Days 7-9

Email access has been rather unpredictable for the past few days.  We are staying in a home-stay in Avignon tonight which has wifi, hence tonight's post. getting here and to last night's B&B were two stories that will have to wait until later.  Suffice to say that the French find that giving directions is an optional activity. As RoyAnne has always said, it is fortunate cars have a reverse gear.  no alley I've ever been in before could be as impossibly narrow as an alley in a French city, either.  A true test of marital strength if I ever saw one. Tomorrow night is another home-stay, I am braced for the search. We have had every variety of challenge, as well, with power and electronics.  We discovered our GPS is pretty much non-functional, but then discovered our rental car has a GPS, albiet one that does not appear to recognize a very comprehensive level of addresses. So getting around has been more of a sport or exercise in frustration.  I've decided it is scavenger hunt with a few clues and moments of good/bad luck.  One side benefit is interesting discoveries, like today, with several roads lined for miles and miles with beautiful plane trees that are just budding.

Sunday April 21: Our day in transit from Monte Carlo to Marseille. After a bus ride past the rich and famous sites of Monte Carlo, we bid adieu to the wealthy and headed west. We had a transfer in Nice, so were able to walk about and have some lunch and take a look around. Nice is nice. 'nuff said.  Marseille turned out to be a Tunisian ghetto, with more Arabs than I've ever seen in one place. Lots of narrow, confusing streets.  We managed to get lost several times, and all the restaurants closed up and we ended up eating in the railstation at a McDonald's type cafe.  At least they had Heineken. The Old Port was interesting, lots of families out for a Sunday afternoon.  French people converge in a major way in town squares.  I think American culture is lacking something without this habit of promenading in town squares.  Also, there is more than one Arc Du Triomphe in France, we have now seen one in Marseille and south of St. Remy.  The Nazi's bombed the oldest part of town (that story is becoming a pattern here).

Monday April 22: The great escape from cities. We are "city'd" out. Now the challenge is interpreting  French road signs and getting out of Marseille.  The first thing we do is turn down a restricted street and are approached by some officials and told to turn back.  Oops. Eventually we get on the 4 lane highway and are on our way to the coastal towns of La Ciotat and Cassis, to the east of Marseille. It is once again a beautiful day. In Cassis, we (after a dozen unsuccessfull circuits of downtown) find parking outside of town and walk back.  The other profound discovery of French towns is that parking c'est horrible! We take a one hour boat cruise of the Calaniques, consisting of 5 coastal bays of very unique cliffs and blue green water. Beautiful! We then take a drive down the coast over mountains and along the cliffs, also eye popping. A great day along the coast. This was laundry day and we finally locate a laundromat. We commune with the French local populace there. My French, while bumbling, is getting us by, and Chuck is learning hand signals and "merci" and "bonjour".  Our day ends with a massive manhunt of Gerenomes, searching for our B&B for the night. It is finally located, turns out to be a delightful country home full of antiques, chickens, beehives, and a very nice couple who speak hardly any English.  We manage to communicate and have a good night and early a.m. there.

Tuesday, April 23: Off to St-Remy. We take a quick tour through Aix-En-Provence, but it is too much like the cities we just left, crowded, busy, crazy drivers.  The drive through is enough and we are off to the Provencal countryside. St. Remy is quaint and we find our way to the mental hospital outside town.  No, we don't check ourselves in, we tour the ancient buildings build centuries ago that became a mental hospital in the middle ages.  This was the place that Vincent Van Gogh was sent to recover from cutting off his ear. He did a lot of painting while he stayed here, and it was easy to see why he was inspired. The gardens were beautiful and in full spring bloom, and the surrounding area is also lovely. There is a lot of good information on Van Gogh's life and the history of these buildings.  Nearby the hospital, there are Greek-Roman ruins of a city called Glanum. This is an area that was originally established by primitive people prior to the arrival of the Greeks, who developed it, then the Romans developed it even further.  Hot and cold running water, pools, markets, homes, temples, a fortress. It was amazing. If the stones could talk, they would tell a tale. I was not aware that there were many Roman colonies in France. We will see some more ruins tomorrow. Tonight we are at the home of Janine Jammer of Avignon, from the Air B&B site. Quite an experience.