Friday, November 2nd, 2007
After our 10 hour overnight train (which really only takes about 7 hours by train…but we stopped FREQUENTLY), we arrived fairly well rested. We shared our four person berth with a lovely french couple that did not snore and were very quiet.
We picked up our upgraded Renault Diesel rental car and hit the road from Nice, to the Haute Alps-de- Provence. About 4 hours later, some road detours, several other lovely french people ‘flashing’ their lights to warn of police traps, we arrived in the small town of Château-Arnoux. We were lucky to find La Bonne Etape without much difficulty, and we were escorted to our room by Stephanie, our lovely front desk hostess. Our Junior Suite had a lovely sitting area, along with a terrace (where we’ll enjoy breakfast for three mornings…) and a large bedroom and bathroom. We enjoyed every moment of our 5 star, Relais chateau qualified hotel, and we sincerely appreciated winning the bid on luxurylink.com.We enjoyed our wireless Internet connection thoroughly (by updating our site!) as well as the linen sheets and no real agenda. Dermot and I were both feeling sick, so we fully took advantage of the beautiful hotel to enjoy our sickness and just stay in. We did venture into the town for dinner at the only “Tavern” serving food, and Katie got to practice her incredibly rusty French. We both ordered off the pre-fix menu and got salads, cheese, steak and lamp. I love lamp. Or lamb!
On our first full day in Provence, we enjoyed breakfast on the terrace and we wore our robes and slippers pretty much all day.
We decided to venture out for wine tasting and lavender distillery hunting. We were both feeling much better before we went ‘wine tasting’ at Caves la Madeliene, where we were convinced the ‘mystery’ unnamed “white wine” was from one of the many cats wondering around the winery…. needless to say, it was interesting to taste the wines right from the vats, but Katie felt pretty sick afterwards and required her chauffeur, Dermot to take her back to the Chateau at once. Two and half hours later, Katie woke from her slumber and they were off to celebrate their one month (wow!) of being engaged! We enjoyed our fancy pants meal included in our package at Michelin rated “Au Gout du Jour.” We enjoyed the chef’s choices for the evening, as well as meeting him. He came around to the tables and asked us how our meals were, but as we attempted to talk, he got shy…since he didn’t speak English. Bon Nuit! Good Night!)
On Sunday, we decided to head to the thermal baths in nearby Digne-les-Bains. The only literature we could find said that it was open 10 months out of the year, so we took our odds…
About 30 minutes later and following signs for “La Thermals”… we found the place deserted. So we continued up the windy hills and found a great hike. About an hour or so we arrived to the church at the top of the mountain.
We explored the tiny little church (being renovated since 2004), as well as the overlooks and possible cemetery (we have no clue) overlooking all of the French Alps.
Back into town, Dermot noticed signs that the circus was in town– and today was the last day! So we followed our instincts and somehow found the big top! We bought the nose bleed seats, since we were probably the only adults sans children going… we shouldn’t take all of the good seats. We splurged an extra 2 euro to see the zoo, where we saw many tigers, both white and Bengal, as well as baboons, donkeys, Shetland ponies and mini everything… including a French woman that fully interpreted ‘petting zoo’ by taking one of the goats from the cage and allowing her child to pet it. Dermot and the camels got along well, as we continued to meet and greet all of our future entertainers. As we had over an hour until the next show, we headed into town to Cafe du Midi for Katie’s true test of her French abilities and she actually ordered dinner for both Katie and Dermot without a menu!Back to the big top, we grabbed our seats just before the show started. We saw dancing lions, elephants, children riding elephants, crazy Mexican men on swinging circles (no life ropes….anywhere), magicians, fire throwers, clowns (yikes) and most impressive, three Motocross bikers that drove around in a hamster looking ball, at top speed. It was…. definitely worth our 12 euro/per person.