Day 8- Wineries!

Well, it's our last day in Avignon, Provence. We returned the car and not gonna lie, it's a little sad to leave here tomorrow morning. We have loved it! What a wonderful place that really feels like home in a way!!! Everything about our time here has been amazing. 

But, I'm sure the next leg of our journey will be amazing also.. We will miss that little car though! That was fun. I DROVE IN FRANCE!!! 

Even if French drivers are maniacs!!! 

 Today we had two awesome winery tours in Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

 That was where the Pope's wine was grown 700 years ago! It is one of the best wine growing areas in the entire world and we got to taste our little hearts out!! It was a blast. Both wineries were run by amazing interesting people.

And while people here are very unhappy and uneasy about the election results in America and keep talking to us about it, the wine business, especially in this region is fascinating.

It's amazing how much these gnarled vines some of which are over 100 years old, are worth. Just an acre of land in this region is worth so much money, where if you go across a dirt road that is the border to another region, the same grapes that are grown in virtually identical soil are worth so much less!

Just as an example. A hectare of land in Chateauneuf-du-Pape costs in the area of $175k if you could find one for sale. Yet across the road in another region that same hectare may sell for around $10k. How crazy is that???

The wine is wonderful. Unfortunately, it's so late in the season we couldn't buy any wine from either winery. . It's all been shipped off for the rest of the world to enjoy. But we still learned a lot, met some amazing people and drank amazing wine! 

 Between our visits we drove to the city of Orange. It has one of the finest preserved Roman Theaters in the world. It's stunning. Unfortunately we didn't have time to visit it, but it looked incredible from the outside. 

Trip Advisor Rocks!

We really only went to Orange for lunch because it's close to Chateauneuf-du-Pape. We checked TripAdvisor for a good restaurant and the #1 rated restaurant in Orange is a burger joint!!! It's run by two young guys who realize that good ole American hamburgers and fries done right are a big thing in Paris, so why not try it in Provence? It had a real diners, drive-ins and dives feel to it. They had loud music playing and it was just a funky little joint! But WOW was that burger good. They were SO interested to see what we thought of it, being from America and all. 

And when we told them how much we enjoyed it, they were just beaming with pride!!! It was a great moment and really cool to see people doing things the right way, like we always try to do! 

Great ingredients prepared great! Always a winning combination! 

 DINNER TIME!

Tonight we ate at a fantastic restaurant, what else is new? We haven't had a bad meal this whole time in Provence! This was at a restaurant called Fou de Fafa. I had a steak and Emily had a beet risotto. We had amazing wine, of course and it was the perfect way to end this great adventure in Provence!! 

Talk to you tomorrow from Mont St Michel!!

 

Avignon Today, Tomorrow I Drive!!!!

Today we explored Avignon! 

 The weather was beautiful!  We started with a tour of the Palace of the Popes, the French Vatican from the 1300s.

It was amazing. It's kind of a shell of what it once was, but still awesome!

It's huge and ornate and, with a little imagination you can really get an idea of the true glory and majesty it once was.

  It took a good portion of the day due to its immensity! 

Then we went to a beautiful church from the 1500s and Emily lit a candle for The Virgin Mary and prayed.  

It was beautiful just like her!

After that we went and saw the St Benezet bridge, or the broken bridge of Avignon which is the subject of a famous French nursery rhyme that everyone in France knows.

 It's really cool.  And it's also very windy! It made it tough to build a bridge across it. Especially like 600 years ago!  

The Rhone river is big and fast!

After that we went to the Petite Palace. The place where all the goodies that still exist from the palace of the popes are kept. It was interesting, but hard to put the two pictures together.

 Now to the food!  

Pastries and quiche for breakfast, as per usual!  I snacked, but Emily had a ham and cheese sandwich on a baguette. But for dinner... WE COOK! 

 For dinner, we made pasta and sauce that we got from the local market and had a delicious Cote du Rhone red wine, because you know, when Emily and I have a kitchen, we have to cook at least a little!!!

  Tomorrow we rent a car and I get to drive in France for the first time ever! 
 I'm a little nervous, but I'm sure I can handle it!  Keep on checking back or bookmark this blog, I won't say where we are going yet, but tomorrow will be full of some amazing pictures!!! :)

Day 4-Avignon!

Today... We left Paris! Bittersweet, but there's excitement to come.

We took the TGV train (Yes... the one that goes like 200mph!!!!) to 

Avignon, Provence in the south of France. 

My Beauty enjoying the train ride!

We are SO happy with this place. It's like actually having a little home!

The train trip was awesome!  We slept almost the whole time which was wonderful!!  We got to Avignon and had to find where we are staying. We tried something new to us, AirBnb. 

Our First Airbnb Apartment Stay!

We found an amazing one bedroom place just off the main square in the city.

  It used to be the Roman Forum 2000 years ago.  And Avignon, what a cool city!!  Didn't get to do a ton of exploring yet, but it's beautiful, old, and has a very chic vibe to it! 

The Square outside our new room...

 

The opera in the square right outside our place

Clocktower view from our apartment! Aren't we lucky? Love Airbnb!!!!

 It's also much more multicultural here than in Paris. It has a great feel to it. This is where the Pope moved the Vatican to in the 1300s during the Great Schism. So there is a GIANT Vatican like structure that's part giant church and part massive fortress. Very unique and cool. 

DINNER TIME!

We had a fantastic dinner at a restaurant right around the corner from us called Restaurant Eat, or Estaminet Aromes Et Tentation. We had the nicest waitress who really tried to help us with our French.

 Not sure if Emily will ever get it, but I'm getting better! 

Fantastic and unique. Not at all what I've had with other cream of cauliflower soups!

 We had a Cream of Cauliflower soup that we are going to try and replicate for all of our wonderful customers!    

Dinner & Dessert!

braised veal with chestnuts and homemade tagliatelle pasta with mushrooms

Chocolate lava cake with salted caramel ice cream. We couldn't wait to take the picture. We had to dig in!!!!  LOL

We are in the land of great wine!  Amazing bold red wines and some of the greatest rose' wines in the world!  

Avignon at night!

We had a short day because of the train ride but a great start to our 5 days in Provence!  What a beautiful area of the world.

Bedtime soon, but first... Snacks!

Biscuit Shop! YUMMY! 

 We feel very lucky to have these experiences and want to share them all with everyone!  Maybe one day we will do food tours to France with That French Place??? 

 Anyone interested??? Comment if "Yes"
:)