Summary
One last, lovely meal at La Ferme before heading north towards Lyon. The weather there was forecasted to be great so we pack up our rain gear and Scott puts on shorts. What we neglected to do was check the weather at our planned interim stop, the Plus Beau Village of Balazuc. It was a really great little town but it was cold and, just as we sat down to an outdoor lunch, rainy. The umbrellas helped some but we still had to make it back to the car (a little damp and worse for wear)! I got outvoted in stopping at the Cité du Chocolat Valrhona in favor of getting to Lyon earlier. At our VRBO we got a high speed tour and explanation of the apartment from our contact (on speed, cocaine, just hyper???). The guys happily returned the rental car while Nancy and I settled in. We found a nearby grocery store for breakfast supplies, enjoy a glass of rosé, and headed out to one of Leon’s famous bouchon restaurants for dinner. Had a nice walk along the riverbank before bed.
Details
Well, today is a big transition day. We’re moving from the Provence region up to the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. We’re saying goodbye to Gordes and saying ‘Bonjour’ to Lyon. We’re moving from individual rooms in a hotel into a single big VRBO apartment. We’re going from the country side to the city center. We’re going from having a car to being regular pedestrians. Such big changes!
Before we give up all that we’ve been enjoying at La Ferme de la Huppe, we tuck in for one last wonderful breakfast with Madame. On our short walk to breakfast we note that there’s obviously grape vine burning going on nearby. It’s hazy but smells wonderful. We chat more with Madame, exclaiming what a great time of year it is to be here. She exclaims that a few weeks ago they had 10 straight days of cold, rain, and the Mistral winds (60 kph+) which drove guests to distraction. We drag breakfast out as long as we can, but eventually we say our goodbyes and we’re ready to load up the car.
On our trip here we were pleased that we were able to fit everything (mostly) into the “trunk”. We exclaimed that we should take a picture so we can remember how we were able to do it. We didn’t. We have to (again) trial-and-error our way into getting all our bags (mostly) into the back of the car. The hatch has its own motor, so it slowly glides up and slowly glides down, but if it ever “thinks” it’s encountered something, it stops closing and starts to re-open. I have to push back as if to say “no, it’ll be alright… just keep closing” and eventually it latches and we agree not to reopen the back until we’re all the way to Lyon.
The drive to Lyon is like two and a half hours. Thinking that’s not long enough we add the little hillside village of Balazuc on our route. It’ll add another hour or so, but it has the designation of being one of France’s “plus beaux villages” (most beautiful villages) so we agree.
Most of our driving is on roads without too many big trucks. If we have them, we’re on the Autoroute where you have three lanes in each direction and the trucks are limited to the two slower lanes. For this drive we have one lane and lots of trucks. Grrr. And the weather is supposed to be raining in the south, near Gordes, but sunny up in Lyon. We’re now in the middle and we’re getting some spitting rain.
In Balazuc it’s not raining as we park. The fee for parking is 3 euros and it’s coins only. The girls (after all that driving) need to “take a break”. Do we save our coins so the ladies can ‘tee-tee’ or do we legally pay for parking? In the end we have enough coinage for both, and the restrooms were free anyway.
We hike up into the village, such as it is. It’s not yet high season so many of the businesses and restaurants are not yet open. By the time we find one that has more than just sandwiches it’s starting to rain pretty good. The only restaurant seating is outdoors but they do have umbrellas. We get settled and are out of the rain, mostly. I feel a drop-drop-drop and the back of my coat but figure it’s running down onto the ground from there. Soon I feel it’s not. My butt’s getting soaked. I move and we order.
Thankfully lunch is good and we eat and pay and try (unsuccessfully) to get back to the car before there’s a lot more rain. Drying out in the car we aim the car for Lyon and pray for rain. It does rain pretty consistently until we’re close to the city.
We need to return the car full of gas, so we stop a couple of times to ensure we’re in proper compliance. There are a couple of big parking spots just across the street from our building, which is fortuitous. Ron and Karen go to meet our guy while Nancy and I guard the car. Apparently “our guy” is taking some “puppy uppers” or something, because he gives the “here’s everything you need to know” at super-fast speed. Ron and Karen are exhausted by the end and aren’t sure how much they absorbed.
We move all our stuff up the one flight of stairs (with the help of an elevator, thankfully) and Ron and I drive off towards the nearby Hertz office. Returning the car was easy and the final bill was actually a tad less than expected, so we’re happy.
Back at our apartment we unpack and make a quick out-and-back to a local grocery store to fill our luxuriously large refrigerator. We enjoy a celebratory glass of wine, get dressy and walk to our restaurant for dinner. It’s a traditional Lyonnaise-style Bouchon restaurant. These come from the days when there were tons of silk makers living and working here. They had to be fed and a type of restaurant evolved with good, but not expensive, food. Ron and Nancy both get the formule (fixed price meal with pre-set choices). Karen and I have two starters (entreés) and we split a main course. Any one of the three dishes would have been enough food for the two of us. Everything is good and it’s a price performer. Per new national law they’re happy to box up our leftovers to go.
On the walk home we pass bars and restaurants with revelers out reveling. They’re drinking and being loud and laughing. We also hear it (thankfully more muted) in our room. Happy to be in Lyon we drift off to sleep.
Photos
[Note: to view the photos in chronological order, start at the bottom :-/ ]
