Antibes (Riviera) to Beaucaire (Provence) - Cathy

What were the highlights for today?

Was it waking up after a veritable sleepless night (for all of us but one - Judy)? Was it when I tried to open the sliding door on the side of the van when Steve had the gas cap open? Could it have been the heart stopping, we-are-driving-on-the-edge-of-a-cliff-of-a-gorge-nick-named-the-Grand-Canyon-on-a-one-and-a-half-lane-road? Could it have been the Brie sandwiches we had for lunch whilst looking across the great divide of the gorge? Maybe it was watching the bungee jumper drop from the highest bridge in all of Europe, only to find out after he had dropped from the bridge that he is wheelchair bound and cannot walk on his own?

I must say I was partial to the view of the fresh water lake, a stunning azure blue. But then again, there was the long, long drive from the gorge to Beaucaire by the route chosen by Car Bitch One. (No, not any of us ladies, but the GPS unit that Steve brought along.) The others may have preferred the seemingly endless fields of sunflowers and lavendar (no accounting for taste seeing as how the sunflowers are all dried up and dead, standing like zombie flowers, all facing the same direction just waiting for Michael Jackson to give them a reason to lift their heads and dance once again, or the lavendarless lavendar bushes.)

Ah, but it was great fun when we decided to hear what Car Bitch Two had to say about our route. CB1 is from the US and CB2 is from the French car (kudos to Judy for learning to communicate with CB2). CB1 & CB2 did not agree on our route. One (1) was intent on the quickest route while Two was planning the most straight-forward. At times, they would simply talk over one another while at other times, they would purposely (it seemed) contradict one another. CB1, "At 450 meters, enter the roundabout, take the 2nd exit." CB2, "In 500 meters, enter the roundabout and turn right." 450 to 500 meters later, CB1, "Take the 2nd right" and CB2, "Turn right."

But who could deny the excitement we felt when the apartment manager told us that there is no hot water, but hopefully it would be fixed sometime on Monday (today is Saturday). And no lights in the cave (almost literally) of a car park, no lights in the dark stone hallways, no light in the bathroom... all in all a great first impression. (Everything looked much better in the morning.) Or was the best part the waiter that sighed loudly on two different occassions while we decided which restaurant looked best. More likely, it was the lovely waitress that did not sigh (at least not in our presence) and took great care of us. There is so much to choose from, I'm not sure where to start.

Off to the market now! Cath