Day 9

Berner Oberland is one of the most beautiful regions in all of the world, at least in my eyes. Today Ashley and I took what we like to call a stroll through the Lauterbrunnen Valley seeing many of the Waterfalls that it had to offer. The first we came upon was Staubbach Falls. In a book, I recieved for christmas from my parents, it is one of the 501 must-visit natural wonders
so Ashley and I had to get a picture in front of it. We now have one checked, off only 500 left!

Here is a full picture of Staubbach Falls including the Staubbach Creek.

As you can see the valley is extremely amazing, unlike anything in the States. There are perfect little meadows filled with cattle with bells hanging from their necks. So as you walk down this amazing valley you hear bells ringing from the cows grazing nearby. Then you look to the side and hear the roar of a water falling upwards of 300 meters from the top of the cliff faces that surround this picturesque setting.

Trummelbache Falls, also one of the 501 must-visit natural wonders of the world, was very amazing. It is a waterfall that is made up of 10 smaller falls inside the valley wall. Here is just one of the pictures that I took during our visit. More to come when I can make a few crops and rotations on my desktop computer.

Here is Ashley as we escape the very cold cavern of Trummelbache Falls. I imagine when it is at full force you cannot emerge dry from the caves that expose each of the smaller falls.

As we normally do, we had cheese and bread for lunch on the trail.

Day 8

This was the last day at our Bed and Breakfast so we enjoyed a nice long French breakfast and enjoyed the morning views from the garden at our B&B. Also, I would like to note that as usual we ended up playing ping pong and let it be put on record that I beat Dustin (probably for the first time) in an amazing match of outdoor ping pong. He may try to claim unfair advantage due playing on foreign soil (we were keeping score in french) but, I won fair and square!

We thanked Marc the owner of the B&B for an amazing time and headed off to Avignon to leave for la Suisse (Switzerland). We wanted to post some pictures of our Bed and Breakfast because it was absolutely gorgeous and we had an amazing time here.

We spent the rest of the day traveling to Switzerland, anxiously anticipaiting the Swiss Alps!

Driving Lessons

In Europe cars are typically manual and automatics are reserved for old ladies. Ashley not liking that stereotype, wanted to learn to drive a manual car. To start with, she had to learn where the gears were. So as I drove, she was doing the shifting. Having mastered that pretty well and almost back to the bed and breakfast I finally decided it was time, the stars had aligned, Ashley was as ready as she could be and taking out full insurance on the car, no worries of what might happen to the transmission, we got her behind the wheel.

Me, being the great teacher I am, set the car facing downhill to make it as easy as possible for the first shift. After reviewing many many times how to stop the car, the middle pedal not the far left. I took the emergency break off and allowed Ashley her first chance with the clutch and shifting.
First Gear went as expected but didn't kill the engine. Getting up to speed Ashley readied for second and passed with flying colors. The next true test came as we pulled onto the road of our B&B, a long, windy, and uphill road. Ashley was still doing amazing! She was cruising along in second gear as we slowly come to a little turn and meet another car. A french couple sees us and instantly realizes whats happening. Ashley being put on the spot freezes and slams on the break killing the engine.

Facing up hill near another car and very close to a huge stone wall, Ashley needs to smoothly shift into first gear. With the odds stacked against her the car hops, jumps, and finally dies. As Ashley starts to feel the pressure, heavy on her shoulders, I tell her to relax and give it one more try.

Another attempt with similar results.

Ashley getting frustrated, flustered, and freaking out is ready to call it quits. I look across and see the French lady who is shaking her hands and giving Ashley two thumbs up for encouragement. Ashley gets it on her third try! Happy the French couple wasn't annoyed and way too busy shifting to stop to say "Merci" she slowly cruises the rest of the way to the bed and breakfast.
She finally finishes her first lesson of driving a stick and is ready to be out of the driver's seat.

1 Week!

To the Sea!

We decided to go see the sea...Mediterranean Sea. It was Dustin's first time and we were so close.

We decided to go to the small town of Cassis along the coast.

The drive there was only about two hours and was gorgeous. We drove through the National Park of Luberon which, was hilly and forested. On the way there we happened upon a lovely chateau! (french for castle). I got really excited so of course we had to stop and take pictures.

Once, in Cassis we walked to the trail head and hiked to see the calanques or rocky inlets.

