Au revoir Cavaillon, Buon giorno Italy and Dober Dan Slovenia

We're heading off this morning to drive to Italy and then on to Slovenia. Looking forward to it. Looking forward to pizza, pasta and tiramisu and gelato.

We left Cavaillon an hour later than we intended, at 10 am but it didn’t matter anyway. The drive from Aix to Nice was very pretty even driving on the peage road which we normally try to avoid but we wanted to get to Savona by mid afternoon. The traffic was really heavy going the other way. It looked like some travellers were going to be in traffic a lot longer than they thought. I’m glad we were going the opposite way to them.

I was a bit worried about my foot swelling up again but it was ok. After finding our hotel and checking in, we went to find the beach. Our hotel was on the side of a hill so we had to drive down to the beach. The beach was great. The kids love the beaches in Europe. They’re so different to the Australian beaches. Usually they’re rocky with not much sand but the kids always find lots of interesting rocks and bits and pieces and think it’s all great fun.

The roads in Italy are unbelievable. The drive from Savona down to Pisa goes through mountainous terrain and the road are built so high up and we went through tunnel after tunnel after tunnel –too many to keep count. The scenery was beautiful, very green and the towns are colourful with orange and red and yellow houses and apartment blocks wedged into the most unlikely places. Personally I hate heights and could never live half way up the side of a mountain.

Easter Egg Hunt Part II

The Easter egg hunt at the chateau ended up being a bad day when I fell on the stone stairs (damn those pesky stone stairs) and twisted my ankle and also hurt my derriere when I landed on the bottom step. Very bl**dy painful and annoying considering we've got our 2 week trip to Italy and Slovenia booked in 4 days time. So I hope I can walk on it by then otherwise it's going to be awkward leaning on crutches at The Leaning tower of Pisa.

I've been into the "what ifs" after spraining my ankle. What if this happens…what if that happens – very fatalistic and negative. I think it’s from watching too many medical dramas on tv and reading too many medical horror stories in the news. Complications happen. My ankle seems to be taking forever to get better. Should it still be swollen after 7 days I wonder? I still can’t put full weight on it. The kids have been calling me “The Mighty Mama” since I’ve been on crutches.

Chasse aux oeufs à la Chartreuse de Bonpas

I've been wanting to go to this most gorgeous chateau which we've passed on the road to Avignon several times. Today was the perfect day for it because there was an Easter egg hunt on - good way to bribe the kids into wanting to visit a chateau. With our usual trepidation because we never know whether we'll be able to cope not speaking french we went along and the kids had a ball running around looking for little eggs hidden in the jardin. Because of the uncertainty of the weather and all the rain the staff had also hidden wine bottle corks for the kids to find and they could be exchanged for choccies at the end.

Lost Tooth

Samuel's first top tooth has finally come out with a bit of help from Daddy with a tissue. It was hangin' in there on one edge for quite a while and had started going grey so I'm glad it's out so the new tooth can grow straight. We put the tooth in a glass of water overnight for the tooth fairy to come but I don't know if Samuel is beginning to doubt the tooth fairy's existence or just forgot. He didn't seem concerned about getting the money for his tooth...unusual for him. Maybe having the Easter Bunny and then the Tooth Fairy all in one weekend was all too much for him.

Feria De Paques - Arenes D'Arles

The fabulous arena
Waiting in the rain
In the street with the arena in the background

On the steps in front of the arena

Another big doorway

Street with pretty lights

Ella on the walkway along the Rhone River

Houses along the river

Interesting curly door frame in the Rue de la Republique

Statue in Jardin at the front of the Theatre Antique

Part of the front entrance of Theatre Antique

Ramparts

Beautiful burgundy tulips growing in the roundabout

More divine plane trees

We walked the narrow streets and as we came around a bend, there it was...Les Arenes. It was an unexpectedly breathtaking sight, the massive stadium in Arles built a couple of thousand years ago. Those Romans were so clever. The amphitheatre has a capacity of 12000 during the bullfighting season. They have a couple of different types of bull fights. One where they torment the bull and end up killing the animal and one where they just torment the bull but it doesn't end up dead. We only wanted the easy option. I don't think we could watch the blood and gore of the other.

We tried twice unsuccessfully to go to a corrida during the Easter Festival at Arles even waiting in the rain for over an hour the first time. Both events were cancelled due to the weather. Instead we wandered along the Rhone looking at beautiful old buildings and taking a few photos along the way.

