Today we returned to Sault to get a closer look at the lavender fields. The fields are so numerous that if you roll down the window of the car, lavender-scented air blows in. It’s heavenly. We had a great time climbing in and out of the car to get some great shots, along with picking some straggling lavender blooms from a field that had already been harvested.
On the road above Sault. Several of the lavender fields had already been harvested - and they still had all of this.One of the manyThe town of SaultLavender roadOnce lavender has been harvested, it needs to dry for a few days before going to the distillery.
My favorite shot of our entire trip so far, Lavender Kiss, was taken with the aid of our tripod and some well-timed wind.
Lavender kiss
We stopped in town to grab some sandwiches and buy lavender products from the local farmers’ cooperative. Our whole car smells like lavender now.
Stocking up on lavender products at the local farmers' cooperative
We pushed on for a quick stop in Aix to visit an English bookstore there, and then on to the port city of Marseilles. We went with some hesitation as Marseilles has a reputation for lots of thieves and petty crime and we’re still a bit scarred from our Barcelona visit, but didn’t want to miss out on seeing it. It is the unofficial capital of the South of France and has a character completely separate from the mother country. It’s unique.
We spent some time touring the old port, climbing up onto an old fort that guarded the harbor and provided great views out to sea and to the Chateau d’If, made most famous by Alexander Dumas (the Count of Monte Cristo was held at the prison at Chateau d’If).
The Old Port and Basillica of Notre Dame de la GardeSunshine breaking through the cloudsWalking up to the fortView of the old harbor from the fortSelf-portrait time
We then climbed up above the city to the stunning Basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde for one spectacular sunset before stopping in Aix for dinner along the Cours Mirabeau on the way home.
Heading up to the basilicaLooking down from the church on the other side. I called those tall plants in the foreground the Dr. Seuss trees. They stunk!Beautiful sunset over the waterThe Chateau d'If out in the harborYou can see the oldest part of the Basilica (a 16th century fortification built for Francois I) from this angleLast shot of the tower overlooking the Old Port. Notre Dame de la Garde (Our Lady of the Watch) is the traditional guardian of seafarers
The day after the tour we decided to drive up in the car just to see it for ourselves. It was a long and painful climb for our poor little Pierre, I can’t imagine doing it on a bike! Maybe someday when I’m tougher.
Along our way we drove through one of the towns on the tour route and had fun looking at all of the encouraging words and phrases painted onto the pavement.
Sunflower field along the roadAlong the Tour routeAlong the route
We then took the scenic route to the area surrounding the town of Sault because we had read that it was a large lavender-producing region. That doesn’t even begin to cover it. Fields upon fields of purple flowers. We vowed to go back when we had more time to explore.
The scenic routeScenic overlookDriving past the lavender fields of SaultCute little nekkid sheep
We arrived at the summit of Mont Ventoux just in time to catch the last of the sunset. Tons of other Tour fans and bikers who had just completed the climb were there as well, to see the finish line for themselves.
Almost to the summit! Imagine how happy the Tour riders were with this sight.The finish lineLooking back down to the roadThe summitSunset in the valley
We were both excited to discover that the next to final stage of the Tour de France, stage 20, was going to come within a half hour of where we are living. Mont Ventoux is a punishing 20 km climb at 8% grade and is the last stretch of stage 20.
Looking up at Mont Ventoux from the town of Saint Colombe. The finish line is right where the tower is.
We left our apartment at 3 am on Saturday morning to get a spot along the route. The area near the top of Mont Ventoux had already been full and closed off by police for several days, so the best we could hope for was a spot somewhere along the climb. We packed some snacks, our American flags (who knew we’d have another use for them after D-Day in Normandy?), and a bunch of water and headed out.
Arriving at the route was like coming into a huge all-night tailgating party. Cars, campers, and tents were strewn alongside the road and the vineyards everywhere. Young’uns were busy painting various thoughts of either derision or encouragement along the road for the riders to see as they drove along, everything from “Cantador dopes!” to “Go on, you can do it!”. It reminded me of tailgating at all the Dave Matthews Band concerts I’ve been to in Hartford with friends over the years. One giant drunken party, only instead of lots of beer and various illegal substances, the crowd was hopped up on too much wine and cheese, no doubt.
