Its over

Hot and beautiful and sweaty eating last nite in Monaco, today cold and raining in Dublin, tomorrow the states. Its been fun. Major pc problems the last few days so have not been able to blog about Avignon, Marseilles, Nice, Provence, Riviera, etc.. but all was great. It was sad leaving France, but Dublin is grey and dark and cold so it is making it easier to say goodbye to Europe. Gotta go now. Ciao, au revior, goodbye!

Still alive

We rented a scooter in Avignon and rode up to Chateuneuf-du-Pape and it was scary. I haven't rode a scooter in a long time, but it is just like riding a bike and when I walked down to the rental agency i got the scooter and rode back to pick up CC. The ride was fine, I got completely lost in the walled town but I got more comfy with leaning in turns and riding i felt alright. Then i found CC and she got on back and you lose at least 40 percent of control with someone on your back if not more. And she fidgets alot. Also I drive better when i dont have to worry about anything and the last thing I worry about is myself, but protecting CC added a lot of stress. Ive broken and dislocated a few bones and cut myself and been in tons of bike wrecks but as much as i dont like it i would rather it happen to me and just me. Then to top it off we had to ride on a highway that went anywhere from 70 to 110 k which is like 45 to 66 mph and that is the minimum. Add a really strong crosswind and a lil moto that feels and swerves in any little breeze and it was scary. Finally we got to town and it was their festival of the year and we walked to the old papal ruins and got pork kebabs and sausages from a streetside grill. it was great! we went to 3 really cool, different wineries and we decided that grenache and syrah and their friends make great reds but grenache and roussanne makes really good underrated whites too. We made it back to avignon and once i dropped CC off at the hotel i was incredibly relieved. There are only 2 good things you come away with after taking crazy curvy fast french roads on a too slow and too light scooter with someone who has never been on one and that fidgets and shifts their weight on your back: one: thank god i didnt kill us. two: when you take the scooter back to the rental by yourself it is like you can do anything- the scooter is so easy again, it does exactly like you tell it to. that combined with the windless, walled city of avignon-after going thru all that i rode back to the renters like a professional. then we made the train to aix-en-provence. we're here now. a little bit out of town, but found the best (only) converted VW bus pizza stand ever. a wood stove cooks your pizza in the back of this VW and they have this little 6 yo girl that gets your wine for you and i'm pretty sure she eats all the pizza leftover from customers, she always has a cold piece hanging out of her mouth and we saw her grab some from a left over box. Took pics but cant find the camera loader and CC's sleeping on the cement terrace since the AC is broke and i dont wanna bother her.

Last day in Paris.

Well, this is it. No more of the citylife. No more wonderful food with horrific service! No more beggars, no more throngs of tourists. No more bahn mis and trips to versaille or hippodromes. Last nite we ate with CC's boss and her boyfriend. It was a wonderful way to end the trip- an invite into a real parisian's home with her attacking cat. She cooked a zucchini terrine and this stuffed veal thing that was really good, then a goatcheese tasting, and finished it off with her homemade jarred pears and apricot jam. They started it off with this walnut liqueur that was incredible, then we drank a sweet red, then a 1er cru burgundy during dinner, and then he invited me to taste almost all of his french liqueurs, a collection of about 100 bottles that he probably started over 20 years ago. We drank cherry pit brandy from 1903, chestnut liqueur, fig liqueur, well just about any liqueur from any thing you can think of. They treated us like royalty. It was great. Then they gave us a ride home and checked out our apartment and were amazed. It really is a great apartment for a city, I'm gonna miss it.