Arrived in Avignon and for the next 6 days...this will be my base! Uneventful train ride but leave it to me to always attract the crazies that like to talk to themselves! I covered more than I thought I would and many of the places I had on my blueprint ended up getting swapped out. Of the towns in Provence... I started with...
Arles. Took the morning train the next day to Arles known for their Roman Arena and while that was great and I spent a good amount of time sitting on the steps of this historic place reading and journaling, I was more excited about the market! I walked the maket twice but spent most of my time at this sausage table. The sausage guy was very charming... he made the noise of every animal that he had the variety off on his table! He'd point and make a noise. I walked away buying a thing of sausage from him which I had him slice for me... a baguette from another station and that was lunch and dinner for the day! Got back to Avignon and was able to hop on a 5 person tour that I thought about doing to the Luberon of Provence which included Les Beux, Gordes and Roussillon which turned out to be my favorite. A quick stop at a bridge built 2,000 years ago and we were back in Avignon and by then I was ready for bed! A visit to Provence would not be complete without hitting up these small villages with a color palette that you would imagine Provence to have. Funny note...at the beginning of our tour..this group of 3 folks from England where complaining about these lour Americans that were on their tour yesterday and how they kept following them everytime they wanted to get away. They asked where I was from after and I said with a smile "California". The ead guy then said in his British accent...oh no and we've started off already by offending you!!! I laughed and said no offense taken...I feel the same sometimes ;)
Next day, took the train to Isles sur la Sorgue which may turn out to be my absolute favorite place in France. It is a town full of waterwheels, colors and just a good feel to it. I ended up being there all day walking the markets and waterwheel hunting...all 14 or 15 of them I believe. A town that would bring out the hopeless romantic in anyone.
Day 3...took the bus to Aix en Provence. I walked to the town center to get a map from the tourist office and what do I see? An Ironman 70.3 expo for Aix en Provence 70.3. What the heck?? I am on vaca trying to avoid this stuff!!! For anyone considering it, don't!!! Bad venue in my opinion. A town known for their water fountains and main coffee boulevard except it reminded me of a slightly better Market Street in San Francisco near Civic Center. Took off early from Aix and ended on the bus back to Avignon then back on the train to a town called Orange. I had 90 seconds between buying my ticket and getting on the train! Once on the train, I realized ticket guy didn't give me the right tickets....two one way tickets...not one two way and what i thought would be an easy fix at the train station in Orange was not. Once I arrived in Orange, I explained the ticket lady what happened but she kept referring to the no exchanges and wanted me to buy another ticket. Ugh... WTF? Chances are if I was fluent in French, this may have gone down differely and while 5.60 euros is nothing, I wasn't going to give it to her. I left the station to explore the town without buying my return ticket..no way!!! Orange known for one of the oldest Roman Theatres and just a delightful little town...much better than Aix. After a few hours, I decided to head back to Avignon by finding the bus station. For 1 euro, I was on my way...would take 60 minutes vs the 15 but I'm on vaca and have all the time in the world and was intent on not buying a train ticket from dumb ticket agent women!!
Here I am now...my last day in Provence. I am at the point in my vacation now where I start to lose track of the days. The coolest thing about being in this area is I often see the bare rock mountain top that is Mount Ventoux ... will have to come back for that someday!! Spending today to explore the back streets of Avignon before taking the morning train for the Cote d 'Azur!
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