As I noted in my opening, we were in the South of France 41+ years ago, but for some reason, bypassed Provence. Not sure why, we just did. We went to Nice, Marseille and Monte Carlo instead.  

Somehow during the past 41+ years we got interested in Provence. We saw the beautiful lavender fields in many paintings at art shows. We found that Vincent Van Gogh started an art colony in Arles. We discovered Nostradamus was from Salon-du-Provence. And we learned about the possibility that Mary Magdalene may have made her way from Jerusalem to the south of France. Besides that, we found out there might be some great cave paintings left by Neanderthals in Provence that sounded interesting. We decided to make a short 10 day trip out of it. Just spending more of our kids inheritance!

We had planned on having a tour guide with us. Got in contact with a nice young lady by the name of Jane who was an American, but has lived in Provence for the past 15 years and gave tours. Sounded promising. We corresponded and agreed on dates we would be there. That was in May. I emailed her in June...no reply. I emailed her in July...no reply. Good thing we hadn't put any money down with her...geez! Looks like we're doing this one on our own. No big problem. I've done the research.  

Kevin started back to school on Wednesday and we left on Thursday. Bryan took us to Chicago to fly out of O'Hare. Those of you who know me, know I hate that. But it was going to be about $600 more to fly out of BMI. I couldn't pass up that savings.  

We left about 11:30 am which as it turns out was way too early for our 5:20 pm flight. Only took us two hours to get to O'Hare. Checked in with Air France (we had actually booked it through Delta, but this flight was flown by Air France) and then we stood in line for security check for almost an hour. Sandy was all the time trying to find better and faster ways to get this many people checked in. And the attitude of the TSA Agents bordered on rude.  "I SAID SINGLE FILE," the Gestapo lady said. Then the guy who checked our passports was as cold as a well-digger's rear end (I cleaned that up!). Then the guy who sent us through the screening machine sent us to the "crew only" line. Thanks a lot for getting us yelled at again.  

Finally through with that, we sat down and shared a burger. Sandy had iced tea and I had two beers...$36...welcome to O'Hare! We sat and tried to do emails, but O'Hare's free wifi was not working....and the hits just keep on coming! After a while we headed to our gate but discovered we were still hungry. A bloody mary and some prosciutto and cheese hit the spot. $35

On the plane finally. Big sucker. Airbus 330 with economy having a 2-4-2 seat configuration. We were one of the twos. The Air France flight attendants were as nice as can be. It would be 7.5 hours in the same seat. A long overnight. Dinner came and it was tasty. Well about as tasty as you can make a meal for you and 350 of your closest friends. Chicken and potatoes.  

We both tried to sleep but neither one of us could do much of that. We both read. I had downloaded a book by Bart D. Ehrman. He's a biblical scholar I have seen on TV quite often. He went to Moody Bible Institute, Wheaton College and Princeton Theological Seminary (where Laura went). He's now at UNC - Chapel Hill. The book had a catch title..."Peter, Paul and Mary...Magdalene." Clever. I skipped Peter and Paul and went straight to Mary. He's not a big believer in the whole DaVinci Code idea of Mary being Jesus' wife. In fact, he wrote another book telling both the facts and myths about the DaVinci Code. Perhaps not, but I do believe Mary played a larger role in Christ's life and ministry than the Bible suggests. The men who wrote the Gospels had much to gain from telling stories in such a way that made them look good. And to downplay Mary's role would not have been out of the question. This debate has raged in our house for many years between Laura (the Biblical scholar) and "dumb ol' Dad!" Anyway, the book helped pass the time.  

Before you knew it, they were turning the lights on and bringing us a little breakfast. Juice, yogurt, fruit, and an apple turnover. Tasty.

Our flight was delayed a half hour in Chicago for some reason. They made up the time pretty well in the air, and by about 8:30 am we were flying over Paris on our way to Charles de Gaulle Airport. We actually saw the Eiffel Tower and The Tuelliere Gardens as we flew over Paris. Very cool.  

We landed at 8:43 am and needed to catch our flight to Marseille at 9:30. It was gonna be tight. I was surprised how quickly the crew could get everyone out of the plane. Then it was, walk quickly (as quickly as two senior citizens can) to the next flight. As we neared the terminal, I was very worried about Passport Control. We had been in many long lines for Passport Control before. To our surprise and pleasure, there was no line at PC and we were waived quickly through. We got to our flight at 9:20 as they were boarding. Made it in the nick of time.  

This was a smaller plane. Airbus 320 with six seats across (3 and 3). And it was packed just like our other flight. Unfortunately this one also had a couple of screaming babies on it. About an hour and a Coke Zero later, we landed in Marseille. Now was the scariest part of all. I was about to drive in France.  

We got our bags rather quickly. Marseille airport is not as large as de Gaulle. We walked across the street to Hertz and went in. I was somewhat reassured when my name was on the board for  Hertz Gold Service. The nice lady told me about the rental. Hertz has this new service that you can include a wifi hotspot in your rental (it's a portable unit). I had reserved it, thinking I could use my iPhone for GPS. Unfortunately they didn't have any units. Reminded me of a Seinfeld episode where the rental car company didn't have Jerry's rental even though he reserved one.  "There are two parts to the rental. Taking the reservation and keeping the reservation. Apparently you are very good at taking of the reservation, but not so good at keeping the reservation." OK, can I get a Never Lost System? Yes. She even went to check to see if it was in the car and changed the language to English. Thank you. Then she asked about insurance. Well, I usually say, no. This time, in a strange country with a strange car. Give me every bit of insurance you have. Practically doubled my rental cost. I was taking no chances. I also have my International Driver's License, which does not require a test. Just $15 at AAA.  

Finally go to the car and put our luggage in the Peugeot. Great little car. Problem one was our inability to determine how to operate the Never Lost System. A little help from a friendly Hertz guy and were were on our way...well, maybe not. Couldn't find the emergency brake...and it was on. A little more help from our Hertz guy and we were on our way. But the Never Lost did not have voice commands....what? It gave us pictures, but no voice. We followed it pretty well, but couldn't find our hotel. We finally got some help from some folks after stopping for a beer and something to eat and found it.  

Nice hotel near the downtown center of  Aix-in-Provence. Should be for the price we paid. We had been up for a long time. Sandy wanted some water and I wanted a drink. Went to the hotel bar and they brought us up a Bombay Saphire and Tonic and water. Nice man brought them to our room and I blogged while Sandy slept. I stopped blogging and slept for a while and we both got up about 9:30 pm local time...hungry. Very continental you know! We got some suggestions from the desk and headed to downtown Aix-en-Provence.    

Ate at a place called Leopold. Been there since 1936. Absolutely the best salad I have ever had. Prosciutto, lettuce, dates, nuts, watermelon and tomatoes in a basalmic vinegar dressing. Outstanding...and my doctor would be happy. Sandy had lobster ravioli...it was OK.  

We got back to our hotel and slept like babies! We had driven to Chicago, flown to Marseille, driven with French drivers to Aix-in-Provence and had dinner...we were pooped. Tomorrow it was sightseeing in earnest!

Take care my friends and family and good night from Provence, France!

Dave & Sandy