ash and angela

Ang with her big choco.

Here we are at Fontaine de Vaucluse.  I believe the Vaucluse is a region within the larger area of Provence.  

This is a picture of the shopping district in Aix-En-Provence.  Every store has a sale on right now...20, 30, 40, 50, even 70 percent off some items.  We just liked how this shot perfectly captured the business of people doing shopping in an amongst the old walkways of Aix that probably once only held boulangeries and markets.

Me and Sausage at the market in Apt.  Yes, I meant to capitalize Sausage as if it were its namesake.

Ang smelling a huge bouquet of lavender, one of Provence's major crops.

My rabbit stew and rice.  Un Lapin Provençal avec riz.

This is my poorly photographed langoustine with two langoustine ravioli (bottom of the picture).  Of note is how these little guys are stabbing themselves with their pincers.  This was my dinner at a really nice restaurant in Bonnieux called L'Arome.  I had an artichoke and bacon dish with a sort of chunky soup-like reduction with lardons to start, this dish as the main, a cheese course of honey drenched roquefort cheese (I think it was roquefort) in a pastry shell and then Crepes Suzzette for dessert.  Ang had eggplant, red pepper and goat cheese wraps to start, some sort of jellified chicken thing for the main and then pistachio ice cream in a hard pastry shell for dessert.  Her words:  "I think it was the best dessert I've ever had in my life."

This is at the end of our meal at L'Arome.

We finally made it to Paris.  This is looking at a little patch of water at the Bastille intersection.

This is my Andouille Tartine.  

Yesterday, we tackled the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomph, Champs-Elysee, and Montmarte/Sacre Cour.  We were power tourists.  We also accomplished a couple other mini little goals of ours (well...mine):  rode the metro, ate a plate of assorted charuterie for lunch, had a niçoise salad, had a drink at the cafe used in the film Amelie, walked by the grocer used in the movie as well and best of all, bought a chubby pigeon ornament.  Thanks to those walking tour cards, we also walked by Van Gogh's house, the subject of one of Renoirs paintings, and a place where Picasso and Renoir used to hang out (the Lapin Agile).  

At the cafe in Montmarte (called Tabac des Deux Moulins), I ordered a glass of white wine and Ang ordered a Limonade, though she speculated that Lemonade in France might be different than what we call lemonade in Canada.  We had been walking all day, shopping along the Champs-Elysee, climbing the eiffel tower and we looked forward to just having a nice relaxing drink in the mid-afternoon.  When it came to our table, Ang took a sip and exclaimed, "Wow!!!!  that's refreshing!!!".  She was hooked on this French style lemonade.  To me it just kind of looked like San Pelligrino and a lemon inside (which, I might add is what we had to drink for lunch).  

So I took a sip...and realized...it was 7-up.

Those French really know how to make a lemonade!

Okay, today we're off to Versaille to see the Chateau de Versaille.  Tonight we may check out a trashy, chic bar mentioned in the tour cards.  They have some live jazz.  Could be fun.  Could be a bust.  We'll see.

Missing you all back at home but loving it here!