Say it ain't so

The week has gone by incredibly fast. Today, we said goodbye - for now - to a good group of friends after yet another wonderful week (two weeks for others!!) made possible by the Big Guy, the Honch, Le Roi himself. We met up with Chris and Guin, bringing back B McG into full action, and walked around the beautiful old city center of Avignon.

This trip has some nice book-end qualities, being the first tour we took back in 2009; we started with Alpe D'Huez and ended with Ventoux, and we rolled through Vizille (pivitol in the lead up to the French Revolution) and ended in Avignon, which served as a primary papal seat until the Revolution.

Despite the transition and packing and shifting from cycling vacation to getting ready to get on a plane and come home, we played tourist a bit today and enjoyed the ancient city, the architecture, public art, and relaxed in an amazing hotel (also made possible by Le Roi).

Enjoy . . .

Sculpture inside the hotel foyer 

This is what fast food should look like.

City hall.

Double decker carousel!

Palais de Pape

I love that Facebook always asks if I want to tag the face that appears in these photos.

Even mustard and ketchup are happy in Avignon!

Outside our hotel front door . . . 

Is a nice place to have refreshments

More art from the hotel

Ventoux - Best day ever (on a bike)

Midnight here on the last day of our tour. It was a wonderful day, at the end of another amazing trip. The weather was near perfect, everyone rode strong, the roads were smooth. Aside from a hotel/restaurant staff who kind of-sort of forgot that we were showing up today, it was all beautiful.

Of course, Ventoux was today, which is the perfect book-end to the first day's Alp D'Huez. If there are two climbs that share the supreme rank of cycling, these are they. And, because Ventoux is in Provence, we entered entirely different country today. sun-washed stone farm houses, wild flowers, lavender fields . . . But, since it is so late . . . photo dump.

Starting out the last day, an easy spin into Provence.

Even towns with a bar and two homes have these monuments to those who died in service.

The landscape changes so quickly, you don't even notice it happened. We are out of the mountains, and into the pine trees and rocky fields.

Mark decided to go so fast today, he was taking out birds.

We have had a few accidents on the trip - although none ON the bike. Graham shows off his wound.

Did you know there was lavender in Provence? Really.

Our first look of the Mountain.

Mark representing Colorado in front of Ventoux.

Su is the winner for lunches. Fresh fruit, lentil salad, avocado, olives, tomatoes. Yum!

And here we are climbing and making it to the top!

Thomas and myself enjoying the summit.

Love all the colors of these candy stands.

Thomas is probably cursed now after messing around at the Simpson memorial!