Day 4

We woke this morning at 7:30am raring to move on from Paris to Avignon and St.Remy (pronounce San Remee). We felt so lucky to have made it to breakfast while others were still eating, unlike yesterday. As always there was an awkward moment trying to explain who we were, but a quick flash of the room key remedied that. There is nothing like starting the day with a croissant smothered in Nutella.

Packed up and checked out we managed through the metro heaving luggage behind us. The train station was packed with French and international travellers alike. We popped out our tickets and thank goodness for our translator. Cars, seats, floors, all this to figure out as well as the hug board that directs everyone where to go. Once we got the color coding we moved to the platform with #'s, not letters.

The station was home to many pigeons and while their flapping stirred the air and gave a momentary breeze, a sad gentleman next to us got a major pooping on. We instantly looked up and were able to move on without incident. Thanks to our new best friend "Rick Steve's 2008 France" travel guide we knew to check our tickets at a yellow kiosk by our train. But which one? There were 3 different kinds. Our herd mentality let us to follow the others at terminal 19 and we were able to get on the train without any protest. The train numbers started moving up to 13 and jumped to 18, but where was our car 15? No worries, it starts counting backwards from 18. It made as much sense as the bread shop being closed on Wednesday. We finally found our seats and I could relax for the next 3.5 hours, all the way across France.

The woman sitting across from us kept throwing out tidbits in French, to which I smiled and "oui'd". for all I know she was telling me about a huge bugger on my chin. I noticed on the train that no one spoke much and generally read, snoozed, or stared out the window with indifference.
The scenery was lovely. Green, lush, cypress, small towns, stucco and tile roofed houses.

Arriving in Avignon I spotted David right outside our car and was so happy to see a familiar face. While Luke loves the adventure of a new city and unknown languages, I would just assume all the help I can get. People helping people (especially helping me!) Right on par for this visit when I told David about our car rental, he informed me that it was at the other train station in Avignon. Of course. Kindly he drove us over and negotiated that there was an Alamo car rental, even though it was not listed with all the others.

Wading through the paperwork we finally got the keys and found our blue mini-car. Aptly enough it was stuck on the bumper and didn't move forward when I pressed the accelerator. This led to a 5 minute discussion about how to put the (automatic) car into drive. There were actually only 2 choices, forward and reverse, how had could this be? As soon as David came over to help I pressed the accelerator a little harder and the car freed itself. I meant to do that.

Mini car followed David to the small city of Avignon and hunted for mini car parking. Anything goes here as long as your mini car neighbor can negotiate his way out in any mini direction. David had to get back to work before we found parking and he suggested we get lost and maybe one will appear. As he drove away our very own mini space became available. We were prepped to tour the town and with directions to St.Remy where we were to meet David in front of the church at 7pm.

Avignon is a fortified city so in case of bow and arrow attack you will be safe inside it's walls. It looks like a medieval city only with cars driving in and around it. On the way in we walked past 3 glace (gelato) shops and into the main square. We sat at the first cafe and ordered the plat du jour. In this case it was some meat (pork probably) with clove and nutmeg sauce, carrots, zucchini, and a side salad. Not something I would have ordered myself, but quite tasty. We ended the meal with cappuccinos and lounged a bit.

We then wandered around the city and found a surprising number of fashion boutiques. This is France after all. We ordered glace and sat under a tree, next to the town carousel and continued people watching. The locals here are pretty and clearly pride themselves on being well maintained; hair, clothes, sunglasses, etc.

Avignon's big claim to fame is the Palace of the Popes and the Pont de Avignon, a bridge that no longer crosses the water and has a nursery rhyme written about it. Both charge money to "experience" them, so we opted to view them from the outside. Very ornate with nice views of the Rhone River and surrounding areas.

We decided to give ourselves 2 hours to find St.Remy. Luke as navigator and me as pilot. I needed all the help I could get as we left at rush hour, oh goody. Luckily drivers here are decent and a wee bit crazy, so working my way int the far lane wasn't as hard as it might have been. If only we had taken the correct exit. No mater, due to Luke's excellent sense of direction we found our way to St.Remy, round abouts and all.

St.Remy reminds us of Nevada City and Capitola with, you guessed it, a carousel in the middle. With an hour to pass we sat at a cafe across from the church and drank. At 7pm we spotted David's yellow-green Kia and walked to meet him. I could see the relief in his face that we actually made it. Luke, who has been the pack horse the whole time remembered that there was a pool at David's and we requested to go there first. We followed David to his home in the country, 8 minutes away.

For those of you who have been to Luke's house in Nevada City you would recognize many similarities, the first being a long drive up a dirt road. Now picture towering pines, cypress trees in rows, rolling hills, stucco farm houses with clay tile roofs, patios shaded with vines, rows of orchards, a pool house, gardens with blooming flowers, a pool and a backdrop of rocky hills (the Alpilles.) This is where David lives. Straight from a picture book, it was love at first sight. David's mom Anne and nephew Vincent and dog Luna came out to greet us. Such happy welcoming people. Vincent was so happy to go swimming with us, as everyone else thought it was much to cold to swim. We are the crazy Americans after all. It was refreshing after a long day of travel.

Anne set us up in a room all our own with a sink, lofted ceilings, and a view of the Alpilles out the window. As soon as we were settled we started the evening with an aperitif (sweet wine) at sunset accompanied by local olives and crispy chips. We then moved inside for a lovely salad and pasta and mushroom gratin. The vegetables that Paris was lacking are in Provence. Thank goodness! We finished with fruit salad that included pine nuts and mint. Very fresh and the perfect ending to the long day.

So far I love St. Remy and David's family. And any fear of starvation is gone. We spend the evening discussing the usual, but the most important part was learning to count to 5 in French. David likes my accent and thinks it's hysterical that I can make the funny rolling sound with the back of my tongue. Good day!