Back to Cairanne

This morning we delivered Brigitte to Lyon Gare Part Dieu. It was a 50 metre walk from our hotel. When we got there, we discovered that the destination for her train read Strasbourg, rather than Baden Baden. Oops! Dawn and Brigitte went to the information booth to discover that there were problems with that particular route. Her new route involved going to Strasbourg, then transfering to Offenburg in Germany, then another transfer to Baden Baden and then finally a transfer to her train to Hamburg. Brigitte's advantage at this point is that, once in Strasbourg, she will be able to use German. As I write this, she SHOULD be on her way to Hamburg.

Once we got Brigitte on the train, we checked out of the Ibis and proceeded to "get the hell out of Dodge." I might point out that we were staying in the heart of Lyon - third largest city in France. As it turns out, getting out of the city was easy - heading south on the A7 autoroute, not so much. The French are famous for their protests. We have been caught twice by Air France protest work action, but this is the first time we have encountered protesters on a highway. I know we've had tractors on the 401 in Canada, but in this case, protesters had totally plugged up a major interchange with another autoroute. They had trucks and bonfires and most of the protesters were sitting on the highway in plastic chairs. They were allowing the traffic to trickle through one car at a time. The police were there, just keeping the peace.

This blockage cost us a little over an hour and a half. But, since we weren't on a schedule - c'est la vie! We were back in Orange at 2:00 to get gas and pick up some veggies and then back to Chez Pigeon. As it turns out, the Foire des Vins or wine fairs have begun - my favourite time in France.

Back in Cairanne we were greeted by the sun and heat - Vive Provence! As we unpacked - again - the first critter we've ever seen here, except unmentionables - Oh, those might be RATS - popped up on the wall on the balcony. I should add that we have only ever seen rats in the streets below Chez Pigeon. I guess it was some kind of squirrel, but I was pretty sure that the hunters had killed all these little guys. They're shooting at something!