Rain or Shine in Provence

We got up, had a nice breakfast and then walked to church.  It took about 20 minutes to get there.  It was a beautiful chapel and as we entered, 6 Elders and 2 Sisters greeted us at the door.  Mark walked in first and said bonjour and they all started speaking English to us.  They knew right off that he didn't speak any French.  Several of them were from Utah.  The women went to Relief Society and the men to Priesthood Meeting.  It was wonderful.  We sang the hymns in English while about 40 women sang in French.  One of the Sister Missionaries translated the lesson for us.  I loved it.  The women were all ages and seemed very likable and warm--none of that French arrogance we hear so much about.  

We walked back to the hotel and a few minutes later it started to rain cats and dogs.  We had to meet our bus to the next town and it couldn't get that close to the hotel, so we got quite wet just getting our luggage and ourselves to the bus.  We drove to St. Remy and by the time we got there, the sun had come out and dried up all the rain.  We had lunch in a Brasserie.  Mark got tired waiting for the food.  It was good.  I had a Buffalo Mozzarella salad and Mark had duck.  

 I didn't bring my good camera, so the iphone had to do.  It's not so good with food pictures.

We changed into our bike clothes and after our briefing by our French guides, we went on an 8-mile warm up ride to test the equipment and get an idea of the area.  It was so beautiful and a lot greener than I had expected.  There are lots of sycamore-lined streets, lots of gardens and lots of fruit trees.  

 We had a few hours to look around the small village of St. Remy before a meeting and dinner.  We loved all the little quaint shops down quaint little alleyways.  We found an art shop where the painter painted fantasy scenes and they were reminiscent of James Christensen's work.  We both were enthralled and we will go back and hopefully purchase something.