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 Day 9: We are now in the south of France. Yesterday morning we woke up in Switzerland and spent most of that day traveling here by train. Here we are, bright and early at Le Prieure Hotel in Avignon, about to sit down for breakfast. |
 Day 9: After breakfast, we handed our luggage to the concierge to be forwarded to our next hotel in Uzes. We then began biking. The bike was really high quality. We didn't expect that from a rental bike. |
 Day 9: These are just some pictures of the grounds at our hotel in Avignon,. |
 Day 9: More pictures at the grounds at Le Prieure Hotel in Avignon,. |
 Day 9: More pictures at the grounds at the hotel. |
 Day 9: After a few hours cycling through vineyards we came upon the medieval hamlet of Castillon du Gard. |
 Day 9: Castillon du Gard is perched up on a hill as you can see in this aerial view. From this village you can see the Pont du Gard Roman aqueduct. |
 Day 9: We rode our bikes to Pont du Gard and saw the aqueduct, but I won't go into detail here because it's quite well documented online. |
 Day 9: This is our early dinner at Hotêl d'Entraigue (our destination for the day) in the town of Uzes. All of our hotel restaurants have been quite good. |
 Day 10: The next day was our longest day of biking. The temperature rose to a wicked 109.4°F We stopped here for much needed ice cream. We have just crossed the Rhone river into the town of Tarascon |
 Day 10: Here we pilfered a few apples (yes apples) from one of the orchards we rode past. Most of the agricultural landscape was growing grapes, but we also saw a lot of sunflower fields and fruit trees. |
 Day 10: The heat would have bothered us if we had been doing anything other than biking. The breeze from riding actually kept us quite comfortable. We expected to feel hot. |
 Day 10: These long stretches through rural farm land were quiet. There were very few cars (often none at all) a great majority of the time. |
 Day 10: We would go for long periods of time without seeing anyone else. |
 Day 10: Carol took this sunflower picture. The sunflowers on this side of the street were facing toward us. In the next picture, they are facing away from us and it creates a very different look. |
 Day 10: This the same stand of sunflowers, but as seen from the other side of the small road. |
 Day 10: Carol took this picture as we arrived at our destination in the town of Arles. |
 Day 10: We are making our way on foot through the narrow streets to Hotel d’Arlatan |
 Day 10: This is the courtyard at Hotel d’Arlatan |
 Day 10: The fountain in the middle of the courtyard is home to four turtles. |
 Day 10: It was early enough when we arrived that we had some time to check out the village. |
 Day 10: This is a small shop in Arles |
 Day 10: Here we're searching Arles for a place to eat. Tonight's dinner is not included with our hotel room the way it normally is. It's a nice change because it brings us out of the hotel, and gives us the fun job of exploring for a restaurant. |
 Day 10: Searching Arles for dinner. |
 Day 10: Though in In France, we somehow decided on Italian food. |
 Day 10: The entrance to Hotel d’Arlatan was nicely lit after returning from dinner. |
 Day 11: The next day our ride included a very long climb up to the mountain-top village of Les Baux de Provence |
 Day 11: This village has a reputation for being nice, but we did not spend any time here. Today's destination is Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. This is a view from the summit of our winding climb up the mountain road. |
 Day 11: Same summit, different view. Before we left, our curiosity led us to the entrance to a cave. We walked in and found ourselves in the Caves de Sarragan. Video clip from inside the cave. Caves deSarragan (wmv) - 8 sec 606K |
 Day 11: This big cave was actually made by quarrying stone to build the the village. The cave is now home to a large wine cellar where you can sample and buy regional wines. We were thoroughly enjoying the 59°F interior--a nice alternative to the 109°F heat outside. |
 Day 11: We found this field at the bottom of our winding descent from Les Baux de Provence we thought perhaps it was lavender. |
 Day 11: We've arrived in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, and our cycling is complete. We still have most of the day to see the village. Historically, this is where Vincent van Gogh was institutionalized for mental illness, yet it was during this time that he did some of his most famous paintings. |
 Day 11: Carol is sitting across the table from me in the previous picture. We're at a small cafe' having crepes made with Banana and Nutella. |
 Day 12: The next day. This is the view from our window at our hotel Le Castelet des Alpilles. The hotel had lots of little sitting rooms, and spaces that you never see hotels anymore. |
 Day 11: Today we had time to continue exploring Saint-Rémy-de-Provence before we catch our TGV train to Paris. |
 Day 11: Luckily, it was market day, and the the center of the village was very active . There was everything here from meat & cheese to clothing and pottery. We are buying lunch and dinner supplies for our train ride to Berlin. |
 Day 11: Video clip from Market Day Market Day (wmv) - 10 sec 806K |
 Day 11: The baguettes were so good and so fresh. We took great pleasure in eating them plain. Locals would come and fill their baskets with several loaves as part of their daily routine. |
 Day 11: This is the view from the side of our hotel Le Castelet des Alpilles in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence |
 Day 11: Here we were waiting for our taxi to the train station. We will take the TGV to Paris and connect to Berlin. Video from the TGV during the Day, TGV Daytime (wmv) - 2 sec 428K In this video, the trucks are on the interstate traveling at 65MPH in the same direction that we are, yet they appear to be standing still or moving backwards. |
 Day 11: In Paris, we transferred to a night train with a sleeper car for a 900 mile overnight trip to Berlin. We were completely surprised by how much fun this was. We felt like we were in North by Northwest. This was our favorite overnight accommodation by far Video from aboard the night train. NightTrain (wmv) 27 sec 1840K |
 In Berlin we
attended the wonderful Wedding |
