Let's go for a vacation - Saru and Vamsee's Travels: France

Saru: "Enough!! I cannot take this anymore!"

There are many ways to torture the husband and I discovered a very unique way when we were holidaying in the South of France.

We were driving around the Luberon region and the foothills of Mount Ventoux in Provence. It was late June and the country side was full of lavender, wheat and sunflower fields. Purple lines of lavender interspersed with golden wheat stalks in the foreground of a hilltop village...this is exactly how I imagined Provence to be and there it was!! Purple and violet contours extend out as far as the eye can see.

"Put some lavender stalks on the car floor. Every time you step in and out of the car, the air will be filled with fragrance" said the guidebook. I took the advice.... a little too seriously. I would stamp on the lavender, take in the heady scent and as soon as the perfume faded, I would stamp on the stalks again. In the beginning, Saru was amused. "It takes very little to keep my wife happy" he told himself and snickered while I would take deep yogic breaths every few minutes. But when the car started to smell like a like a lavender factory, he lost it!

I LOVE lavender!! At home, I have lavender scented candles, lavender home freshener, lavender oil, lavender lotion, body wash.....you get the picture!! When our trip to France got postponed to the end of June, I jumped at the chance to add Provence to the itinerary knowing fully well that it was peak time for Lavender. For 4 days, we drove around the country side stopping at every lavender farm, buying lavender products. One evening, we even went to a restaurant "Les Lavandes" and had lavender flavored ice cream at which point Saru screamed:

"Enough!! I cannot take this anymore! I need to get back into civilization soon!!

Our base was a small village called Monieux in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. We stayed in a bed & breakfast run very lovingly by Isabelle - Chez Isabelle . A lonely lady in her forties, she rented out 4 rooms. She barely spoke English, but that did not stop her from chatting with us. A little bit of English, a little bit of French and a lot of animated gestures later...we understood each other. She had a huge spread of homemade bread and jams and cappuccino for breakfast every morning.

On the first morning, we woke up early and went for a drive. A fat lady was just opening her bakery, so I ran inside and got us a couple of croissants. They were whole wheat croissants (!!!) and let me tell you something – when you are putting a slab of butter on every fold (see this picture of croissant dough) you are screwed anyway. What is the point of using whole wheat? The croissants were not so good, but the views from the hill were just fantastic. The ground was covered in thick morning mist while the sun was just rising. We spent an hour clicking pictures and just breathing in that cold crisp morning air.

Morning Mist and Lavender fields at Monieux

Saru went back to sleep while I chatted with Isabelle. I had a mini-breakfast with her and a second one with Saru.

"Un Cappuccino, deux Cappuccino, Très Cappuccino ....no problem" She said while talking me into trying Lavender honey with bread.

"I love summer. Weather is nice, rooms are full and I am busy. Winter is bad. When the mistral (cold winds) rolls in, it is so cold, I cannot leave home. For days, I do not see anybody!"

“But my daughter comes home for the holidays and we go skiing” Her eyes lit up while she spoke lovingly about the daughter that was studying in Paris.

I don’t know if I can ever live in such an isolated place, but I love to vacation in these small towns. Saru LOVES big cities and the energy in them. I like them too, but my idea of a vacation is to take it slow. The peace and tranquility of the countryside offers just the kind of holiday I want. For 4 days, we drove around some of the most beautiful villages in Provence. There was no long list of attractions – we drove aimlessly. Lunch in one village, snacks in one and dinner in yet another village. In between these villages were long stretches of lavender farms, wheat fields and wineries. After 4 days, I was completely rested and Saru was totally restless. He needed to move to an urban scene....see some wide roads, tall buildings, crowds, noise, pollution (OK....now I am just being mean here!!). More than anything, I think he was sick of being in places whose names he could not pronounce. Languages are not his forte and he will not even try to pronounce the names right. In the entire trip, I could not get him to say 'Bonjour' to anybody. He will say a very enthusiastic "good morning" or a very spirited 'hello', but never 'Bonjour'. On our trips we visited many cities and he butchered pretty much every name - Gordes, Roussillon, Montbrun-les-bains, Bonnieux, Monieux....and his personal favourite – L’Isle-Sur-la-Sorgue. For the life of him, Saru could not remember that name. On our way to the town, he kept repeating the name again and again. It was like riding the car with an idiot savant (remember Rain Man where Dustin Hoffman keeps repeating things...).

