Vaison-La-Romaine

One of our goals in traveling to France was to see places that we had always wanted to visit. Usually when we go to France, it's to visit Rebekah's parents and it's Christmas, so there's not much opportunity to explore other regions.

For Rebekah, seeing the lavender fields was one of two lifelong dreams (the other is seeing the Lascaux caves, where there are pre-historic paintings!). Luckily, June was just the right month for everything to be in bloom in that region. So, we added Vaison-La-Romaine to our itinerary, a small sleepy Provence town. We had to take a bus there, and the driver (possibly because us 'young'uns' got on) played the most terribly poppy obnoxious radio music the whole way. Delightful.

When we arrived, with our giant backpacks, we came upon a huge, and I mean HUGE outdoor market. I had never seen such a big one in my life. It was throughout town, in every street. Tons of fruit, linens, baskets, hats, clothing, knick-knacks, hot food like roasted chicken, paella, and stuffed veggies (all fresh!), soap, pottery, nougat, honey, and more fruit. We bought 5 peaches and 5 apricots and ate them all immediately (they were so ripe and so juicy and let's face it: we hadn't been eating enough fruit).

That's when we bought our straw hats!

When we got to our hotel, we took a nap to beat the heat. When I woke up, I saw a bug on my blanket by my face. When its size and shape registered in my brain, I bounced out of that bed like you wouldn't believe. I screamed: "It's a TICK!! IT'S A TICK!!"

We found several more in the room, gathered them in a cup and brought them to the receptionist who denied them being ticks but instead called them "some sort of big ant". Riiiiiight. So French: so unwilling to admit error. At least she offered us another room (bigger and better). We did a thorough check and found nothing, so it turned out all right.

The next morning, our hotel owner, a lavender expert, helped us rent a little Fiat Panda for the morning (4 hours: 22 euros = cheap!!). He even printed out a map and outlined a scenic route for us. It was absolutely one of the best mornings of our time abroad, for the both of us. Just look at these pictures!!

Olive trees

 This is the hill we drove up. There were some serious cyclists on that road too!

 Look at that purple!!

 In the next picture, you can see itty bitty lavender plants just starting to grow.

 I could have stayed here looking at this view for hours. And smelling it too!

The rest of the day, we explored the medieval town. The stone homes and beautiful vines were so pretty! Look at how the houses seem stacked one on top of the other.

We walked down to this stream, I waded in it (thank you Keen sandals!) and Matt skipped rocks. The cold water was heavenly.

In this last picture, you can see that I'm starting to look more pregnant and less fat. Or maybe just pudgy still. Behind us is the largest roman bridge still in use in France. It's called "the roman bridge". Cool, right?