First of all, I want to thank everyone on these boards for all the advice I receive.It really helped in planning our trip.

First day: We arrived in Paris around 11am from NYC. My husdan had arranged an upgrade to business class for us. I only wish I could fly like that all the time. Upon our arrival at CDG, we decided to take the train into Paris rather than taking an expensive cab. Once we located the train station at the airport, it was fairly painless. We flew AA, and the Gare is a bit of a hike to get to.

Luckily, when we exited the metro at Le Chatelet, our hotel was just a five minute walk and we found it very easily. A big help was the Falk plan map of Paris that my husband has owned for years that has great detail of the Paris streets.

We stayed that night at Hotel Britannique in the 1st Arr. It's a charming hotel and the rooms were nice and clean. This is a bit more expensive than what we normally spend, but it was the first night of our honeymoon and I wanted something a little nicer. In the end, I didn't find the room as romantic as I thought it would be, but the staff at the hotel were lovely and it is in a great location. We had debated between this hotel and Hotel St. Paul Rive-Gauche and chose Britannique because it provided a quicker and easier route to the Gare de Lyon.

After settling in, we immediately decided to get out and walk around the city. We had both been in Paris before but not together and I had only been there for a day when I was living in Amsterdam and was enroute to Portugal for a vacation.

My husband really wanted a crepe. He had spent about 2 months in Paris years ago while working on a show. So we walked to Les Halles in search of the crepe man he remembered. This guy was supposed to have the best crepes in all of Paris. Alas, we didn't find him, but we did find a guy selling crepes and my husband's crepe search was fulfilled.

We walked the streets and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon.

Later, we met up a with a dear friend of mine who has been in Paris for the year and she took us to Kong in the Kenzo department store. We had some glasses of wine and caught up. We had tried to go to the rooftop cafe at La Samairitanne Department store (practically right next door), but it wasn't open for dinner yet.

We follow up with a lovely meal at Le Relais St. Paul. We had wanted to go to L'Edroit (thanks to richardb.typepad/iheartparis/pariseat.html for his awesome website which helped us to choose) but it was closed that night for dinner.

Day 2- Down to Provence!!! (I am in love with Provence). We took the 1130am TGV to Avignon after a quick drive by (really a walk by) of the Eiffel Tower and breakfast.

We had booked PREM tickets ahead of time through the SCNF website.

We boarded on the dot, and the trip was lovely and seamless. My time and order obsessed husband was in awe of the speed and efficiency of the train. I was more interested in the beautiful scenery passing us by. We arrived in Avignon exatly at 255pm and picked up our rental car.

It took us about an hour to drive to the chateau we had reservations at in Aubignon. In reality, had we had a Michelin map of Provence, this should have taken us much less time.

The best part of our stay was the chateau we stayed at,Domaine Le Vallon! The owners Fred and Michele made us feel like we were guests in their home rather than paying guests at a guesthouse. It is gorgeous and lovingly restored! The story of how they found and restored Le Vallon is incredible...but I won't go into this now be. This is their 2nd season they are open, and they only take reservations through the internet (you can't just show up or call). Two things to know if you are going to stay there-
1. You'll need a car and the first time you are trying to find it it's a little tricky.
2. Their eldest son who used to own a 1 star restaurant in Gronigen does a Gastronomique Table (6 or 7 courses with individual wines for each course and he takes the time to describe each course and each wine as it is served)on Tuesday evenings that is incredible and not to be missed if you are staying at Le Vallon. Or if you are not there on tuesdays, they also do a host's table on friday night and Michele is the cook. It is much simpler affair, but just as good. Fred and Michele even join their guests for dinner. (www.vallon-provence.com)

Since we it was Tuesday and we had reservations for the Gastronomique Table, we drove into Carpentras and walked around to kill a few hours. Not a bad distraction, but we didn't find it to be that interesting of a city.

Day 3---We started that day at Baux des Provence(lovely) and then drove to St. Remy, had a glass of wine at a cafe and walked around town. I was highly disappointed because the market was on when we drove through St. Remy in the morning and we stupidly forgot that the markets end around noon, and we didn't return until 130pm.

