A small town called Sault
Friday, July 31, 2009
Day 10: In the French 'capital' of lavender called Sault (a small town in Provence)... We were sitting in the cafe to enjoy a cup of hot kaffee and citron tart (as well as writing to send postcards home)... Great way to start the day!
After a satisfying breakfast, it was time to begin our lavender adventure!!! We obtained the map of the town from the tourist info centre and off we go! Taking photos of the extensive stretches of lavender fields from a top view:
Snapping away as we walked down to reach our favourite lavenders... 5 km to go!
Look at the neat rows of the lavender plants... A very beautiful sight... 
How I wished we had rented a car then... The sun was not being friendly to us... It was really very warm then and we had to turn back after walking for 2 hours... Another 2 hours' stroll back to the town... I need an ice cream!
My lunch, which I had at 4 pm!!! (or rather dinner!) I ordered the meal of the day - grilled pork with white wine sauce! Pretty good!!! I like the sauce a lot as the taste of the wine is just perfect and isn't very strong!
And I got what I wanted! GLACIER!!! (ice cream in French)
Sault... Hmm... How should I describe it??? Let's just say that being another small town in the province of Provence, it is very well hidden from the crowds of tourists that mob the better known cities of France... That has its pros and cons. It is a town that is undeniably beautiful for its large fields of lavenders... Really amazing to be able to jump into patches of lavender and to be immensed in the sweet-smelling aura that filled the air... However, its accessibility was definitely a headache for us.
Piece of advice for those who plan to visit this place during the season when the lavenders look the best (July): please remember to check and get the bus schedules correct... It's hell if you miss the bus or the bus schedule is wrong... 
Look out for the final destination of the summer trip: Barcelona, Spain!
--Mary HAD a little lamb--
4:07 am
9 July: Carpentras and Avignon
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Day 9, 9 July: First half of the day was spent exploring a small town called Carpentras. Initially, we had intention to explore Carpentras, but we missed our bus... Oh well, since we were already there with 2 hours to spare, why not... Nothing spectacular, but we felt comfortable during our stroll around the central area.
The whole town was very artistic... Lots of graffiti on the walls and oil paintings hanged along the streets.
Highlight of the day: Fortified city of Avignon!!! As its name suggests, the whole city is surrounded by rock fortress! Very cool!!!
July was the month of the Avignon Festival, so there were many posters illustrating different art expressions of various genres pasted or pined onto the walls/poles/lamps/trees/any possible visible objects.
St Pierre, a minor church that was of Gothic architectural construction
Walking past a rock-strewn opening to reach the most significant attraction of Avignon...
As usual, street musicians were a common sight...
After reaching the end of the rocky terrain, we were greeted by the most prominent prospect of Avignon: Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes)! Built during the 14th century by successive popes of the period, the palace was once the residence of the popes. I found it strange that the Popes had their own palace (akin to that of a king)... Hmm...
Standing next to the palace is the cathedral, Notre Dame des Doms.
The famous 'broken' bridge: Pont d'Avignon... An interesting thing about the bridge is the well-known children folk song that accompanies with it: Sur le pont d'Avignon (on the bridge of Avignon). I even bought a postcard with the lyrics of the song, but it's all in French!
Since this was the last main attraction that we visited in Avignon, we had several shots of different poses taken at the bridge. ^^
Personal opinion on Avignon: Definitely worth a visit to the city! I like the way that the whole town is enveloped by a fortress that stands very intact till today! Not only am I impressed by its traditional fortress, Avignon is definitely the most artistic city that I've been to so far. There were so many musicals, mimic shows and theatre works that were playing during the week that we were there. It was a pity that they were all in French and we hence had to give them a miss. Nonetheless, it's a beautiful and small city! One day should be sufficient to finish covering the place.
Next up: SAULT (The second last pit stop and last French town in our itinerary)
--Mary HAD a little lamb--
2:49 am
Opposites: Marseille & Arles
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Day 7 (7 July): The city of Marseille, France!
Finding our way in the messy streets of Marseille... A lot of immigrants could be seen in this city... Hmm, watching out for the bag with our money was of top priority!
One prominent tourist attraction was the church located in the middle of the city (and also on the hill)! However, it was a pity that we didn't have the time to go up and take a look. We had only reserved a day for exploring Marseille (and seriously speaking, I thought a day was more than enough...)
Another church that was of different architecture from the one above. ZZ's favourite line: "Say hi and BYEEE!"
Day 8 - 8 July: Took the train from Marseille to a small town called Arles!!! We deposited our baggage in a hotel, which cost us 6 Euros per person! Nevertheless, Arles was an awesome place! Situated in the province of Provence, Arles was once a Roman base for military support during the peak of the Roman Empire. The Arles Amphitheatre (shown below) is a well-preserved Roman arena that is still being used as a bullring during the summer.
Passed by quite a number of street musicians... Smoothing music playing in the air... France is indeed a romantic country!
Modern streets of Arles
An alley that we took as a shortcut... Pretty nice too...
Central Arles: Place de la République
Hehe, I went to try on some clothes since there were sales everywhere... But but... I didn't buy anything. Conserving my money for shopping in Zara Barcelona!
Important mission (one of the main reasons why we were in Arles): Source for fields of sunflower!!! So as to complete this utmost important task, we walked out of the Arles town (armed with a pathetic map) under the scorching hot weather. It was really torturous to be walking under the sun without an umbrella at temperatures of 34 - 36 degree Celsius. Worse as compared to that in Singapore... Walking past a bridge to reach the sunflower fields labeled out to us by the tourist info centre.
So after walking under such unbearable weather for 2 hours, imagine our horror when this was what we saw! Empty fields!!! *#*#$#(D)(#_)!@(*
Well, the desire to give up and turn back was very strong... But we persisted on and walked further. Finally, after another hour of searching and asking around (very problematic since most of the French ppl in the outskirts don't speak English), we reached a farmhouse with moderate size of sunflower fields! But... apparently the season for the opening of the sunflowers had been June, so most flowers were beginning to droop and fall...
There were still some that stood upright with full blossoms! At least, we had some form of returns!
After the photo shoot with the sunflowers, it was time to walk back... The weather was still bad, but we became more tolerant of it since we had accomplished our mission! Yeah!
Sitting down after reaching the city... Totally drained...
Overview: Marseille was a conflicting city. I didn't really like it since the streets were rather messy and there were many immigrants, giving me an impression that it could be fairly unsafe. One of my French friend said that Marseille is the top choice of place to live in for many immigrants from the French colonies. Even the French recommended us to go other places instead. However, some of the NOC seniors who went there before liked it precisely for this 'unique' flavour that it possessed. I guess it depends according to the taste of each individual...
Arles, on the other hand, was praiseworthy!!! The Roman monuments, which have been listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site, are amazing sights! It is a rather small town and it will probably take only a day to finish exploring the town. Summer is the best time since there will be bull and gladiator fights taking place in the arena during the months of July and August! August may be better since it will be cooler. Certainly worth the visit!
Leaving from our hotel in Orange (a small town that we stopped for an overnight rest) on the next day... Destination: Avignon
--Mary HAD a little lamb--
5:06 am
Next up: SAULT (The second last pit stop and last French town in our itinerary)
