Back in the Alps.

Mark went back to work, and we headed south east of Grenoble to the mountains.  First destination was the Alpe d'Huez, which is famous for its climb during the Tour d'France.  But they are not going there next years, and they do have a start in Grenoble on a Saturday morning.  Snow up very high, so not so pretty.

Continued on to Les Deux Alpes, another ski resort.  People were actually skiing there, though they did have to go up high in a lift. 

Lots of work happening on the roads, there have been lots of landslides. Country really pretty.  Looped back to Grenoble again.

Weekend in Bourgogne

Mark met us in Lyon and we headed north to Beaune, in the Bourgogne district.   Stayed in a great B&B Les Petits Galets. 
http://www.lespetitsgalets.com/accueil.php?lg=en

Drove around pretty country, saw lots of vineyards, autumn leaves, Dijon style roofs.  Ate very well, tasted and bought some wine.  A great weekend.

Headed for the hills.

We headed into the mountains for a change of scenery.  Magnificent, stunning scenery with old villages everywhere.  National park of Cevennes.

More Roman buildings

For a break from Roman ruins, we headed east to Gordes and Rouissillon.  Really pretty out there, rolling hills, and lavender bushes.  Unfortunately all the photos are on Peter's camera, except for one of the cliffs at Rouissillon.  Red dirt is very uncommon around here.  It was also suggested we go to a bamboo farm, but we think we have seen enough of that.

We finished the day at the Pont du Gard, a Roman bridge and aquaduct.

Roman arena at Nimes

Roman ruins

 has lots of Roman ruins.  We visited Glanum, just south of St Remy de Provence. 

We also visited the amphitheatre in Orange, and were there during an an amazing thunderstorm. It was so wet, we went home instead of going wine tasting.  

Provence

We hired a car and headed down the Route Napolean to Molleges in Provence.  It was an amazing drive down the eastern side of the mountains.  Lots of rocky outcrops.  Lots of olive trees everywhere.

Our first outing in Provence was Avignon, a must-see destination.

Grenoble

We took the train from Venice to Grenoble, France, for a family reunion.
All the family in one place at the same time.  Staying with Mark at his apartment. Drove to nearby mountains for lunch and to see the amazing scenery.

Kerryn left Monday morning, Mark went to work, and we did the historic walk in the rain.  

Cruising in the Med

We sailed from Venice in Splendour of the Seas, with approx 2000 other guests.   The ship was great, well appointed, and so much food.  We ate a little less each day.

Leaving Venice was spectacular.  First stop was Dubrovnik, Croatia, where we visited the old walled city.  It was great, walked around, bought an ice cream.  Then back to the boat.

Overnight we travelled to Corfu, where unfortunately it was raining.   We walked around for a while, the have an old fort and a new fort.
Realised we should have done a tour, or better still, done our research and organised something ourselves.  Internet rate on ship was HORRID, so didn't use it.

The next day we were at Santorini.  Took the cable car up the cliffs, mooched around, and then walked down the path through the donkey shit.  The sun shone and we had a great day.

Wednesday found us at Athens, we took the bus tour around town, and visited the Acropolis with thousands of other tourists. Another good day, but so many people.

On Thursday it was too rough to dock, so we spent This day and Friday at sea, returning to Venice on Saturday morning.

Had a great week, but should have done more homework on destinations before embarkation.