This is the last post for me this year. It is off to the Airport tomorrow and back home to see the people I cherish most in this world. See you soon.
Not sure what this little guys name was, but he stayed by the door to see us all off from the hotel.
Susan gives out instructions, encouragement, jokes, just about anything you need to get your legs moving for another day.
Although it doesn't take much when you have views like this straight out of the gate.
This isn't quite everyone, but here is our group in action!
Today was gentle roads and making our way due west to the bottom of Mt. Ventoux for tomorrow's big day. A few smallish climbs is all that it took, and the scenery started to get a little more lush.
And then finally Ventoux came into sight.
This is a part of France that we haven't been to people, specifically a side of the mountain we haven't been to before, and it has more medieval and roman heritage to it than prior places. A lot of little villages with hill-side chateau/castles that have long been decomposing into the landscape.
And at the heart of it, still, are the charming little villages with 20 or so people living their lives.
This village even had an old fountain and a sign that said it was a refuge for cyclists. Love it - so did Mark.
This guy walked out, about 1 in the afternoon, in his underwear, shooshed us because people in the village are sleeping, then jumped into his little diesel pickup and did about a 20 point turn and sped off down the road. Classic stuff.
Ventoux getting closer . . .
Our hotel for tonight and tomorrow night is in Vaison la Romaine, which as a part of town that is still in a small area surrounded by fortified walls. The streets are still all cobblestone, and our hotel is perched on edge of the wall overlooking the city.
The fountain (and house for sale) outside of our hotel.
Inside the hotel, we could be back a couple hundred years ago.
The clock tower that flanks one end of our hotel.
Our pool and looking up to where most of our rooms are.
And our massive old door.
Walking around the ancient part of town.
Looking out from the chateau across the valley below.
A war memorial carved into the fortified walls. This one just as impressive as the romantic obelisks in most towns.
Something that I mentioned before, about the names. From Vaison la Romaine, four brothers Perrin (or one father and three sons), three Martins, the list goes on sadly.
After exploring the city, I enjoyed the hotel garden.
And then came dinner just outside the walls - actually built into the walls in some parts.
This was good wine, just so you know.
