from Avignon to Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Chateauneuf du Rhone

Leaving Avignon early in the morning, more than a hundred people gathered on deck as the captain took us up close to le Pont D’Avignon.  The French crew led us in a rousing rendition of “Sur le Pont D’Avignon:

Sur le Pont d'Avignon
L'on y danse, l'on y danse
Sur le Pont d'Avignon
L'on y danse tous en rond

Les beaux messieurs font comme ça
Et puis encore comme ça.

and so on…  

After cruising north on the Rhone we stopped at Chateauneuf-du-Pape for a tour of the famous vineyards followed by wine tasting.  Chateauneuf du Pape wines are the most carefully regulated in France, perhaps in the world.  For example, no rose wines are allowed to be produced and marketed.  This region of Provence is famous for its combinations of herbs and for Van Gogh’s images of olive trees and sunflowers.  What I cannot wash out of my visual memory are the villages with their houses and ubiquitous shutters that beg to be painted or photographed. 

…and whoever started the rumor that French people are rude had obviously not spent any time in Provence.  Wherever I walked today practically everybody smiled and greeted me with “Bonjour, monsieur.”