2010 Europe Trip Diary

This morning we woke to the usual amazing breakfast.  The only difference today was that we remembered to take many pictures instead!  Andre and Sopie were wonderful hosts, and we enjoyed staying at the Villa Thebaide tremendously.  Oh, and I finally shaved!!  Woohoo!!


Anyhow, the majority of the day would be spent driving from Villa Thebaide near Avignon to Annecy, a beautiful lakeside town just west of the border to Switzerland.  Our plan is to stay one night here, return our car, and take the train through Switzerland to Bregenz, Austria, our next stop.  This roadtrip would take 3-4 hours, so we were prepared with our dried fruits from Barcelona and assorted other snacks for the ride.

The most fascinating part of the road trip was how the scenery changed from the fields of Provnence to the awesome hills of the Alps.  After climbing our way into the mountain ranges, several lakes emerged between the hills, and the temperature dropped.  The transformation of our surroundings and the climate contributed to the sensation of embarking on a journey, despite the relatively short distance to our destination.

It took some time, but we navigated the streets of Annecy to Hotel Alexandra, where we made reservations for the evening.  It was a small, but clean, well-decorated, and comfortable hotel within walking distance to almost everything of interest in the city.  The things of interest were, of course, the "old town" that exists in almost every European city we've been to this trip, and the beautiful Annecy Lake.

What distinguishes Annecy from other cities were the fact that a cute river/creek runs through the middle of the old town, with old buildings that have door leading directly out to the waterway.  The stores along the river, too, were of great quality, containing things from everyday wares like groceries to tourist's souvenirs.  We spent some time walking in the old town, both to enjoy the city and to find some candidates for our dinner.

Finding that the restaurants recommended to us by the front desk did not seem particularly attractive (they were on the expensive end), we returned to our room and hunted online for recommendations.  As dinner time approached, we set off again, armed with a list of potential dining spots.  In the end, we settled on a tavern-like restaurant filled with people, and enjoyed a delicious meal of seafood and wine.  We shared a shrimp salad, Minna had a scallop pasta, and I had mussels.  That's musselS with a very, very big 's' at the end because I was brought a giant bucket of the delicious shells.  And I finished ALL of it!

Following dinner, we needed a long walk to help digest the food in our bloated stomachs.  This time, we followed the river to the lake.  The old town was clearly designed for tourists, but the lakefront seemed to be occupied more by residents of the area.  A giant tent/stage was set up on the big lawn, featuring a full orchestra and choir playing some new piece.  Thousands of people stood beneath the stage, enjoying the performance.  We followed the edge of the lake to a put-put course and park, and turned back as the sky turned dark.

Along the way, we saw a mother duck leading her young.  Curious about where they will rest for the night, we followed them for a while.  The mother led her chicks to a formation of rocks, and leapt from rock to rock to the highest point.  She then sat down and calmly observed her tiny children trying to make their way up to her.  We stared at the intensely cute chicks jump from rock to rock, usually falling back into the water, for a good 20-30 minutes.  When we left, only 4 out of the 7 chicks had made their way to their mother's side, and I had to wonder if those not courageous enough to follow in their siblings' footsteps would be forced to spend the night in the cold water.

We spent more time walking in the old town, climbing a hill to see the dark walls of the castle of Annecy, and observing drunk people wobbling back to their homes.  Annecy was a good combination of tourism and residential areas, and I felt very safe and comfortable there.

After a significant breakfast, Andre once again laid out his suggestion for the day's plan for us.  This day would be spent visiting the famous hilltop villages of Provence.  Our itinenrary would bring us to popular towns like Gordes and Rousillon, where Minna especially wanted to see.  However, after the giant meal last night, we decided to enjoy a more relaxed dinner in the comfort of our room.  Andre did not disappoint with a wine suggestion, and brought me to a local wine co-op "cave" to purchase the red wine.

The local grape farmers each own a modest sized farm, and cannot afford wine-making machinery all on their own.  Thus, they have gathered and formed a co-op, with communal wine-making machinery.  The "cave," a proper word for wine storage and in this case also a storefront, holds these bottles for sale.  I was amazed the mere 7 euros I had to spend for this bottle of Laudun red wine.  Andre mentioned that the local wines in Laudun valley are not expensive, unlike the crazy-fancy stuff out of Bordeaux, but still maintain a high quality.  He said he'll keep the bottle in his own cave back at the villa to maintain the proper temperature until we return from our day's excursions.

