Girls Gone Abroad

Sorry peeps, but just wanted to do a quick post to bring you up to date and then I am unsure if I will be back online until possibly Chicago airport. I can't remember if our hotel for the last night in Paris has internet, but even if it does I think it will be a whirlwind day there trying to send some stuff FedEx and getting last minute gifts and having our last French meal!

Last nights dinner at Capelongue de Bastide was amazing - and tres French! If you can believe it when all was said and done it was 11 courses and even Shannon was finally full! I will write soon about the complete experience and post some pictures from Shan's camera. But, suffice it to say it was a really cool thing to do and a LOT of food. We also enjoyed two good bottles of wine and had the cutest sommelier - not in looks necessarily but in personality! Man did I ever wish then that I spoke better French so I could have had a conversation, since his English wasn't great and my French wasn't great we did as much talking as was possible but was very little!

This morning was Bonnieux's market day and it was a quaint market and we found lots of last minute things on our list to take home - great stuff! I won't indulge with the details since some of the purchases were gifts and I don't want to ruin any surprises! The cash machine here in Bonnieux was out of money, suffice it to say it was probably a good thing and we treated it as our destiny and stopped buying when we were out of money - I'll let you decide if the amount we started with was big or small!

From there we were off for a hike on the Lioux Falaise. A Falaise is like a butte for all intents and purposes, so we hiked up around to the back side and then out on the falaise itself and down the other end of the cliff. We had brilliant views of Roussillon, Gordes, and Bonnieux and La Coste in the distance along with views of all the vines, orchards and farms directly around the falaise. It is a very nice day again and it was a nice hike and not too long or taxing. We had lunch in Rousillon, but I don't know the name of the restaurant, it wasn't too exciting one way or the other, but the beers were cold and tasted good after our time in the hot sun.

We made a stop at the Bonnieux Cave (wine cooperative) and purchased a few bottles of Rose to bring home - we ultimately decided that we have liked some of the white and red wines of the region, but nothing "wowed" us with those, but since France produces some great Rose wines that we just don't yet seem to have in the US, we focused our effort on Rose - so yes, we are bringing home pink wine! I'm sure it won't last very long when we get home, but if nothing else we have learned a bit more about French wine and which regions and/or chateaus we like, so it should make buying more French wine from home a bit easier if not cheaper! I don't know if I have mentioned, but wine here (good, decent wine) is CHEAP! I'm talking $6-$10 a bottle, not euro mind you, dollars! The shelfs have many good wines for 2 to 4 euro a bottle and most less than 10 euro unless you are at a boutique wine store! It has been great, and even with that we only had 8 empty bottles on the counter for 6 nights here so far - for the three of us together that is an excellent feat!

Well, gotta run, exciting news - Charley and Kathy Wood, slow travel old timers and bloggers have arrived in Bonnieux and we are going to have a get-together (GTG) tonight before we leave town! I'm psyched since I spent hours combing Kathy's blog about the area before we came and I actually feel like I know her already!

Today we picked up our rented bikes, had a wonderful breakfast of fresh baguette with ham, cheese and fried fresh eggs compliments of Sandy and hit the road with the intention of tasting some wine and getting some fresh air and exercise. We left Bonnieux headed for the Pont Julien and two wine chateaus along that route. The first chateau was closed (today and only today), as the first of May seems to be some kind of holiday around here? I sort of remember that, but not really to tell the truth. It doesn't seem to be affecting the restaurant and such in town, but none the less, ferme (closed), so on down the road we continued. The next place on our stop was the chateau that had furnished our wine at the Le Tinel dinner on Tues night, Epyceries, I think... We stopped, rang the bell and had a nice tasting of the wine we had at dinner and all their others. They had a nice variety and we all walked out promising to come back tonight or tomorrow with the car to buy some wine - we each wanted at least 2 bottles.

One problem, we still haven't figured totally how we are going to get any wine home, let alone a fair amount of wine. Guess I better check FedEx while I'm here on the internet to see if there is a location close, our plan is to send back the majority of our clothes (that we severely overpacked by the way) and check the wine in our suitcase. The issue is that United has changed their rules about wine in checked luggage and it needs to be in packing material like it would be in boxes, no worries though as the French seem to pack their wine laying down with formed pieces in between that is much more compact than our standing up styrofoam way. We can each easily take 6 bottles, and could probably do a case with some creativity and strong muscles - never the less time is waning and we need to figure it out soon - guess that is my job to think about and figure out...

