Today started with a great breakfast in Hotel Le Mas des Romarins.  Everyone in the room was American and that’s the first time that has happened.  Three men were dressed in bicycling gear.  They were biking through Provence.  They were planning to bike 41 miles today.

Susan and I were enjoying our breakfast and Lola joined us and then Barbara arrived.  As she was sitting down she said, “Something bit me.”  We looked at her hand and it was already turning red and you could see a bite.  Susan went to the room and got a benedryl and polysporin to put on her hand.  Then Barbara noticed the wasp on the floor and Susan stomped on it.  Dr. Susie saved the day.

We drove through the following towns: Menerbes, Bonnieux, Lourmaran, Vangines, Cacuron and Ansouis.  It was a lovely drive.  We headed toward Manosoue and on the way we saw a golf course that had a restaurant.  That sounded great to all of us so off we went.,  It was Golf du Luberon.  We had a very nice lunch (fettuccini with carbonera) and visited the pro shop.  The man in the pro shop told us he had been to San Diego (Torrey Pines) and Las Vegas.  He was happy to visit with us and gave us bag tags.  We arrived in Manosoue and are spending the night.  Susan, Lola and I walked to the old town and I took pictures.

This morning Susan woke up and went outside the hotel to smoke.  As she was walking around the plaza a pigeon shat on her arm.  Not really a good way to start the day.  We had a great breakfast at the Hotel Forum and got in the car and headed east toward Avignon.  We arrived in Avignon and parked under the Pope’s Palace.  We took the elevator up and walked out into a beautiful plaza with the Pope’s Palace right there.  We saw one of the little tourist trains getting ready to leave so we hopped on.  It was the best 7 Euros we have spent on this trip as we rode around the village and saw the major sights.  We walked around and then back into the car to drive further east.  We drove to Roussillon and couldn’t find a place to park or the hotels Rick Steve’s recommended so we drove toward Joucas looking for a hotel.  We ended up driving to Gordes and staying at a ***Hotel called Le Mas des Romarins.  We went into Gordes and bought 3 bottles of wine, went to the patisserie and bought sandwiches on baguettes and three chocolate eclairs and some weird nut thing Barbara bought for desset.  We then  returned to our hotel and sat on the patio and drank our wine, ate our sandwiches and dessert.  We could stand up and see the ancient village of Gordes, drink wine, and enjoy the company.  We decided that life was good.

We drove today to Aix de Provence and as we were driving around I recognized where we had a meal with our friends Rod and Emily several years ago.  Susan recognized it too.  We decided to buy gas and Susan pulled up to a pump and it was Lola’s turn to buy gas so she went in to pay.  She came back and said that pump only accepted certain cards.  Susan pulled up to another pump and it was out of diesel.  She tried to pull up to another pump and a motorcycle was parked there.  The fourth pump worked.  Lola had gone in to pay four times and everyone in the store was cracking up.

Driving back toward Arles we drove up to a toll booth but we hadn’t gotten a ticket when we got on the autovia so we had no ticket to put in the slot to show how much we had to pay.  We learned after our last incident to press the red button so she pushed it and got a recording in French (of course).  She pushed another button and a person came on and Susan explained in French that we didn’t have a ticket and the machine came up saying we owed 1.80 Euros.  We paid and voila! The gate went up.  We drove to Miramas Le Vieux and had another great lunch at Le Manjador.  The chef even came out and shook our hands and later asked if we enjoyed our meal.  We drove on up the hill and discovered a medieval village.  We walked around the village and it was adorable.  People were living there and I’m sure behind the stone walls were beautiful homes.  On the way back to Arles we saw a sign saying Roman Aqueduct.  We found the ruins and it was an amazing thing to see.  There was a group of artist there sketching and painting the ruins.  Returning to our hotel proved exhausting.  The narrow little streets are one way and we were about a block and a half from our hotel and couldn’t get there.  Susan was now tired and irritated, I was hysterical, Lola was thinking “This is France.” and Barbara was calm but silently sobbing.  I hysterically demanded that Susan park the car and we would get the hotel guy (who parks the cars at the hotel) to come and get the car.  She found a park space (a miracle) and it was so tight she couldn’t get out the driver’s door.  I refused to take a picture of her trying to squeeze through the narrow space.  She somehow climbed over the stick shift, console and brake to get out the passenger door.  We walked 2 blocks to our hotel and the young man who parks the cars said he would go and get the car.  I walked with him to show him where we were parked.  I discovered his father was American and his mother was French and he was raised in Dayton, Ohio.  He came to Arles to visit his uncle who owns the hotel and never left.  That was 10 years ago.  He drove the car to the hotel, dropped me off and I joined the other three old  broads who were waiting for me.  Exhausted we all sat in the shade under the umbrellas in Forum Plaza and drank a couple glasses of wine.

What a delightful stay we had at the Demeure de Flore Hotel in Lacabarede, France.  Our host was Francesco di Bari and his motto is la passione..il gusto.  After we settled in we went to the lounge and Francesco served us wine and delighted us by telling interesting stories about his visit to California 20 years ago.  He told us dinner would be shrimp ravioli, veal and chocolate cake.  Not only was he our host he was the chef also.  Dinner was beautifully presented and delicious.  It was a real treat staying at a ***hotel.  It was a magnificent hotel.

We got up this morning and said goodbye to Bruno at Hotel Aragon.  Bruno told us a story about his father’s life  being saved by American soldiers during WWII.  His father was only five years old and his grandmother would never talk about the incident.  All she would say was “The Germans were here.”  So, no one knows what happened.