Our first destination was actually not a village on a hill, but rather one next to a stream.  As we drove closer and closer, through valleys and tree shade, we realized that the Fountain of Vaucluse was not named for a singular man-made fountain, but rather the source of the flowing emerald-like water that we were driving by.

Like many tourist towns, cars were not allowed to enter the actual streets.  We spent some time finding the proper parking lot, and entered the beautiful Fountaine-de-Vaucluse.  The small town circle was surrounded by the green molten gem that is the water of this locale.  It was at the same time transparent, green, and somehow of a denser consistency than regular water.  A hiking trail can lead tourists to the source of the spring, or the "fountain" if you will.  However, considering our extensive plans for the rest of the day, we decided to enjoy the comfort of the streets and a lunch before we set off.

After careful deliberation, we chose a modest-looking pasta restaurant.  To our surprise, the meal was hearty and elegant.  Perhaps the fresh ingredients contributed to the superb quality of a simple dish, but our marinara and meat sauce spaghetti tasted great.  The refreshing salad, especially, made a strong impression due to its diverse ingredients and delicious sauce.

Our second stop was the unforgettable city of Gordes.  While Fountaine-de-Vaucluse refreshed us with clear spring water, Gordes amazed us with awesome views of the city itself, carved into the side of the hill.  The difference between Gordes and Les Baux that we visited the previous day was that, while Les Baux was also carved into the rocks, the road leading up to it provided no good view of the city itself.  Gordes, however, shocked us with its dizzying sight blossoming from behind the bend of a turn on the hill leading up to it.

As we looked for a parking, I let a car back out of its spot.  The driver, a rough-looking old man, rolled down his window as he passed by and without a word tried to stuff something into our car.  We later realized it was his parking ticket, good for the whole day!  It was only a few euros, but I enjoyed the Frenchman's gruff kindness.

Gordes itself did not have magnificent castles, but it boasted some of the cutest shops we've seen in our trip.  We spent some time enjoying the bird-eye view of Provence, and departed for our next destination.  While walking around in Gordes was good fun, the best view was of the city, not from it, thus we made a point to stop and take pictures with the city itself on our way out.

During our 20-minute drive to Rousillon, we passed by a big lavender field.  This was not quite at the season where lavender is in full bloom yet (It's supposed to cover the grounds of Provence most magnificently), but this field already attracted dozens of tourists taking pictures.  We joined these tourists and took pictures with, of, beside, and against the field.  Good scenery is not the only export of Provence.  It is also very well-known for its lavender products.

Twenty minutes later, we arrived at Rousillon, the city of red clay.  Rousillon distinguishes itself from the other dozens of hill-top villages nearby by the red clay of the area.  Indeed, the entire village is red, every building made from the clay nearby.  Stepping into Rousillon is like stepping into a Van Gogh painting, except you realize that the artist's "creative" use of colors comes from reality, not sheer figments of imagination.

We bought lavender soap in this store. . . rather, Minna bought lavender soap in this store while I ate gelato outside.
Prior to our next destination, Lacoste, Minna prepped me on Marquis de Sade's perverse work.  This French aristocrat basically wrote pornography so sick and disturbing that he was put in jail for 32 years of his life.  His most famous work involved months of really, really sick stuff going on in his castle.  Chances are good that those things never actually happened, but rather existed only in his imagination.  Anyway, I had high hopes for viewing some nasty pictures and hearing some sick stories during our visit to Lacoste, where his castle is.

Disappointingly, the town was very normal-looking.  In fact, the castle was in ruins, and the tourism office contained only normal touristy stuff, like sites to see, the history of the castle, calendar of events, etc.  There was not a single perverted sentence!  Suffice to say I expected much more from the castle of one of the most disgusting, perverted guys in history.

We made our way to a wal-mart-like market before returning to Villa Thebaide to pick up some dinner.  We got various fruits, cheeses, ham, and of course, a baguette.  Andre brought us our wine, and we had a fantastic, much lighter dinner in the comfort of our own room, looking out at his garden.  The wine, by the way, was fantastic.  And only 7 euros!!