Then we headed out to Monastere St Paul, the monastery and asylum where Van Gogh checked himself into and where he created many of his most famous works. It was gorgeous, and the added bonus were all the lavender irises blooming which echoed his painting, Les Irises.

My bachelor's degree is in Fine Arts, and I have always loved Van Gogh. Visiting the monestary really gave me a new insight into the pain and suffering of his world. It's so astounding to know how afflicted he was, and that yet most of his paintings reflected the joy in life around him.

We weren't planning on seeing Glanum, but kind of ended up there by the back way while doing the painter's walk outside the monastery. We had alot of fun rambling through the trail that leads up to the ancient city and discovering odd little pieces of Glanum interspersed throughout the wooded fields. If you are interested in Roman ruins, don't miss Glanum.

Evenign Day 3--
We had the pleasure of dining at the often mentioned Chez Bru in Eygalieres. Fred and Michel had called to make reservations for us in the morning. It was probably the most expensive and amazing meal we have ever eaten in our lives. We did the tasting menu. If you decide to eat there, you can also do al a carte...but don't miss the specialty of the house...D'Ouefs Poches avec Trois Poissons et Truffe Buerre (please excuse any mispellings). I can't remember the wine we ended up ordering, but it was lovely to the last drop. Describing this meal(and the previous evening's also very amazing and practically a tie in terms of quality meal) would take a whole other message thread. How amazing to have two great meals in two consecutive nights.

Other restaurants that had been recommended to us in this area (by a client of mine) were La Maison Jaune and Les Alpilles in St. Remy.

Day 4-

Each morning we greet the day with a breakfast of yogurt, walnuts, local honey, fresh-squeezed orange juice, croissants and strong cafe au lait..lovingly prepared by Michele and served outside. We have lucked out, because we are blessed with an abundance of sunshine each day.

Then off to Avignon. We easily amused ourselves for the day wandering around Avignon. After a quick stroll through the gardens, we did the Pont D'Avignon avec les audioguides.

Then we walked around the old city, just taking in the sites. We used our time in Avignon also to deal with things like checking email and dealing with my husband's bank which had put a security stop on his ATM card after he had withdrawn money at CDG in Paris b/c he hadn't alerted them that he would be travelling in France.

After our daily requisite plat des frommage and terres des vins, we wandered back to the Palais des Papes to take the tour. We had our lovely little audioguides to enlighten us as we wandered through the Palais. There's one Pope's chamber (I can't remember which one) which had the most amzing murals on it's walls. After we finished the tour, we needed a break from being indoors.

So we wandered over to an interesting area around Rue des Teinturiers, the old dyers district. The cobble stones streets, and old watermills gave it this wonderful vibe. We ate dinner at Cafe Wooloomooloo there. It was really good and not too expensive. I had read about it in the Lonely Planet and was expecting some kind of hippie/backpacker place but was pleasently suprised that it wasn't. (On a side note, depending on when and where I travel, I sometimes fall into the hippie/backpacker category). The food is defititely french with african and asian influences.


There's a really great wine bar where all the local artists and shopowners seem to go to as soon as they get off work right across road. We spent about an hour before dinner and had a few glasses of wine (I let the bartender choose our second round based on our first order because I wanted to try slightly different wines). They were excellent and ended up getting engaged in conversation with a few of the locals

Down the road, there's another Cafe/restaurant that looked really good too. I can't remember the name of it, but I think it had something to do with music.

To be continued....

topping for lp_nyc, since Rex isn't here to do it!

thanks and welcome back. I enjoyed all the restos you mentioned in St Remy and next time in Eygalieres try the bistro's less expensive place (around the corner from my pastis hangout,the cafe Progress) "Petite Bru."

Day 4- We were going to head towards the Petit Luberon to do some hiking around Cheval Blanc (on our next trip to Provence I really want to spend time at Gorges du Verdon), but at the last minute, I realized we could cut down on our travel time by spending the day driving and hiking around Les Dentelles de Montmirail (we had reserved for the host's table at Le Vallon that night and didn't want to have to be rushed to get back).