Campers set up wherever they could find a flat spot of ground
After hitting the spot where the police had closed off the road, we found a place to secure our little car on about km 2 of the 20-km slope and then tried to sleep. Sleeping in the car never results in a good outcome either for one’s sense of rest or one’s back and neck. We awoke with the sun and as we stretched our sore necks, we noticed a parade of hundreds of hikers and bikers making their way up the mountain. The bikers were doing it, obviously, because they just wanted to say that they also had climbed Mont Ventoux just before the peloton. The hikers wanted to be further up the mountain and had no way to get past the road blocks except on foot. I applauded their diligence but was perfectly happy myself to stay where we were. I wasn’t really up for a nearly 20 km climb in flip flops.
These guys are in for a long climbIt was a constant procession!
After a while we decided to walk up the road to the nearest town, Saint Colombe, to see what was happening and to eat some early morning sandwiches. It was definitely a festival atmosphere, with loud music, tons of noisy people, and souvenir vans stopping every few feet as they drove up the road to sell official Tour merchandise.
In Saint ColombeThe official merchandiseHey look, Americans!
According to the schedule of the stage, the bikers weren’t expected to arrive at our spot until a little after 3 pm, which made for a long, very hot day. The sun was relentless and there wasn’t much of a breeze, unfortunately. We chased shade as much as we could and cursed the fact that we forgot to bring sunblock (I wasn’t thinking too clearly at 3am) as we felt our arms and legs bake in the Provencal sunshine.
Chasing shadeFuture Le Tour competitor
About an hour before the bikers were scheduled to arrive, the sponsor entourage began making its way up the mountain, driving specialized vehicles sort of like parade floats and throwing out freebies into the crowd, everything from gummy bears to newspapers to bottles of water to balloons for waving at the riders. The crowd was becoming palpably excited and it was infectious.
The actively waiting crowdThe beginning of the sponsor processionMore sponsor floatsFree gummy bears!Free hats!Waiting for Lance
We waited, and wilted, and tried to turn so the sun wasn’t hitting the worst burned parts of us. Finally the moment arrived as we saw the first appearance of the gendarmerie clearing the road and saw the press cars and press helicopter hovering on the road just below the bend.
The lead press cars and press helicopters tipped us off that their arrival was imminent.The gendarmes clearing the road for the bikers.
My job was to man the video camera while Larry was getting shots off with his digital slr camera. We had known ahead of time that Lance Armstrong was in 3rd place overall but didn’t know where he’d be within the pack in this stage. The lead team of only about 5 riders came through first, and then there was a break while more team vehicles made their way past, before the second, larger group came through.
Here they are!Team cars coming through with extra bikes and other equipmentTelevision helicopter hovering above
We couldn’t even tell until we checked the footage later because it all happened so fast, but Lance Armstrong was in the second group, along with the winner of this year’s tour, Alberto Contador. You can see him on the other side of Contador, wearing the Astana team jersey and black socks and shoes, in the video that Larry took below.
The third and final group came through shortly after that, and then – it was over.
The final and largest group coming through
12 hours of tailgating for essentially 5 minutes of riders blowing by. It was totally worth it. Larry was especially excited as he grew up watching the Tour on TV and remembers watching many years where the Tour included the climb up Mont Ventoux. Now, he had been able to witness it in person.
We went back to the nearest village below us, Bedoin, where we watched the riders complete the climb and arrive triumphantly at the summit, along with hundreds of other spectators.
For our third wedding anniversary, we decided to spend the day immersed in Van Gogh. We set out for Arles and St. Remy de Provence, the former being the place where he lived and shared an apartment with Gaugin before famously losing his ear, and the second being the site of the mental hospital where he spent a very productive year after the incident in Arles. Arles and St. Remy are the places where most of his best-known and most beloved works were painted. Van Gogh painted 187 paintings while in Arles and 142 paintings in the year he was at St. Remy.
