See The World
with BILL'S EYES
Yes - more steps and they lead to the roof of the castle up at least 150 meters above the river level and the wind is howling --- are you coming along?
This street begs for a picture to be taken.
Dessert.
Not more steps.
GPS fixed.
A typical street in a typical small town.
Hard to take a bad picture.
Lee getting all arty.
Entree.
Day 16 we are up but not expecting a knock on the door of our van, especially from a Gendarme (police officer) who we see also knocking on the doors of other vans collecting the 7 Euro that is the cost of staying on a flood plain next to a river under the trees with no power, but we did use the water to refill our tank and get rid of our waste rubbish. I think that although it may be a bit of overkill to have a police officer collect the meagre fees, it makes sense to have them aware of who is in town each day and also a great PR exercise as they would have answered any question we had. Just glad we saw the officer knocking on the doors of others as it would have been a fright otherwise.
Our aim is to get to St Remy de Provence but as you do along the way in France you see something that looks potentially interesting and stop.
Can I say it is not always that easy. Yes as you drive along you can see a castle that begs to be scampered over but it is on the other side of a river, the castle is on your side of the road, but the car park is on the other and you do not know where the entrance is, your partner see's it and yells --there, there - as you sail on by because you are afraid the small car behind you traveling at light-speed and trying to over take you will become implanted in your van's rear, or the trail of other cars that have been following you for the last five minutes do not collectively drive you off the road. Then of course you are past the obvious turn-in and have to travel half a kilometer over a bridge, use the roundabout to change direction, go over the bridge again and then hopefully get into the correct lane to lineup the entrance that was a mystery to you the first time.
Oh the trials and tribulations of traveling the city roads of France - since the above is not the only situation that required deft handling and composure. GPS is great - when it works, since ours did not want to switch on this morning. Thankfully I brought along my own and it is was the same brand, so I could plug in the memory card with all the European maps there on. However, My device had a different attachment so we improvised with the equivalent of gaffer tape, as shown in the pictures.
Next though is the amount of reliance you place in what the lovely GPS lady says to do. Like go down a narrow one way street - the WRONG way. That might not be so bad but it becomes almost impossible when a lady in a minuscule car that could almost drive under our van is only too happy to gesture that we MUST reverse the beast so that she can take her dog, siting in the passenger seat, to the parlor for its fur to be teased and adorned with bows. We reverse to a small driveway and I do another 300 point turn and eventually head off to the country roads of France to escape the towns and cities.
Well the Tarascon castle is one of the better ones we have seen and the pictures show some of the many details of life in the 1400's (at least for a king and we even get to see the throne which is positioned conveniently over the River Rhone). The castle is located at a strategic crossing point over this river and it served it's purpose for many hundreds of years and we were able to enjoy its architecture and the views it provides today and hopefully will do so for all the generations to follow.
The road to St Remy de Provence is still challenging as it is narrow and I enjoy following a big truck for a long while which essentially clears the path for me.
There is by now an understanding that it is not likely we will find a park in the town or city we want to visit and that if possible as soon as you think you are near the center of the place (Center Ville - where you will inevitably find a Hotel de Ville) you park the van and walk. However, sometimes you are in the center before you know it and then it is best to let luck help out or make your way out of town quick smart. We followed what a sign indicated, when the sign seemed to pop out at us, and ended up in a large carpark next to the cemetery some 400 meters from the center.
Our walk through the old part of town, even though is was between noon and 2 pm, revealed some lovely stores with Provençal goods that kept Lee occupied while I took pictures of the buildings, small squares and cafés. All that walking and shopping meant it was time to have lunch and this time we chose a restaurant that was busy and hankered down for the next few hours. Just as well we were not in a hurry, but the owner soon had things moving along and spoke great English so we enjoyed his casual banter as he made great suggestions for our dining. When it came to ordering some wine, we did not want much so we asked for 450ml jug to share. The owner came back with a 750ml bottle opened it and joked not to drink too much and left it with us to serve ourselves (We only had about a third of the bottle between us).
When in France there are some must have foods and escargot is one of them. As we tend to do Lee and I share our meals as we have very similar tastes so a fish soup and the snails were savored and soon gone. The snails were warm and covered in chopped garlic/oil combination served on delicate and flaky pastry with a salad side and the soup had a side of large croutons with finely minced Parmesan cheese to pour on ourselves. I do not want to talk about the food dishes too much but the mains were just as delicious and then the other must have is Creme Brûlée and the Moelleus Au Chocolat we shared was great as well but maybe not as gooey in the middle as we expected. The Creme Brûlée seemed to dissolve in our mouths and tasted devine. We thanked the cooks as they walked past us on their way out of the restaurant and then also the staff and owner as we left, in our halting and very poor French, and they replied in English.
We then headed off to Gordes but did not make it as the traffic began to take its toll on the driver and we are some 13 kms away in Maubec at a caravan park so we have mains power and can wash our clothes. Ah the excitment of travel.
We were glad to be out and about.
So does this brake in the homes.
Lee can't help herself and take photographs for others.
Cheese from where they make it.
The real throne room.
Captures the angles and strength of this structure.
More of St Remy de Provence
One side of the Tarascon castle.
Looks like a place to rest.
Multi-storey apartment of the 15th century.
Thankfully not all the roads are narrow.
Gordes
Day 17 No lengthy post today as I have just learnt of the passing, as the result of a car accident, of Susan Soper Doddridge the beloved wife of Bruce Doddridge. Bruce is a high school friend of mine and we continued our friendship by my visit to his home in the United States of America very many years ago, where he showed me about Washington DC and then had me stay in his home overnight.
There I met Susan and his great family. His children were very young at the time as I attended, as part of my visit, a science evening at their local school and had a great meal at a local eatery. The kids were pre-teens then but extremely well behaved and full of knowledge, as I would have expected of Bruce and Susan as caring and nurturing parents. Bruce was one of the original brainiacs of the 70's with a love for science. Which explains his Ph D and working for NASA.
I fondly remember having a long conversation with Susan about life and religion in the most respectful way for each other's views.
This event puts our travels into great perspective as I love and respect Lee with all my heart and it saddens me very greatly that one of my friends has lost his partner in such a sudden way.
I will only post pictures today of Gordes a lovely hillside township and the Village de Bories to celebrate the beautiful views and places Lee and I shared today.
Lee looking for a bargain.
Baskets aplenty.
Our resting place tonight.
The Abey