We stopped off first at Seguret. We wandered through the town, just taking in the quaintness of picturesque hilltop town. At some point we found the markings for a trail that led to some ruins. The smell of cypress and spring flowers blooming and made our leisurely 30 minute hike to the remains of the roman outpost just lovely. We took a back trail off the peak, and ended up getting lost for a short while on the backroads among small farms and vineyards. After we eventually got our bearings, we headed back to Seguret and jumped in the car to Vaison La Romain.

We used our handy Michelin GuideMap of Provence to help us choose the green roads which promise minute after minute of breathtaking and beautiful scenery at every turn. Everything is so green! Poppies and lavender irises and the young vines of spring populate the valleys. Picturesque houses, stately cypress, olive groves, and the mountains in the distance. I love how the vineyards and olive groves blanket the vistas as if they are woven into the scenery. In Vaison, we wandered the streets of the old quarter letting our whims decide our route. We eventually headed over the bridge and had a quick bite of our requesite daily cheese plate accompanied by local wines. Today, we drank Provencal Rose. and finshing up in Beaumes des Venise.


Then back in the car, following more green roads and back roads from Crestet to Maulecene (we picked up D 90 at some point). There was one harrowing point where we had to follow a road that cut through a military training base. Harrowing mainly because of the narrowness of the road and the number of blind turns that existed. I'll give the French this- they can even make a military base beautiful! Go figure. Anyway, once back on D90, we stopped at one of the Belvederes marked on our map and followed some of the foot trails up into the higher parts of the mountain. Again, more beauty, another perspective. One of our hikes provided a gorgeous view overlooking the valey for miles. We just sat there, watching the late afternoon light shift back and forth across the panorama.

Then back in the car again. WE stopped just outside Maulaucene because we happened upon a roadside Caveau that just looked so rustic and lovely. (I was determined to bring home some of the amazing wines we were experiencing). I was quite proud of myself for actually conversing the friendly woman who was running the Caveau that day entirely in French. We tasted three reds and two whites. We ended up with one red and one white, which I defintely know we ended up drinking before leaving Provence.

We finished our drive by swinging through Beaumes des Venise and stopping for another cheese plate and two glasses of the famous Beaume des Venise wines. MMMM.

....have to run now...I'll get to dinner at Le Vallon and hopefully day 5 later today...


We used a Michelin Driving map of Provence to decide which roads to take and where to stop and do some hikes. If you're going to be driving around, it is essential to get one of these maps. Overall it greatly reduced the number of times we got lost! All the scenic roads are marked in green.

Just reread after I posted, sorry for the random broken sentence at the end of the 3rd paragraph (I've been cutting and pasting from notes and fleshing out things).

OK- I justed noticed alot of other typos ...deepest apologies to the grammar police and reminding myself to be more diligent about proofreading before posting...

Well I'm not the grammer or spelling police. I can read between the lines...lovely post. Thank you for sharing. Congratulations on the new marriage! Many years of happiness and lots of traveling together!

(now note to self: plan trip to Provence...)

Evening Day 4 in Provence-

We returned to Le Vallon and cleaned up and dressed for dinner. The house was filled with the wonderful smells of fresh herbs and garlic as Michele prepared that evenings dinner.
We still had about a half hour to spend, so we went for a nice leisurely stroll down the road, taking in the vineyards, farmhouses, cypress and abundant poppies in as the sun continued to set and walked the grounds at Le Vallon. From the garden and vineyards just outside the kitchen, you can see the imperial Mt. Ventoux in the distance. In the front garden, they have built a trellis and the rose bushes were in sweet full bloom.

Michele called us to join them at the table in the front garden for apertifs. Tonight, Fred and Michele were joining us for dinner, along iwth another french couple who had just arrived that day for a short weekend getaway at Le Vallon. Apertifs was a beautiful Provencal Rose from a local vineyard, and Fred and Michele's grapes had gone into the making of this wine. THey don't produce there own wine yet, but they supply to some of the wineries in the area. The wine was accompanied by tasty fresh black olives marinated with garlic and chevril, thin slices of salami type sausage and fresh green olives. We chatted about our trips and the area amiably in the waning sunlight.

