After all of the different visitors we’ve had here in Paris, it was finally my parents turn to come visit us. We actually welcomed both my parents and my Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Andy here around the first week of June. They had just come off a 3 week cruise and were making a stop to visit us in Paris. My aunt and uncle were only in Paris for a few nights while my parents had planned a longer stay.
We enjoyed a few nights in Paris with all of them....taking them to some of our favorite markets so we could eat at home one night as well as taking them to a favorite Italian place of ours in our neighborhood...changing it up with some pizza for dinner.
Before we knew it though, it was time for Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Andy to leave and we were supposed to be on our way to Portugal. Unfortunately though, Portugal just wasn’t meant to be for us. There was an air traffic controller’s strike in both France and Portugal among a few other countries which of course started the Wednesday we were supposed to leave. We could have re-scheduled our flight for Friday morning which is when the strike was scheduled to end but the airline still couldn’t guarantee that our flight would leave as scheduled. So instead of taking the risk and having to deal with all of the chaos that would no doubt exist at the airport, we cancelled our Portugal trip all together and decided to take a train on Friday morning to the South of France and visit Avignon.
By the way, a little sidenote and fun fact about France. A co-worker was telling me that apparently the unions have a certain number of strike days they are allowed to take each year and it all resets on July 1. Therefore there are always a larger number of strikes during the month of June as they use up their unused strike days. Gotta love France!
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| Exploring Avignon |
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| Breakfast in the garden of our B&B |
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| Pont d'Avignon |
Avignon ended up working out perfectly. We stayed in a wonderful little B&B right outside of the old city center which provided a great garden to enjoy delicious breakfasts in the morning and a little happy hour wine and cheese in the evening. We explored Avignon while enjoying some sunny and hot weather (a very nice change from our weather in Paris). One of the sights to see in Avignon is the Pont d’Avignon, which is the Avignon bridge. A friend from work introduced me to what is essentially a French nursery rhyme that’s all about this bridge. Apparently all French kids know this song by heart. (Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8eLsHDaBY8) It’s a catchy tune and don’t think I wasn’t singing it throughout our weekend there. Well at least just the chorus....the other parts were harder for me to remember.
Anyways, we saw the bridge, the Palais des Papes (the palace where the Popes lived and a UNESCO heritage site), the main cathedral in town as well as the garden nearby with a great view of the Cotes du Rhone valley. It was a full day but we got a good feel for Avignon and saw the main sights.
Therefore on Sunday we took a day trip to the coast to a popular little town called Cassis. After finally getting there with a bit of a detour and some parking issues, we had a nice lunch by the water and enjoyed a boat ride to visit the Calanques des Cassis (or little fingers of water in the coastline). It was a perfect little day trip and the boat ride was a highlight for sure. It was nice being out on the water and made me crave a beach vacation. Greece, I’m talking about you in September!!! As an extra bonus, I got to enjoy Father’s Day with my Dad....something we haven’t been able to do for a number of years now. Very special!
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| Happy Father's Day Dad! |
We said au revoir to Avignon on Monday and Nate and I were back to work the next day while my parents leisurely explored Paris. Nate and I both had quick overnight work trips that week....me to Madrid, him to Zurich, and came back in time to enjoy the weekend with my parents. My parents also squeezed in a visit to the Google Paris office for breakfast that Friday morning. They have visited me at Google Mountain View, San Francisco, Zurich and now it only seemed fitting that they made sure to come see the Paris office as well!
The weekend was a mellow end to their vacation of 5 weeks. We enjoyed a few more great dinners, my mom and I made it out for some shopping and before we knew it, we were saying goodbye Monday morning. It was sad to see them go but happy to know it’s only a few weeks now before we get to see them again, this time back in the US!
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