Bonjour! (post 2 of 4 today)

Below is a mixture of pictures from Villeneuve Lez Avignon, Avignon, and Nice.

This was the street that our Hotel was on, very French and very quiet.










I dont think Lindsay exactly expressed how much I loved this place. If the McCain/Palin ticket wins, I am booking a ticket to Villeneuve Lez Avignon. In addition to what sold Lindsay on it, I have two experiences to add. First, at one site, the Chartreuse, there was actually a kid who had a real football. I almost broke our new camera as I lazily handed it off to Lindsay while I motioned for the kid to toss it too me. It felt so good to have just one catch and throw of the pigskin, something I have been without for months, and this place gave me that opportunity. Second, I went for a run early our last morning here. I saw a track with a soccer field inside of it and I decided I would do some laps. All I could think of while doing the laps was how badly I wished a soccerball would materialize out of nowhere (I had spent a lot of time the night before reminiscing with lindsay about chilly fall days playing/practicing soccer and how I missed them). Well, as I was jogging by the far goal, lo and behold, there was a soccer ball in it. I abandoned my run and decided to get my exercise dribbling the ball up and down the field, juking invisible Zidane's and Henry's, and airmailing balls over both goals for the next 30 minutes. It would have only been 15 minutes, but I wouldnt leave until I had sprinted and scored on both goals, consecutively.


The below picture has the Pont du Avignon in the background, the famous bridge from the children's song about dancing under the bridge (sadly, the pictures of me dancing under the bridge didn't come out too well). Most of the bridge has been wiped out by the flooding of the Rhine, which separates Villeneuve Lez Avignon and Avignon, and it only serves as a tourist site now.











A picture of us on the beach in Nice. The water was actually warm enough to dip our feet in that night, and we almost fell in because it is a rock beach and the rocks often shift underneath your feet (and there were no dead, bloated rates on this rock beach, like there was in Lima). We stayed a block inland from the beach and enjoyed jogging along it during the mornings. Overall, Nice was very nice and clean and not as touristy as Marseille. We of course enjoyed some authentic French food, gallettes and crepes, because that is what we do.











Nice also gave us the opportunity to do something we have never done before, and this picture of Lindsay looking like a martian should give you a good clue....