Nyons

Sooner or later a little rain must fall and that was this morning. With a thunderstorm came a change in temperature as well which was a welcome respite from the melting heat - not cool mind you, just not stinking hot. Because the storm hit just at market setup time, we weren't sure there would be a market in Nyons, but 70% of the vendors did show up as we discovered when we finally ventured out.

One of the most noteworthy landmarks of Nyons is the chapel tower high above the town. This visit, we decided to walk up to it for a better look.

The 18th century chapel was interesting, with a nice perspective of the town, but the views along the walk down were equally worth the walk.

Not sure that this "Beware vicious dog" would scare away anyone, because anyone who goes to a French market knows that happy and friendly dog viewings are a highlight.

We have been to market day in this town more than once, but I always find it interesting how many new things we see each time we come, like Madame Liberty.

Our lunch highlight today was frites from the Frites Wagon at the main roundabout. We felt naughty.

I haven't included any photos of Cairanne yet - maybe tomorrow - but this sign is a new and proud moment for Cairanne as their wine is suddenly more valuable, having been elevated to the Cru status.

We purchased some marinated lamb kebabs at a butcher in Nyons for dinner this evening and that was the highlight of an otherwise quiet evening.

Familiar Haunts

Now that we've settled in here, my entries will be a little mundane and certainly shorter. The heat and the hot wind continues - I think this might be a sirocco wind from the Sahara. It is quite intense and nonstop. Despite the hot dry conditions, the garden here is producing some nice results, like plump olives and fancy blooms. Dawn also lent a hand today, getting into one of her favourite activities.

We did one of now essential shopping trips today to Auchan and Tissus Gregoire in Avignon. The variety of product at Auchan is always impressive and the prices are ridiculously low, like the bottle of Lagavulin I bought for half the price I would pay in Canada. In fact, I don't buy it in Canada because it is a little out of my price range. But I love it. There are always French ladies on hand who are, at the grocery store, dressed for a party - well put together, but, not meaning to be insulting, often better looking going then coming. I guess that's kind of like the "don't be offended" comment that often prefaces an insult. Sorry! Couldn't help myself.

The mall surrounding Auchan had a Diney theme going on with gigantic effigies of Disney cartoon icons, like the Kung-fu Panda.

Anyway, we finished the afternoon drinking a Louis Sipp Gewurtztraminer from my cellar accompanied by a reblochon, sundried tomato saucisse and nectarine, kissed by the hot African breeze.

First Day In Cairanne

If it's Tuesday, by now we know where we need to go - to the market in Vaison la Romaine. We actually had a leisurely start to the day, which promised to once again be stinking hot. Yowzer!! When we finally got to Vaison, there appeared to be no parking in any places we would normally go. We haven't been here in two years and yet the popularity of this market has definitely not diminished. We wondered before leaving from home how they might be addressing security concerns, given in the past, the easy access to the main market street. Answer, block it with a truck.

They are not burying their heads in the sand, which is encouraging. The market street, otherwise, looked identical and our two favourite vendors were present although Lilian is now selling the provincial Saucisses here, but continues to sell table cloths in Nyons. Upon reintroducing oursleves to Viviane, she promptly gave us a brochure for a B&B she now operates close to Pont St. Esprit. Does this mean she wants to see more of me?

We left the market with loads of our favourite items, provencal olives, sundried tomatoes, various saucisses and small French radishes. Before heading home to lunch on these goodies, we headed way up into the hills above Roaix to a Peter and Margaret recommended winery, Domaine Escaravailles. They had quite the vista from up here.

Their grapes, similar to those of Chateauneuf du Pape, grow in boulders, thus getting a good deal of sun soaking. The tasting room was both well placed and well appointed and we walked away with some of their rose, white and red wines.

Lunch was on the end terrasse with a rose and fans pointed strategically to stop us from melting. Once again, La Vie Est Belle!

We always have these buddies on hot days and they always seem a little insulted that we have invaded their space. Our travels for the remainder of our trip, will be in this little number - Peugeot 308. It's got lots of pep and sufficient passenger comforts.