Musée Grévin at Salon de Provence

Outside the Musée Grévin

The big guy - Nostradamus mural

Our visit to Musée Grévin was a bit disappointing. It consisted of a series of small rooms with wax figures depicting the history of Provence region with an audiotaped commentary. Samuel was groaning the whole time wishing it was over. Ella showed interest and said she liked the clothing the people wore in those times.

Trip Planning

We've been organising our plans for the next few months. We’ve been trying to work out how best to fit in the main things we want to do before we fly back to Australia on the 20th of August. We’re booked in to our accommodation in Cavaillon until the end of May. So there's only June, July and half of August left to travel. And as I might have mentioned before the kids really don’t like travelling/touring nearly as much as I do so it calls for some strategic planning on our behalf. So this is the Chez Speedies rough guide to what could be happening:

- During school holidays in April (yes, there’s holidays again, already, can you believe it??), we’ll be driving to Slovenia via Italy (Genoa, Florence/Pisa, and Venice) to visit relatives and show the kids where their grandparents grew up.
- during a weekend in May sometime we want to drive through the Gorges du Verdon which is Europe’s largest canyon. There’s a hair raising drive (goodie can’t wait for that one) and there’s some short walks we can do into the canyon.

- Also we want to see the bull fighting in Arles, swim in the Pont du Gard at Nimes and look at lots of olden day roman stuff in Provence which I love.

- When we leave Cavaillon in May, we plan to drive the windy road along the Côte d'Azur which takes in Nice and Cannes. We'll have 5 days before the cruise starts to dawdle along at a leisurely pace.

- June – We've booked a cruise in the Mediterranean which goes to Italy, Spain, Tunisia and Malta. Originally we wanted to include Egypt but we’re put off by security in that area right now. After the cruise we'll head north stopping at Besançon (my birth place) and Annecy then to Wimereux to see Uncle Arthur's grave from the war.

- July – UK/Wales. We can't decide whether to hang on to our little Renault as long as possible or get rid of it early and hire a car so we're not stuck with trying to sell the car at the end. If we keep the car we can take the car over to the UK and zoom around there for a few weeks. But that now depends on the offer we get from the dealer here in Cavaillon to buy the car.

- August – We promised the kids we would take them to Euro Disney before we leave France. There's a 3 day hotel/admission package that's available. Then our final 2 weeks will be spent relaxing in an apartment in Paris going to the Louvre and just wandering around leisurely looking at things we didn't get a chance to look at before. It will be nice to see Paris in warm weather after being there in sub zero temperatures in January.

More Pix of Aix

Cathedrale St-Sauveur - we came here on Sunday afternoon hoping to hear the Gregorian chants which are usually sung at 4.30pm but it wasn't on maybe because of the carnaval in town

One of many funky fountains which are everywhere. I've never seen anyone drink out of one of these but they must have in the olden days.

Waiting, waiting...

One of the bands in the carnaval. I wish I had the video camera with me. It was such a lively procession and lots of fun to watch.

Stunning display of hand made goodies, biscuits and calissons in this shop.

On the trail of another entrance to the Cathedrale St-Sauveur

(seeing as the front door wasn't open)

Wreath growing around memorial plaque

Wild looking Door knocker. The doors on many of the buildings are massive with very large knockers on them.

Aix en Provence Sunday 5 April 2009

We drove to Aix en Provence on Sunday which is 45 km away. It was a slow drive on the D road (no tolls). There was a lot of traffic and hundreds of motorbikes weaving recklessly in and out of the traffic. A bit nerve wracking.

We picked a good day to go to Aix though as it turns out there was a carnaval on in the afternoon which was the best and also the biggest one we'd seen so far. There was heaps of confetti and tins of stringy stuff being thrown and people dancing and bands playing. It was fun to be part of. We sat on the edge of the fountain in the middle of the parade route and had a birds eye view of everything.

Palais Des Papes Avignon 8 April 2009

We finally got to the Palais des Papes in Avignon yesterday. We've been waiting for the "right" time to go and I didn't want to have to rush the visit. We spent a couple of hours wandering around with our audioguides glued to our heads. It's an impressive building and there was a lot of information to listen to. I tend to switch off after a while and start daydreaming about other things. I'm not sure if that means I'm really not interested or just that it's too much to absorb in one trip. Also alot of the building has been restored/renovated/altered over the years. I like the idea that I'm looking at something that has lasted hundreds of years not something that has been redone to look old. Many of the beautiful murals and decorative features were destroyed when they were covered up by people using the palace after the time of the French revolution.
http://www.palais-des-papes.com/anglais/pdphistoire.html