Provence

Sometimes as I stand on the tube pressed against some stinky person's armpit, I do kind of wonder what on earth I'm doing in this city. I mean, lets be honest about this, its crowded, it smells, the people aren't friendly and during winter Santa Claus would be cold. (I'm being unkind there, 10pm sunsets during summer are a wonderful thing indeed.)

It does take weekends like last weekend to remind you what this experience is all about. The fact that a person can catch a 1st class train from Waterloo for a small expense and arrive in the South of France some 6 hours later was such a reminder.

The provence of Provence (ho ho) is the part of the South of France that people speak about when they talk about the South of France. Quite simply, it was stunning. I know that that has been said about just about everywhere I've been other than London on this trip, but this was a different kind of beauty. The countryside was amazing. There was no livestock, just fields of grapes, lavender, cherries and all sorts of other things.

The trip started in the city of Avignon, where my parents were staying. It has a population roughly the same as Ipswich. Unlike Ipswich though, the city itself is famous for 2 things. Due to a civil war in Rome during the 14th century, the papacy was moved to the large palace pictured above. (Mum, dad and wendy are in the foreground) 8 popes resided here before the return to Rome. The other reason is the nurseryrhyme which you do know - Sur la pont, d'avignon, lans y dance lans y dance.... Like ipswich, I'm pretty sure I saw some lappers on the friday night - ahhhh.

We moved from Avignon to our gite, or country house, in a small village named Menerbes. Mum and Dad booked this over the internet and really had no idea what to expect. What we ended up getting was a Mediterrainian style house in a small medieval style village on top of a hill. Wow, wow and wow, it was incredible. Funny thing is that villages like this are everywhere, you have to search long and hard to find mention of Menerbes anywhere, but it was typical of the many towns and villages to be found in this region. Probably the most visited is Gourdes, which is a bit bigger than Menerbes. I've tried to get a photo of gourdes on the post - hopefully it worked.

In fact, the only reference to Menerbes I could find was the 'world famous' corkscrew museum. Dutifully, we entered the darkened room and stared in awe at each of the exhibits. I've never been so underwhelmed. Thousands of corkscrews, each as ordinary as the last. Scarily, many of the exhibits were identical to several corkscrews owned by mum and dad. The trip and the 4 euro / $8 entry fee (upkeep of these things is expensive) was made worthwile by the girl behind the counter. I would have paid more than $8 for a guided tour of the museum, but alas, a couch full of French schoolchildren put that idea to bed.

The other highlight was the trip to the Cote d'Azure, most well known for the city of Nice and Monaco. Again, I've tried to post a photo of the view of Nice. How blue is the sea?? Monaco houses the Monte Carlo casino, which dad and I graced with our presence for an hour or so. I won 25 euros on blackjack before dad blew the lot on roulette.

It was amazing. Plan upon winning the lottery was to get a masters. Now I think I'll just move to a large vineyard near Menerbes and study externally while selling wine with a French girl in a tight red top.

See ya!