After our tasting we continued on to the Pont Julien, a roman bridge remaining completely intact here in the Luberon. It is pretty amazing to think how smart the Romans were and the engineering feats that they accomplished as a society. This bridge is pretty small, but impressive none the less due to its age and still working order. After a quick break at the bridge to take some pictures and get Sandy in the wild poppies we headed out towards La Coste a town ~ 4-5 km from Bonnieux depending how you go, but our way was likely 10-11km. It was bordering lunch time and everything except the resaurants closes down, we weren't hungry yet, so we continued on to the Abbeye St Hilaire.

Shan had tried to get to this abbey on her walking tour on Sunday, but had made a wrong turn and never did find it, so we set out to correct her mistakes on a faster mode of transportation. First, we had to climb up to La Coste (another perched village), then climb up and out of the village, then climb some more, whew I knew it was hilly here, but as usual on a bike it takes on a whole new perspective. We finally started the descent to the turn off for the Abbey and I was thinking... for every down there will be another long up... guess I better enjoy it while I can.

We found the abbey and had a nice walk around and look, and then I checked the map for a way back to Bonnieux hoping for not too many hills. This is a past time of mine in Colorado Springs, how to get home on my bike, climbing the least amount or least grueling hills. Unfortunately my map is not a topographical map, and therefore I couldn't really tell, but the road below the abbey appeared pretty flat!

We climbed up the gravel road from the abbey to our original road and continued on down the hill, and down and down and down to meet up with my "flat road" back to Bonnieux! Silly rabbit tricks are for kids!

At the turn for my "flat road" Shan and Sandy thought they wanted to ride more than the 11km back to Bonnieux so we parted ways and I started climbing my flat road - turned out to be a nice steady incline for 7 of the first 11km back, then a nice downhill reprieve which only meant I would have to climb (more steeply this time) back up to my perched village.

I was only home 20 min when in came Sandy and Shan, they had gone a ways then changed routes to come back here and had ridden about the same as I had by the time it was done. Sandy was pooped - she hasn't done much riding with Shan on the open road and didn't know what she was really getting into...

So now, after a snack of baguette and cheese on the terrace, I'm at the cafe blogging so I can finally feel somewhat caught up. Tonight is our michelin restaurant night at Bastide de Capelongue, and we are all saving our appetites to eat and eat and eat! So, I will be done, need to put on some makeup and finally put on a dress after two weeks of carting them around and not using them!

We woke up to a cold, rainy, windy day with plans to go for a hike and then hit some of the other perched villages in the region. We bundled up, to the best of our ability, in our “hiking clothes” and I set off for Henri’s with computer in hand to see if I could get a signal from the café on the corner – Henri’s company is much better than the guy at Cesars! We got our croissant, pain au chocolat etc… I tried the computer – but no luck we were still too far away – so I wrote my blog for the day in word and got some pictures ready for posting while sipping tea and eating my delicious chocolate breakfast treat – they were fresh out of the oven this morning.

The girls took off to walk the town in the rain, life is a bit more back to normal and they can’t sit still for long periods of time, and I headed to Cesar’s Café to get my internet fix. I spent a good hour to 2 hours posting, reading comments, posting pictures, downloading new pictures etc while I drank some tea. Sandy and Shan found the bike shop and reserved our bikes for tomorrow and then found a specialty food shop to get some gifts.

Finally it was noonish and still cold and blowing and raining and we were hungry, and I found the girls researching winerys (chateaus in French speak). So, we ditched the hike due to the rain and jumped in the car to head south to Loumarin for lunch and then to some of the southern Luberon chateaus. We had sandwiches at a small café in Loumarin then wandered over to a big castle (also chateau in French) that we saw on our way into town. Turned out the chateau had been purchased by a man in the early 1900s when it was intended to be torn down, this man then restored the entire chateau and furnished much of it. When he died in 1927 ish he left the chateau to the arts college or museum in Aix en Provence and they keep it as a museum and a place for young artists to board and to display their art. Anyways – it was really cool and we decided to go in and check it out along with checking out an artist that had an exhibition that day – too bad the dollar is so crappy because she had some beautiful things that would have been somewhat affordable if we weren’t paying 1 ½ times. So, we grabbed a couple of the cheap reproductions…

Amazingly when we popped out of the chateau, the sun was starting to shine and it was warming up. I grabbed the good camera, loaded with black and white film, and started to take some shots – well tried, but the camera was flashing error. I tried to figure it out, but ultimately we had to call Rocket back in the US to try to remedy the situation. We figured it out and I hopefully got some good shots!

