South of France 2010

After Paris, we headed to a tiny village in southern France call Saint Siffret, just outside of a somewhat larger town called Uzes.  My neighbor when I was growing up has a house in the village and recommended a long list of things for us to do. (Last year we had Rick Steves, this year we had Ron.  I think Ron wins.)

We rented a fantastic house that became home base.  Everyday we slept in, got a late start, and then drove to our attraction of the day. The perfect vacation for two pregnant ladies,  This was taken at a tiny town we stumbled across on one of our drives. 

Some ancient ruins you can drive up to (if you have really good 4 wheel drive...I've never been on such a crazy road.) We were the only ones there and it was amazing to be able to walk in and around them.  

Two pregnant sisters.

An old man walking around in the charming town of Uzes.

We spent one afternoon at the Pont Du Gard. One of the highlights of the trip.

There was a beach and a swimming hole under the aqueduct. I really wished I had my bathing suit.

Ron recommended we go to a local bullfight. One where the amateurs try to remove a ribbon from between the bulls horns, one that is non-violent and the bulls are the stars. We asked the tourist office to direct us to one of these "Course Camarguese" and they sent us to this amazing Roman amphitheater in Nimes. As soon as the matadors came out with spears and swords, we realized our request for a non-violent bullfight was lost in translation. After the first bull Alissa and I had to leave.

Taylor acting like a bull.

We spent our last day in Avignon.  I still can't figure out how this statue doesn't fall over.

A statue at the top of a hill in Avignon.

We thought this pose was appropriate for the creepy mustache Ryan grew while we were there.

Yes, we definitely love France and hope to go back soon!

Paris 2010

It's been a year, but I finally got around to editing the photos from our trip to France last fall. The trip started with 24 hours of traveling (I've never been awake for my entire birthday before), but got much better after that. We met Joel and his family in Paris who happened to overlap our trip by a couple days.

We spent the day with them at Versailles. It was a gorgeous day and the palace was beautiful!

Inside the palace there was some sort of Japanese anime sculpture exhibit going on. I don't think they could have found anything more out of place to display.

The next day we met up with Ryan and Alissa. Paris has these Velib stations all over the city where you can rent a bike and return it to any station. Pretty cool. Except when you discover your bike has a flat tire or is missing a chain.

We rode to the Eiffel Tower.

And to the Rodin sculpture garden. (Thanks Sunny and Marc for the tip.)

It was a really great way to see the city, especially when you only have a day to see it.