The Fortress

It was sunny this morning and the hotel decided to serve breakfast on its patio. We arrived after the cyclists had left. The wind had started to pick up and it was too cold to eat outside. So we had breakfast inside with Gary Hsueh, Marlene Wong and Cathleen Deornelas. Gary and Marlene were just engaged in a romantic setting at the Eiffel Tower.

Ann and I went on a walk in our medieval part of the city. We climbed cobblestone streets and rocky paths to the ancient fortress at the top of the hill. The decaying fortress was boarded up to keep people from going in and getting hurt. The panoramic views from the hill were fantastic.

We slowly picked our way down from the fortress and wandered back to our hotel on ancient paths past beautiful gardens and very old stone buildings. By the time we arrived, it was close to lunchtime. We ate at Creperie La Pomme just below the hotel. Spinach, ratatouille and sucre were our choices. Although the restaurant had outside seating with a panoramic view, it was too cold for us. We ate inside.

Photos From Our Walk

Downtime was welcome until our batteries were recharged. We decided to stretch our legs and walk down the hill and over the Roman bridge into town. Our objective was to find some souvenirs. We didn't find any that we liked, but we did find some of our cycling group that had returned from the day's ride. We had various chats to get acquainted and to pass the time.

Happy Hour was at 6:00. Dinner was at 7:00. We sat with Kathy and Bob Strain and talked about their post-Provence plans in France, Spain and Germany. We ate inside again and combatted with everyone to be heard.

Dinner Menu

Someone announced that there was a piano bar in town, so a bunch of us walked to the main square to the cafe with the music. We all ordered drinks and started conversations. It was much easier to hear what people were saying than it was in our dining room. We never heard the music because the musicians were either on a break or had stopped for the night. When Ann and I finished our wine, we walked back to the hotel. Bedtime was after 11:00.