Next we were off to do some wine tasting and were able to stop at 2 on the list Chateau Constantin Chevalier and Domaine de Fontenille. Sandy and Shan liked the first one best and I liked the second one best. After our second tasting it was time to be headed to Velleron for the night farmers market. This is a unique market that is every night but Sunday and is mostly only produce, and I believe it is mostly direct from the farmer, so there is only for sale what is in season and it is extremely fresh. We picked up some strawberries, asparagus, baby potatoes and biscotti (not on the list), then quickly popped into the center village of Velleron to grab some chicken, bread and dessert. We had chicken thighs and legs with a provencal rub roasted with the new potatoes and my special asparagus a la the microwave! Of course preceded by cheese, strawberries and champagne and dinner accompanied with a bottle of white wine Vin de Bourgogne; Macon-Villages -2006 made with the Chardonnay grape and it was quite good. These simple whipped up meals at home with the fresh market ingredients have been so tasty and made for nice nights to just relax.

On Tuesday morning, everything is closed in Bonnieux so we decided to make this our day to go to Cassis. Cassis is a small port town on the Mediterranean just 20km or so from Marseille and is know for its Calenques, cliffs that go into the sea. We were up early for us – 8 AM – and on the road just shy of 9 AM. Shannon drove so I could navigate, it was going to be some map reading and hoping since we had not gotten on the internet for several days to look up actual directions.

It was a fairly uneventful drive, we didn’t probably go the most efficient way, but the signs on the autoroutes (interstates) here are very confusing. So, we followed what I thought was the right way and eventually we did make it, but I know someone who lived here would not have gone the way we did!

It was just as beautiful as expected, but first things first we had to pee! In france it is a bit different than in the US – you don’t really wander into the first shop or even café/restaurant you see and use the bathroom, it is just not really accepted. In the countryside around Bonnieux I have asked a restaurant proprietor to use the toilettes, but in the cities not so much. So, we had to find the public toilettes, and fast! They were by the beach and it cost .50 cents each to go in, so now we had to dig through our purses and try to find the 50 cent piece when all we wanted was to go NOW!

Next up, lunch and we found a busy restaurant with outdoor seating in the shade. It was a great choice and the plat du jour was moules frites – yeah – I love it here! We had a nice relaxing lunch and Shan and I shared a good half bottle of white wine called 4 Vents from the Cote du Luberon – it was quite tasty! We went from there to have a boat ride to the calenques and chose the shortest of the trips, 45 min to three calenques. It was a lovely trip and we got to see plenty of nude sunbathers on the cliffs next to the sea – Rocket and Mighty Hunter would have loved this part!

We took the scenic route back through the southern Luberon and then through the canyon from Loumarin to Bonnieux and found our Michelin Star restaurant on the top of the hill at Bonnieux. We stopped and made reservations for Thursday night… It is my treat to Shan and Sandy, well really my boss Andy’s treat as my gift for my 10 year milestone with my company, to go for a Michelin dinner while here and this place is just gorgeous at the very top of the village and with amazing gardens – I hope the weather cooperates. It has sort of been weird weather, a day of rain and wind, then a day of sun and now (Wed) back to rain and wind.

I took a quick peruse of town and what restaurants were open for Tues night and made a reservation for Le Tinel – a strong recommendation from the Wood family – and it was a fabulous dinner! I think this was my favorite so far on the trip, although it is hard to decide since the dinner at La Fournil was so good as well. We all had very good food and some nice conversation with the owner Nicholas (I think, the girls got his name while I was out taking sunset pictures and they haven’t always “understood” peoples names very clearly), who had spent a couple of years in the US and was also just very charming and not bad to look at either!

A good day, but too much time spent in the car for our taste, today (wed) we planned to do a hike, but will see with the weather, then just short car trips to some of the neighboring villages all within 30 or so minutes. I’m currently sitting at Henri’s patisserie having my tea and pain au chocolat – forgot to take a picture but I will before we leave. I have to go to the café for more tea to get this actually posted on the internet, but oh well I kind of enjoy it!

