adventures of an american housewife in the south of france

A Day in Provence: Aix

We've often heard that the best parts of Aix are outside the confines of the city, and I think this is probably true.  A year ago we may have visited the region to go wine tasting and have a fancy dinner out on the town, but those kinds of trips have been put on temporary hold.  Instead, we decided to spend the afternoon walking the city center and eating a quick lunch while Ramona napped.  It had been a long...

Pont du Gard: Day and Night

The Pont du Gard, located about 80 km from Montpellier, is a 3 tiered Roman aqueduct built in the 1st century A.D.  Since it was on our way home from Avignon, we decided to stop there and check it out.  It was getting to be late in the day and we arrived at dusk, which turned out to be a pretty cool time to see the Pont du Gard. We had heard about the outdoor concerts under the bridge during the summer,...

Day Trip: St. Guilhem-le-Désert

For our final excursion with Devon, we took her to one of my favorite nearby villages, St. Guilhem-le-Désert. This beautiful, medieval village is situated along the Hérault River and is surrounded by gorges,  mountains, and the Santiago de Compostella pilgrimage trail.  There are so many fun, outdoorsy activities to do in this area like hiking, kayaking, climbing, biking, etc.  Last summer I went on a...

A Day in Provence: Arles & Camargue

Now that I've (mostly) finished complaining about the heat, let's pick up where we left off, shall we?  I was telling you all about Devon's visit and our day in Provence.  We spent the morning in Les Baux, touring the medieval ruins and fighting against the mistral.  After a quick lunch, we headed about 20 minutes south to Arles. Arles, an old Roman town, is well known for being the place in...

A Day in Provence: Les Baux

Let me tell you a little something about my best friend Devon.  She's a nerd.  And I love her for it because I'm a nerd too, just in a different way.  We both love learning, but Devon is a special kind of nerd - she's a history nerd.  For example, during a 12th grade trip we took to D.C. to perform at the Kennedy Center with the competition choir (see? we're nerds.  And this was 10+ years before Glee, people)...

Swiss Adventure: Ouchy, Morges, & Geneva

One of my big regrets during our December trip to Annecy was that we didn't get a chance to check out the nearby Lake Geneva towns in Switzerland.  We weren't about to make the same mistake twice, especially since Marq and Dawn were concluding their European Vacation in Zurich and needed to pick up their rental car at the Geneva airport.  We took advantage of the much lower prices of French lodging and stayed in...

Annecy: The Summer Edition

Do you remember reading about our trip to Annecy in December?  Do you remember how obsessed I was?  And how could I not be, that town is magical.  Even with the cold temperature and bouts of rain, I was a happy girl.  The Marché de Noël was in full effect and there was vin chaud around every corner.  I was heaven!  I wrote in that blog post that I was anxious to return for another weekend getaway, so when...

Exploring The Dalí Theatre-Museum

After our strange night in Roses, Marq, Dawn, Michael and I headed to the Dalí Theatre-Musuem in Figueres.  Salvador Dalí has long been one of my favorite artists.  In fact, 10 years ago, I went to The Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida while on Spring Break (nerd!  Who goes to an art museum on college Spring Break?  Me, that's who) and I've been hooked ever since.  Since the Dalí Theatre-Musuem is...

Roses, Spain: Back to the Costa Brava

A few weeks ago, we headed down south to pick up our friends Marq and Dawn , who began their European Adventure in Barcelona.  They invited us to spend a few days in Barcelona with them, but with all we've had going on lately and the fact that we just went there about 6 months ago, we decided to let them have some privacy, and pick them up for a night on the Costa Brava instead. (As a side note:  I know I...

One Night in Toulouse

Our adventures with Shawn and Kate concluded in Toulouse, where they were catching a flight to Greece.  Michael and I were excited to have an excuse to finally visit the 4th largest city in France, so after our afternoon in Carcassonne, we all piled in The Pony and continued onto Toulouse. Toulouse definitely has a very different feel than the rest of the cities and towns we've visited in France.  It seemed...

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