Bye bye France

We left early morning around 9:15AM. Everything went as planned. I was enjoying the last views from the car as Simone was driving the first stretch.

Off we go.

Not quite Vaison... :-(

In Northern France somewhere we stopped for a toilet break where Simone dropped her car keys in the bloody toilet... PANIC! But to cut the story short: we got them back, thanks to Milan. All we wanted from that moment on was a shower...

The toilet-view. Bye bye France. Please learn to speak English now.

The Roman bridge of Vaison la Romaine

I had one thing left this vacation. One thing I'd wanted to do from the start: Have a little photoshoot of the Roman bridge, trying to get Mont Ventoux in the background. Tonight's the last night here so it's now or never...

I walked up getting my bearings first.

Hello people.

I found a way down through the bushes that got me on to the river bed. Cool. It felt kinda funny because in 1992 it looked like this:

Yeah, quite different...

This is the first house next to the bridge.

I walked closer.

Both sides had these holes in them. I have no clue what they are/were for...

So there it is, the money shot ;-) The Roman bridge of Vaison la Romaine with Mont Ventoux visible in the background.

OK, once more ;-)

Walking back I heard lots of frogs. I looked and I found. Couldn't stay too long though coz the smell was real bad...

And finally I walked back to the camping, leaving beautiful Vaison la Romaine behind me. What a joy this little town has given me... A pearl of France this is. Farewell now.

Back at the camping we were going to try the wifi and cold drinks one last time. Then it's back to the cabin and hopefully have a great sleep so we can drive home safely tomorrow.

The lazy day

Believe it or not but I made zero photos today. It's too hot to do anything so we stayed at the pool...

The cave / Mont Ventoux

(Click to enlarge)
We drove down to a cave today. Just the thought of it being 13 degrees Celcius inside made us want to go there ;-) On the way there were several awesome sites as usual...

Just imagine living there...

We went to the cave of Thouzon.

These ponds were amazing.

They are created by water drying at the edge and leaving a calcium deposit.

Stalactites. Lots and lots...

Everybody looking up.

The cave was shaped by an underground river that once ran through. At the end of the cave is a deep hole down that they've started clearing, hoping they'll find the river still flowing lower in the rock. Good luck with that...

Then we visited a city called Carpentras briefly. Simone wanted to look for new sneakers but unfortunately all the shops were closed again because it wasn't 3PM yet. During our brief visit I did manage to take a few piccies though ;-)

In the evening Milan and I joined Harry and Niek to drive to the top of Mont Ventoux. This mountain is very high (1900 metres or so) and sometimes also used in the tour de France (not this year though).

Awesome views of course.

Some guy rocked up in this beautiful BMW that I hadn't seen before.

The top.

I spotted this little chapel close to the top.

Miland and I walked and climbed upthere, leaving Niek and Harry behind because they were only wearing flipflops, not very suitable for climbing rocks...

Getting there. it started smelling like animal poo...

Ah... Who'd have thought.

The chapel looked a lot less spectacular when we got there.

It was pretty modern and inside was just a simple altar where people had put things to remember people etc.

Vincent on top of Mont Ventoux.

Bastille Day

Tonight I walked up to the medieval part of Vaison to watch the fireworks from there. The old castle looked beautiful in the sunset.

The medieval part of Vaison. This view truly never gets boring!

Down at the Italian restaurant it was still busy. I don't think it's ever quiet here during summer.

The main gate.

Soon after 10PM the fireworks started.

I love how the fireworks lit up the city.

Leaving the medieval part through the main gate once more. It's a great sight changing with the time of day.