Day 12 Got a sweet ride and went back in time!!

We started our morning with a short trip to pick up our rental car!! YAY!  We had to change the reservation a little after we made it, and in the change, somehow we were switched to a manual transmission. Neither Emily nor I are very good, or capable of driving a stick so we had to request a change to an automatic. We didn't have many options, so we got a SWEET Mercedes!!  It cost just a touch more, but it's kickass!!!  We immediately got on the road and headed for Orange. Try to say it like a French person, not like the fruit.  😉 Orange is famous for its Roman Theater. If you didn't see the video I took of it, look for it. It was awesome!!!  It's one of only 3 left in the world that has its acoustic wall still intact. If it weren't so windy today you could've heard me sing! LOL. Seeing something as amazing as that 2000 year old theater is what makes traveling to Europe so special to me, personally. I love history more than I love food! LOL it has close to perfect acoustics and is so spectacularly well preserved. And when you see all it's been through over the past 2000 years it's all the more incredible that it's so perfect. I mean, you could've seen Elvis Costello there in 1979!  After spending a while in the theater we went to a burger place we went to last year. We were SO looking forward to it because it was SO good!!  Well, turns out they got so popular that they moved to a larger place. I mean, it was a tiny hole in the wall last year, but it had character!  This year it was in a bigger stuffy feeling room and the burger was absolutely flavorless. What a HUGE disappointment!  It just goes to show you, be careful what you wish for, expanding may seem great, but you have to make sure you can keep the quality up!  And that can be tough with growth. One person or even two can't do it all in a large restaurant! And the people you get have to have the same passion as you do, otherwise, it won't work. That was something that made Emily and I think!  Anyway, we drove our sweet ride back to Avignon to our Provence home and enjoyed this great city. We took our afternoon siesta and then out to eat!  We had a good dinner with some excellent Cotes Du Rhone wine. Apparently, there are a lot of Moroccan people here in Avignon, and apparently Morocco made it to the World Cup tonight, because all through dinner and on our way home, horns were BLARING people were yelling and chanting and people were dancing in the streets with their Moroccan flags and soccer jerseys!  It was pretty cool. All in all, a very good day!  Tomorrow, more awesome Roman Ruins, they say the best preserved Roman ruins are in Provence, you know?  And Emily will be ready with her travel tip for packing tomorrow, I promise!  I will share a little tip, one that has taken me years to get better at and I still have to improve. When things go wrong on a trip, AND THEY WILL, you have to keep your wits, don't get too upset, and find a solution!  When they showed us our manual transmission car, we just paid the extra money and moved on. We have had a few glitches already in this trip, but, like good, experienced travelers, we find solutions and keep on trucking! What choice do you have???  It's all part of the journey!  😃. Thanks for reading and caring. We love you all!