W.F.T.: France, Part Deux

At long last! My egregiously overdue post about the remainder of our trip to France. I regret to report that I have nothing very clever or humorous to say about the rest of our stay in Provence (I am sorry to let you down, my loyal followers). But I can say one thing with conviction - it simply was, thus far, the most magical time of my life. And, trust me, I've lived a very fascinating life.

We visited many markets (most of which didn't excite me, as evidenced by the first picture below), various hilltop villages (each distinct from the rest and marvelous and beautiful in its own right), and many, many vineyards (in the Luberon region and in Chateauneuf du Pape). I watched mommy and daddy look ridiculous as they sipped wine, slurped air and sloshed it all around in their mouths. We went to Avignon and visited the anti-papal palace, among other things, within the very cool ancient walls surrounding the center city. We stayed in Avignon into the evening for a (surprise, surprise) wine tasting festival. We visited the Roman ruins in a town called Arles. We took a long road trip out to the fabulous Saint Tropez (frankly, I didn't see what was so fabulous about it). We strolled through a ghost town abandoned in the 14th century after the villagers got the plague. We lunched at some superb restaurants in Saint Remy. We spent a few days relaxing at home, where we built roaring fires, grilled steak and salmon, roasted chestnuts, drank tea and hot chocolate, played music on Spotify, had dance parties, and popped open bottle after bottle of wine.

I laughed, I cried, I shrieked with joy, I stared out at my surroundings in amazement, I discovered new things and I had a grand old time. But then again, I do all of these things each day, even if I never leave my crib. Nevertheless, there will always be a special place in my heart for Provence. It is one of the most interesting places on this planet. And it's where I spent the most formative period of my life so far.

For those interested (but mostly purely for M&D's records), here's a day-by-day account of what we did in Provence:

Wednesday: Arrive in Saint-Remy-de-Provence; home-cooked dinner at home

Thursday: Day in Saint Remy; lunch at Le Cigalon

Friday: Pont Du Gard & Uzes

Saturday: Cassis

Sunday: Isle Sur la Sorgue, Rousillon, Joucas, Gordes

Monday: Wine tasting trip with Francois

Tuesday: Relax at home

Wednesday: Saint Remy market, lunch at L'Estagnol & Chateauneuf du Pape

Thursday: Avignon

Friday: Arles & Le Baux

Saturday: Relax at home