Birthday trip - part 3

The next morning we woke up bright and early (again) to head south to Cassis. The Parc National des Calanques is right next to Cassis, but during the summer months the hiking trails are only open in the morning, if at all, due to fire danger. It was hard to drag ourselves out of bed that morning, but it was so worth it, not only for the views, but because it ended up being a sweltering day, and I was glad we'd gotten started when it was still relatively cool!

After a very short hike we reached the Calanque de Port Pin. The calanques are these lovely little inlets all along the coastline in this area of Southern France. This one was nice, but we decided to keep hiking to the next one, which I had read was even better.

This hike was not particularly easy. In fact, it was one of the more difficult hikes I've gone on because it essentially went straight up and over the mountain, and the trail was often not much of a trail at all. 

See?

I very nearly asked to turn around and go back to the first calanque multiple times. The trail seemed unending (we really couldn't see where it would end), and remember, it was ridiculously hot that day.

If you look at this picture you can see the type of mountain (hill?) that we went up and over. Apparently switchbacks are not so much a thing there? I felt better when, on our way back afterwards, we were met by many hikers asking desperately how much farther they had to go. 

Once we started heading downhill it was easier, and it really was a lovely hike. Just challenging.

Finally, we made it! 

It was beautiful. Pictures never seem to do a place justice, and the quiet beach was a far cry from the crowded beaches elsewhere along the coast. I mean, just look at the color of the water! And juxtaposed with the the white cliffs?! It was gorgeous.

Rocky beaches though, are NOT my favorite thing to walk on barefoot. Water shoes would have been really nice.

 Panoramic shot that Chase took.

 The city of Cassis.

We had decided that we wanted to buy a piece of artwork on our trip, so while we were in Cassis we stepped into an art gallery. Chase and I were both instantly drawn to one painting in particular, and though we were pretty sure it would be out of our price range, I decided I may as well ask. It turns out it was 65,000 euros. Um, yeah, that's a wee bit more than we were hoping to spend!

After exploring Cassis for a bit we headed back to Aix and finally took a look around that city, since we had slept there for two nights already and hadn't seen a single thing!

The view from our hotel terrace, including Mt. St. Victoire in the distance.

Going to church in other countries is one of my very favorite things. Everyone is always so friendly and welcoming, and this time I could even understand some of it with my limited high school French!

Afterwards we packed up our car and took the scenic route to Moustiers-Sainte-Marie.

We stopped at a beautiful little town called Oppede Le Vieux.

The castle at the top was being restored, but the workers were kind enough to give us an unofficial tour. It was all in French of course, but I was surprised how much I was able to understand and translate for Chase!

We drove past a lot of lavender fields, and finally pulled over to take some pictures.

 I'm so glad we were there while the lavender was in bloom!

Birthday trip - part 2

The next morning we woke up bright and early (there was not a lot of sleeping in on this trip) and drove north to the Luberon region.

We stopped for breakfast at the cutest, tiniest little town called Lourmarin, where we bought some pastries at the local patisserie and some of the best apricots and raspberries we've ever had at the farmer's market.



Then we headed further north to the lovely town of Bonnieux. Seriously, nearly every town in this region is picture perfect.



We rented a pair of e-bikes (for my benefit, since I haven't ridden a bike in years and definitely wouldn't have made it up and down all those hills without it), and then set off on the most gorgeous ride. We passed sunflower fields, lavender fields, more adorable towns, and just the most beautiful scenery. It was delightful.







Saignon








Part of our bike route took us over this ancient Roman bridge called Pont Julien.




What you can't tell from these pictures is that the e-bikes were really cumbersome and too large for me. After falling multiple times in my first attempts to get started that morning, I ended up having to rewind my life about 25 years and have Chase steady my bike and give me a little push to get started. It was slightly mortifying, but mostly hilarious. I therefore stopped as little as I possibly could that day!
Chase, of course, is amazing and never turned the assist on, meaning he was pedaling a massively heavy bike up all those hills, and I still never even passed him until the end!