Dinner was then served in the main dining room. For dinner, we switched to a white wine, I think from either Gigondas or Vacqueras. Our first course was a salad with baby arugula from their garden and fresh warm goat cheese --or was it roasted chestnuts? I can't remember, but it was delicious and not a bite went to waste. The second course was some kind of bird, like a chicken, that they were never able to translate into English. WE think it was grouse. It was cooked to delicate roasted perfectio, with the tender and juicy meat falling easliy away from the bone, and yet a slight crispness to the skin from the roasting. I'm guessing that it ingerdients inlcuded olive oil form the region, fresh chevril and of course, whole roast garlic cloves. Accompanied by equally delicately and lovingly prepared baby potatoes and fresh peas from the garden. Teh presentation was beaufitul. This was followed by a cheese course that added to my love of french cheeses- I have yet to meet one I didn't like. My favorites are chevres, and the cleanliness of the taste is so mmm, above what we are used to here in the states (and I'm pretty spoiled, since I live in Manhattan and can get nearly anything here that can be imported into the states). We ended dinner with Michele's exquisite homemade Tarte Tatin topped with vanilla ice cream (I think, I may be slightly off on this detail). None the less, no one left any on their plates. We continued drinking wine (we drank alot of wine this trip...;o) and talking and that's when the story of how Fred and Michele found and restored Le Vallon was told. They brought out an album with photos of the restoration. This story is amazing, but I will not tell it, and let it be something you hear firsthand from them when you visit Le Vallon!

The other couple retired to bed and my husband and I went back out to the front garden to finish up our wine and have a cigarette. Michele very sweetly gave us one of her antique candle lanterns to take with us out to the table so we would have some romantic candlelight to talk by. I tend to be a kltuz sometimes, so I made my husband carry it out for us.

Eventually, we went upstairs and enjoyed our nightly soak(complete with bath salts I had bought earlier that day) in the huge claw-footed bathtub before turning in.

Day 6- (the second day 4 is really day 5). My husband really wants to see one of the roman amphitheaters here and has decided he would rather see the one in Nimes than the one in Arles (plus, it he wants to visit the Pont du Gard).

Today is the first and only day we have pouring rain upon waking. Breakfast is served inside and plans for the day are discussed.

First we drive to Pont du Gard, and as promised the rain has faded away and the skies are that perfect blue. The sight of this historic aqueduct is incredible. I love the elegant rhythmn architectural design of the aqueduct creates, surrounded by green, green and more green. The waters of the river Gard are crystal clear. Pont du Gard is an UNESCO world heritage sight and the surrounding area is pristine. Somehow, I had forgotten to read the part of my guide book describing all the wonderful hiking that existed in the area. I wasn't dressed appropriately for that, so we left after exploring what we could for about an hour.


From there, the drive to Nimes is quite painless, we even manage to make really good time and only make one wrong turn (thanks to Fred's excellent driving directions and our handy Michelin map but no thanks to the frustration of trying to read the road signs quickly enough at ubiquitous french roundabouts, which my French language challenged husband has taken to calling 'rotisseries').

Upon first setting eyes on Nimes, I can tell neither of us is impressed. But we are already here, so we decide to make the most of it for now and set off to see the amphitheater Les Arenes and the Maison Caree. We find the Maison Carree first and I have to say, it's pretty awe inspiring to come across this ancient greek temple in the middle of Nimes. However, my attention was pulled to the boisterous bands playing music outside and across the square.

We were both about ready to bolt and head to Arles when Nimes started to get interesting. That day in Nimes was the Saturday of the Pentecostal Festival des Ferias (french cowboys and bullfighters) and the closer you got to the arena, the more packed and lively and good crazy it all became. There were temporary outdoor restaurants set up all the way down the main street leading to Les Arenes all serving paella, bisteca, sangrias and things more spanish than French (but still with french flair).

We stopped at a cafe to have a quick something to drink (and to use the bathrooms) right next to Les Arenes. You could hear the crowd inside cheering the bullfighters, and from certain vantage points, you could see parts of the crowd too.

