We took some pictures too!

Amidst the havoc that was our day we took some photos. The Nyons Market was just marvelous! We have always loved the Provençal markets and Nyons turned out to be one of the best. Everyone was there; the butchers, the bakers, the candlestick makers along with the potters, T-Shirt entrepreneurs, the spice lady, the Fromage people, the scarf people and the florists. Everybody we Love! 

Sorry, pictures just don't show what is really going on. These markets literally take over towns and spread for blocks. In places like Nyons it is mostly a local thing. . . People come from miles around to shop for everything. Most villages have one or two a week, (The second one is usually only food) so people can do most of their shopping on the street if they want. There were a few tourists today, but very few. This is simply the way they've done business since . . . Well, since forever. Street Markets.

From there we drove around the country side and visited little towns along the way. 

Here Duane is trying to hide from Paula just to freak her out again. He got caught!

This shot is from one of the patio windows in Seguret. The countryside is truly beautiful! In this part of the world they raise primarily grapes, but there are some Olive trees as well. 

Seguret from the road. . . . It is a tiny place, but very quaint and very beautiful! 

Losing Miss Paula

Today we had our first ever "Holy Shit" moment! Duane lost Paula and not just for 5 or 10 minutes, but for almost 90 minutes. Viason-la-Romaine is a town separated by a river and is made up of the lower city, (below the river) which is the newer, more touristy part down on the flat land. We had lunch down in the new part and then set out to find the medieval city up on the hill. Duane told Paula to just wait below until he'd scoped out the lay of the land before we climbed the giant hill. He arrived at the bottom of this giant incline (Some call it a hill) and waited to cool down a bit before reporting back. After several minutes, there was no sign of Paula so Duane retraced his steps back into the village. Little known to Duane, Paula had cleverly hidden herself in a tiny pottery store away from his sight line. Duane walked all the way back! Meanwhile Paula exited the pottery store and approached the giant incline waiting for Duane to report in. Duane didn't report in. He was all the way back in town! Paula, now assuming Duane had lost his mind and climbed the hill and was lost in conversation, climbed the hill! Meanwhile Duane is making his 3rd round trip of the approach street. NO Paula! Paula is deep into the medieval village by now searching every corner for Duane. he's not there! Duane has now returned to the restaurant where we had lunch (No Paula), returned to the car (No Paula) went to the tourist office ( No Paula), found the police station (just in case) and was planning his revenge on the the terrorists who had kidnapped Paula! Meanwhile Paula is still knocking around the the medieval village believing Duane was yakking away with some random tourist. (He does this a lot). Paula and Duane are both about to give up and go seek revenge on some innocent bystander when they accidentally meet on the bridge. There was great rejoicing! After all these years we had never lost each other before. We vowed not to let it happen again. Next time we will stop looking a lot sooner and go find a terrorist and kick his behind just to relieve the stress!

Driving Miss Paula

Today Duane took Paula for a ride in the Provencal (Cote de Rhone) country side. The tiny, little French roads always make for a breathtaking ride. Now, the major highways are huge and wide and marked and smooth,  pleasant enough and not at all scary. The road we took to Nyons today was so narrow that most of the time Duane was certain two cars could NOT meet and pass safely! Yet they did! These cute little paths are not marked, no paint, no arrows, no curb and they weave through the countryside as if designed by a drunken donkey, which by the way, is exactly how they were originally created. Really, that's how these roads started out. Now, to make it really interesting they dig a deep 3 foot ditch right on the side of the road. One tiny miscue and you're in the ditch! Duane thinks that Adele calls it, "Rolling in the Deep!"  Duane likes this kind of challenge, but poor Paula spends a great deal of time gasping for breath, pressing on her imaginary brake peddle and white knuckling the door handles. It is great fun! (If you are the driver!) By now we are roundabout wizards, but they can be a challenge when lots of traffic is coming at you. Duane thinks it is best to approach them fast and just keep moving. Looking only slows things down.

