Les Baux

It is getting more difficult to write, I'm filled with nostalgia. The trip was long and I was homesick but I knew that when I got home, I'll be pining to go away again. The trip, however long, is drawing to a close and pretty soon I'll move on to other experiences and this trip, like it's predecessors will be but a dim memory... however wonderful it was.

After visiting the Pont du Gard, we were driven to and left to amuse ourselves in Les Baux, a pretty village perched high on a cliff. The word, 'Baux' means cliffs. The Chateau des Baux sits at the very top, it is now but a ruin. It has an incredible vantage point, being able to see 360 degrees around it, therefore able to ward off invaders. They lived in a lawless time. There are huge wooden implements that could lob huge boulders down the cliff side at advancing attackers. I don't think the aim is very good. It was really windy being so high up. There's an old section of a wall where we could climb up higher. I was too afraid to climb it for fear of being blown off the cliff. It is a small village, filled with restaurants, touristy shops, a great candy and cookie shop, very pretty.

Le Pont du Gard

After 3 trips to Avignon, I'm finally going to the Pont du Gard, the Roman Aqueduct over the wild river, Gard. It lies between Avignon and Nimes and was built some 2,000 years ago by Marcus Agrippa, when he was governor in Nimes. It was a bridge over the wild river, Gard and also to bring more water to Nimes which had already ample water supply. Marcus Agrippa wanted Nimes to have more water so he could construct fountains like in Rome, to remind him of Rome. It is, still today a very impressive engineering feat. We went with the same tour company and Stephanie, our driver dropped us off there and we had a few hours to wander around.

Television and too much TV watching

More money saving tips. There are two sides to the boob tube, on the one side there are people watching life being lived out and on the other side, people living out loud a life in front of the camera. Most of us are on the side where we watch passively as drama unfolds.

I'm not going to reiterate about the sex and violence that are being portrayed but about the propagandizing in the story lines of most of the TV shows whether it be a sitcom or a crime or romance drama. It is uncomfortable for me to watch especially when the propagandizing is so blatant. Maybe it's because it's too real. If the sex, violence and the propagandizing has become too real, then this is a sad day. I worry about the young people, I worry about my nieces and nephews. I have an old TV set which pretty soon wouldn't be able to receive the HD images. I don't watch much TV preferring to read and to write instead. I have colleagues who go into debt to buy a big and latest format TV.

When I do watch TV, I love Masterpiece theatre on PBS. I've watched Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice and Bleak House too many times, I've lost count. Lately it's 'Persuasion'. I love Helen Mirren in 'Prime suspect'. I love 'Keeping up appearances' , 'As time goes by' and 'Rosemary and Thyme'.

It is not just the story lines on some of these TV shows that are offensive, it's the ads thrown at me. They say watching too much television ads makes one dissatisfied with one's life. It appeals to our 'lack' - lack of a size o figure, lack of a new car, lack of something or other, so we open our wallet and buy a new car, even an eco friendly car, join a gym (and never use the facilities), buy some diet food- the list goes on and on. Before we know it, the biggest lack in our lives becomes a lack of savings.

Here's another saving tip, turn off the TV but watch Judge Judy, she'll save you a lot of money and heart ache!

How do I do it?

....still able to travel so much. Well, for starters, I do make a lot of money but making more money doesn't really translate into more travel. For most of us, making more money means more spending and more expensive stuff. It is either spending on more stuff and more expensive stuff or having all these memories. After a while, 'stuff' losses its novelty and appeal and you're stuck with the bill. Memories lasts a lifetime and never loses it's meaning, it's appeal.Travel is expensive too but there are ways to do it, to save for it and to travel cheaply. Millions before me have done it and millions are currently doing it.

To get more money we can work more. I used to do that but I've scaled back because I'm afraid of 'burn out'. These days I practise very frugal living, saving more, spending less instead of working more.

According to Andrew Tobias,'working more has a lot of costs consequences- the added tax liability, cost of costuming, cost of the ride there and back, expensive food, etc.' To him, saving more makes more sense because you don't incur any costs in saving more. So 'a penny saved is actually 2 pennies saved'. I believe that. It is difficult to scale back at first but with practice it becomes part of your nature, it becomes easier. It's so easy for me that it's ingrained in me.

Lots of people have written about the many ways to save money. One thing I find very effective is:

Track every penny you spend, have a little notebook, write down everything, even the 75 cents candy bar. I did that years ago for a few months. It was so effective that each time I open my wallet, I think to myself 'do I need this?' It means I have to record this and the tally goes up, I don't want to open the book so often and write this down, I have to if I buy it, I don't have to write anything down if I don't buy anything! It has stopped me from spending money many, many times!

