7.Nineteen.20Ten – Part Deux

M+M at Lake St Croix

Bon Soir!  This is our first “Part Deux” blog entry as we have an early a.m. wake-up call demain (tomorrow) as we venture from our current locale in Marseille to Pau, France to begin our tour with Spyns as we follow le Tour de France all of the way into Paris! 

Today’s adventure was spontaneous and quite perfect!  We started the day with plans on seeing the Gorges du Verdon (Europe’s Grand Canyon….kinda) and then heading to St Tropez.  As Molly drove ~2 hours on single-lane roads with numerous S-bends (and 2-way traffic) we happened upon le Lac de St Croix.  We stopped for a quick photo opp (it was absolutely gorgeous) and ended up spending the day!  We rented a paddle boat and paddled our way into the Gorge…amazing!  We got to swim-n-paddle-n-pseudo-body surf (i.e. 1-person paddles while the other gets towed along by hanging onto the ladder in the back of the boat).  We saw a few water falls, cliff divers and all-n-all had a most enjoyable (and unexpected) time!  St Tropez will have to wait for our next visit! 

After our water adventures, we continued our journey into Aiguines (our original destination to see the gorges) and had some tasty pizza, saw a castle and Mt Ventoux (from afar).  Finding some good food further in a truly neat locale added to our day! 

To cap our evening, we finally dined at the “proper” European time (~9pm) at a sweet little restaurant on one of the side streets just off the port of Marseille.  We were a bit timid at first as the menu was entirely French (and Max’s skills were tres rusty), but we were able to order some good food (and wine!) and it was topped off by our waiter enjoying a conversation with us (and sharing the last 1/2 of a bottle of “very fine wine” that our dining neighbors failed to finish…slackers). 

We must bid adieu as we rise early…Molly needs her beauty…err driving sleep.  We have a long drive along the Pyrenees to meet our tour (and LE TOUR) in Pau.  Viva la Tour!! 

(and Poo-poo on Alberto Contador for attacking Andy Schleck when he suffered a mechanical on the final climb of today’s stage.) 

 More to come… 

Inside the Gorges du Verdon

Max enjoying the water

Molly overlooking the Gorges du Verdon

Molly's pedal power

Paddleboat Horsepower personified

The #3 Boat. Even in France, rubbing is racing!

Lac de St Croix

Lac de St Croix sans M+M

One cannot drink wine all of the time. Orangina to the rescue!

Chateaux Aiguines

Aiguines

Bon Soir Marseille! Au Revoir!!