After returning our bikes in Bonnieux, we drove west to Arles. This is where Van Gogh lived for quite some time and did many of his paintings here. We both love Van Gogh's artwork, so we enjoyed coming and seeing all the plaques and tributes they have up around the city.

The hospital where Van Gogh stayed for a time.

Les Alyscamps. We have a print of the painting he did here in our entryway, for those who have been to our house.

Cafe Terrace at Night

There is an ancient Roman arena here where they still hold events. So cool. 

So we went to one! They have bull "games" in Southern France, where some strings and things are tied to the bulls horns, and a whole bunch of teenage boys run around trying to get them off and not get hurt in the process. It was pretty entertaining for awhile, but by the end it had gotten a bit repetitive. If you ever go, you can leave at half-time and miss nothing.


Jumping over the wall to escape the bull.

After the bull games we ate a delicious meal and then wandered around the city some more.

Rhone river

We found the "Starry Night over the Rhone" plaque just as it started getting dark enough to actually look like the painting. This one was my favorite of all the painting locales we saw that day.

It was a long, full, fun day. 

Birthday trip - part 1

One thing you might not know about me is that I always remember my half birthday. We don't really celebrate, per se, but I do rather expect Chase to at least acknowledge the event. I know it's kinda silly, but growing up with a summer birthday, my half birthday was when I was celebrated in class, the day my mom would bring in cupcakes, etc. So the date is pretty ingrained in me.

Anyway, so this past January, Chase handed me a card on my half birthday, and I was pleased that he'd remembered. But when I opened it I was shocked to see what he had written: We were going to France!

Turns out he'd been secretly saving for the past several years so that he could take me to France for my 30th birthday.

I know, right? He's a keeper.

Thus began several months of planning and over-researching because that's what I do. Finally, on July 4th, we left our kids and America behind for a couple of weeks and headed off on our adventure! (Many thanks to both sets of grandparents for helping our kids have an absolutely fabulous time while we were gone!)

I love London, and I couldn't resist spending a day there first, since we were going to have to have a layover there anyway.

We started out at the British library, which has one of my favorite special collections displays ever. We also went to King's Cross station, right next door to it, because one must take a look at Platform 9 3/4. Unfortunately there was a long queue to take your picture there, so we skipped that and went for a nice long walk all around the city, stopping at All Hallow's by the Tower, the Tower of London, and the Tower Bridge.


Then we went and attended evensong at St. Paul's cathedral, which was lovely. I may or may not have dozed off in the middle, but hey, I was going on less than two hours of sleep.

After dinner we attended a play at The Globe. It's such a cool place to see a Shakespearean play, but man, were we disappointed. They had modernized the play, complete with added musical numbers, and it was rather horrific. We left at intermission. I heard other audience members grumbling about it too, so I know it wasn't just us!


















But that gave us extra time to walk around some more, so it all worked out.

The next morning we left bright and early for a flight to Toulouse, France.

We ate lunch there and spent a little bit of time walking around.

Then we drove east to Carcassonne. If visiting a castle is on your list of things to do in life, this is a good one to go see.

Walking around the castle ramparts at night was particularly magical, but we had fun during our daytime audio tour as well. 

 

Catapult stones:

     



After checking out of our hotel, we made the rather lengthy drive to Aix-en-Provence, where we hurriedly dropped our bags and then caught a train down to Marseille. Why, you ask? Because the semi-final game of the Eurocup between France and Germany just so happened to be that evening, and Chase had gotten us tickets!

The fans on the metro were really excited. And loud. I loved it!

Outside the velodrome

The crowd was loud and boisterous and no one ever sat down the whole time, and it was so exciting to be there, especially since France won! People were celebrating in the streets way into the wee hours of the night. By 3:00 am the constant honking and shouting was getting a little bit annoying, though. :)

Chase caught one of the goals on video:

It was a great start to our trip!