75 cents for a small candy bar is very expensive, maybe you should go to the front desk of a restaurant and take one of the free mints they have there instead. That's 75 cents saved. Don't denigrate the small amounts saved, they add up. It also means the changing of a spending habit. For bigger ticket items, I think in terms of an airline ticket, $500? That's half an airline ticket to Europe, NO, thank you, I'll wait.

I still get together with friends I used to work with once in a while and they talk among themselves about things and people I've no clue about. I sit there and smile through it all. The next time you get together with friends, you'd probably have nothing to say, you don't know the latest fashion because you don't shop much anymore, you can't show off your new car. I drive a beat up 99 Camry, mind you, I have cash to pay for a fancy new car, I don't. They talk about restaurants and you can't because you don't eat out. Or even about movies, the only time I watch a movie is when I'm on a plane heading for Europe or coming back from Europe. That's the time I catch up with the movies. Otherwise I just watch Masterpiece Theatre on PBS.

I can talk about how gorgeous and wonderful Sicily is. I made 2 trips there last year (2007), read all about both trips in this blog, about the 'beau plus' villages of Provence, France and so many other places, too many to mention. I can talk about French food, about Sicilian food.....you get the picture!

Gordes

In contrast to Roussillon, Gordes is built with the grey stone from the neighboring quarries and the shutters are a pale blue color, very pretty. The color scheme is strictly adhered to. Despite what happened to the mini van, the smashing in of the front passenger side window and the theft of the driver's purse and my trench coat, we still managed to enjoy Gordes. We were glad it wasn't any worse. We felt bad for Jessica, our driver and guide. She called the office and they came with a replacement vehicle and took the other one to be repaired.

The break-in 2

I found a video clip of the viewing area outside of Gordes on youtube. Here it is.

The break-in

This is the village of Gordes, pronounced 'Gord', a lovely 'perch' village. There are many in France and they are very proud of them and no wonder because they are so beautiful, 'beau plus'. As many times as I've been in Provence I don't think there will be anytime soon that I've exhausted seeing all the lovely villages. I will continue to visit Provence. After seeing Roussillon we were on our way to visit Gordes. Up to this point the mood was jovial and Jessica, our driver and guide that day, was beaming, she couldn't wait to show us Gordes. She said, before we head up the mountain, we will stop halfway at a viewing point and see the most gorgeous panoramic view of the village, perched high on the top of a mountain. She parked the mini van and we walked just 100 yards to the viewing area. It was breathtaking, so beautiful, wow. We took pictures and she took a picture of me and Sophie and we headed back to the car.

Just as we turned we heard the crashing of glass, the rest thought someone fell, I thought someone crashed their car into our van because it was clearly the sound of breaking glass. I ran towards the van and saw 2 men in dark jackets reaching into the front seat of the van to take whatever was there. They ran and drove off, a third person was in the car acting as the drive away driver. It happened so fast, the others in my group realized it was a break in and they all screamed in unison, 'my bag'. They have all left their stuff in the back seat of the van. Thank God, because the thieves didn't have time to ransack the whole car. My heart sank when I heard Sophie said that, this would mean cutting sort the trip, head to Paris, go to the US embassy to fix her passport for the trip home. Phew, their stuff remained in the van. They took Jessica's purse and my trench coat. She was in tears, she had just withdrew 200 euros from the bank as she gets ready for her weekend trip to Barcelona. She was clearly shaken. My day bag hangs round my neck at all times as evidenced in the photo. I don't even lay it down in restaurants. I remember hanging it on a chair in a restaurant in Venice some years ago, only to walk out without it after the meal. I ran back inside to retrieve it but that feeling of horror still remains with me.

Guide books always warn never to leave anything in a rented car and the same goes for an excursion van, even for a short while and even when you are only an earshot away which was what we were. I'm surprised at Jessica, she should have known better because a colleague of hers had their excursion van broken in a few days ago when they were out with a group of tourists. No one saw much, no one expected it, the other people at the scene wasn't paying attention either. We were all shaken up.

Jessica proceeded to drive us to Gordes, dropped us off there, so she can go to the French Gendarme office to get a police report. Sophie had her bag in the van, so did Maria and Jose had his leather jacket there which he said had 1000 euros when the break in occurred. We continue our visit to the beautiful village of Gordes. By the time Jessica came back for us, she was more composed and we headed back to Avignon.

The next day we were to go on another excursion with the same company, this time also with Maria and Jose. This time Jose wore his money belt and said, this time unless they' the thieves could sack the hanging gardens of Babylon or the Roman ruins, they couldn't get at where he has the 1000 euros'.

We had Stephanie as our driver the next day because Jessica needed to go back to the police station in Gordes.

When we got back to Avignon, I went to H & M to look for another coat, I needed one because it was cold. So the trench coat which I bought in Catania in March and wore for the first time on this trip is gone forever. I only have photographs to remember it by.....