A long day of exploring several amazing towns. Started with the antiques market in Isle-sur-la Sorgue, a small village set along the Sorgue river which hosts the largest antiques market in Provence on Sundays…cool stuff, pretty town, way too many people, so we left for the next site.

Off to Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, a village set in a gorge valley which is the spring that originates the Sorgue river. They still do not know how deep the actual spring is! Castle ruins look over the valley while the cliffs are dotted with holes and caves. Very pretty village and walk.

After a little ice cream, we’re off to Gordes, a village perched atop white cliffs above the vineyards below (ranked as one of Frances most beautiful towns). It was incredible.

After Gordes, we stopped at the Abbaye de Sénanque, with it’s surrounding lavender fields. One of Kendra’s photo-op musts…

Then on to Roussillon. Only a short distance away, and visible from the cliffs of Gordes, but the rock and soil are all red, orange, yellow, purple, etc…the site of the Ocre harvested for paints. All houses in this village are painted using the Ocre based colours. Wish we could have bought some paints but they were very expensive. Also, both our phones and camera died by this point so we have very few photos, especially since it was getting to that golden glow light of evening:(

After a quiet day of local market and lots of swimming in the pool, we awoke to rain this morning. Essentially the first rain of the trip…not bad, and much needed. It also helps huge to cool down everything.

Decided to head to Arles anyway. It worked out perfectly. Rain stopped before we arrived and didn’t start again until we got home. The rain made most tourists avoid outdoor activities such as the roman Colosseum and amphitheater.

Then on to the remains of the Roman Amphitheater…not really restored. Lots of original columns and carved stones litter the ground, very cool place.

Lunch at a little resto with the Van Gogh café (yellow awning) – (of Café Terrace at Night) in the background (the actual café has poor reviews and high costs:)

Market in Pertuis yesterday 2 minute walk from our place in old town. Ava and Gavin tried Escargots…no luck with this one. Which meant more for me:)

Another hot day makes for a great day at the beach. Tried a new beach today and we really liked this one. Pretty busy, but still lots of room and the water and view can’t be beat!

Dinner at a little café in the main square 2minutes walk from our place. Ava and Isaac had GAnocchi…they ‘just like the way it sounds’…but tasted even better!

Took a stab at one of Provence’s largest markets….oh so busy. With temps at 35C and 1000’s of people, we didn’t last too long:) But still some cool finds and great food.

Then it was off to Les-baux-de-provence, a mountain top town and castle (ruins). With the heat climbing, why not climb a mountain:) Ended up lucking out with parking close to the town and with all the shops having such thick walls, some AC and shaded narrow lanes the while thing was pretty awesome. Such an amazing place dating back to the 11th & 12th century. And the views from the jagged cliffs are spectacular. Love this town.

Today we made our way to the Mediterranean sea. Beautiful beach at La couronne (just west of Marseille). Calm, sandy beaches nestled into rocky shorelines and of course beautiful, warm blue seas. Warm enough that even Kendra went swimming many times today! Pretty busy beach, but I think they all are at this time of the year, so no biggie. Ate at the beachside resto…moules frites again…so yum!

Had our last day in the Alsace and were speaking with our neighbor Richard about the Tour de France as it had passed through 2 days prior to our arrival. Turns out his great nephew is the local kid (there are signs all over town showing support for him) who is racing. I asked how he’s doing and he replies that he ‘Won the leg today’ . Wow! Now we’re following the race…cheering hard for Thibault Pinot (he’s still top 4).

Beautiful foggy morning as we prepared to head south.

Long drive to Provence, but made it to Pertuis (or home for the next 2 weeks) by dinner.

Explored our town of Pertuis this AM before the heat hit! Apparently we are the only ones up and out at 9h30:)

Spent the afternoon driving around Provence in search of Kendra’s lavender fields…

Our host in Provence was an elite World class wall climber in the 90’s (World Cup silver medals)…so this place is equipped with a climbing room!…an impossible climbing room…but fun none the less.

Have been exploring the Vosges Mountains in the Alsace over the past few days. Swims at the lake in Lac de la Moselotte, hiking la Colline behind the house and taking a trek up to the Montagnes de Llamas near La Bresse.

Met our neighbor Richard and he took Kendra and the kids on a tour of his little farm…chickens, geese, turkeys (with babies), peacocks (with babies), tortoises and trout. He also gave us 18 fresh eggs…so many cool colours from the different varieties of chickens….yum!

A definite highlight surprising to some of us) was the visit to the Auberge Le Couchetat where we had an incredible regional meal, followed by a tour of the 18ha llama and alpaca farm. The farm was set well up the mountain so the surrounding views were incredible.

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Had a nice fire and French style s’mores!

Picturesque little Bavarian town in France, close to the German border. Walked, ate, took pictures, had ice cream and hit the road home as it was pretty hot out.

The drive from Normandy to the Alsace is far…like across the country far. so we took 2 days with a night stop in Blois. 1st driving day we took a few hours to explore DaVinci’s final home (where he died) with this year being the 500 year anniversary of his death. Clos Lucé was his home and the park surrounding the home is filled with models of his amazing inventions. The history is his space is fairly surreal with the ideas that this man brought to the world. From bridges and boats to flight and warfare, he invented it all! And he was a decent artist to bout!

It was a hot day and getting long so we had to skip the neighbouring Chateaux Amboise (where DaVinci’s body rests).

Found a restaurant and settled into our bare-bones hotel for the night fairly early as the crew was spent. Too bad, cause Blois was hosting fireworks on the old bridge for the celebration of La Bastille (it’s like France Day….30 000 people in the old town…we slept:)

Driving day 2 was awesome. Got to Chateaux Chambord at 8:30am beating all tourists and having the place to ourselves. Walked around the largest of France’s castles, then went in when it opened at 9. Fun fact…left the hotel and stopped at McD’s for a coffee…opens at 10am in France.

Needed a chill day at our new place in the Alsace. Have another incredible house rental. Great views of the valley and the livestock around us provide the ambiance with chickens, turkeys, geese and roosters serenading us all day. The drive was worth it!

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Such an amazing beach…had to come back for 1 more swim. Other than that…chill day! Back at the farmhousr the kids walked the goats and chased the chickens back into their pen.

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