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French Kissing in Avignon and Other Tales of a Week in Provence by dln

French Kissing in Avignon and Other Tales of a Week in Provence by dln

Old Nov 8th, 2004, 08:21 PM
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0H, I do hope something made up for such a double dose of disappointment!
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Old Nov 8th, 2004, 08:30 PM
  #22  
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You're all so sweet--yes, it did get better, the first day in the south of France was the worst one (and only bad one, so that's pretty excellent in the scheme of things). I made it all better by, what else? Shopping! Tuesday's report will have you all wishing that you could have been there with me, on market day, shopping til my husband was dropping. But now, to bed (eastern time zone here). Until the next installment!
 
Old Nov 8th, 2004, 08:48 PM
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Shoot dln, no one loves to shop more than me but I thought you were going to say you made it all better by French Kissing!

In any case, I think I can speak for all of us when I say that for whatever the reason we are happy the next day was much better. Looking forward to the next post.
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Old Nov 8th, 2004, 09:31 PM
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Cute report! You've got my attention. Where is the rest? Where is the kiss? It better be good. How long was the train ride?

I do believe that someone did a post on following driving directions in France and talked about the exact experience you had - next exit meaning something entirely different that you think. Have teo see if I can find it for you although it is a little late now!
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Old Nov 8th, 2004, 09:39 PM
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Found it:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...2&tid=34533995
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Old Nov 8th, 2004, 09:42 PM
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I can sure feel for your sad experience with the tapenade. I think I'd feel like crying too.
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Old Nov 8th, 2004, 11:26 PM
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I found the roundabouts in the SOuth intimidating at first being the navigator. However, we did catch on to the roundabout directions fairly fast.
I also figured out that towns underlined in red on the Michelin local maps are those for which one gets the direction. We did have one freeway near miss which ended up nicely. I insisted we would find a sign for Fontville. We did. We were on a road barely outlined on the map. We did get home in good stead.
Sorry about your first day in Provence. I do hope it got better.
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Old Nov 9th, 2004, 02:59 AM
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DLN -

If we'd only known how crazy a day you were having/going to have we'd have followed the coffee up with a pastis or two. Kind of takes the edge off as you are heading for your third trip around the round-about...

-Kevin
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Old Nov 9th, 2004, 05:08 AM
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dln, you big tease! We expect hot passion and you give us funny visions of you going round and round in cirles?

I once ate a rather nice picnic lunch before getting out of a crazy roundabout near Metz.

Keep it coming.
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Old Nov 9th, 2004, 05:42 AM
  #30  
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Din I am so excited to read your report. It has encouraged me to write a report of my recent disappointing trip to Provence (because of knee and hip problems of my companion). We also had road problems. My French got a good workout asking directions when we were constantly lost. The advice was always the same: "toute droite", only the roads do not go "toute droite", they zig, they zag and then they go around and around and around. More later, you have encouraged me.
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Old Nov 9th, 2004, 06:03 AM
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Thank you, everyone, more melodrama ahead as I sit in the restaurant diluting my wine with elephant tears!

"What do you want to do?" asked Rob, his face a picture of tender concern (if I'd know how effective tears are at melting a man, I'd have started the crying routine 20 years ago...oh well). "LEAVE!" said I, and so we did. It was actually kind of embarrassing asking for the check as our server came over inquiring about our dinner order. She was a bit taken aback that we wanted to go without dinner, and I had to make up an excuse of feeling a bit "malade." Yes, malade from the bad tapenade!

We walked around Beaucaire a bit on the outer perimeter of the town along the waterside and found nothing to our liking. What we should have done was walk into the interior of the town, where we would have found the square and a bistro or two, but we weren't thinking. We drove to Nimes instead. We found a nice bistro that was still serving at 9:30 pm. We sat outside and people watched while we ate. I had a simple bowl of moules with frites on the side--delicious! Nimes looked like a nice place even in the dark, and we said we'd go back later to explore, but somehow we never got around to it.

We slept beautifully that night. Say what we might about the tattiness of decoration at the Domaine; the beds were comfy and fluffy. We awoke the next morning to the sound of conversation. We were a bit startled because it was so clear--it was almost like we'd left the door to our room open. We hadn't. The noise came from our neighbors, whose bathroom shared a common wall with ours. There couldn't have been a shred of insulation between the wall because we had clarity of sound that would have made the Verizon cell phone man proud. "Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now?" Could we ever. I could hear the man next door lathering his armpits as he showered. You think showering would be a quiet occupation, wouldn't you? NO! I heard the soap bubbles bursting to the accompaniment of other bodily bubbles of air bursting and I was about ready to scream! Listening to one's own husband in the moring is bad enough without overhearing someone else's. This did not endear me to the Domaine des Clos.
 
