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Tues, May 22: Montsegur-sur-Lauzon & Grignan & Mount Vernoux &
Seguret, France: Started out first in search of the 'best baguette in the
world' as claimed by someone on the Internet. Of course is must be true then! We
went to a little bakery in Montsegur-sur-Lauzon. The write up started out like
this: "I have a confession: I planned my vacation around a bakery."
Too funny so we had to go! The bread was certainly good but I have to give a
huge thumbs up to the incredible chocolate concoction that W bought for me.
Yes, a picture of that is forthcoming! After that, the day's market spot was
Grignan. That was definitely the best smelling town ever! Roses and flowers
blooming everywhere. Market wasn't huge but very nice. We got an adorable hat
for D (he tossed his old one out from his stroller while we were in Avignon).
Also picked up some locally grown asparagus and peach juice. Beautiful old town
but we didn't linger too long. Next, we headed for a picnic spot. As we drove
along, we saw a sign for a picnic area. We ended up high in a hill by ourselves
(plus plenty of ants). After a big fight, I finally tried (and liked!) the
peach juice. Other stops: Mont Ventoux and Seguret.
At the end of the day, W and I went swimming. D wasn't so hungry and he had red spots all over him. He'd had the chicken pox vaccination (our local dr was nice enough to find it for us even though it's not normally given here) a couple of weeks earlier but I was still worried since I knew it was going around. He seemed fine and didn't have a fever so I just put cream on him and hoped for the best.
We had a lovely meal of veggie burgers ( we actually found lentil burgers at a little grocery store a few days earlier) and fresh vegetables (asparagus, zucchini, carrots) and the usual French wine :-). It was a really lovel day: amazing scenery, fantastic mediveal towns, mountains, vineyards, olive trees, great weather, a good run in the morning. I really do love the Drome Provincial region a lot.
| Superman here was compelled to pick up big rocks in the backyard of the Little House. |
| The area is known for huge lavender fields. Unfortunately, the lavender was not yet in bloom but there were lots of poppy flowers growing everywhere. And, of course, the grapevines and olive trees made for beautiful landscapes. |
| A stunning field of wild poppies. |
| The bakery at Montsegur-sur-Lauzon. We actually made the trip back here another day. |
| The market in Grignan. |
| D's new hat! He tried to lose this hat repeatedly but somehow we managed to keep it through the entire rest of the trip! |
| Our private little picnic spot. |
| Yes, more beautiful scenery! |
| Atop Mont Vernoux. Not to be found by JohnCleese (aka our TomTom navigation system in which we've selected John Cleese's voice), we managed to find this big mountain anyway. A scary ride up to the top, bad french fries and drinks at the summit but a beautiful view. D wasn't a happy camper as we started up but he finally ended up napping much of the way down. I mailed postcards from a tiny little box in the restaurant at the top. They still hadn't arrived when our trip was over so who knows if they ever will! There's actually no fences or anything at the top. I was a little weirded out about being so close to the edge. |
| A little chapel atop the mountain. |
| We headed towards Le Crestet, a gorgeous looking medieval village but passed by because D was still asleep. JohnCleese directed us to the next town we hoped to stop at, Seguret, but took us on the worst road ever (to that point in our trip ;-)). Sure, the fricking mountain he couldn't find but this non road was in the navigation system! I kept picturing our car having problems and us trying to explain to the auto club that we were in the middle of vineyards on some non road (see below). |
| In Seguret. Beautiful!! Stunning medieval, small town with twisty, narrow roads, hidden passageways. We explored the passageways and had drinks at a nice outdoor terrace (plus great ice cream :-)). Didn't make it to the chateau at the top (wee ones and all). |
| I checking out the fountain. |
| From the snack bar terrace. |
| I asked me to take this picture of him with D's hat on :-). |
