Wow, we’ve been busy… Wednesday started early(ish) so that we could make it to the weekly market in coastal Cassis. The market is in a beautiful central square, and we both found things that we needed (Josh) and wanted (Meg). Afterwards we spent a couple hours on the pebbly port beach with fantastic views of the surrounding massif (cliffs); thanks to natural offshore cold springs, the water here is surprisingly icy! After a quick stop in a gorgeous cliff-side winery specializing in traditional Cassis white and rosé, we headed back inland with stops in gorgeous Aix-en-Provence, and pretty, quiet Lambesc. Today we rented bikes and rode all over Sud Luberon and Vaucluse, to Cucuron (high on our list of favorite towns), for swimming in the aqua-blue Étang de la Bonde, followed by a winery visit outside Ansouis and a short trip to Lauris after dinner. Our day ended with a pastis and ice cream in Lourmarin. End result: we don’t want to leave; we’ll definitely be back!

We spent Sunday in the car with Josh’s mother and step-father, traveling down to Provence together – a ten-hour drive. Rain in Germany led to beautiful sunshine in southern France. We’re staying at Josh’s aunt and uncle’s wonderful apartment in the town of Lourmarin – a tightly clustered little hamlet that rises out of the dry Luberon landscape. Monday we explored the area – Albert Camus’ gravesite (he’s buried in Lourmarin), 18 holes of rather poorly constructed mini-golf, wine tasting at a lovely local winery, Chateau Constantin-Chevalier, and a picnic dinner aside the town’s 500-year-old castle, Chateau de Lourmarin. Today we drove to Avignon, by way of an amazing string of small hillside towns clinging to foothills of the Alps. We strolled through the former seat of the Vatican for some great sightseeing, but had lunch across the river to avoid the throngs of tourists. In the early evening we drove to Pont du Gard, the Roman aqueduct and largest Roman ruin after the Colosseum in Rome, with a brief stop before hand for some more wine tasting (this will happen as often as possible) at the hard to find, but well worth it, winery of Domaine de Valseniere. It’s been cloudless and beautiful, the cicadas sing to us all day and all of us are wondering how expensive local real estate is…
Tomorrow we head to the ocean, we’ll write another post(card) at the end of the week!

Wednesday was our one-month anniversary! Go us!!
So anyway, we took a train from Oostende to Köln in the morning, and met Josh’s mom at the Hauptbahnhof; it would be nice to see the city in the summertime, but we’ve kept things low-key here while we rest up a bit! We’ve slept in, visited Josh’s grandmother to show her some wedding photos, caught up on emails, explored an Ahr valley winery, and biked into nearby Siegburg for cheese from the jaw-dropping counter in the outdoor market. On Friday Dorothee and Stephan threw a wedding-celebration-party for the German family and friends who couldn’t make it to NY in July, and it was great to catch up with some folks and meet others. Today we were at another wedding celebration for a German friend who married a guy from Pennsylvania, and enjoyed a marvelous sunny afternoon with champagne, cake, and boules (practice for when we’re in Provence this week!). It feels great to be rested up for the next half of our adventure, which we embark upon early tomorrow morning!

Yesterday we made our way to the coastal Belgian town of Koksijde, where some old friends from Germany have a vacation apartment they kindly let us use. The apartment is right on the beach, totally great! Koksijde is hosting the Flanders Lady’s Trophy tennis tournament, so we spent some time watching a few games – played right in the town square. We strolled along the beach, flew a kite, had some frites (with mayo, of course) and relaxed. Today we took the train to Bruges (or Brugge if you’re from around here) for a (rainy) day trip. After some sight seeing and a great tour of the town’s only brewery, Haalve Maan – complete with complimentary glass of beer – the rain made us call it a day. We may have been a bit rained out in the Low Countries, but we’ve enjoyed this part of the trip; tomorrow it’s on to Cologne!

On Friday we took a cross-country train from Berlin to Haarlem for a weekend in the Netherlands. We visited Amsterdam on Saturday, when it rained allll day. It’s an interesting (and quite beautiful!) city, but with all the partying, not really our style. It didn’t help that we came back to our B&B soaking wet! Today was much sunnier, so we rented bikes and roamed from Haarlem to the coast, down the beach and through farmland and beech forests to the famous tulip fields – empty now that it’s August, but in a gorgeous landscape. A gorgeous sunset over the canal in front of our B&B is a high note to our time here, and tomorrow it’s off to Belgium!