In comparison, Nice and Monaco were easy to pronounce. Nice...was well... Nice and Monaco according to Saru, was a salt biscuit. Nice and Monaco deserve its own post, so I am not going to mention the topless women at the beaches there.

Here are some more pictures of the famous lavender fields. The difference in colors is because of the difference in plant species. True Lavender is the variety that is pure and used in the perfume industry. It grows only in higher altitudes (>1800 ft). Lavandin, a hybrid variety has darker colors and grows at lower elevations. We got a detailed Lavender trail from Fodors Provence forum (thanks Stu Dudley) and followed it to get to these picturesque locations. Mornings were cool in Summer, but afternoons were HOT!! Every afternoon, we would pick a nice shady tree, open the doors of the car and take a nice nap. A couple of evenings we lucked out with sudden thunder storms and then the place cooled down. I don't know if I will ever go back to Provence in the middle of Summer, but it was worth braving the sun for these views.

Traveling in Provence is a treat to all senses. Beautiful vistas of mountains, plateaux, an occasional chateau and precariously placed hilltop villages. In a follow-up post, I will write about the villages we visited, food we ate etc.

Follow-up Post : Beautiful Villages in Provence -Les Plus Beaux Villages de France

Click on the link to read about our Paris trip - Paris- How Dan Brown screwed up my trip!

It was just a few minutes to midnight and we were walking along La Seine in the historic center of Paris. On the right side was the beautifully lit Louvre. Looming ahead of us was the Cathedral of Notre Dame casting its beautiful reflection in the river. Far away at a distance, the twinkling lights show had started and the iconic Eiffel Tower was sparkling in brilliant light. The restaurants and coffee shops of the left bank were buzzing with activity even at this late hour.

We heard loud noises from Pont des Arts and as we hurried to it, we saw the pedestrian bridge filled with people. They were sitting in groups and drinking wine and beer and dancing and singing. All of a sudden we hear a commotion. A guy starts to take off his clothes and everybody rushes to one side of the bridge. We rush just in time to see the young man jump into the river.

Louvre in the Night

“Is that a bare butt? Oh My GOD – Is that guy naked” I ask Saru in an incredulous tone.
“Yup…he is! We saw so many naked statues and paintings today – It is only fair that we see one in flesh and blood. We are in Paris baby!
Another guy follows suit and the crowd erupts in cheers and claps. This goes on for a while before the folks walked back to their groups and continued their drunken revelry.
I love the energy of the city. It never stops having fun. NY City is maybe the only other city that has this kind of energy. One of the restaurants we went to, is open from 5:30 AM to 3:30 AM on weekdays and 24 hours on weekends! We had to wait for 15 minutes to get a table at 11:30 PM!

Saru and I went to France in the last week of June for 10 days. This was our second trip to Paris, so you won’t see me gushing about the Louvre or mentioning the tonnage of Eiffel Tower or raving about the stain glass windows of Notre Dame. The bucket list was checked off in 1999, places sufficiently wowed and the awesomeness captured in a camera, so there was no pressure to visit every single attraction. Given that, I did not have a long list of things to do. I did however have a long list of things to eat (how can you not?). Think of the delicious buttery, flaky, crispy croissants and the soft, delicate, decadent, molten chocolate cake floating in a sauce of Crème Anglaise.

Our Paris trip started with a sandwich. YES, a SANDWICH and not just any sandwich, it was a Tomate et Mozzarella sandwich on pain olive (Olive Bread). We were hurrying to the airport train station when I was drawn to a cool looking cafe. “I am not hungry, you go ahead and buy yourself something” said Saru. Walking towards the train terminal, balancing the bag on one hand, my sandwich on the other while lamenting the fact that the tiny bottle of water cost me 3.5E, I took one bite of the sandwich and came to a sudden halt. I screamed - HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, THIS SANDWICH IS FANTASTIC! I ran along to catch up with Saru while yelling “this sandwich is amazing”!!
Saru “Vam….we are in a public place….lower your voice”.
I don’t like cold sandwiches, but this one was so tasty that I stopped talking to Saru and was intently eating my sandwich while making sounds that I would rather not describe on a public forum. Saru waited for a few minutes, lost patience and asked “Are you going to share it with me or not?”
“Absolutely not! You said you were not hungry”
“I am not, but I want to taste the sandwich. Eat whatever you want and leave me the rest”
I kept eating my sandwich while Saru was watching with a disgusted look. Half over…..three quarters over… eighty percent over and he saw no signs of me stopping. Saru lost it and pulled it from me. “That’s enough!! It is my turn now”. I would have fought for it, but the train came and we boarded it. “Oh Man!! This is awesome!” said Saru turning away as I was trying to grab the last piece.

