On Tuesday, we headed to the Pont Du Gard first thing in the morning to meet up with a very funny tour guide. He explained how the aqueduct was built and used and took us around one of the sides of the aqueduct so we could get some great pictures. But the coolest part was when he took us to the top so we could actually walk through it. To get there, we had to climb a very dark, spiral staircase and some of our tour members were a bit freaked out. Thank goodness for mobile phone flashlights! Once we reached the top, we had to follow very specific instructions to not touch or climb the sides of the aqueduct because it had been damaged in an earthquake at some point in the past. Yikes? The views from the top were amazing! After that, several of us walked down to take in more of the views along the river and to catch more get more pictures of the aqueduct. 

After that, we went back to Arles to do more exploring. Our tour guide gave us tickets that were good for multiple sites and I opted to go to something called the Cryptoportique, which sounded really cool and interesting, but wasn't. It was basically going down some stairs into a dark, empty room. WTF? Glad I didn't pay admission for that! I also went to the amphitheater, which honestly looks cooler on the outside than it does on the inside. I could see why our tour guide only paid $10 each for these tickets!

The next morning after breakfast we did a bit of a hike to the bus, then headed to Provence to check out the Carrières de Lumières, which was a really cool light show inside an old quarry. If you've ever been to the immersive Van Gogh or Monet shows in the US, it's the same thing, but in a more interesting venue. It's like watching a movie that's projected on both the walls and the floor. Not good if you get motion sickness. 

After that, the bus took us to the hill town of Les Baux, which is a bunch of old castle ruins and a ton of great little shops. Our tour guide took us up to the ruins, I explored for about 5 minutes, then headed back down to the shops because I wasn't going to miss that opportunity. I think I said this before, but I was amazed at how inexpensive everything was over there in comparison to Chicago or other major US cities. And lesson learned, I will definitely bring an empty suitcase the next time I go to Europe so that I can bring home more souvenirs. I was only able to get a few small items that I could fit into my backpack like lavender, herbes de Provence, and small jars of truffle flavored olive tapenade and eggplant spread. I saw some really cool crockery that I wish I could have purchased, along with wines and cooking oil. Argh!!

After that, we headed to nice, where we checked into our hotel, then met up with our guide for a brief walking tour of the immediate area around our hotel. Nice is very touristy but cute. Lots of great shops and restaurants and a lovely boardwalk and view of the Mediterranean Sea. That night, I enjoyed a lovely dinner with one of my tourmates where we each had a glass of champagne, split a seafood platter, a pasta dish, and each had our own desserts. Surprisingly portion sizes were huge and it wasn't crazy expensive.

The next morning, we met a local tour guide who walked us around the city and gave us an overview of the history and took us to the outdoor market, some cool sites including a museum and the local cathedral, and introduced us to Socca, which is like a pizza crust but made out of chickpea flour. After that, our tour guide treated us to an ice cream cone at a place Rick Steves recommends in his guide. The choices of flavors were overwhelming, but and I opted for hazelnut ice cream, which was yummy! From there I had to do some laundry, brought it back to my room then went out to explore more on my own, including walking up and down the boardwalk and enjoying a nice cocktail while taking in the view.

That night, we had our last dinner as a group, which was a bit sad. A lot of the tour members, most of whom are retired, were going on to other tours or extending their stay in some other way. Me however, I had to go back to work on Monday. Boo! Our tour guide took us to the boardwalk after dinner, where we enjoyed cups of champagne, exchanged our contact info, and some of us had to say our goodbyes. My flight was leaving at 6:00 a.m. the next morning, so I had to head back to the hotel to go to bed. I really would have liked to have stayed in nice for another day or two.

On Friday morning, I had to wake up at 3:00 a.m. France time to catch my flight from Nice to London, then London to Chicago. Everything was fine until I got to Heathrow where I learned how strict they are with liquids and ended up having to dump 90% of my toiletry containers which still had some product left in them. The cool part was I got to fly on an A380, which is a huge double decker plane. They had three jetways depending on where your seat was located! I got to my seat and it was nice to relax after my stressful trip through security. I watched Notting Hill, which I had never seen before (cheesy rom com), along with several episodes of "And just like that," the Sex and the City spinoff. I landed in Chicago, took the train home, and was very happy to see Georgie when I picked him up from the kennel. I was worried about him because this was the longest I had been gone since getting him last year. I think he was happy to see me. 😊

It was a great trip, and while I'm not sure when my next trip to Europe will be, I'm looking at either Eastern Europe (Rick Steves), or a solo trip to Ireland, Scotland, and Northern England. Stay tuned!