Duane's Depressed

Duane's depressed. . . He explicitly ordered a Peugeot and Hertz saw fit to change him out for a Fiat "Punto" . . . . Now, it is not that he has anything against Fiat, but he has a huge problem with a car named "Punto!" On top of that, the car had not been washed (It is Black) and it just had a brake job that is "Over-the-Top" grabby! Duane has put Paula through the windshield 3 times already and it is only the first day! We've driven the Punto before and despite the name, it is a great little car. Tomorrow we'll see if Paula can survive the whiplash.
On the driving report. . . So far Duane has only driven down one "One Way Road." About a block in he met a giant truck that seemed peeved (Horns and Flashing lights!) that Duane was in his way. Duane slammed the gear shift thingee into "R" and we whipped outta there in a flash. The truck driver just grinned a little as he whipped by. The Punto is fine and Paula will recover. Several natives had a good laugh! It was a good day in Chateauneuf-du-Pape!

Duane has learned. . .

Duane has learned that life without TV is really kinda terrific. For no particular reason we stopped watching TV when we arrived and haven't had it on since. We have NO  idea what is going on in the world and find that to be very peaceful. Turns out, watching the news will stress you out. We've stopped that! So please, if anything awful is going on (Duane is confident that it is) don't tell us! Duane kinds misses NCIS, but that is all. When we get home we may well burn the TV and plant a garden where it used to sit. Paula just said,"But I LOVE Game of Thrones!" . . . Okay we'll keep a small TV in the spare Bed Room for special events (Hawkeye Football) . . . And "Game of Thrones!"

We tried to volunteer . . .

Duane tried to get Paula to go hire on to pick grapes, but she (Wisely) turned down the offer to get her nails dirty. These people, however, did hire on to pick grapes and they seem to be having a great time. The goodly people of  Chateauneuf-du-Pape are doing all the hard work so you slugs can sit back and enjoy their wine. We applaud them, but seriously, "No we won't help. that looks like hard work!"

We are going back tomorrow to try and get some better pics and perhaps take a sample. The drunk driving laws here are such that a thimble full is too much, so Duane will be drinking lemonade. :o(

Here are some random pics that Paula enjoyed. . . 

Linens, Linens, Linens. . . It seems as though these pop up on every trip. It is hard to keep Paula out of these shops and you can see why! 

And, of course, these lovely pumpkins. Fall is in the air here and we're hoping for continued good weather to get the harvest in. We are still walking around in T-Shirts on the first day of October. 

Sometimes you just can't wait. . .

Duane last had a haircut from the amazing Megan in early July, Paula just before we left. Yet, as we were having trouble recognizing each other because of our flowing locks, we went out for haircuts in Lyon. This is always little scary because these talented women speak less English than we do French. So basically, there was a lot of motions, waving of arms, finger scissors and holding your fingers tightly together and saying over and over, "Just a little bit!" It all worked out and we look like humans again as if we just got off the boat yesterday. Paula is a full 5 lbs. lighter and Duane can now see again. Or, as they say in Italy, "Grosso Successo!". . . . GREAT SUCCESS!
Dinner in Lyon was another Grosso Successo as well! It doesn't really matter what you eat or where you eat it . . . . It is great! Lyon's reputation as a gastronomic capital is well earned. We did find in Paris that you can get bad or mediocre food, apparently in Lyon, you can't.
The people in Lyon are terrific. We think it is because they are not overrun by tourists 12 months a year. Sure there are tourists here, but very few and they all seem nice. Tonight we were giving our Maître d a few marketing tips on how to get more people into his restaurant, he said, "No Thanks" and said they use only the low key approach of telling potential customers what great care they use in preparing their food. It is the Lyon way. Slow and easy wins the day. Probably a good lesson. By time we left at 8:30 his restaurant was nearly full and the real French dinner hour was just around the corner.
We leave here in the morning and Duane gets his Peugeot in Avignon. He warns you now that the frequency of blog posts may fall off as he'll spend a lot of time lost. See ya!