On Wednesday the 27th, we took the express bus into the Avignon TGV station and picked up a rental car after a quick lunch at the station. We programmed the GPS to take us on part of the first day cycling route. This worked well as we saw some good scenery from nice cycling roads.
Back in Vaison, I had to navigate the car through very narrow cobblestone streets, under an ancient arch that must have built for skinny horse cart, around two sharp turns and into our hotel's parking area. I did all of this while skirting pedestrian traffic. The parking area is perpendicular to the street with five long slots. Cars double up in each strip, so there is room for ten. When people with one of the boxed in cars wants to leave, the desk clerk must move the blocking car. When we come out in the morning, our car is in a different a lot.
On Thursday the 18th, we went on a road trip with Marlene Wong and Gary Hsueh. We decided to follow two of the cycling routes. The first one was to the gorges. This was supposed to be an out-and-back route, but fortunately our GPS routed us out a different way through beautiful alpine country. We found our way to the real route after having lunch in a small village. The gorges were gorgeous. The road wound down between high cliffs through tunnels and around switchbacks. Lots of cyclists were on the road going both ways. Several of them had electric assisted bicycles.
Our second route had lots of climbing with marvelous vistas. We joked about the many different views that we had of Mt Ventoux. The highlight of this route was our stop at Gary and Marlene's favorite boulangerie. We had some very good pastries.
At Happy Hour, we took our group photo. It is difficult to fit 40 people into a photo where everyone's face is visible. But we did it on a steep pathway across from the hotel. I will have to photo-shop my face into it later.
On Friday the 29th, Ann and I took another road trip on the Nyons loop. The route was on several outstanding cycling roads with very little traffic. We saw a bunch of vineyards and olive groves. New vistas were very scenic. We had lunch on a patio in Nyons under a canopy. That was fortunate because it was getting very warm and we needed the shade. Ann had another salad while I had mini ravoli. The food was very good.
We followed the cycling route back to the hotel.
Final Happy Hour tonight and final dinner in the patio. Afterwards, we went to Dan and Emily's cafe for tea and music.
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