We drove to Albi and visited the magnificent cathedral.  Then we went to lunch, which was fabulous.  We walked to the Toulouse Lautrec Museum and spent a couple of hours looking at his art work.  It was amazing and I love his work.  He is one of my favorite artists.  Lola and Barbara bought posters.  When we got ready to leave the parking lot which was three floors underground we couldn’t get the gate to go up.  We put the ticket in the machine and it said we owed 7.30 Euros but there was no where to put in the money.  Panic set in.  I got out and went to the car in back of us and said we didn’t know what to do.  The lady passenger got out and ask me if we had paid and I said no.  We had to go to the 1st floor and pay first.  Lola took the ticket and paid while we drove around the parking garage.  We left Albi and headed east.  We searched for a hotel with no success.  I put an address in the Garmin for a Best Western Hotel in Castres and it was a dump and not a Best Western.  Now the search was on.  We went to the tourist office and asked for a three star hotel.  There was none in that city.  He directed us to a three star hotel 15 miles away called Demeure de Flore.  It is gorgeous and I know we will have a great time.

We arrive in Le Cite which is the town around the walls of Carcassone.   Carcassone has been inhabited from ancient times and most of the ramparts were constructed in the 12th and 13th century.  We got a room at Hotel Aragon and went inside the walls to have lunch.  We stopped at a restaurant named Maison du Cassoulet.  They were very busy but sat us up outside.  We waited for about 20 minutes and then Lola went in and asked for three glasses of red wine and one of white.  Then about 20 minutes later we got the three glasses of red wine but no white.  Lola went in again and asked for a glass of wine and finally returned with her glass.  We waited another 45 minutes for the waitress to take our order but she never came.  After another 15 minutes we just got up and left and never paid for the wine.  As we left we told several people looking at the menu not to go in as the service was lousy.

 Now we are at Le Mets Dieval and at 3:00 p.m. we finally got a lunch plate.  I had a bean cassoulet with duck and sausage.  It was very good.  Then we walked around the castle and Barbara went back to her room and Susan, Lola and I walked all around the castle on the ramparts.  Lola returned to her room and Susan and I went to see the church Basilique des Saints Nazaire.  While touring the inside of the church a group of four men burst into song and the singing certainly went with the mood of the church.  Everything was beautiful.  They sang two songs and then thanked us for listening and offered a CD for us to buy.

It’s Susan’s birthday and after breakfast in Barbastro, Spain we headed toward Andorra.  In Lleida we couldn’t find the C13 to Andorra and we stopped at a gas station to ask directions.  A nice man buying gas said he would led us to C13.  He did and off we went.  Thank you nice man. 

We had lunch in Andorra.  I told our waiter, Joseph, that it was Susan’s birthday so for dessert he brought her chocolate ice cream with a sparkler.  Then we drove through the Pyrennes mountians blanketed with snow and arrived in France.

We stopped for the night in Aux les Thermes which has a hospital built in 1260.  We are at the Le Chalet Hotel which has a river rushing past it.  Our dinner was at the hotel restaurant and it was a gourmet meal.  We told our waiter it was Susan’s birthday and he brought her another dessert with a sparkler in it and we sang “Happy Birthday” to her.  I think she had a nice birthday.  During dinner we also realized that we had breakfast in Spain, lunch in Andorra and dinner in France.

We arrived in Pamplona and parked underground and rode the elevator up to a beautiful plaza.  We walked around and found a beautiful church which cost 5 Euros to visit.  Barbara and Lola decided not to go in and went to the tourist bureau and went back to the restaurant.  Susan and I decided to visit the church and the museum and we got our monies worth.  The Cathedral D Pamplona was magnificent.  The cloister is one of the finest in Spain.  I took many pictures.  Then we met up with Barbara and Lola and walked to the bull ring where the famous running of the bulls ends.  There was a sculpture of Ernest Hemingway in front of the bull ring and he was given credit for making this event so popular.  Then we drove toward Sanguesa and we decided it was time to stop so the search was on for a hotel.  We went to the tourist office and asked where a motel was and she recommened Hotel Yamaguchi.  We found the hotel (it was out in the countryside) and the price was right so we decide to stay.  The bad news was dinner wasn’t served until 8:30 p.m. so we sat outside and started watching all the action at the round about.  What first got our attention was two car loads of policemen who pulled up and parked.  One of the policemen was holding a rifle as they chatted.  Then we saw an elderly man in an electric wheelchair whizzing around lickety split.  Next came a couple of joggers, then a tour bus.  Next was a man on horseback, a truck with a load of hat and a tractor.  We even saw several regular cars.  This was the highlight of Lola and Barbara’s day.   Finally 8:30 arrived and we thought we were going to be sitting in a lovely dining room but no we were sitting in a coffee shop.  We ordered dinner and were disappointed with the meal as everything was way to salty.  Susan and I had told the waitress earlier that it was Barbara’s birthday and had asked for something special for dessert for her.  She did bring us some great chocolate cake (without a candle) and we sang “Happy Birthday” to her.  In the morning we got up and drove to Javier Castle.  It was very nice.  Then we headed for Andorra.  Susan wants to go to Andorra.  We decided we weren’t going to make it that day so we stopped in a little town called Barbastro at a four star hotel called Hotel San Ramon de Somontano.  The ladies at the front desk have been wonderful helping us with our room, giving us information about touring the village and even came out and explained the menu to us as we sat outside and drank our wine.  Susan and I visited the old Gothic church of San Julian and Barbara decided to take a leisurely bath and Lola walked around the town.  There was a tower by the cathedral and we notice several huge nests on the top and several storks sitting on the nests.  That was exciting too.  The cathedral was absolutely fabulous inside but I wasn’t allowed to take pictures.