This was our first morning in France. There was a lot on our plate, and not a lot of time to do it!
To start our day, we grabbed some pain au chocolate from a boulangerie nearby. We took an uber to the train station Garde de Lyon Part-Dieu (which to me, sounds like a sequel to Part-Un, but in fact means “Property of God”, the name of the business district).
On board the train, we passed the hour and a half ride with a few games of cribbage, where I was summarily defeated after my single victory yesterday.
The train arrived in Avignon, where we picked up some pears, figs, olives, and wine, and our rental car! I was up-sold into a more spacious car. We drove to the old city center to have a picnic- picking up some cheese, meat, and a wine bottle opener (which handily can also function as a cheese knife) along the way. After getting these essentials, we climbed the Escalier Sainte-Anne to the Jardin Des Doms, a garden on top of a hill overlooking the city.
At the top, we took in the sites, including a river, a small vineyard, and a 12th century cathedral. We ate our picnic under the jealous eyes of some local fauna, including a handful of swans, pigeons, geese, and even got some looks from local schoolkids, who noticed our open bottle of wine. I’m not sure that’s legal. I even got a chance to do a video-call with Jessie and Luka!
We made our way back to our car, and high-tailed it through skinny, winding roads to Gordes, a nearby commune situated on top of a hill. We grabbed a few Aperol Spritzes, did some window shopping, and took in the views.
From Gordes, we had a long drive ahead of us. It was already 5:30, and we had an almost two hour drive to get to Ciotat. I started feeling tired, so we pulled off, grabbed a coffee, and continued our journey. Either the increased traffic or the cappuccino stopped my road-hypnosis, and we were back on track.
After hitting traffic around Marseilles, we took a detour on a scenic route. This brought us to a small hike to an overlook from which we could finally see the ocean!
The road trip ended when we finally got to La Ciotat. We had to do some running around to get our car parked, but we were finally settled! Our stay is a medium-sized AirBnB near the old city port. This is a busy area full of bars, packed to the brim. Trying to avoid the crowd, we went a few blocks off and grabbed a quick (late) dinner of French Tacos, which as I’ve described before, are a strange perversion of a panini, a burrito, and a thing of french fries. We browsed a nearby art gallery, and had a chat with somebody who worked there. She recommended that we visit Porquerolles (which is on our list) and Sanary-sur-mer (which we had never heard of).
Apparently tonight was France vs New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup, so I can hear a lot of cheering from outside. I think they just won. I’m having a hard time distinguishing the white-noise of the cheers from the white-noise of our Air Conditioner. They may be done cheering by now, but I honestly can’t tell.