This is the Palais des Papes which was built for the Popes in Avignon when Rome was not safe.
This is Cloitre Saint Louis where we stayed overnight. It was originally a monastery and is now a hotel.
Here's a few photos that just give a little idea of Carol and Bernard's home where we stayed for the week. It's in a 12th century building which they renovated into 6 bedrooms and bathrooms, several sitting areas, etc. etc. and decorated it with bold colors and massive quirkiness. Totally fun. It's on a very narrow street directly across from a church.
This is the view out of our 2nd floor bedroom window.
Paul and Carol in the kitchen.
The pool in the courtyard right off the kitchen.
... and this view from the pool terrace.
The dining room. Notice the stork through the window that looks into one of the sitting areas. That's a real stuffed stork.
First they bring out a platter of the specific fish that will be going into your dish.
The first course is a fish soup - no vegetables, lots of saffron. You can add shredded cheese and slices of bread, with or without a garlic aioli, if you want.
When you've had enough soup, they bring out a platter of the rest of the cooked fish with potatoes and shell fish added .....
.... and then they plate it for you in broth. Very tasty!
The next day we drove to St. Remy, where Van Gogh lived and painted for awhile. St. Remy is another walled medieval city with lots of narrow streets lined with high end shops and restaurants.
The weekly open air fresh market was going on with LOTS of things being sold in the larger squares.
We bought this piece of olive wood that we're having shipped home and will make into a coffee table for the cottage 😁
We had a fabulous 3-course lunch in St. Remy. There was an amuse bouche followed by this salad of greens, tomatoes, poached chicken, a poached egg croutons and crispy lardon. And that was just the first course.
On the drive after lunch from St. Remy to the Camargue, an area that is the delta of the Rhone River, we stopped for views of a former limestone quarry.
So many various enjoyable drives getting from place to place in Provence.....
We had dinner in another walled city - Aigue Mortes where St. Louis left for the 7th and 8th crusades.
The next day, we drove up through hills to get to the Plateau d'Albion. Interesting history to this remote area. It was a gathering place for downed Allied pilots during WWII who were smuggled out by the French resistance. It then became the center for development of France's nuclear weapons, including underground nuclear testing. We had the most magnificent lunch in a renovated nuclear weapons program bunker which is now a 1-star Michelin restaurant!
This shows part of the amuse bouche!! Layered smoked salmon sandwiches, vegetable cakes, dehydrated squash seeds and delicious bread.
Here is the dessert that I had -- raspberry granita with some sort of crumble on it, and a cake with an intense blueberry layer, sliced blueberries, tiny sweet crackers and other crispy stuff on top.
Then a post dessert arrived! Carob chip wafers with dipping sauce, pate de fruits, financiers w/almonds, chocolate mint truffles. Omg - what a meal.
We drove down from the plateau through the scenic town of Apt. The photo below is a typical little village you'd see along the way.
The next day, we drove to Nimes to visit the indoor Marche (market). It's HUGE with many types of fresh and prepared foods. Carol walked around with us and told us about all the different kinds of foods.
We saw a lot of fish and shellfish we'd never seen before.
"The Art of the Pig"
I loved the way you could get very small portions of lots of cheeses.
There were a number of flower, fruit and vegetable stands.
A jovial butcher. There were a few casual restaurants there where you could take your purchased meat and they would cook it for you.
Sometimes people like to buy chickens and roosters with the head and/or feet still on.
Mmmm ... candy
There were also a lot of places to get prepared foods which looked great.
After the Market, we walked around the city of Nimes. A few highlights ...
The Maison Carre was a Roman temple right in the center of town that was built between 2 and 4 AD that has been beautifully restored. Notice that in back and to the right is a building that is a modern art museum. Lots of really old and very new in this city.
We had lunch at a restaurant directly across from this Coliseum (on the left) which was built during the Roman Empire. It's still used to this day for all kinds of events - from bull fighting to rock concerts.
We then drove to the Pont du Gard which is near to where we were staying. It is a portion of what was once a Roman aqueduct that is still intact, although not used, of course. Completely fascinating. Water flowed through a channel on the upper most level for about 23 miles to provide water for several cities. We walked along trails on both sides.
We had dinner that night in Uzes at a gorgeous old place whose significance neither Paul nor I can remember. But it was beautiful...
Food was fabulous. For example, my appetizer was an onion tart with smoked haddock, fresh apple slivers and an artichoke foam.
On our last full day in Provence, we drove to Segurét, which has an official French tourism designation as 'one of the prettiest villages in France'. And it sure is. It's a walled medieval village from the 12th century where there are now a few shops, art galleries, several restaurants, a church, an art colony and a few residents. Here are just a few photos which don't begin to do its beauty justice.
Followed by a scrumptious vegetarian dish.
After that wonderful lunch, we took one long, last view of the surrounding countryside ... bidding adieu to Segurét.
On our final morning, Carol showed us how to make omelettes. She makes it look so easy.
This is the train station in Avignon where we got the high speed train to Paris. Gorgeous architecture. We then had a great couple of days in Paris.
The view from our room at Hôtel Saint Augustin - Le Cercle National des Armées (the French military officers' club) in Paris. Paul has reciprocal privileges there as a member of the Army and Navy Club in Washington.
We went on a dinner cruise on the Seine. It was great! Buildings, bridges, etc. all along the river were lit up.
The next day, we went up to the second level of the Eiffel Tower. This is one of the views from up there.
After lunch at a sidewalk cafe near the Eiffel Tower, we walked along the Seine to get to Notre Dame.
We enjoyed an audio guide through Notre Dame.
We thought Paul fit right in with this Gucci store window.
We loved the Rodin Museum.
After the Rodin Museum we walked to the Musee d'Orsay, but it was closed due to a public strike. Darn. So we spent the rest of the afternoon sauntering through and relaxing in the Tuileries Gardens. It turned out to be a lovely afternoon!
We didn't do any shopping on this final afternoon in Paris - just took a few photos as we were walking through this neighborhood of high end shops. A pleasant and relaxing completion of another fun adventure!
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