Spring Fling to France and Italy, 2019
No cruise this time ... just trains, planes and automobiles!
Saturday
March 30 / Sunday March 31: Departure
Day was glorious warm and sunny, a fabulous spring day. Jerry, our driver, picked us up on time and
the trip to Philly went smoothly.
Checking in and going through security was fast and pleasant. We had time for a relaxing celebratory
Martini before boarding. The flight
departed on time and our seats at the bulkhead gave us plenty of leg-room, the
flight was smooth and arrival a bit earlier than scheduled. French customs and baggage claim were a
breeze -- so you must have guessed that we are setting you up for the fly in
the ointment.
Our friend
Rick (no, he is not the fly) was to meet us at the airport to help us navigate the
train ride into Paris. Rick is the kind
of friend who would do this despite the fact our flight arrival was 6:30 AM and
as this was the first day of daylight
savings time in France and he lost an hour’s sleep. While on his way to meet us, Rick witnessed a
mugging at the train station, and moments later in a separate incidence he found
himself donating some funds to young lads who did not have enough money to take
a taxi to the airport after finding out that the trains were not running to the
airport due to construction! That left
us on our own, and taking a taxi to our apartment in the 14th Arrondissement, Montparnasse. Originally a suburb, Montparnasse was annexed into Paris in the 1600s. A working class neighborhood appealing to artists, in the late 1910s Montparnasse became the intellectual hub of Paris due to its cheap rents, many cabarets, and creative atmosphere. Hemingway and Picasso were among those spending time in Montparnasse.
The apartment we rented is owned by an artist. Rick met us
there, and after dropping the luggage the three of us walked to meet Ellen at a
neighborhood cafe for our first of many croissants and cafe creme. The coffee and conversation fueled us to keep
going and so the four of us walked a good distance (6 miles) seeing some of the
sights on the Left Bank and having a lovely lunch, with wine, at a bistro.
Monday April
1: Our 35th Wedding Anniversary and a
repeat of Day 1; walking (7 miles), talking, dining at another great bistro, enjoying Ellen and
Rick’s company and glorying in the perfect weather. Donna was monitoring the Paris weather in
advance of the trip and most days were cool and cloudy with some rain. Upon our arrival, the sun and temperatures in
the low 70’sF were a pleasant surprise and we were sure that Paris had burst
into bloom just for us. Hope you enjoy our pix,
just click to enlarge the photos …
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| Do we need to name this iconic structure? |
Tuesday April
2: Ellen and Rick joined us for a tour
to Monet’s Giverny. The forecast was for
rain by late afternoon and so we decided to see the garden before touring the
house. Our luck held and the rain began just as we exited the gift shop at the
end of our tour.
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| A little game of Hide and Seek ! |
Wednesday April 3: Rick and Ellen came over the apartment to wish us Bon Voyage as we departed by train to Avignon. We traveled from Paris to Avignon in comfort aboard
the high-speed TGV ... at times our speed was over 200 mph. It was raining by the time we arrived and picked up our little Peugeot rental car. We had decided to buy all the extra insurances just so we wouldn’t have any hassles, yet the agent at the Hertz counter warned us not the lose the key fob because it was not covered! Karl exclaimed What? The agent politely explained that we could return without the car, e.g stolen, no problem ... but without the key fob, BIG $$$!
We arrived at our hotel Le Clos Du Buis in the beautiful village of Bonnieux, Provence and settled in for six wonderful nights. We fell madly in love with the hotel, the village, the local rose wine and Provence in general. Except for one rainy day, we had good weather. Cooler than we had expected, especially at night. One late afternoon, Karl was able to enjoy a cigar and glass of wine in the beautiful Clos Du Buis garden. After finding out that owner Pierre also enjoyed cigars, Karl gifted Pierre one of his favorites. In return, Pierre gifted Karl a bottle of rose' with the Clos Du Buis private label. Donna especially thought this exchange was a was a wonderful deal. We were the only guests taking advantage of the lovely sitting room to read in the evenings before bed and Pierre built a fire each night for our personal enjoyment. Over the six days, we visited several of the lovely Provence villages although we left several more for an anticipated return visit.
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| Entering the village of Bonnieux |
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| A view from our room at Clos Du Buis |
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| Another view from our room looking over the valley and snow capped peaks in the distance |
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| The garden at Clos Du Buis |
The many views of Bonnieux, from lower village to upper village and back again!
We took a day trip to The Camargue, a delta marsh of the Rhone River before it empties into the sea. The protected marshes are a refuge for 340 species of birds, resident and migrating. It is the only place in France to see flamingos.
Sunday is market day in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, and so we went to take a look. The market ran for blocks and in addition to food of every description, there were stalls with art, leather goods, antiques, clothing, linens and shoes. We purchased some herbs Provence and a set of Provencal print linen napkins.
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| Market day at L'Isle-sure-la Sorgue |
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| The view from our luncheon table at Le Bellevue, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue |
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| We zoomed in on this unique dwelling snugged up under rocky cliffs |
A visit to the unique Le Village des Bories in Gordes, an open air museum of a village dating to a royal edict in 1766. The edict called for wide-scale land clearing and cultivation resulting in masses of stones being extracted from the ground to make way for new fields. The stones were used to create dry stone (no mortar) walls, homes, storage and animal pens.
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"It is forbidden to climb on walls of Bories and to move stones"
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Tuesday April 9: Driving to Nice we set the GPS to avoid the motorways and enjoyed a wonderful drive through the Alps to the Mediterranean Sea. We eventually returned the rental car, checked into our hotel and took a walk around Nice. This ended our France leg of the trip from Paris to Monet's Giverny, and to the Cezanne's Studio in Aix-en-Provence. Tomorrow, we take the train to Genova, Italy.
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| Leaving Bonnieux by the back door |
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| The fortified town of Entrevaux |
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