We got to the car to find out that the GPS wasn't working. Uh, oh! We rely on that completely to get around supported occasionally with Tim's iPhone. He went to the room to get his charger so we were sure to have battery power. While he was gone, I fiddled with the GPS and got it working - not sure what was wrong. It directed us to the outskirts of Sarrians. Then Tim followed directions on his iPhone to get us to Catherine's Cooking School which is out in the country. Her home is a bit hard to find and her mail box with number is not on the road but on a side road. We "saved" this location in the GPS so I can get back to it after visiting Chateauneuf du Pape this morning, but Thank goodness for the iPhone GPS. We also saved the coordinates for Emilie so others will have an easier time of finding Catherine!
I dropped Tim off for his class and then headed to Chateauneuf du Pape. Wow - lots of small back roads but I made it in about 25 minutes. I headed to Musee Brotte as recommended by Emilie. The museum was EXCELLENT and informative. Well done. I bought a bottle of wine (Chateauneuf du Pape of course) and a nougat bar as we haven't tried that yet.
Chateauneuf du Pape is a small town and I got a picture and then headed back to Catherines home for lunch.
Chateauneuf du Pape
The museum - Musee Grotte was very informative about the French wines
Tim and Catherine were waiting for me in the garden drinking a rose wine. I was about 10 minutes late getting back as the GPS took me a DIFFERENT way that seemed to be longer. I would NEVER have found this on my own, so thank goodness for the GPS.
They headed into the kitchen to finish lunch. Loved Tim in his chef's apron!
Tim intently listening to Catherine's instructions
Catherine's kitchen
What a treat. I loved the way Catherine named the dishes: The starter was a "Crunchy of Cheese for 2"! Various things rolled in brik - like fillo dough. Then "Pot of Chicken in Spring Vegetables" - fabulous flavors - we think from the Herbes de Provence, and everything so fresh. Then "One Thousand Leaves in Strawberries" - Yum - Yum - Yum. Those were the freshest strawberries with a custard/crème on top of little crunchy cakes. It was fabulous. And Tim helped make it all. He had such a good time.
And then the lunch (dejeuner) - prepared by Catherine and Tim
Tim admiring his work - he made it all
The wonderful, delicious dessert
Catherine - the "professeur"
Catherine's house in Provence - quaint - she has TONS of olive trees in the garden
We enjoyed Catherine's company and then said goodbye and headed to Mont Vendoux. About a 30 minute drive to the base of the mountain. We headed up to the summit on the south side of the mountain. There were many bikers going up. Ugh. I just can't imagine biking up a mountain like that! Part of the way up there was a restaurant and another display of vintage cars. These would be so much fun.
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The vintage cars at the restaurant close to the summit on Mont Ventoux
We stopped at the top for pictures - magnificent - snow on the north side. And cold. We could see the French alps in the distance - about 6,270 feet high.
We headed down and stopped for a nature break for me - almost killed myself. Lots of rocks and I was sliding and couldn't stop going down - so I ran and ran and ran - Tim screaming at me the entire way to STOP! Wish I could have stopped. I sort of fell UPHILL to stop - Whew! At least I had my nature break!
View from the top of Mont Ventoux - 6,270 feet above sea level
Larry at the top of Mont Ventoux
Beautiful vistas with the French Alps in the distance
Tim at the top of Mont Ventoux
Beauiful views to the north - this is where I almost tumbled down the mountain!
Even snow still in places at the top on the north side - it was COLD up there!
We then drove downhill on the north side - it was not nearly as steep.
We stopped in Malaucene, which we had skipped a few days ago. We walked to the top for the "vue panoramique"! Beautiful but still a lot of steps (again)!
Beautiful small uphill pathways to get to the top of Malaucene
Beautiful bell tower in Malaucene
The usual fountains and community wash basins
The eglise (church) in Malaucene
At the top was an area showing the 14 Stations of the Cross. There were pictures around the top for each of the 14.
The areas that demonstrated the 14 stations of the cross in Malaucene
This was the station of the cross where Jesus was nailed to the cross
The 14th station of the cross where Jesus arose from the dead
Once again, typical of all of these villages, there were lots of steps and cobble stones again - my knees and ankles aren't liking this, but I'm taking it all in and taking my time!
Large holes chiseled into the rock under the "Stations of the Cross" exhibit hill
We stopped for a coffee in a café in Malaucene. We talked to a group of American men who had just biked to the summit of Mont Ventoux and back. We congratulated them. The fastest made it in 1 hour 12 minutes and the other in over 2 hours. I can't imagine doing that! But good for them.
We then drove to Caromb to find the pizza man, Nico, but we didn't see him - probably too early. We're doing pizza tonight since we had such a large lunch (made by Tim!).
We returned back to La Villa Noria for a bottle of wine (a red this time) and relaxation on our patio. It is still a bit cooler than it was the last few days but we enjoyed being outside and just relaxing.
Then we drove back into Caromb (just down the street from our B&B) for our light dinner. We found Nico's pizza truck and ordered 2 pizzas!!!! This was something different and lighter. We had a pizza with ham, olives, bacon and cheese, and a white pizza with potatoes, cheese and other white things. Both were good. I talked to Nico in French a bit - he is originally Italian but has been in France for a while. He takes his truck to Modene and Caromb 6 days a week. Our pizzas were DELICIOUS. Another fun experience.
Larry with Nico at the Nico Pizza Truck!!!! Nice, friendly guy - good pizza!
We took the pizzas back to La Villa Noria and ate by the pool with a bottle of rose wine and watched the sun set over the vineyards in the fields. Beautiful evening.
We relaxed for the remainder of the evening and then went to bed early. Tomorrow is another adventure. Supposed to be chilly tonight!
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