small cites and Avignon

.... after Lyon, we rented a car (!) and started driving down the Rhone Valley. We stopped in a tiny little town at a winery called Ogier. David Graham had asked me to call them a few weeks ago to see if we could come by for a tasting and a tour, so I called and talked to a nice lady. At the end of the call, I asked her what her name was, and she said, "Oh, Mrs. Ogier." That's how it seems to work around here... many small vineyards that make world-renowned wine.

Above, me and Mrs. Ogier. She told us everything in French and I translated to DG. We tasted several wines and also met her son, who now owns the winery, and his finacee.

We are driving down little country roads with sunflower and lavender fields. Unfortunately, we are just a few weeks past the peak blooming season, but it's still pretty.

We stopped at a small town called Tournon, and went up to check out their local castle. Everyone has one, you see. Here's the view from the window.

... and this is the castle of an even smaller city called Grignan. And their labyrinth.

DG being a wine conoisseur outside one of the "caveaux" where you can taste wines in Chateauneuf du Pape, which is a famous wine town. The name means "New Castle of the Pope," and it was where a pope built his summer home to escape from his other home in Avignon (more on that below.)

We took this picture because this is not the typical view out the window on any American interstate I've ever been on.

In the 14th century, the pope left Rome because the Italians were fighting each other and it made him nervous. He built himself a mighty fine castle right here in Avignon, which is where DG and I am today. Throughout this century, popes lived here instead of in Rome. Today we learned that the pope had an entourage of 650 people, including someone to carry his water for him (blessed be the poor, you know...) Also, no one except the pope was allowed to eat with a knife. Not sure why, but I guess it's so no one would murder him.

Too bad we didn't have the little camera with us to video this, but it was great: these are amateur street performers on a square right outside our hotel in Avignon. It was just five guys who formed a band called Two Peas in a Pod, plus the guy randomly throwing fire behind them. They were so excited to have such a crowd of people around them and played some of their own music, many French songs that people sang along to, and, of COURSE, "Billy Jean" which I have heard A THOUSAND TIMES over here. And "Thriller," people play that ALL THE TIME, too. I think the French love Michael Jackson more than we do.... certainly more than I do...