On Saturday morning, we took an intesting bus ride and walked the streets of a suburban industrial park outside Nice to pick up Rene, our shiny new Renault Modus. After signing only one form, we were handed the keys to our 'bought for a month' car. We gased up (50+ Euro - ouch!), got a stern warning from a local about pickpockets and smash and grabs in Nice, and hit the Autoroute for the Gorges de Verdon, Europe's Grand Canyon. Truly spectacular vistas, 2000 foot sheer drops from the side of the road, bungee jumpers off a bridge (into a 2000 foot abyss) and a James Bond worthy drive, all awaited us.
At the end of the canyon, the water flows into mineral rich Lac Ste Croix, reminiscent of Lake Louise. Tiny Aiguines, the village above the lake was a peaceful spot where we enjoyed a night with a good Provencal dinner, a huge rain and our first taste of a French village.

After Aiguines, we drove on to the Colarado Provencal, an amazing area of red ochre cliffs, 'chimney pots', and sand dunes. The juxtaposition of red cliffs against typical Provencal rolling hills of white stone and green brush was really quite something. A stop or two along the way in tiny hill towns, including our favourite Viens. This was a picture postcard hill town with narrow, winding streets, photo spots at every turn and stone wonderful architecture, with intricately carved doors and windows. A true gem!

We then drove on to Roussilllon, a village made of the local red stone. We watched a beautiful sunset and the parade of other tourists. Great views and very photogenic, but it felt a little over sold. Too much gilding, not enough substance...think Wasaga beach on a summer weekend, we much preferred the authentic quiet streets of little Viens.

Monday we visited an ancient village made entirely of stone and a stop or two to taste the (pardon the pun) fruits of the local labour at a Cote du Rhone wine tasting, and finally on to Vaison-la-Romaine. We are staying at a quaint B and B outside the town, with a real character of an owner. A lovely dinner in Vaison and here we sit in the French countryside with no TV, no radio, but a BlackBerry and wireless Email...go figure? J and A

There is lots to update for only 3 days on the road but it really does feel like weeks.
Our flight was a long one. We had a stop in Amsterdam in the middle of our night (6 am local) that felt like we were in a dream. We listened to loud Dutch on a small plane to Nice and took a bus and a long walk to our hotel at 10:30 in the morning. The rest of the day was spent in a hazy, jet-lagged route march around Nice, walking the boardwalk, eating at a local outdoor food counter, with us, many tourists abd the locals all eating at wooden benches in the Old Nice square.

Day 2 was Monaco and all the opulence that it embodies. We took a very packed train filled with many, many Russians and Brits due to a UEFA soccer match that night in Monaco. Listening to more Russian than we ever have and way more Liverpool fighting songs than we cared to!

Monaco was very nice and actually bigger than expected. The yachts were spectacular and the old fort around the Prince's residence was quite nice. After a couple of photos of the F1 finish line, a walk up the battlements and losing a few dollars at the Monte Carlo casino and we headed back towards Nice. We stopped in Villefranche-sur-Mer for a dip in the ocean, where (Jeremy) got a jelly fish sting and we ended the day in Old Nice with a very good meal on the patio of a restaurant with the energy of the city at night surrounding us.

We are a few days behind on the updates so we are off to Vaison-la-Romaine deep in the Luberon tomorrow but we have to fill in on picking up the car, the chaos of driving, and some nice small towns along the way. J and A

Departure lounge blues... The trip is still quite surreal, but somehow staring out the window at the nose of an airplane seems somehow to bring things into perspective!

Well we're almost on our way. We board in a few minutes. The next time you hear from us, we will be breathing in the warm mediterranean air!

The journey begins... Stay tuned.

A couple of weeks ago, Sandy, Phil, Jonathan, Amanda and I spent a weekend at Owl's Head. We ate really well, had a great hike (or two in Sandy's case), shared some laughs and played a great game of golf, except for a cranky marshall that wanted to boot us off because Phil was not wearing shoes...put the shoes back on Phil! Take a look at the pictures, there are some in a new Owl's Head page in the photos section and a new panorama looking at lake Memphremagog from the top of Owl's Head..