Cuteness overload 1: 2 towns, a cave, and a viaduct

Day 2: Grotte de Clamouse, St. Guilhelm le Desert, Peyre, Millau Viaduct

We slept the sleep of the dead and woke up late, jet lag averted.

After breakfast, it was around 11am so we didn't walk around Pezenas, instead just headed out for to sightsee. We were headed to Saint Guilhen le Desert, the Grotte de Clamouse, and the Millau Viaduct.

We looked at our Michelin map, plugged in St. Guilhem and were off. It lead us on small roads through gorgeous countryside and we noticed signs for the Grotte de Clamouse so we headed there first. We had just enough time for me to grab a cafe noisette before the 1230pm guided tour.

The tour was in French but the guide translated a lot to English for about 7 non-French speakers. The tour was at least an hour and very interesting. It was cool in the cave but after a lot of stair climbing, I didn't feel cold. Very worth it.

Araganite is the star of the cave. It's apparently a pretty rare sight so geologist husband was happy to get up close and personal with it.

It was a stupendously beautiful day as we exited the cave. We plugged Saint Guilhem le Desert into the GPS and got there without problems. A really pretty drive alongside a river.

This is a super cute town. It's small, there are no "must-do" sights except the  Gellone abbey.

We had lunch at Le Logis des Penitents on the main square. Good crepes, refreshing rose wine, and great people watching.

We toured the 11C abbey church. 

Then wandered the town, enjoying its calm beauty.

Today we would be closest to the Millau Viaduct, so we headed there. We looked at the map and plugged in Peyre so we could get the view of the Viaduct that was in our Michelin Green Guide. Peyre is a very tiny town with the most amazing views.

The viaduct spans the Tarn gorge. It was designed by Norman Foster (brit( and Michel Virlogeux (french). It cost 394 million euros. It's 1.5 miles long, 1,122 feet tall. It's the tallest bridge in the world. Work started October 2001 and it was opened for traffic in December 2004. It's beyond impressive--it's magnificent.

The town is beyond picturesque. It's one of the "Most Beautiful Villages" in France for a reason. It was early evening, very few people were out. We wandered and lingered as long as we could.

On our way back to Pezenas, we noticed a road that led to a walking path to the Viaduct. We walked about 15 minutes to get to it and were even more impressed with this amazingly beautiful marvel of engineering. It's massive!

An hour and a half or so drive back to Pezenas.

We didn't have reservations anywhere and a lot of recommended places were closed on a Sunday night. We ended up at Le Pezenas Italian restaurant for an enjoyable meal.

Before turning in, we wandered the quiet, nicely lit streets of Pezenas. It's really cute!

Cars, planes and trains.

Day 0-1: August 31-September 1:

It really was a tale of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.  I think this was our longest travel day ever but obviously worth it 'cuz by the end of it, we were in lovely Pezenas ready to relax and enjoy the south of France.

I flew United from New Orleans to Houston on 8/30 and was treated to this magnificent sunset.

We used points to book on Delta flight and the only Premium Economy available connected through Cincinnati. A friend dropped us off at IAH at 830am for our 1040am flight to Cincy. We had a 4 hour layover and amused ourselves by wandering around and wondering why everything related to Kentucky when we were excited to finally make it to Ohio. At lunch, I asked about this and the waiter said, "you're in Kentucky. Cincinnati is across the river." Oh OK. So we've still not been to Ohio but can add KY to the list!

A few beers later, we boarded our 6pm Delta to Paris.

It was only 6-6.5 hour from Cincinnati to Paris and I surprisingly slept about 3.  Premium Economy really is worth it!  We arrived to a lovely sunrise over Paris.

For the first time in many CDG arrivals, we did not have to take a bus from the plane to the terminal. We breezed through immigration control. We arrived at baggage claim and our bags came out intact in a few minutes. So far, so good!

We walked to the TGV station and saw that there was no earlier train to Montpellier so waited a couple of hours to board ours at 958am. We were in first class and the seats were roomy. Only problem, the train was pretty full and we were facing backwards. After Lyon, I was able to move to a forward facing seat which saved me from being sick. I really dislike not being able to specify forward facing seats when ordering train tickets!

We arrived at the Montpellier TGV station at 210pm and made our way to the Hertz rental car desk. It was thankfully not crowded. The clerk gave us our keys and we walked across the street, into the garage, and down a couple of levels to the rental cars. It was hot. We got to our car and it was HUGE! I knew that would be a problem where we were headed and called the desk to ask for a smaller car. Husband walked over and got the keys to a smaller, more beat up, Renault Captur, which worked out fine (except for the anemic AC). We were lucky its GPS was enabled so I didn't have to worry with our Garmin.

We plugged in the address for where we were to meet Anya, our Air B&B hostess, in Pezenas and off we went. Easy driving along beautiful roads. But once we arrived in Pezenas, we kept getting turned around and couldn't get near where Anya was meeting us because of a street fair.  Anya ended up walking over to where we were stopped and directing us to the apartment on rue Docteur Calixte Casan. She gave us a very formal rundown of things, had us sign several pages acknowledging the "rules" then helped us get to the nearest parking.

We made ourselves comfortable in the nice apartment, walked around the cute town a little, had drinks on the sidewalk at a nearby bar where we chatted with some British and American expats (who didn't speak much more French than me even after living in Pezenas several years), then wandered over to Anya's tapas and wine bar for nibbles before crashing.

We got back to the room around 1130pm.  It was probably 36 hours between sleeps. Our first impression of the South of France: Outstanding!