Bread, wine, and quirky rest stop snacks

Saturday, October 1st was Market Day in Sarlat and I was really excited! I love outdoor markets and the variety of food and other things, along with the great people watching. After doing some laundry that morning, I walked around the market and picked up some walnut pralines, a mini walnut cake (which ended up being a dry disappointment), and some interesting and yummy red wine with walnut, which was an appertif. Had I brought an extra suitcase that I could check, I could have gotten a lot more--lesson learned! I would have loved to have purchased some good olive and walnut oils, among other things. Later that day, we had an impromptu tour group happy hour in the hotel where the tour guide provided different and snacks and I brought my walnut wine. There was definitely no shortage of wine on this tour! Some single members of the tour had planned to do a dinner together, but I was craving Asian food and opted to go to a restaurant across town. Unfortunately it was a 15 Euro disappointment. Just shrimp and noodles, no veggies or anything else. It tasted like fast food Chinese from the mall. I left both Yelp and Google reviews to hopefully save someone else sometime and money!

The next day, Sunday, we left Sarlat and headed to Carcassonne. One thing I forgot to mention earlier is that France is very strict about bus drivers taking breaks, so we stopped often at rest stops between cities. The rest/truck stops in Europe are pretty nice and have a lot of food and gift shopping options, unlike the ones you see in the US. Their bathrooms are also very clean. At each rest stop, I loved exploring their snack selection to see and try things we don't have in the US. Not only was I able to find gummy Smurfs, Kinder Surprise eggs, but also Kit Kat peanut butter, a variety of Bonne Maman snacks, and Monster Munch, savory rice snack that I really dig.

Before arriving at our hotel in Carcassonne, the bus took us up to a viewpoint so we could get great pictures of the Fortress from a distance since our hotel was located right beneath it. We checked into the hotel, which was a bit funky. Each room was decorated in bold and bright colors, it was um, interesting? The nice thing is that I had a balcony, but there were so many bugs out there that I couldn't enjoy it. My bathroom was so tiny that I had to shimmy my way around the sink to get to the toilet.

After checking into the hotel, we went on a brief walking tour, then I had drinks with two other couples, who cracked me up. The best line of the night that brought me to tears was "remember math?" 😆 Our group dinner that night included cassoulet, and of course, more wine and bread. After dinner, the tour guide took several of us on a brief walk and surprised us with a cool night view of the fortress. One of our tour members also spotted the International Space Station passing above us, so that was a cool bonus! Our tour guide had also brought a bottle of champagne and mini cups with us to do a little toast on the bridge, which was a nice way to end the day.

On Monday, during breakfast, we saw that the hotel owners had two dogs that roamed around the breakfast room. One of them, named Elliot, is 15 years old. He can barely see or hear, but is just so damn cute! We then left Carcassonne and headed for Arles. Along the way, we stopped at a small winery for a tour, tasting, and lunch in the vineyard (more wine and bread, of course!). Despite all the wasps hovering around me, it was really nice.

In Arles, the bus stopped at an antiquities museum, which wasn't noted in the itinerary. This sounded boring AF to me, so I opted to instead go directly to the hotel to get settled in, then head to a laundromat because I was running out of clean clothes. I also walked around the town a bit to explore, which is one of my favorite things to do on these tours. I love taking pictures of quirky things along the way. I think I mentioned this before, but the nice thing about Rick Steves tours is that if there is something you don't want to do, all you need to do is let the tour guide know so they aren't wondering where you are. 

Later that day, I met up with the group in the lobby and we headed to dinner together. Even though Covid is still a factor, I really did enjoy the group dinners because it's a chance to get to know people even better and try foods you wouldn't typically eat back home. 

In my next post, I will provide a recap of our final days in Nice and my trip home.