BowlderFamily European Extravaganza!

“Whew!

Had a great trip - still trying to pare down 460 photos to a manageable number to upload to Webshots, so will probably wait until after our JMT/2 trip that starts Wednesday.

- Flight into Paris via London was fine.
- Took TGV to Milan the next day. It was 90 minutes late, so missed our connecting train to Verona. Took next one; no problem.
- Wedding of cousin outside of Verona was great. Area much like Napa/Sonoma. Stayed at winery owned/operated by direct descendents of Dante.
- Train to Villefranche Sur Mer via Milan and Monte Carlo. Did not win back cost of vacation in Monte Carlo - considered selling BowlderSon to buy more chips. V. s. Mer is a great spot!
- TGV to Avignon. Taxi to hotel in "suburb" across river from Avignon. No restaurants. Ended up getting take-out pizza. Not bad!
- Bike trip started. Nice break for espresso in tiny village. Rode about 15 miles to St. Remy de Provence, including stop at mental hospital where Van Gogh spent a little over a year after chopping off his ear. He cranked out 150 paintings while being treated there!
- Biked to Arles via Les Baux de Provence in nearly 100° heat! Almost expired! About 35 miles of riding.
- Nosed around Arles in AM; watched Tour de France fly through in afternoon. David Millar almost ran into BowlderGal. BowlderMan was NOT the guy in the lime green Borat suit. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
- Biked to tiny village of Graveson, then to hotel on outskirts of town, out near the orchards. About 20 miles riding.
- Biked back into Avignon and returned bikes to hotel next door to bike rental shop, as instructed. No luggage. Phone calls. Turned out they meant the other hotel, a quarter mile away. Still made it to TGV station in plenty of time to catch train to Paris.
- Took Metro and walked to apartment. Up four flights of stairs. Someone had left beer in the fridge and forgotten to turn the fridge down upon leaving, so beer was cold - voila!
- Five days of museums/churches/monuments - it was fantastic!! Food ridiculously expensive, but apartment (through a friend) was only 100 bucks/night, so we could splurge. Saw Harry Potter (version originale, with French subtitles - why did they change "Hogwarts" to "Poidlard"?!).
- Went to BowlderSon's soccer teammate's grandparents home for an afternoon and dinner near Versailles. They spoke a little English; we spoke less French; we had a great time - always good to spend time with locals!
- Arrived home safely Friday evening after a mere 22 hours of traveling. Jet lag not too bad.”

“sounds like a great trip, can't wait to see the pics..enjoy your JMT trip”

“Cool, Bowlder! What was the reaction to all of the tour doping scandals?”

“wow, I am tired just from reading that. I think its nap time at work. I hope I can do that with my kids soon”

“Hard to gauge the reaction to the scandals, since I don't read too much French, although they did have a survey in one paper I saw that, from what I could gather, was quizzing people as to whether they should just cancel the whole thing. Actually, the French didn't seem all that excited about it anyway, given that there weren't many good French riders in it this year....”

“Very nice!”

“what a cool freakin TRIP! Cold Beer in the fridge - trip magic!!!

That's the most abbreviated trip report I've EVER read - but very effective.

kinda like the long version of "We came, we saw, we kicked its ass ....." :)”

“Four flights of stairs with luggage - man, it kicked OUR ass!”

“Sounds like it was a blast! Thanks for the report. I can't wait for the day I get to go to Europe.”

“...waiting on the pics...

..thanks for sharing!!!”

“OK, here are the links to the pics - no captions yet, and that'll have to wait until I get back from the JMT. Enjoy anyway!

Album 1 - Wedding
http://travel.webshots.com/album/560086309qiLmJC

Album 2 - Provence
http://travel.webshots.com/album/560086899djUAnE

Album 3 - Paris
http://travel.webshots.com/album/560087312BBWhvy

Album 4 - Video Clips
http://travel.webshots.com/album/560095301TBlgBJ
(Note the "Bourne Identity" clip on the Pont Neuf!)”

“That sounds like super-fun, Bowlder! Btw, I just emailed you about San Fran next month...I bet maybe you already left for your JMT trip though...”

“Not yet - leave in an hour. I'll check my email!!”

“Got yours...later!”