We went first to St. Remy to visit the sanitarium at St. Paul de Mausole, which is just outside the center of St. Remy and is still a mental institution, now known as the Van Gogh Institute. Here in a separate part of the complex they have kept and preserved Van Gogh’s room as it was when he stayed here. They have hanging on the walls several of Van Gogh’s letters written to his brother Theo describing his surroundings. Judging from his writings, it actually seems he was very happy there.
Walkway towards the asylum at St. RemyCloisters at the entryVan Gogh's bedroom at St. RemyView from Van Gogh's bedroom - at least as it looks todayOut in the gardens - now you can see why sunflowers were the subject of so many of his paintings!Another look at the cloisters
Outside of the building that holds Van Gogh’s room are the gardens hung with blown up reproductions of Van Gogh’s paintings created at St. Remy, hung in the spots where they were created. For those who love Van Gogh’s work, as we do, it is almost a sacred experience. Ostensibly his most famous painting (and my personal favorite), Starry Night, was painted at St. Remy.
One of the many paintings he did in the gardens at St. RemyMy favorite self portrait - done while at St. Remy
Once he left St. Remy, he went to live just outside of Paris, near a doctor who was treating him, where he then shot himself in the chest in a field. The initial shot didn’t kill him – he wandered back to the auberge where he was staying and died two days later in his brother Theo’s arms. His last words to his beloved brother were “La tristesse durera toujours” – “The sadness will last forever”. In a sad footnote, Theo, his closest confidant and friend in life, died of what one can only describe as heartbreak six months later. They are now buried side by side just outside of Paris. Van Gogh did not even begin his career as an artist until he was 27. He was 37 years old when he died. Imagine what he could have done had he lived a full life.
We followed up St. Remy with a visit to Arles, where Van Gogh lived with Paul Gaugin and painted many of his best-known works. At the tourist office they have mapped a ‘Van Gogh Route’ that you can follow to visit all of the spots frequented or made famous by Van Gogh. Unfortunately the house he lived in, Maison Jaune or Yellow House, was destroyed during World War II.
We also visited the Roman coliseum at Arles, built in during the first century. Unfortunately we could not go inside as they were busy holding a bullfight, which they do every Wednesday during the month of July. It was not a tempting activity for us.
Roman coliseum at ArlesLa Cafe de la Nuit in Arles - subject of some of Van Gogh's paintingsPart of the remains of an old Roman bridge in Arles
We returned back to the town of St. Remy for dinner, stopping to visit the birthplace of Nostradamus while we wandered the streets looking for a restaurant.
Birthplace of Nostradamus
This little guy left the bar where he was spending his evening to come and say hello to Larry. He then returned to his post and assumed his seat. Hilarious.
We began a recent Tuesday morning with a trip to the north to nearby Vaison-la-Romaine to attend its weekly market and check out the many Roman ruins present in that city. Vaison-la-Romaine’s weekly market is second in size only to Carpentras, where we are staying.
Towns always get very crowded on market daysAt the fish monger stand. That sure looks like a shark to me.One of the many olive sellersColorful straw bagsSoap sellerA lot of paellaRoman ruins at Vaison-la-RomaineYou can get some idea from this just how vast these ruins are.I'm sure this guy has some stories to tell
Though we had been in and around Avignon in the car many times when we went to church or were on our way to other spots, we had yet to stop and visit the city and the Palais des Papes. We spent a sweltering afternoon walking through the crowded streets of Avignon (especially crowded due to the annual Avignon theater festival which takes place during the month of July) and walking in the steps of the Popes of the 14th century. The Palais des Papes is a considered one of the most important medieval Gothic buildings in existence. Unfortunately once the Popes abandoned Avignon and returned to Rome, it was poorly kept and then completely ransacked during the French Revolution. Still, it is an impressive, massive building.
Walking the streets of AvignonApproaching Palace of the PopesInside one of the many great hallsAnother view of the outside from one of the towersHanging out up top
The annual theatre festival brought a lot of visitors and street performers to the city.
Every lamp post and street corner was covered with postersPerformers trying to drum up publicity for their show
We even caught a view of the famed Pont d’Avignon on our way into town. We meant to go back after the Palace of the Popes but by then we were too hot and tired.
