Vic and Beth in Paris

Just outside St.-Remy-de-Provence is the Roman city of Glanum. It’s a very well preserved ruin and was well worth the visit.

Arch and Memorial Tower Near Glanum

Mural on Memorial Tower

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We went back to a little pizzeria in St. Remy for dinner one night because we enjoyed it some much the first time. On our repeat visit, we discovered that they serve Lambrusco, a sparkling red wine. We also had the tomato and mozzarella bruschetta. We highly recommend them both.

Lambrusco - Bubbly Red Wine

Delicious Tomato and Mozzarella

Beth Says: "Try the Lambrusco"

Pop quiz: What popular fabric comes from Nîmes?
Answer: De-Nîmes (denim)

Like much of Provence, Nîmes is known for its Roman monuments, in this case, an arena and two temples. We started near the Maison Carrée, which according to our guidebook rivals the Pantheon in Rome as one of the most complete and beautiful buildings from Roman antiquity. Throughout it’s life, the Maison Carrée has served as a church, city hall, stable, and archive. Now it’s home to a cheesy video about the history of Nîmes which Beth and I chose to skip.

Maison Carrée

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Though I described our trip to Buoux in the previous post, I wanted to make sure everyone saw these. Buoux is a ruined castle at the top of a mountain. We easily walked a kilometer or more up a rough road from the parking lot to the entry to the site. From there, it was at least another kilometer up marked (but undeveloped) trails. We basically hiked up a mountain. And my wife did it wearing this…

My Little Mountain Climber

Beth's Climbing Shoes

We got a few funny looks from fellow hikers who obviously realized that Beth wasn’t dressed for the occasion. Suffice it so say, she was one pooped pup when we got done.

Our next day in Provence was spent in cruising through the Luberon, a hilly and rugged region in eastern Provence. We started the day in Isle-sur-la-Sourge before touring Roussillon, and Buoux.

There are few official tourist sites in the Luberon. The real attraction is simply wandering through the small cities and enjoying the markets−which is exactly what we did.

The first thing we encountered in Isle-sur-la-Sourge was one of the cities many waterwheels. They’re massive, probably 10-12 feet in diameter and absolutely covered in algae. They almost looked furry. It was kind of cool and kind of gross.

Waterwheel in Isle-sur-la-Sourge

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Hi all,

Sorry we’ve been remiss in our updating, we’ve been having too much fun here in Provence! We leave for the day in Avignon, then a quick TGV ride to Paris, stay in Paris for the night, and then tomorrow we fly back to New York via Dublin. We’ve had a wonderful time, but are both a little anxious to be home, see our cat Pierre, sleep in our own bed, and of course I’m anxious to have some Dr. Pepper.

Vic has taken some wonderful pictures, and I imagine he’ll work on posting those as soon as we return. As for me, I’ve visited some really great libraries/archives that I haven’t written at all about, so will perhaps share those experiences as well.

Thanks so much to everyone for reading about our adventures; we hope you’ve enjoyed it.

Beth

After spending the morning shopping at the St. Remy market and an afternoon dip in the pool, Beth and I decided to make a quick trip out to Les Baux, an old fort city. It sits high up on a rocky plateau and was nigh impregnable during its occupation. Supposedly, the original lords of the castle trace their ancestry to  Balthazar, one of the three wise men from the Bible.

Valley From the Top of Les Baux

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We spent much of our first whole day in Provence visiting Arles, a once ancient Roman city with many excellent ruins.

What Arles Used to Look Like

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“Pack-Mule” here. I can vouch for Beth’s earlier post. Avis completely bungled our car rental and we’re darn lucky that a scuba license counts as an official form of identification or else neither of us would be driving the car we got stuck with.

Upon arriving in St. Remy de Provence, we went to lunch at a great little restaurant/cafe just inside the city center. Beth had an amazing salad with heirloom tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, prosciutto, lettuce, and various fruits. I was quite jealous, but she was nice enough to share.

Beth Looking French-chic in Provence

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Just a very quick summary of our last few days in Paris that haven’t been chronicled yet…

Chocolate Fondue as a Final Anniversary Treat

Beth successfully finished her master’s exam and is now finished with her degree in French studies. She won’t know the result of the test until after we get home, but it’s on a “pass/fail” scale, so we’re not too worried.

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