France, Look Out

2:49 PM, Suzy and I are readying ourselves for our bike/barge trip in Provence.  By readying ourselves, I mean that we are trying to make sure our debit cards work overseas, that we have global data on our cell phones, and that we have boarding passes.  For the young people who read this blog (if any) this would take maybe ten minutes, 15 if they are slow.  We've been at this for a good hour.

Who knew you could print from your Kindle using Bluetooth?  By "you" I mean the rest of the world.  For us, it has taken three calls to the Kindle gurus for explanation.  We resorted to printing from my laptop because I think Suzy was too embarrassed to call them again.

Anyway, we've gone from travelling with very small suitcases (a badge of honor) to our current state where we have pretty large rolling duffel bags (the boat instructions for this trip said to bring soft sided luggage because of space).  Because they are large, obviously, we had to bring just about everything in our closets.  I'm hoping that we won't be lifting them very much.

Suzy, Pam and I leave tomorrow for Paris, then a flight to Montpelier, then a train to Avignon.  All in all I believe we will reach our final destination in about 20 hours.  Friends from California will join us in Avignon.  From there, we board out barge for a seven day trip of biking and I guess "barging."

 All is well in the world, the weather is supposed to be beautiful, BUT 20-27 mph winds.  I'm just hoping they are tailwinds.  Otherwise, we may be doing a lot more "barging" than "biking".  With that good French wine it shouldn't be a big problem.

We are hoping that on the round trip around Avignon (see itinerary below), we can visit LeFiguieres, a fig farm owned by the in-laws of our friend, Beverly.  That would be a great adventure.

Wish us well.  If we have good wifi, I'll be sending our own photos and bits about the trip.

OUR ITINERARY:  Avignon to Aigues Mortes

Day 1: Arrival in Avignon
Day 2: Avignon, round tour, 28 mi. (45 km)
Day 3: Avignon - Aramon, 26 mi. (40 km)
Day 4: Aramon - Vallabrègues, 22 mi. (35 km)
Day 5: Vallabrègues - Arles, 37 mi. (60 km)
Day 6: Arles - Aigues Mortes, 15 mi. (25 km)
Day 7: Aigues Mortes, round tour, 34 mi. (55 km)
Day 8: Departure from Aigues Mortes