A Day Trip to Le Thor

It's Monday and we have three more days here in L'Isle sur la Sorgue. The weather today is perfect for our plans... to travel to the town west of us and go for a hike up a hill. We hit a snag when we learned that the trains going west were down but fortunately there was a bus a little later, and that worked out. The joys of traveling without a car.

Le Thor is a tiny town that is also on the Sorgue River. I'd read about an out-of-the-way place for lunch called the Chicken Box where a lady serves marinated chicken in sandwiches, wraps, bowls and tacos. She was a sweet woman who helped us communicate through our pointing and sign language. We shared a chicken sandwich that was delicious.

Le Thor is so tiny that it took a few blocks and we were out of town. Here's a few shots ot the city center.

The hike was a little challenging up the hill mostly due to the rocky trail, but we got a good workout. There were some beautiful and different trees and bushes along the path. And an old castle at the top of the hill.

Made it back to Le Thor in time for the earlier bus, sat by the river for a bit to watch the ducks in L'Isle sur la Sorgue, and now we're home until dinner - the return to O'Bamon. Looking forward to that! And another day trip tomorrow.

The Best Dinner and An Amazing Market Day

Last night's dinner somehow surpassed the one from the night before. We went to Restaurant La Libellule (the dragonfly) which is a small little place just around the corner from our apartment. The two women serving and greeting were charming, and the food was excellent. We shared yet another egg starter. This one I plan to try to recreate at home somehow. Braised leeks, cheese, and a baked egg. We each had a main course, veal with risotto and chicken with pureed potatoes. Both fabulous. We tried to make another reservation for a different night but they were booked. We'll keep trying (begging).

I took photos of the chicken and veal but really... you can't even tell what they are. But here's happy guy enjoying his meal.

When we walked home after dinner, the streets were empty and quiet. But this morning when we woke up, the squares and all the little streets were jammed with vendors. It is market day! And while we have been to lots of European markets, this one could be the best. The colors, the smells... just wow! We spent the whole day wandering among the crowds. We bought supplies for lunch and dinner today (paella). There was also an antique section and I did find another napkin ring! Hard to negotiate price in French but I did my best.

And this was last night when things were still quiet. Sitting along the river in one of the many cafes.

A Long Travel Day But a Great Start in L'Isle Sur La Sorgue

Three train rides, some delays and missed trains, and shlepping bags but we are here in L'Isle Sur la Sorgue, and so far, we love it. We will spend today exploring the town since we haven't seen more than our square. Our apartment is delightful with no low ceilings or weird toilet arrangements. And dinner last night at O'Bamon was so delightful that we made reservations for Monday night! The restaurant is owned by a young couple; he's the cook and she is everything out front. We started with pea soup and a baked egg dish for our first courses. Both were excellent but the egg dish was the big winner. Very gooey and cheesy and the prefect comfort food. It's early morning as I write this and and I'd love to have another one right now. 

Greg had pork tenderloin which was excellent and delicious sides, roasted squash and sunchokes. I had cod with pistachios on top that was sitting on pureed potatoes and braised leeks. Just a great dinner. 

A few hours later...

BB, you are so right! This is a beautiful town and I can see why it is one of your favorites. We walked around early this morning, and here are a couple of shots:

Our Final Full Day in Dijon, A Day of Transition, and Introduction to L'Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue

We spent most of our last full day in Dijon getting ready to move to Provence, but we did stop at our favorite coffee place (Wolf Coffee) and had a chance to chat with the owner. He's been so welcoming and kind to us, and starts making our flat whites as soon as he sees us come in. He wears a hat every day (he says he's losing his hair) and you can see the one he has on today. We told him how much we loved his city, and he expressed his love for Dijon saying it was one of the best examples of a mid-sized city in France that is clean, safe, and is in a desirable location. So true.

We spent the bulk of the day doing laundry, picking up and eating quiche for lunch, and starting to pack. Mid-afternoon, we walked to the Cathedrale Saint-Benigne to take a tour of rotunda. The church is massive and beautiful with an organ like I've never seen! Would love to hear it but guess I'm too late to try to find a time to do that. The tour of the rotunda was long and in French, and while the guide tried to give us a summery in English, it was was way too long for us. 

And if you're wondering "Ou est la Biblioteque?" It's here.

Beautiful reading room.

We had high hopes for our last dinner in Dijon but were very disappointed. L'Age de Raisin... just a few blocks from our apartment. It's a cute, cozy place and the owner was friendly and welcoming. We shared escargot which was fine but then it went downhill from there. Greg had Coq au Vin which was served with small helpings of several well prepared veggies. But the chicken was a small, unnameable part that was mostly bone and very little meat. The sauce was fabulous but that was about it. I had some au gratin dish that was supposed to have potatoes, mushrooms, and sausage. It was 90% potatoes which I like but... not that much. A very nice plum tart for dessert. 

The brown glob on the right was Greg's chicken. The brown glob on the left was nicely done eggplant.

We have eaten well here with all of the pastries, sandwiches, fresh fruit, quiches, prepared foods from the market, etc. But our dinners haven't been as wonderful as we imagined. We're hoping this changes.

A Day Trip to Besancon: Clocks, The Citadel, and Resistance

Yesterday we trained to Besancon, a city 50-minutes east of Dijon. It seemed smaller than Dijon and certainly with fewer tourists. But there were a couple of sites that interested us, so even in the rain, we were up for a visit.

The first stop was the Musee du Temps, The Time Museum. French clocks are not our thing, but it was hard not to be impressed with the history and design of some of the clocks and watches. This timepiece was created in the 1500's. 

And from small to large...

Quite a collection. In addition to the clocks and watches, there was time-related artwork. This rather upsetting painting is supposed to show Father Time cutting off the wings of Cupid indicating that Time overcomes all including Love. Hmm..,

Next stop was an enormous astrological clock that is housed in a church. It is currently being renovated so it wasn't working, but still was (according to Greg) 100% more impressive than he imagined. It took three years to build it (1858-1860) and it runs the clock on the outside of the cathedral as well as the bells. We were able to walk behind it to see the works too. It has 30,000 mechanical parts!

Next a quick lunch. We needed energy for the next site. Yes, that is another coffee eclair.

The Citadel of Besacon was built in 1674 and is massive. It currently contains a number of museums (and a petting zoo!) including the Museum of Resistance and Deportation which is where we were headed. But to get to the Citadel from the town, we had to walk up an incredibly steep and long hill plus an incredible number of steps (Greg counted 420) plus another another ridiculous hill. The view from the top was nice but we were too exhausted to spend time looking at it. Plus it was now raining. 

The museum covered all aspects of WW2 with videos and photos and memorabilia, and did include information about local people who were part of the resistance. Their stories of bravery were impressive. We both just wished there had been more information about how their resistance impacted the end of the war. But it was a well done tribute to the local organizations.

Here's some photos of the Citadel. The museum didn't seem like an appropriate place to take photos.

It was pouring when we came out of the museum but we descended the hill carefully, and found a bus in town to take us to the train station. Our knees were really sore when we got home but big thanks to Tylenol and Aleve. We're good today.

Dinner was galettes at Crepitante, a popular and busy place.

And we loved this... the Duke's Palace lit up to support breast cancer research.

Tomorrow we leave Dijon. We've loved it here and would recommend it to anyone who is traveling in France. But now we're ready for the next location... L'Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue. It will take us three train rides to get there so it will be a long day. We'll continue the blog when we get settled there.