Avignon, Acqueducts And Fifteen Ferraris

16.5.09 – Avignon (Saturday)

Next stop is Avignon, the former home of the Popes. Good 'ole Kenny (our GPS) tries to send us up a 'no go' road but we found our way around to the campsite anyway. Wow, what a view – the campsite is on the river Rhone – fantastic view! It is a beautiful afternoon and evening so we walk along the river bank (lovely grassed area lined with beautiful trees, down to riverbank) and then decide to nip back to the van, grab a drink and some nibblies and head back to the riverbank – ah French living at its best!

The next day we walk across the bridge and into the town of Avignon. Lovely pebble stoned streets, little town square, beautiful park on top of the hill overlooking Rhone river and countryside – and a lovely sunny day as well - absolutely beautiful!

That night we bring out the bbq and have beef kebabs and salad – pretty good (not Bob's fault that the kebabs are a little ordinary). Bob again mentions the taxi fare in Montpellier and I take his mind off it with another beer – I think it will take another couple of days!!

17.5.09 Pont du Gard (outside Nimes) (Sunday)

This morning we head off to Gael's parent's place but pop into Pont du Gard (outside Nimes) on the way. Pont du Gard is a very, very large Roman Acqueduct over a beautiful river. It is a nice drive to Pont du Gard and once we get there, we are very impressed – it is massive! It is mind boggling how the Romans built such huge structures without any cranes or modern equipment! The whole structure is held together by the very nature of its design and its own weight – no mortar, concrete, glue or sticky tape – nothing!!

On our way back to the car park, we see about 20 people with Ferrari t-shirts and caps on – must be a Ferrari convention! Bob gets a little excited hoping he might see some Ferrari's in the car park- and low and behold – what do we see, but 16 Ferraris all lined up in a row! They have a “guard” on duty but Bob's pleading eyes allow him into have a closer look. There are 11 red ones, 3 black ones and two yellow ones! Bob hands over the camera and I have to take a couple of shots of Bob next to some red ones – this has made Bob's day!!

Next we head up to Gael's parent's place, a few hours up the road north of Valence to Tournon-de-Sur. Gael will meet us at Tournon and guide us to his parent's place up the road in St Jean de Muzols. We are about to head into this lovely village, through a tunnel when Bob spots the sign on the tunnel indicating the tunnel height at 3.2m. Wowa – he puts on the brakes and exclaims “we wont fit under!” “What do you mean, we wont fit under” I exclaim back. Bob is unsure of the height of the van but thinks it is about 3m without the satellite dish. I feel Bob is being over cautious (the tunnel looks plenty high enough to me) - but I humour Bob and say I will get out of the van and check the clearance as he approaches the tunnel. As Bob drives towards the tunnel, another car (women driver!) approaches from the other side and comes through and beeps Bob to go back. Bob retreats, getting anxious and starts gesticulating to me that we wont fit under. I gesticulate back saying “go through, go through, it's fine”. Now cars are backed up both ways either side of the tunnel. I get back in the van and Bob is getting more anxious and annoyed – “we wont fit” he says - I say “there is plenty of room, I just checked”. We discuss the “issue” a little more, look at each other and then against Bob's better judgment he agrees to venture through. As we drive through Bob mumbles something along the lines that if the satellite dish is damaged there will be $$$$$$$ of damage and it will be on my head! We drive through – no problems. I look at Bob with the “I told you so” look – Bob growls “lucky for you”. We are both annoyed and silence ensues for some time. We then have a “discussion” about the matter and decide that it is not a “marriage breaker”, we will move on and now refer to the matter simply as the “tunnel incident”.

We drive into Tournon-de-Sur, along the river and meet Gael in a park – and think wow, what a gorgeous little village. The park, which sits alongside the river is lined with huge, towering pine or fur trees and it is a beautiful evening. It is great to see Gael and we sit in one of the sidewalk cafes and have a drink and have a good old chat about the news from home, especially Shiftwork Solutions, the firm they both work for. Gael also hears about the “tunnel incident”, smiles and is wise enough not to say a word.

Then we head for Gael's parents home in St Jean de Muzols, literally 5 minutes down the road. Gael's parents have a large home on a big block and Frankie fits nicely in the front yard. We meet Gael's wonderful, very French parents, Fernand and Marseille and have some aperitifs or “poofta drinks” as Annie calls them. I have a muscat (lovely!) and Bob and Gael have “pastis”, a drink which tastes like aniseed and is veeeery nice (and would probably blow you head off if Gael hadnt watered it down!). A wonderful introduction to French living! By the way, Annie is away visiting a girlfriend in Ireland for a few days (her first real break without Gael and the boys!) so we share the two lovely little boys' (Kalani and Jai) attention with Fernand and Marseille. The boys are beautiful and Kalani (only about 5 or 6 years old) speaks fluent french!