Avignon and Cassis - a brand new sea

It has now been almost exactly a month since our vacation, so I'm going to try to cram the last few days into one or two posts so I can start telling you about our daily life in Clermont! On Monday morning, August 21, we were all packed up and ready to head to the second leg of our vacation: Avignon! When planning this trip Josh found Annecy, recommended by several expat friends, and it was great (save for the injury at the end). Avignon, on the other hand, was my idea - just a 3 1/2 hour drive from Annecy (thanks, toll roads!), hot, beautiful, and in Provence. What a difference! 

We arrived, communicated with our VRBO host and parked in the local garage. We had to drive through some construction as the city is adding a tram line. I'm sure it'll be great once it's in, but the traffic disruptions would be a major headache during our stay. Finally we wound our way through the tiny parking garage "Jean Jaures" and walked - well, one of us limped - to our apartment. 

It was in the pedestrian area of Place des Corps Saints, which is beautiful and quiet but very near the main street. Unfortunately, the apartment was advertised as "premiere ètage," or French first floor, which is up one flight of stairs from the ground, but in reality it was on the deuxiéme étage," so every time we left or entered the apartment, Josh had to contend with two flights of stairs. And there was another flight inside the place. 

After a few hours' ice and rest for Monsieur, thanks to the frozen peas I found at Monoprix, we headed out for dinner. Aioli, mussels, fish and escargots with lots of roasted vegetables was a nice change from the heavy cheese-centric meals in the Alps!

 The next day we said goodbye to High Five Baby Jesus, who resides in the entryway of the apartment,

 and set off to explore. We stopped by the Maison de Tourisme first and bought tickets for the tour bus around the city, tourist mini-train, and a van trip to Pond du Gard and Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a tiny village and wine AOP where our favorite red wines come from. That'd be Thursday, so Tuesday we stayed around town.

Even statues love Sylvie!

 The churches are, predictably, gorgeous in this former home of the popes. Le Palais des Papes is a huge fixture in the town, but there are dozens of smaller, yet no less ornate Catholic churches throughout.

This was an enormous hanging tapestry - human being on the right for scale. My little fiber-artist heart went pitter-pat!

Pope Francis in photo, and John Paul II in stone. 

 Naturally, I found some Cafe Gourmand at one of our lunch stops. And shared! The kids adored this latest French carousel.

Yummy! Also the food! :) 

On the petite tourist train. We'd paid for Sylvia since she's a big four-year-old now, but the conductor took one look at her and promptly refunded her fare. "Elle est trop petite et mignone." She's too small and cute to pay.

 The train gave us our first gorgeous view of the famous "Pont d'Avignon," on which one is supposed to dance. Regrettably, we didn't make it there on foot, but it was lovely anyhow.

The huge city wall, erected on order of the Popes who lived here during unrest in Italy.

Wednesday we set off on yet another adventure - a day trip to the village of Cassis, and another reminder that any "sleepy village" one finds on Google is not a sleepy village at all, but a bustling tourist destination that will be packed and crowded. Cassis is just southeast of Marseilles, where there'd been a terrorist car attack just days before. So we arrived, sore-kneed and hungry after an hour and a half drive, to discover that all of the downtown parking was cordoned off in Cassis, and the nearest places were packed to the gills. It was a repeat of how not to find a beach! After a number of failed attempts, Josh finally took over driving (against the needs of his knee) and waited in line to park while I walked the kids down into town to find something to eat.

Luckily, lunch did not disappoint. We chose a pricey but gorgeous place along the waterfront, honestly just because it had tables available right then and no line for the restroom. But it was a happy accident - the kids and I ate fish that was absolutely fresh and delicious.

avec des frites pour le garçon...

...et des pâtes pour la fille!

Josh had steak, as usual, but my food was the star. The first course was bouillabaisse - so popular in France, I frequently see it sold in jars at my local supermarkets - with Parmesan cheese, little crunchy pieces of bread, and a sauce I'd never had before: rouille. It's an orange sauce similar to aioli, made with olive oil, egg yolks, and in this case, saffron or paprika and cayenne pepper. It was divine. Following came a gorgeous piece of ocean fish served on top of thin slices of sautéed summer squash and mashed potatoes.

After lunch we headed out on a little boat to tour the famous calanques of Cassis - high stone formations surrounding tiny inlets of the Mediterranean, formed by erosion and water pressure over thousands of years. We must have been out of our minds to get on another boat, but it was a great time.

Maybe my favorite picture of Sylvia, ever. Her hat kept blowing nearly off from the wind!

 By this time we were all in love with the Mediterranean Sea, the first sea I'd ever visited. So we headed to the public beach - which was absolutely full of people, with barely enough room to set down our towels. But we found a tiny patch and went straight to get our toes in the water.

 The waves were fast and powerful, and the water was freezing, so we all stayed near the shoreline. The beach was made up of millions of tiny pebbles, which were so gorgeous that it was tough to tell the rocks from the sea glass. I gathered some to bring home with us, and they sit now on a shelf in my kitchen.

Almost as beautiful now as they were that day.

We rinsed off most of the sand in an outdoor shower, lamented the lack of public toilets, and decided the only sensible way to find a bathroom was to stop at a crowded, touristy ice cream shop. The kids were allowed two small scoops each. Since MY mother wasn't there to limit me, I had something...slightly more indulgent.

Go big or go home, right? The Peach Melba Sundae had vanilla ice cream, canned peaches, raspberry coulis, and the biggest mound of whipped cream I'd ever seen. Once again, I found it in my heart to share with Josh.

The drive home was an adventure in itself - the kids were exhausted, of course, and naturally once we'd been on the road for 15 minutes, Sylvia desperately had to go to the bathroom. So I thought we'd try the tollbooth stop. Getting in the right hand toll lane, which must've been one of 15 lanes, meant double the wait time of any that were further left. But I was vindicated for my slow choice when we found a clean-ish public bathroom just 10 feet beyond it, with safe and designated parking! They both fell asleep on the road and I dragged their car seats from the curb up into our apartment, so they could safely ride along in our van tour the next morning.

Our time in Avignon and Cassis was a blast, but the strain on Josh's injured knee was probably not wise. Of course, he didn't care, as long as we were having a good time. Which led to some questionable choices the following day - and the best day of our time in France so far. Tomorrow: Châteauneuf-du-Pape.