Keith's Provence

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Saturday: Arrival in Nice

I can't say that we had the best flight to Nice. We couldn't get seats together on the flight
out, but a woman was kind enough to switch with us. We didn't sleep much at all on the
flight over, so by the time we got to Heathrow, we were pretty tired. And then our flight
kept getting delayed, we got stuck on the runway, and we sat next to this crazy woman
that kept shifting every five seconds and was crying (literally) about not being able to sit
at the window. Anyway, we got to Nice and had a pleasant taxi ride to the hotel. The ... go on »

Tags: Provence | Part Of Travel to the South of France

Sunday: 2nd Day in Nice - Nonstop Israelis

I barely remember waking up enough to join David for breakfast. I went back to the hotel
room, took a little post-breakfast nap, a long bath, and then decided to greet the day. I
took a walk through Old Nice again, going a little closer to the coast. I ended up at
Promenade des Anglais and walked through the open market. They had fruit stands,
flower strands, marzipan fruit stands, and spice stands with every spice you could
imagine. David called me on my cell phone and said that he had time to do lunch. We ... go on »

Tags: Provence | Part Of Travel to the South of France

Monday: St. Paul de Vence

I used to think that Santorini was the ideal honeymoon location: I'm now convinced that
the ideal spot is St. Paul de Vence. It's a small walled city that is inland from the rest of
the Cote D'Azur coastal resorts, high on a hill. The streets are winding and confusing, but
the only thing to do is wander around and look at shops. It was primarily art galleries, but
we also found some cloth shops, candy shops, spice shops, and a fantastic shop that had
all sorts of homemade liqueurs. We sampled and bought fig, blueberry, and red peach
liqueurs.... go on »

Tags: Provence | Part Of Travel to the South of France

Tuesday: Aix en Provence

We got a relatively early start this morning. David was anxious to get out of the "Miami
Beach" atmosphere of Nice and on to the provincial setting of Provence. We picked up a
rented car and with David as the navigator and myself as the driver, we went to Aix-en-
Provence. I think it took us around two hours. After we checked into the hotel, we went
for a brief walking tour. Almost every town in Provence has an office of tourism with
maps of the town, things to do, etc. After getting a lot of maps and a pass to all of the ... go on »

Tags: Provence | Part Of Travel to the South of France | 2 comments

Wednesday: Avignon and Surroundings

This was the first day that I woke up feeling like a normal person. We drove to Avignon,
which is a walled city that was once the home of the French popes-back in the 1300's
and 1400's. We had breakfast and then took a two-hour tour of the Palais des Papes.
Afterwards, we walked around the city, tried to go to a museum, but we hit the lunch
hour and everything started closing. We went to a pastry shop for a goat cheese and
spinach pastry and a smoked duck sandwich. Fantastic.... go on »

Tags: Provence | Part Of Travel to the South of France

Thursday: Chateaus of Provence

Today we started by driving out to hit some of the chateaux (castles) of the area. We went
to Chateau Barben, which is right next to the local zoo. The grounds were fantastic, but
the only way to see it was to go with the tour, which we had just missed. We decided to
come back.... go on »

Tags: Provence | Part Of Travel to the South of France

Friday: Cavaillon, Carpentras, and Gordes

Today, there was more touring of Provence. We started off going to Cavaillon to see a
cathedral and a synagogue. The cathedral and cloister were beautiful and the synagogue
was a highlight. When we arrived, the museum attendant said that in order to see the
synagogue (which is one average sized room), we had to get the tour. However, she
spoke only French. David said to her in French (in a friendly and joking manner),
"You're in a synagogue, we should be able to speak Hebrew." She replied with, "You're ... go on »

Tags: Provence | Part Of Travel to the South of France

Saturday: St. Maximin and Return to Nice

We had a few outstanding items left in Aix. We had some museums to see still, and I
wanted to get my hair cut in France. Since I had asked someone at work to write out
directions to a hair stylist in French, I knew they would be disappointed if I didn't come
back with a kooky French hairdo. We first went to Atelier Cezanne, which was the
artist's painting studio. We visited the Museum Tapisserrie (Tapestry Museum). And
then I went to get my hair cut. I was very nervous, but it ended up being no big deal. ... go on »

Tags: Provence | Part Of Travel to the South of France

Travel to the South of France

We went to the South of France expecting cold and dour people and sunny weather. We got just the opposite. Nice was once part of Italy, and we began speculating that when the Italians handed Nice back to France they said, "We'll give you Nice back, but you have to be friendly to the tourists and serve lots of pizza." However, the same was true for all of Provence-the people could not have been friendlier. I guess my only exposure to French culture so far has been the Parisians where the rule is to be snooty to the tourists.The weather was...not as bad as it could have been.... go on »

Tags: Provence | Part Of Travel to the South of France