Today we first had to take care of some business, buy some necessary toiletries like soap, shampoo, and sunscreen for Shan and then head to what turned out to be the hardware store to buy a new electric plug adaptor. I’m not sure how mine broke, but we quickly realized how we relied on having it for the computer, Sandy’s phone charger, Shan’s camera charger and our Ipod speakers so we can have music while we hang out. I took the adaptor to dinner last night and asked the owner where I could get a new one and he directed us to the hardware store in Apt, just 15km or so away, plus it was right next to Le Clerc so we could get the other items on Shan’s list.

It took us some time looking around Apt and asking 3 different people before we finally found the stores and were able to buy our goods. I realize now that we have come home a different way that there is more than one way to get to Apt from Bonnieux and I don’t think we chose the way that the owner would have gone, and if we had his quick directions would have been very good. But, we have an adaptor again, in fact for 8 euro we decided to buy two so we could charge more than one electronic at a time.

We had chosen a drive based on Provence Byways a guidebook to the Luberon region of Provence that included Apt since we were already headed that way. It was a drive that took us north of the Luberon national park region up to the Vaucluse Plateau and to the small villages of St Saturnin les Apt, Sault, St Trinit, Revest du Bion and back through St Christol and Rustrel. We stopped in all but the last 2 villages on our route, but by then we were thinking we needed to get back towards Bonnieux and we actually headed to Goult for the afternoon market. I either had the day, time or place wrong and maybe the dates because there was no market in Goult this afternoon when we arrived.

In St Saturnin les Apt we climbed to the top of the village to the ruins of the walled medieval village and chateau. It was a nice hike up and beautiful views of the valley and back at the luberon mountains. After we found a back way hiking trail down that took us past an old windmill and down some stairs into the back of town. It really is unique and I will try to remember to take pictures of the small stairways that connect one street to another in these perched villages.

Our back way down to the village provided these picnic tables and Shan and Sandy decided they should pretend these were "their tombs" and so we had to have a picture of that!

Next up Sault and we stopped to have a picnic lunch, unfortunately it started to rain so we had to eat in the car – boy would some pigeons have a hey day in there now with all the crumbs from the croissant and baguette. A nice lunch though of sandwiches with ham, cheese, and hard sausage on fresh baguette and some strawberries and a banana. Tasty! Since we hit Sault at lunch time, all the lavender shops were closed, too bad because this is lavender central and I am sure it is beautiful in June and July when it blooms and we were looking forward to learning all about it! Maybe we will get back some other day, or maybe not…

Following our guide, next on the trip was St Trinit, a sleepy little village with a small but very sweet Romanesque church from the 12th century. So, we stopped at the church and finally figured out which door was open so we could go inside. This church has amazingly lovely acoustics and the guidebook said we should test them out with a Gregorian chant or other liturgical music, unfortunately we don’t know any so we tried out some Elton John and it was very pretty! Oh yeah, and I did my best try at Trav’s favorite “In the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit” in latin like I have heard priests do… very authentic!

The weather turned very cool and windy following the rain in Sault and I fear we may be having a mistral, a very cold, famous wind in province. It is said the mistral lasts for an odd number of days, so tomorrow we will know if it will be just one, or we are destined for three or five or seven. While it was a bit warm yesterday at times, I definitely prefer that to this cold biting wind mixed with rain. Anyways, we were all a bit chilled so we stopped in Revest du Bion for a chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) at a sweet bar in the village. It reminded me of walking into a bar in small town Iowa where everyone stops what they are doing to see who is coming in, then they stare because you are obviously not from around there, a bit daunting really but we walked right in and in my “fabulous French” ordered 3 hot chocolates! There were very tasty and hit just the right note in the cool damp day on the Vaucluse Plateau. It is there that we decided to move on quickly and head to Goult for some groceries at the market to make dinner ourselves tonight.

Of course as I mentioned – un petit probleme – no market to be found in Goult. So we went to the small grocer and the butcher and rounded up enough to make up a dinner. I decided we would have a salad (we need to get our veggies to balance the wine) and then pasta with a fresh tomato, basil and olive oil sauce with whatever meat looked good at the butcher – turned out to be sausage since foie gras is not tops on any of our lists. Now I am at the house with full computer juice catching up on blogs and downloading and resizing pictures for our faithful audience, enjoying a glass of rose and assuming Shan and Sandy are a bit cold on their walk as the wind is now howling (definitely mistral). More for you peeps tomorrow! Oh and I will make a concerted effort to load pictures for the last couple blogs that I posted with a VERY low battery and no time for photos, so go back and check!