Honeys, we're home!

Ok, so we've been home for awhile now. To quote a blogging/Ethiopia baby mama friend, I have been a negligent blogger.

In my defense, I have tried to blog, but couldn't get the pictures to upload. True to my nature, when the situation involved wading into the weeds of details, I found something else to do instead. But today, I am determined! Plus, it's rainy, so what else do I have to do?

So, here are some pictures and some narrative, too.

We spent the first week in Aix en Provence. We picked Aix because it is a fairly central town in the region of Provence. Also, it was big enough to provide plenty of exploring for us (read: eat and shop and go to the markets), and everywhere else we wanted to visit was fairly close by.

Here are Dave and the girls right outside our apartment in Aix.
The living room in our apartment....

the building is about three hundred years old,
but the apartment had been fabulously renovated in 2007.
(Too bad I didn't think to snap pictures

before it assumed that "lived in" look!)

The old tower on our way to our market...

...and this is the daily market less than a block from the apartment.
We picked up fresh strawberries, cheese and bread each day!

Finally, here's a shout out to a special friend...

you know who you are!!

This is just what our rental car looked like.

There were actually three rows of seats, and it was just right for our family. The best and most important feature was the GPS. I think we would still be wandering the hill towns of the Luberon Valley if we hadn't had it!

We explored Provence every day. It really is just like I hoped and imagined it would be. Well, maybe it was even a bit better!

On our way to Arles, we drove under this Roman aquaduct.

Arles is where Vincent Van Gogh lived

and painted for several years.

There was an ancient Roman colliseum there, too.

After Arles, we drove over to Les Baux de Provence. This was one of our favorite villages. Les Baux is way up in Les Alpilles, a range of stoney mountains in the south of France. Because of its incredible position, it was a defensive stronghold in the Middle Ages, complete with ramparts and a serious castle. All we could think about was how much WORK it would have taken to build this village on the side of a rocky mountain. And it was so beautiful.

We explored the village (read: shopped and ate), and Dave and the big girls climbed up to the castle ruins.

Look at all the stone someone hewed and

hauled and used to build with!
Can you imagine?
A linen shop (where I picked up some kitchen towels).
The view up to the castle from the village.

Just blogging about the trip makes me long to go back.

Next installment: Cassis and Monaco!