Heading South

The day began early on this day of transit. By 6:00 we were at St. Pancras Station, the station devoted primarily to international travel by train from Great Britain. Unfortunately, for reasons made clear later - they were fixing the air conditioning - our train was delayed by 1 1/2 hours. We had some breakfast and finally boarded the Eurostar TGV. It took us 1 hour to get to the chunnel and 20 minutes later, we were in France. This train certainly steps out, I guess averaging 200 kph. There were only 6 stops, one in England, then Lille, Marne la Vallee (Disneyland), Lyon, Avignon and Marseilles. If we had known that this train stopped in Avignon, we could have arranged to pick up our car there. Live and learn!

The great weather continues and it was 34 degrees C. when we arrived in Marseilles. From downtown Marseilles, we had to make our way back to the airport where we were to pick up our car. We took the bus for 8 Euros 30 and then walked a mere few steps - Dawn might have a different story - to the Peugeot depot. Once we gassed up, with diesel, we set out for Cairanne. We stopped for a few essentials, like foie gras and rose, at Carrefour in Orange. We can almost do this drive in our sleep - not recommended - and we hit Cairanne just as the sun was setting. It was still 30 degrees but a fabulous breeze kissed the terrace. We toasted our arrival and had a duck parmentier (duck shepherd’s pie) and salad for dinner and as they say, a good time was had by all. Vive la Provence!!!!!

A Few Final Must Sees

For the third day straight, it was hot and sunny in London - BONUS! We did the walking tour - CHECK! We did the Hop On Hop Off Bus - CHECK! Today, we set out to see a few more highlights, for us anyway, this time using the Underground Tube - CHECK! The trains roll fast and often here. Sometimes they are separate cars and sometimes they are just one long expanse of train. Getting to them, however, often requires travelling on steep, long escalators.

We bought the full day unlimited use pass for under $20 a person at Paddington and our first destination via the St. Johns Wood Tube Station was.......

I hope you guessed Abbey Road - not sure which of the Beatles are shown here. The white building in the background is Abbey Road Studio, still one of the hottest recording destinations in the world. Needless to say, there is an Abbey Road Studio Gift Shop next door with some really cool stuff and memorabilia, like Paul's left handed Hofner guitar.

The studio is protected by a "white" wall, which has so much graffiti written on it that it has to be repainted every four weeks. The gift shop sells graffiti pencils, so clearly this is not discouraged. The Get Back in this photo, of course, refers to the Beatles classic hit.

Back at the shop, there is an interesting timeline of the studio's achievements since 1935 and a photo op inside.

Back on the Tube, we headed for Soho and in particular the iconic Carnaby St, famous in the 60's. It's not as bohemian as is was back then, but some of the shops still have that air - like the one selling the inspiration for Kinky Boots.

We chose to lunch here and although there were some cool pubs in the area, we opted for Whyte and Brown, specializing in their free range chicken.

For lunch, Dawn had a caesar, I had chicken with the biggest yorkshire I've ever seen and we shared truffle parmesan fries. YUM!

There's a lot to look at in this area, like Liberty of London, a fabulous tudor style building housing some pretty high end merchandise. The scarf Dawn looked at was 195 Br. pounds (over $300). There were also some well placed phone booths.

Back underground, we next headed to the Embankment Station. Each time we've travelled on the Tube, we've had to change to another line to make it to our destination. This is not hard to figure out. London HAS more than a few lines. We were heading to the Temple Church, with its tributes to the Knights Templar, but alas, Michelin neglected to inform us that over the summer anyway, the church is closed on the weekends - some church. We could only get a glimpse of the side of the church.

On the way, however, we did get a nice view of the Royal Palace of Justice on the Strand and we visited the Twinings tea shop, with some products only found there.

There may also have been another of those City of London dragons along the way.

At this point, even with the Tube, our feet were saying, "Enough Already!" So we headed back to hotel for a respite. They are celebrating Carnival - don't ask me what this is about - here this weekend and there were more hot chicks with glitter on their cheeks and skimpy outfits than I have ever seen. But we of the earlier generation will avoid that silliness. SOB! So, finally we got to a pub for dinner, one all of 200 metres from our hotel. This was the Victoria, one of the Fuller pubs across London. Rumour has it that the likes of Winston Churchill and Charlie Chaplin ate here - maybe Dickens too. Anyway, we had, for Dawn the pork and chorizo burger and I had pan seared calf's liver. Dessert was an amazing sticky toffee pudding.

London has many icons, including the Hackney carriage, black cab and the red double decker bus. Since this is my last post from England, I thought there was no fitting way to end this segment than with these.