It was very beautiful and the breeze off the water was very refreshing. We picnicked along the rocky calanques of the sea and watched boats come in and out.

We decided to hike and explore further and ended up finding a perfect little nook in the rocks or our own personal calanque. My shoulders got a little burnt as did the top of Dustin's head.

After our hike we did some shopping in the town of Cassis. Since, we were so close to Italy of course we had to have some gelato (Italian ice cream and one of the most amazing foods). We ate our ice cream while watching older french men play the national pastime of France la boule better known as bocci balls.

We headed home on the way we took a picture of the southern vineyards. Also, I got my very first lesson of driving a stick.

That night we had ate dinner at La Coquillade a beautiful winery nearby our B&B that had two restaurants with amazing views of the surrounding country side.

Day 6

After waking up to an amazing French breakfast of Croissants, Baguette, Yogurt, Nutella, and Coffee, we headed out to L'Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue. They had a Provencal Antique Market.
We headed up and down the street filled with vendors from all over the area. After getting some souvenirs for family and friends we headed to Fountain de Vaucluse. Home of one of the largest natural springs in the world.

Naturally, we had to see it and then decided to go further down the stream to find a quiet little spot for a picnic lunch.

The next spot on the list was the hill top village of Gordes.

We spent a good part of our time in this village exploring little alleyways and happened upon a nice little wine shop.

We found the wine that we had the evening before and made sure to grab a couple of bottles for special occasions once we got back to the US.

Last village of the day was Roussillon, the small village we had dinner at the night before. The view from Restaurant David was amazing but we did not have our cameras with us so I grabbed a couple of pictures from the hillside showing the place where the restaurant sat atop the red ochre cliffs (its on the far right).

Ochre is the color of the pigment that dyes the dirt red, not the plant you fry. Seeing some of the children leaving the ochre woods looking like Oompa Loompas caused some hesitation on my part, not knowing if we were fully prepared for what lurked ahead. Sentier de Ocre was a small walk we took through the surrounding ochre woods and cliffs near Roussillon. You can see the dust of the ochre dirt has stained the trees' trunks.

We headed back to enjoy our B&B before dinner. Ashley and I took some pictures and enjoyed an apéritif.

Naturally, with a ping pong table in sight the two of us could not resist a friendly match. I won like always.

For dinner we went to hill top village of St-Martin-de-Castillon, and stopped at the local pizzeria. They only took cash, very typical of the French, so we had to make a quick run to an ATM. The nearest ATM was in Cereste a village 8 km away on winding roads.

Upon our return, we enjoyed amazing pizza and Ashley could not resist the shop owners son asking us if we wanted dessert, in french, so we partook in Ashley's favorite Tiramisu.

Day 5 to Provence

Woke up bright and early for our train which left at 7:00...8 hours and 3 connections later we finally arrived in Provence. Dustin is now an expert at public transportation and no travel day would be complete without a side stop in Lyon for cafe at a nice outdoor sidewalk cafe.

Arriving in Avignon we lost no time picking up our rental car and headed to the Pont du Gard, an ancient aqueduct built by the Romans a very long long time ago.

After seeing this french monument I believe now I'll be a better french teacher. Then we headed to our B&B. Provence is gorgeous there are vineyards and orchards everywhere admist rolling hills. We got to our B&B frenchly late. It was absolutely gorgeous we were both blown away.

After an aperitif, provided by our lovely hosts we headed to the nearby town of Roussillon and had dinner at Restaurant David. The views were gorgeous and dinner was incredible. We had several courses and every single one was an adventure. It was the perfect way to start off our vacation in southern France.

Day 4

Booked our tickets to Avignon, Provence and Amersterdam. Looks like we get/have to take the slower train down to Avignon because we did not reserve our seats and Saturday is also the first day of break for the region.

After we finished up booking our tickets we headed out to Ashley's favorite hiking trail for a nice little walk and picnic with Champagne,of course. The older French women that we encountered did not even act like we were doing anything weird, most would give me a bad look in the States. We saw tons of ducks and spring was in the air all of the mallards were trying to mate with a hen and Ashley was not happy and wanted to Bagettue them but it was across a little creek so they were safe from her.

Ashley is obviously better at making Bagettue sandwiches than I am.

After the great day of walking and eating we headed back to Ashley's apartment to pack for our journey the next day but I took an amazing nap. We then headed to another assistant's farewell gathering for food and good company.