mercy of the bike rental company as far as having a bike to ride.

We arrived in Avignon about an hour late due to a train malfunction, but fortunately our driver was waiting for us when we got there. Then it was off to Vaison. Almost two hours later we arrived in Vaison, but only after the driver did a complete loop around the town and asked directions of three different people. But we made it. The bike was delivered right on time and was just as promised, a top of the line Trek weighing significantly less than my bike at home. 

After a quick bite to eat I went for a training ride, spending the first half hour riding in circles trying to get out of town. I made it though, had an excellent trying ride, and felt like I was climbing like Lance on EPO.

After the ride we went to dinner and then called it a night.

This morning we explored Vaison la Romaine. Vaison is actually like two towns, the main cite down below and the midieval city that is above it. We are of course stayin in the midieval city, because it would not be a proper Wayne and Sue adventure if there weren't hills to climb. So this morning Sue and I hiked over to the next town over, getting great views of vineyards, lavender, and Mont Ventoux along the way. We then went to the lower town, checked into the race, checked out a few Roman ruins, and then came back to the room to rest before the parade of nations.

Well that's it for now.

Monaco

Today was a very full day. We started by visiting two museums in Nice, and then we moved on to Monaco. There, we saw the Prince's Palace and the Cathedral.

Then we walked down to Monte Carlo and gambled in the Casino (we lost😂).

From there, it was to be a short coastal walk to Cap d'Ail, where we had reservations for dinner. Two hours later we arrived after a walk that wasn't coastal until you reached Cap d'Ail, and seemed at times as if it would never end. The worst part was there were no signs for walkers and the signs for car traffic took you on major roads you didn't want to be on. I'm telling Rick Steves that he needs to take that recommendation out of his book. 

Fortunately, Sue and I didn't kill each other and it now makes for a good story. The coastal part of the walk in Cap d'Ail was indeed beautiful, although longer than expected. Dinner was great, and the setting could not be beat.

Tomorrow we're off to Vaison-La-Romaine, where my cycling adventure will begin.

Nice, Antibes, and Villefranche-Sur-Mer

We arrived in Nice on Monday, right on time. Unfortunately, the 98 Bus from the airport was on strike and we had to take another bus. An hour and a half later, including an hour walk in the heat with all our luggage we arrived at our hotel.

We unpacked, had a nice lunch on the beach, and the did the Nice Cycle Tour. I was fine, but Sue was tired. She stuck with it though, and the final (hard) climb up to the top of Castle Hill gave her her second wind.

Here we are at the top; that's Nice in the background. 

We then went back to the hotel to shower and change, and then walked to dinner on the beachfront promenade.

Tuesday it was off to Antibes. It took a little time to figure out the ticket machines and what track the train was on, but we made it.  Antibes is a little beach town west of Nice. While there we saw the Picasso Museum and then went to the beach.

Awesome. We then walked around the cape and ended up at Bar Fitzgerald in Juan les Pins, so named because it is in the house F. Scott and Zelda stayed in during their time there. The beach you see above is the beach they swam in.

We got back to Nice around 10:30, had a late dinner and called it a night.

Yesterday we went to Villefranche-Sur-Mer east of Nice. More beach time, a tour of the home and gardens of the Baroness Rothschild (beautiful), and then back to Nice for dinner.

Well, that's the update. Time to go out and get more material for this blog.

Off to France

Well, here we are again, on another adventure. In about 30 minutes, we should start boarding the plane to Nice. I waited until now to post because I wanted to be sure we would be getting on the plane as scheduled. I didn't want to jinx anything.

We got all of our stuff in a carry on and a personal item for each of us. No easy task when I'm bringing a bike helmet and shoes.

Next stop Nice. More posts tomorrow.