Old Nov 9th, 2004, 06:06 AM
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Waiting for more,dln.

For those planning on driving in France:

I have found that the www.mappy.com maps can be zoomed way, way in.

As I plan out my route I look for little towns, intersections, etc and zoom in on them. This often shows that what looks like a straight line on the Michelin Regional Map can be a Right turn/Left turn.
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Old Nov 9th, 2004, 06:07 AM
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Enjoying your report, as always, dln. Looking forward to more.
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Old Nov 9th, 2004, 06:23 AM
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OMG!! giggling over the 'stranger in the shower' noises LOL
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Old Nov 9th, 2004, 06:29 AM
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In general I feel that driving in Europe with an American roadway mind is the problem. My first attempt driving in Europe -Tuscany to be exact-was a real chore. In the States I'm considered a very good driver. Manhattan 12 noon on Friday-no problem. Philadelphia to Portland Me. -6 1/2 hours- no problem.... back roads of Italy - god help me. The worst arguement I ever had with my wife was trying to find the road back to our hotel in Tuscany(she got out of the car and threatened to walk-?- I couldn't find the road but she was going to walk!) Since my first experience all I do now is put myself into a 'European Drive Mind' and don't think I'm in the States where the signs make more sense to me. Driving isn't a problem now but that first time almost changed my life..
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Old Nov 9th, 2004, 06:49 AM
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We still do the circle bit alot til we see that sign(very important) Toute directions. After Awhile we caught on not to look for the name of our designated village but the city beyond in. You aim for that city BEYOND your village. But dln, you make getting lost fun!!!!!
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Old Nov 9th, 2004, 06:53 AM
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Bubbles and roundabouts! Could we get to the French-kissing scene P-L-E-A-SE!
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Old Nov 9th, 2004, 07:40 AM
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Deirdre,
What an entertaining report!

I'm laughing imagining you two going round and round! I don't know how I got so lucky, but my DH seems to have a sixth sense when it comes to roundabouts- otherwise I'm sure we would be in the same boat!

And the thin walls! It's funny now, but I'm sure at the time you didn't find it so entertaining.

I'll never forget staying at a hotel in Germany where the woman in the next room was "yodeling" what seemed like half the night. The next morning in the breakfast room, we were looking around at all the people trying to guess who it might have been!

And we thought the Germans were quiet and reserved!

Loving your report-- keep it coming!
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Old Nov 9th, 2004, 07:42 AM
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din: regarding the round a bouts....is your last name Grizwald perhaps? round, and round, and round they go...and as the sun sets...........
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Old Nov 9th, 2004, 07:54 AM
  #40  
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crefloors, you have to tell me who Grizwald is. Could he not find his way out of a paper bag, like us?

Breakfast was a much better state of affairs. The dining room of the Domaine, in the big house, was clearly the budget breaker of the place. Lovely paintings--all originals--adorned the walls and the antique harvest table groaned under the weight of all the breakfast goodies. There were pots and pots of confitures, breads and croissants, fresh fruits, yogurts...it all looked marvelous. There were already several guests at the table (all freshly clean and showered, we knew ) and they greeted us and included us in their conversations. It was really nice to see the easy comraderie between the guests and we wished that we understood more of the language. I think we only caught about half of what was going on, but it was at least enough to make us feel like we weren't out in left field entirely.

Rob and I headed into Beaucaire with a week's worth of laundry. French washing machines are wonderful! We were rather doubtful of getting away with using one machine only, but the laundry attendant kept urging us on. "More, more! Until your hand won't fit!" So we kept piling it in. She looked like she knew what she was talking about. With a good measure of mangled French and English on both sides, coupled with emphatic hand signals, we got our washing sorted out and left it to the watchful eye of the kind attendant.

We set out to explore the little town of Beaucaire. It's a nice little place with impressive ruins of a centuries' old castle, a canal dotted with pleasure boats and a town square (well hidden in the center) featuring an enormous bronze dragon, presumably the dragon of the neighboring town of Tarascon. There are also several pottery shops. Beaucaire has made a concerted effort to attract artisans and there were plenty of shops and studios to be found. Rob and I walked the ramparts of the original town wall and marvelled at the gorgeous views of the countryside it afforded. And then we headed back to finish up on our laundry.
 

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