As we started to walk back, about 10 bands converged all at once into this motely yet somehow organized parade of bands down the main street. There was one man directing them all as they raucously played these wonderful french/spanish celebratory music pieces. I don't know how else to describe them. The crowd cheered and danced happily. People from inside the arena, stood on top of the walls and in the archways to cheer and dance and sing along. I couldn't stop smiling from all the happiness that surrounded me.

We couldn't resist the smells of the paella, and just had have a taste. Whether we ate at the best paella stand or not, I'll never know, but that doesn't matter. Everyone gets seated family style at long picnic tables. We were seated at a table next to two french couples (who seemed fairly local) in their sixties. The ladies very sweetly(in french) asked if I was familiar with types of food on the menus. I had a question about one dish, I think on the menu they called it Roulliade (but I don't trust my memory at all right now since I din't write it down). The woman pointed to one of their mostly eaten dishes and explained that that it what it was. It was a cold seafood salad with potatoes and aoili sauce. We ordered one of those, one paella and two sangrias. My 'whatever' salad was so good and creamy and garlicky and filled with calamri and langoustines. I wasn't even hungry when I ordered it, but still managed to eat quite a bit of it. My husband's paella was that wonderful perfect blend of sausage, chicken and seafood with saffron rice, lots of garlic and that lovely smoky aroman you only get with food from street stalls. We tried, but neither of us could finish our meals. Bellies full we decided to get the car and move on.

Once we navigated ourselves out of the parking garage, we headed North to Uzes, which I had heard about on these boards and had recommendations from a posting for two restaurants (thanks elle).

Okay, since I have been writing this all from memory, I now remember that the scary harrowing drive through the military base is from Nimes to Uzes, not in Les Dentelles. Leaving Nimes, we had wanted to take D979 up to uzes, but I think somehow we ended up on 418 and then D18 until we navigated back to D979 at Pont St Nicholas.

We arrive in Uzes and again, we have found yet another charming and beautiful little town. We know nothing about Uzes except for the two restaurants we might eat at. We wander through the cobblestone streets, pausing to stop inside churches, admire buildings and notice the slightly different feel that Uzes has from the towns and cities we have been to so far. There is a tranquility and airiness to Uzes (especially after the boisterousness of Nimes). I love the Place au Herbes. The beautiful stone fountain, so simple and stoic that sits in the middle of this huge square, the way the buildings frame the square- so that you really feel like you are in an old ramparts, the beautiful trees with their twisting trunks and how the leaves almost have a silver sparkle to tinge the green in the late afternoon sunlight.

We found the first restaurant that I knew of near the cathedral. It looked cute, but didn't really speak to either of us. More wandering. Tried to find the tourist office and get more info on Uzes. We stopped at a cafe both had a pastis (I think we first tried pastis in St Remy and found we really like the lightness of it and the licorice taste). I left my husband enjoying his Pastis to indulge my shopping habit and look for curtains in two of the shops on the square. I ended up finding a pair of white linen curtain at Sud Etoffe that I liked and were within my budget. I was determined to bring something of Provence into our NY apartment so that would be a permanent reminder of this happy time and place.

We found the other restaurant after our pastis, Au Fil d'Eau. Although this one got me pretty excited with it's menu, my husband wanted to eat simpler and in plein air that evening. We ended up eating at Lou Mazet. We were the first diners of the evening and the waitress came brought over the chalkboard menu of perriades. You had a choice of 200g of meat, chicken, duck or fish. Each one was prepared differently. We decided to order the duck, which was marinated in morrocan style spices, and served with a mango confit, and butter with nutmeg and cardammom and the chicken, marinated in yogurt with paprika and served with a fig? confit and curry butter. The waitress brought us a bottle of white wine for our meal (Vin de Pays/Duche D'Uzes 2004, Vignoble Chabrien Medaille D'or 2005). Then they brought out a hot stone chaffing dish. If you've ever had Korean barbeque or mongolian BBQ, think along those lines. It was our job to cook the duck and chicken we had ordered. We had alot of fun doing this, but forgot to take our time with it and ended up finishing our meal much quicker than we should have. The food was delicious and came with small boiled french potatoes and a mesclun salad. Our dining companion was this big old friendly dog, who we think belonged to the owner of the restaurant. He very sweetly hung around, hoping we might drop one of our tasty morsels on the ground until more diners and more dinner for him opportunities started to fill the tables. As the sun went down, the trees lit up with lights that had been strung through them and young children chased each other around the fountain. We couldn't have been more relaxed. We finished dinner by splitting a dessert of Faiselles Fraises Chantilly. They were out of strawberries, and with our permission, they gave us raspberries instead. You can't go wrong with any fresh fruit in season! The creme fraiche and the fresh whipped cream perfectly complimented the sweet-tartiness of the raspberries and it was a great ending to both the meal and the day.