Pantheon – “To the great men, from the grateful homeland”

For our first morning in Paris, we decided to visit the Pantheon, an understated monument which we missed in our first trip. I had zero expectations, and maybe that is why I liked it so much. Initially built as a place of worship, it was converted into a memorial for illustrious Frenchmen during the French Revolution. Many great men including Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, and Mirabeau were buried in the crypt.

As was the case of most churches built in those times, the interior was shaped in the form of a cross (+). This massive structure was decorated with Greek columns and domes while the walls were adorned with beautiful frescoes and paintings. There were very few people inside, so it was very peaceful. I just sat there gazing at the dome and the frescoes wondering about the numerous times the church was converted to a mausoleum and back. You could see an amalgamation of religious, political and scientific values from different periods in time. On some walls were frescoes depicting the life of St.Genevieve, on some were paintings of allegories of values (justice, glory etc) and then there was the Focault's Pendulum.
While I was listening to the audio guide, Saru-the-geek put all his attention into understanding the inner workings of the Pendulum. The theory is that the pendulum oscillates in the same plane the entire time, while the earth below it is rotating showing the change in times on the clock on the floor, thus proving rotation of earth. Saru was puzzled because the clock on the floor only showed 270 instead of 360 degrees. He searched around until he found an English speaking volunteer who explained that the pendulum only oscillates to the extent of the latitude of the location. At North and South poles, the pendulum would complete a full 360 degree circle in a day. Mystery solved and he was ready to leave.

We then went into the crypt and Saru got crazy-excited looking at the names of scientists . He started reeling off names and scientific theories and formula in spite of my “what the hell are you talking about” look. He kept going “Ohhhh…Paul Langevin of Langevin Dynamics ; Marcelin Berthelot, the inventer of modern chemistry; Pierre Curie's Nuclear Physics....." What a geek!!
My time to show off came a little later when we stopped in front of the tomb of Alexander Dumas. “You never heard of ‘Count of Montecristo’ I asked him in a heckling tone. He threatened to explain the intricate details of ‘stochastic differential equations’ in Langevin Dynamics, so I backed off. I did however manage to tell him the story of Dumas's famous novel.

I loved the Pantheon! It was a beautiful monument. We thought of spending an hour, but ended up spending 3 hours, including 45 minutes climbing to the top of the domes to get a view of Paris. Saru will not let me put big size images ofwhat he terms as ‘bad pictures’, but here is a snapshot.

Musee Du Louvre – How Dan Brown screwed up my trip

We visited the Louvre for the first time,10 years back and LOVED it. We spent an entire day in the museum and could not get enough of it. Every other museum I saw after that paled in comparison. To me, Louvre was the best museum in the world followed by the Vatican Museum. SO….I went with great expectations. I knew it would be crowded, but the mob I saw there was totally unexpected. Thanks to Dan Brown’s ‘Da Vinci Code’, it has become fashionable for EVERYBODY to go to the Louvre. I have never seen so many people with translated versions of the same book. Most of the tourists were in line to see same three exhibits – Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and Winged Victory. The smart thing to have done was to avoid that wing, but the husband was one among the mob who came with bookmarks in the novel. He said “Nothing doing…I want to see these three exhibits. I want to beat Art Buchwald’s record of 5min 56secs to see the big three” Sigh!

An hour and half later, I was sweating and in line with thousands of other people. You just cannot appreciate art this way. It also didn't help my cause that I forgot to rent an audio guide, so had to climb 3 floors twice to go back and get it. By then, I was tired, hordes of tourists were pushing me around and it was just not a great experience. There were a few good moments like when we saw this “Size matters” statue below. Saru, unlike me, had lots of fun. He would snicker and giggle at the nudity in the paintings and pass silly comments. Once done, we went outside, put our feet in the fountain water and relaxed while pondering over the fact that we loved the Pantheon which most tourists would miss, but hated the more popular Louvre.