americana, in disguise down under.

Yes, this would be the FIRST blog I've written about France 2009... and yes, we've been here two weeks now. Who knew the French aren't hip to the internet cafe? (Or that Beyth wasn't hip to traveling with her laptop. Free "Wee-Fee" abounds.) Given the scarcity, prices are nothing short of outrageous, so I'm going to make this a down-n-dirty update. Musings, reflections, ponderances and fantasies of French living will be expounded upon when I return to the States.

Sunday, May 24: LONG PLANE FLIGHT. That's all. Just so long.

PARIS
Monday, May 25: SO JET-LAGGED. Went to the Luxembourg Gardens, which were lovely. Fell asleep watching a game of Boules (French Bocce Ball, I think?).
Tuesday, May 26: The Orsay Museum, which is house in an old Parisian train station. Awesome.
Wednesday, May 27: Versailles. Louis XIV was a crazy dude. That place is gigantic.
Thursday, May 28: The Pompidou Center (fabulous modern art musuem, with a great exhibit of female artists [not to be confused with feminist art]) & the Orangerie (includes 2 circular rooms built to display Monet's enormous Water Lilies canvases). Went up the Arc de Triomphe after night & watched the sunset. Lovely.
Friday, May 29: The Louvre. In one word? Overwhelming. Mom made it through this place in about two hours - shortest musuem trip she's ever had! After the Mona Lisa, the Sphynix and my Rick Steves' audio guide, I peaced out...

COLLIOURE
Saturday, May 30: Flew to Toulouse & rented a Mercedes! Boo-yah! Figured out how to navigate the ubiquitous French roundabout and called it a night.
Sunday, May 31: Went to the Salvador Dali Musuem, just a short hop over the French/Spanish border. Yes, the musuem is just as bizarre as his work. The printed "guide" made many apologies for their attempt to offer a path through the place, saying, "Dali would never expect you to approach his work with any sort of order. We only offer these suggestions so you might see everything. Please don't think this is any indication of chronology or theme."
Monday, June 1: Detoxed from Paris & Dali by sitting on the beach. Collioure is a beautiful, romantic and picturesque town in the South of France and we thoroughly enjoyed floating on our backs in the ocean, strolling the streets with baguette in hand, investigating every viewpoint and dangling our feet from every sea wall. We accidently managed to order two plates of raw shellfish. ONLY RAW SHELLFISH. Lots of it. We each put on our best carnivourous smiles for about a third of the plate and then promised we'd find a pizza...

PROVENCE
Tuesday, June 2: Ripped ourselves away from Collioure, assured we wouldn't find a more beautiful destination on our trip. We were wrong. We arrived at our Provencal B&B, met our incredibly (unstated) gracious hosts and settled in for a little time in the country.
Wednesday, June 3: Froliced through hill towns. Pulled out at every viewpoint on the impossibly narrow/winding roads.
Thursday, June 4: Went to this incredibly cool natural water feature (I'll have to look up the name & offer a link later) en route to the Pont du Gard, which is a fascinating Roman aqueduct. Google it - it's in remarkable shape. We attempted to visit an ancient Roman Theater in Orange, but arrived after closing (we took our breakfast too leisurely - story of the week). Peaked through the gates and, after stumbling through an alleyway of used needles and condoms, decided we'd had enough of Orange.
Friday, June 5: The Camargue. We saw flamingoes. Nesting. Flying. Eating. Real flamingoes. We got lost. Really lost. We drove down dirt roads. Tested our rental car's agility (pretty good!).
Saturday, June 6: Took a "Wine Road" driving tour, which wound us through the most pictureseque vineyards (go figure), took us to a great winery and a fun "Cave Cooperative" (lots of wineries, one tasting/purchasing room). This drive had our most spectacular and diverse views/hill towns, all within 80-ish kilometers of one another. Crazy! Mom accidently got more raw meat for dinner (liver and bacon).

RIVIERA
Sunday, June 7: We drove through the Grand Canyon du Verdon, en route from Provence to the Riviera. Spectacular. The water is a very unnatural color of tourquiose (the water in the Riviera is also breathtaking, but this lake looked... diseased or something).

That's all for now. See most of you in a week, with many pictures and stories in hand! Much love, - b.