Provence - where leaves grow on trees!

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  Aix-en-Provence, France
Sunday, April 2, 2006

Yesterday we left Paris and took a two hour and forty minute TGV ride, first class, from the Gare de Lyon to Avignon. As we approached the region, I was excited to find leaves on the trees and blossoming rows of trees and vineyards. When we got off the train, we found it was 27 degrees celcius! We picked up our dazzling blue Peugeot and headed into what looked like a simple road circling Avignon. But we kept ending up in turning lanes that sent us in various directions. We missed the logical road system and drivers of Germany! We quickly looked around Avignon's ancient stone Palais des Papes, but had to scurry off to our rural cottage, where we had hoped to arrive by 5:30. We got there at 7:00 after a rural adventure finding the place. It was actually quite clear, but we missed the autoroute and were on a slower, more scenic route lined with sycamores. They certainly love traffic circles around here!

"C'est parfait!" we kept exclaiming as we looked around our gite - compared to our little hotel room in Paris, this place is luxury. Our little house is a two-storey room on a larger farmhouse. The whole thing has tiled floors, white stone walls, and antique furnishings. Everything we need is provided including laundry, dishwasher, bath, oven, olive oil and other cooking basics. In addition, they had flowers on the table, wine in the fridge, and the local "calissons" (candies). Plus there is a private hot tub and a swimming pool. So we enjoyed just having such a relaxing place to live in this week. It will be hard to go back to Paris next weekend to a potentially shoddy hotel room!

Today we drove to Aix-en-Provence where we've enjoyed the summer temperatures (summer by Vancouver standards). Every building and sqaure here is ancient, stone, and covered in architectural details: green doors with golden door knobs in the centre, decrepit wooden shutters, fountains, window rails, etc.

We fixed the guest book so you can post comments, so feel free to do so. We also hope to put up a few more slide shows this week. We couldn't find wireless anywhere except randomly in our car in a parking space, so we'll see!

Curtis and Nancy

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Nancy in the flower market	Nancy kissing the famous pig of Aix	Nancy walking on the streets of Aix.	The main street of Aix
We discovered an old fountain in Aix-en-Provence

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