France - Part 1

Ok, I'm back.

Back from a few weeks of vacation in France with my sister and brother-in-law.

Here come the photos:

My lovely sister giving the bon voyage salute just before boarding the plane at JFK.


Behold! The wonder of modern trans-Atlantic flight. (remember to compare this to the plane that took us back home)

After a quick seeming flight, we landed in Amsterdam and were immediately presented with this gigantic Minority Report screen:

Wild.

Anyways, we had a three hour layover before our flight to Marseille, so Matt (my sister's husband) got us in to the swanky VIP lounge thing.

Free beer, booze, coffee, and snacks.

Hell's yes.



The flight to Marseille was a short one, and then it was on to a bus to Avignon where we would board our home for the week, the Princess de Provence.

Here's a video tour of my cabin:

The Bangles soundtrack was part of one of the four awesome radio channels that were piped into our rooms.



Here's the Palace of the Popes in Avignon. For a while, the Papacy was here instead of Rome.



Keli and Matt.

Avignon is a really interesting city. The entire place has a big, fortified wall around it. Inside of the walls, the streets are tiny and curvy and it gets kind of confusing.

On our way out after exploring it the first night, we took a wrong turn and ended up walking about halfway around the city walls before realizing what we had done.

We got to see a guy pick up a hooker in his car though, so it wasn't a total loss.


We retired to the ship's lounge for a nightcap...

...and then to the top deck for some fresh air before drifting off to sleep.




My first breakfast in France.

The purpose of this trip was to visit lots of vineyards and learn about the wines of the French Provence region.

This was at the first place we went to, right outside of Avignon.


Our first lesson in tasting wine.

Afterwards, we had a HUGE lunch in the courtyard.

Brother and sister. Awww...



Here's a small road in a small town that we went to later in the day, but i can't remember what it was called.


Later, back in Avignon...

Time to ride the carousel! They are everywhere in Europe.






Here's our ride/home:

Charming, no?


I spent a lot of time watching France go by out of this window.

Oh, I think that I forgot to mention that this boat was operated and staffed by Germans. When you visit the bar, like we did most nights, it was often a lot of fun.

The next mornings, though, were a bit harder to deal with.

Here's me, sleepy, but ready for another grueling day of learning about wine.