OLD PORT OF MARSEILLE, AVIGNON, AND LE BAUX

OLD PORT OF MARSEILLE, AVIGNON, AND LE BAUX

Last night we went to Signatures, the French speciality restaurant and enjoyed our meal of snails, consomme, and sorbet with a Pouillee Fusee (sp?) and Tournados Rossini and Duck with a Chateau Neuf du Pape. Excellent. Finished with a dessert neither of us needed and a liquor that neither of us could finish. Somehow or other we managed to close this restaurant too and were escorted out arm-in-arm by our waiter.

This morning we were awakened by the doorbell to our suite. Trying to unstrangle the robes provided, searching for a light, all the time calling: "We're Coming" while poor Joel, our Butler, stood outside with our breakfast tray. I told him he was going to be writing a book about us. We couldn't even manage to turn on the TV. A couple of real klutzes.

Our shore excursion took us into Province - land of olive and cypress trees, lavender and soaps to the city of Avignon where we had a guided tour of the enormous Pope's Palace. Building started in the 10th century - at places we could see that the church rested on bedrock which is still visible. The Popes at some point left Rome and lived in Avignon for 70 years during which time the city flourished. Much of the palace was destroyed by fire but now is being restored. Three rooms still had the original painted wooden ceilings and frescoes. The tile floors have been recreated from pieces of the originals. Instead of shopping, we left the group and walked to the gardens behind the cathedral which required some walking uphill. The views were worth it. We could see the famous Bridge of Avignon. We spent 45 minutes in the gardens before meeting at the bus for the next part of the excursion. We checked out the toilets in the gardens and took a pass - filthy and of the Asian variety - found the public ones clean but populated by some pretty strange characters. A woman spent her time in front of the mirror talking to herself while applying copious amounts of makeup and a fully tattooed mohawked gentleman exited the men's.

We then drove to the medieval mountain town of Le Baux - perched on top of a limestone mountain complete with the ruins of a castle and a church partially built into the side of the mountain in the 10th century. After being abandoned in the 1950s it was revived by a group of artists who renovated the ancient buildings and mansions.
Bought a souvenir here - a garlic grater.

Should mention the weather. It is cold. The high today in the mountains was 8 degrees Celsius, with a steady Mistral wind from the north. Reminded me of our Polar Vortex. There must have been a windchill. On the positive side, there wasn't a clould in the sky. Hope it gets warmer as we head to Monte Carlo tomorrow.