Sated, we headed back to our car and the drive back to Le Vallon. We had a small bit of car drama trying to leave the car garage. The exit door appeared to us to be closed for the night. We must have driven around the parking garage at least three times before we figured out how to get the door to open. The drive back to Le Vallon was relaxed and fairly wrong turn freen, but right at the roundabout coming into Aubignon the gendarmes were out doing random roadside sobrietry tests. My husband was sweating bullets since he had drank wine with dinner, but thankfully he passed and we made it back to Le Vallon safe and sound.

Our last night at Le Vallon and time for the ritual nightly bath soak (this time with a bath mousse) followed by a glass of wine on the steps to the back garden, listening to the frogs chirping, eating the last of the two chocolates I had bought from Joel Durand Chocolatier in St. Remy (black olive and thyme flavored and lemon peel with clove flavored- surprise, the black olive becomes one of our favorites. It tastes more like raisins. I hand selected a box of eight different flavors and we tasted 2 each night), sounds of african drums and people celebrating at wild party far off in the distance fields and reminiscing about how great our stay at Le Vallon has been and how much we will hate to leave tomorrow. We are already talking about coming back next year if we can...

Joel Durand chocolats in St Remy, (Be still my heart) they have numbers and designs.

lp_nyc, what a great story. I loved your description of Uzès, which has a place in my heart.

We have also driven through that military base between Uzès and Nîmes. It's the only road I have ever been on with tank crossing warning signs. I thought about stopping for a picture, but wondered whether it might lead to some misunderstanding.

And a tiny point (well, a big point for those interested in Roman history), the Maison Carée was a Roman creation, rather than Greek.

The tourist office in Uzès is on the northern side of the town ... just walk straight up rue de la République from Place aux Herbes and you'll find it facing you on the other side of the boulevard that circles the town. (For next time, because Uzès is even better the second time around.)

Anselm

Anselm- Thanks for correcting my little mistake on the Maison Caree. Everytime I write these segments, I try to give them a thorough proofread, but alas, something always escapes my diligence.

And we did locate the tourist office, but by the time we had located it, it was already closed for the evening (we were there on a Sunday). But thank you for your assistance on that (ah, dreaming of the next time.

Day 7- Our last morning in Provence. We woke to another stunningly beautiful May morning...the perfect temperatures hovering just above 70 and blue skies above.

We breakfasted in the side garden and I keep asking my husband if maybe we shouldn't extend our HM a little longer. But we knew that we had to press on.

---I forgot to mention earlier, that also included in breakfast every morning were fresh strawberries. There's something about the taste of fresh fruit in season in southern europe that can't be beat (I've still never tasted a better peach than the ones I at in Portugal and Spain in August). Also, every morning, Michele includes a different little Provencal treat with our breakfast. That morning, it was these lovely nougatine candies that were more like merengues than the traditional nougatines. --

We sadly said our good-byes to Fred and Michele and the two other couples who had been staying at Le Vallon (the french couple from near Cannes and another other couple, who had the most polite, well-spoken and well behaved 8 year old daughter who were from Vancouver), wistfully packed out luggage into the car and began our drive towards Paris.

The drive back- no we weren't so crazy as to attempt the drive in one day. We had already made plans to stop in Beaune for the night.

We took the D11 (a green road) up to Bollene where we hopped on the A7. Since it wasn't the high tourist season, we had smooth sailing the entire drive and made it to Beaune in around 4 hours (with two stops to refuel and stretch our legs- and one to deal with some CC business).

