Today was the first of a few busy touring days. We headed out quite early for the French town of Orange, where we checked out Roman ruins - primarily a huge, relatively well-preserved theatre. Unfortunately, to keep it in the best condition they are working on a roof, so there was a good bit of scaffolding blocking our view. Still, it was a worthwhile stop.After, we headed to a locally-owned family winery where we had a tour and a nice lunch with free-flowing wine. The wine was mediocre, but free wine somehow always tastes good :) A highlight of lunch was the cheese course - there were a total of 4 goat cheeses, 2 cow cheeses and 1 sheep cheese - all locally made - it was quite tastey! Tons of olives, tapenade, breads and meats too. Plus, it was sunny and warm, we sat outside and just took in the sweeping views of the vineyards and olive tree groves.
On the way back, we took a look at a little hill town - not much was happening there, but a local character stopped us on the way in and essentially corrected our guide on every point he made. It was kinda funny actually! Nice views and photo ops, and then we were back home. We had an hour to relax before aperitif time at 6:30 where we had to introduce our "buddy" - that is, someone whom we are NOT with on the tour that we picked on our first night. It was a far more entertaining exercise than I expected, and now on day 6 or so of the tour, everyone is warming up to each other nicely. The intros were funny - Bob, my buddy - lives in Seattle, is 33 and the kind of guy I'd likely befriend anyhow. Poor Amy though - she got stuck with Lois, who is a bit of a curmudgeon - though, the sun shined down upon her as is also dog folk, so there was indeed something in common for them to speak about! At first my interest was piqued - Lois writes cookbooks - that is, until I learned she writes cookbooks for bread machines and slow cookers...um, yeah.
We had our last dinner in Vaison in the hotel, and this one was MUCH better than the first night, and a nice ending to our stay!
p.s Today was windy again! Like wind you can't actually take a breath in kinda-wind that almost knocks you over...yikes! They say it lasts for 3 days and then you get a break - here's hoping for a break tomorrow!
Various shots of the day: Ruins, vineyards, lunch, hilltowns, buddy Bob, et Moi!
2 comments:
There is something good about the name Bob. :) Also, there is NOTHING wrong with a slow-cooker, Hennifero... you can make some quite tasty dishes. But then again, I agree, who would write COOKBOOKS for that... :P BOO!
yum! one sheep cheese!
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