Southern France

Susan and I returned from Budapest on Wednesday, had a few days back in Edinburgh (in which she took a final, I wrote a few papers, we celebrated my birthday, etc), and then we set off to France.

We flew into Marseille, and got in a blablacar (which is basically an uber pool but cheaper), and headed towards Avignon. This is where one of my mom’s friends, Laure, lives and we were going to be staying with her for a few days. It was actually so cool because Sue had studied abroad in Paris and Avignon, and stayed with a host family in Avignon. Laure was the host sister of the family that Sue stayed with in Avignon! It was amazing that they have stayed in touch all these years and that Laure would be happy to have us stay with her at her home for a few days!!

She picked us up from the car meeting point, and this was where we all met for the first time. She brought us back to her house and made us an authentic French meal- ratatouille. Just like the movie!!! Then we had after dinner cheese which was so French of us.
The next morning, Laure brought us for a look around of the area. First we went to Châteauneuf-du-Pape, which was an old castle and had a great view of Avignon. We then went to an old Roman amphitheater and took a tour of it. We then made our way towards 2 small villages, Sablet and Seguret, and wandered through them taking pictures. They were adorable little villages. Susan and I decided that if you were a celebrity and wanted to get out of the limelight, this is where you should go because no one would be able to find you. In Seguret we took a little hike up a mountain so that we could have a view of the area, and it just happened to be in time for the sunset which was beautiful! When we went home, Laure made us another traditional French dish, this one containing ham, eggs, and vegetables. It was very yummy!

On Tuesday morning we woke up and had a classic French breakfast- bread and jam- and then set off to explore the area of Avignon right around Laure’s house. She described to us that there is a city ‘outside of the wall’ and ‘inside of the wall’. She lives inside of the wall. This was home to ‘the pope’s palace’, cathedrals, and shopping. She brought us to see a giant nativity scene (creche in French), and then to a Christmas market. We clearly are big fans of the Christmas markets. It was nice to wander around and get a local perspective on everything! It was even nicer that I had my own personal translator at my convenience..!

That night, Susan and I left Laure and headed to Marseille for the last 2 nights of our vacation. Our airbnb was beautiful, looking right over the harbor. In the morning we left our apartment and started walking along the harbor. It was wild because the fishermen were selling their fish to people walking by right along the harbor! I was shocked because obviously that doesn’t happen much at home. We decided to walk up to Notre Dame de la Garde, which wound up being more of a HIKE because it was quite an uphill climb. However, once we made it to the top it was an absolutely breathtaking view. Definitely one of the top 5 views I have ever seen. We stayed up there basically until our body temperatures regulated (so it was a while) because I was SWEATING from that hike. For the rest of the day we basically just shopped around and went through some more Christmas markets (not as impressive as other ones we’d seen). We went to a cute tiny cafe that had literally the best chocolate cake (I had that) and banana bread (for susan). Obviously my mama makes the best chocolate cake but this one was definitely 2nd to that. For dinner we were feeling like splurging because it was our last holiday together, so we got expensive bottles of wine, appetizers, steaks, and some AMAZING tiramisu with Nutella on top. Wow it was again one of the best desserts I have ever had.

In the morning (early again, ugh) we set off back to Edinburgh on one last Ryanair flight! At this point, Susan has only 1 weekend left (!) so we are definitely (trying) to #stayclassyscotland xx