Although it was tempting, we didn't take any side excursions during our drive to Beaune. What made the drive so interesting was wathcing how the landscape changed from Provence into Burgundy. The colors became darker and richer. The houses changed from white washed and grey stone with pretty pastel shutters, to homes with the color palettes of yellow stucco, chocolate brown wood, grey stones and somewhere in my mind I picture burgundy colored roof tiles. The flowers in the fields went from poppies and irises to these pretty yellow flowers that blanketed literally entire fields. I have no idea what they were, and to me it appeared that in some instances they were being grown in order to be harvested.

Upon arriving in Beaune, we checked into Hotel Les Remparts. It's clean and fine, but not what as charming as we wanted it to be. I had tried booking a room at Chateau de Messey a few weeks before we left, but unfortunately they were full. So were many of the other hotels in our price range that we tried to book.

After unpacking, we did what we do best...headed off to find a tourist office (not only to get info about the city, but to get information about parking on the street overnight) and wander the streets.

We located the tourist office and got our parking questions answered wandered the town. We wandered past the Hotel Dieu, tried to visit the Musee du Vin (which was closed except for the building where the old wine presses are exhibited) and visited the churches in town. We loved the contrast of the almost bavarian feel in the architecture of Beaune. The pedestrain streets in the old city center where amazingly clean. Our first requisite glass of wine and cheese plate ritual was at Le Bistrot Bourguignon. Here, we drank the two most amazing wines we have ever tasted (yet). My husband ordered a white Hautes-Cotes des Nuits. This wine was so interesting! It had notes of truffles and champignons which I normally wouldn't want to taste in a wine. But it was so simple and complex and completely utterly wonderful. I ordered St. Aubin 2000, which had won a gold medal in 2005. It was delicate with good structure and notes of peach of fresh green herbs. Both the wines were so amazing, we had to have a second round..and of course, a cheese plate!

More wanderings...I bought some chocolates to bring home as a gift for my father at Friandise to add to some dark chocolate I had purchased for him at Joel Durand. We bought two wines from the one of the bigger wine stores in Beaune...to be consumed on our one-year anniversary. We bought a white Chablis Premiere Cru 2003, Fourchame and a red Beaune Premiere Cru 2002, Belissand.

Outside the wine store, an old man was playing the accordion (to me, that is the sound of France) while two tow-headed brothers danced back and forth to his music...marching, twirling, turning upside down and completely amusing the people passing by.

After a quick Pastis at yet another terrace cafe, we went to go find some dinner. Since many of the restaurants in Beaune were closed for dinner on Sunday night, we ended up eating at a Brasserie whose name I can't remember right now. It wasn't a memorable restaurant, but not so awful that I would warn anyone away from it either.

My husband's meal was actually pretty good (but would have been to heavy for me). For his first course, he orderd the escargot burgundy style. The escargot were nicely drowned in olive oil, pesto and garlic. I had some kind of salad, which I don't remember much about (I love salads, and was spoiled by the freshness of the greens in every salad we ate in Provence).

For his second course, he had a tripe sausage that was cooked in a heavy cream sauce with again, lots of yummy garlic and other herbs. It was rich tasting and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. I had order a 1/2 roast chicken with pommes frites, and it was over cooked and the fries were below the norm of what I have had before.
We skipped dessert.

My husband decided he really wanted a crepe for dessert so he ordered one from a stand for our walk home. He speaks no French and my french is OK but far from perfect. There was a mix-up in the order and my husband got overly upset about it. I won't go in to it, but this was probably the one black spot of our trip.

Eventually, hurt feelings were soothed over and we retired back to the hotel. We ended the evening in the courtyard, he sipping a strong digestif and I sipping an OK glass of white wine from the region. A soak in the tub and off to bed.

lp_nyc, I meant to mention that I know that parking garage in Uzès; we tried to get out of it on a Sunday afternoon and encountered an overhead door blocking the exit ramp. We finally used the Harry Potter and Platform 9 and 3/4 method and drove straight at it ... bingo, up it went right in front of us. Turns out there's some kind of sensor that detects that you want to leave.

Ah, the memories.

Anselm