Quoi de neuf

Since last week I've been spending a lot of time in Avignon and in some other towns.  It's neat because lately I've been able to get around in the city, now i know the feel of the different neighborhoods and the major streets that go through them.  My friends have been laughing because I'm the one who remembers how to get to Tarascon or where the Decathlon is on the south side of town or which exit to take to get to Le Pontet.  I still get lost but I'm like a bad penny I just keep coming back again.  I'm feeling more comfortable in Avignon.  I got to see a Frenchwoman in town pour a bottle of water on a woman and her dog from her window because the dog was peeing on her wall.  That was an animated discussion.  Which heads up, Avignon is not the cleanest city.  Dogs are allowed to relieve themselves freely on the streets, and there are lots of dogs in Avignon.  

As for my back, it's feeling a lot better and I fixed my bike up only to get a flat tire the next day but thankfully the supermarket that we go to stocks a ton of bicycle repair things so I got a patch kit and a new tire and the bike is back in buisness again.  The Mistral has been blowing really bad lately, yesterday it blew at over 100km per hour; so bad I haven't been able to bike the past two days.  It actually causes some people to go crazy around here; it blows pollen and dust into your face, whips your hair around, kills plants, makes it hard to walk outside and you have to yell in order to communicate.  

I got to visit the Gardon valley, we went hiking by the river in this canyon which was beautiful.  The water is cold but it gets really hot there.  People have campfires on the rock beaches at night which would be really cool, but that's when all the pot smokers with mean dogs come out too.  Lately I've visited Bagnols-sur-Cèze and Carpentras, some cities nearby.  Bagnols-sur-Cèze is known for its reggae festival and Carpentras is know for it's strawberries (it's strawberry season here right now).  Last week we visited the Luberon which is a really beautiful area (several art schools) with really good wine.  The area has lots of towns on hills that overlook each other, the valleys always have this smoky (brumeux) look to them.  One town there was famous for housing the Marquis de Sade when he was really misbehaving.  My landlords are away this week so I'm looking after their dog.  

Example of disappearing doors