This is where we were staying - Le Domaine Des Clos, France www.domaine-des-clos.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.domaine-des-clos.com - didn't get any photos but the website is pretty accurate for the feel.

We stayed in the yellow room (but the bathroom photo is different).

Anyway Sunday morning we were up and just scraped in for breakfast before it wound up. A muddled greeting to half the people we knew (about 20 friends were there) as many were also finding their feet and a lot preparing for the trip to Montpellier and the Aust v Fiji Rugby game.

About noon Paul, Mandy and Pru headed into Beaucaire, just to see it, then on to Nimes to arrange Pru's ticket on the TGV and ensure we knew where and how to get there and drop off the car. After some lunch the three of us then also headed to Montpellier.

Montpellier was a rugby day so no camera was taken - what a mistake, the place is impressive, the outskirts dead on a Sunday but eventually we worked our way into the centre of the city to find a bustling cafe scene and many rugby lovers about.

The afternoon was spent watching NZ v Scotland, our Aussie friends joining up after their game for some drinks and dinner for 12 (became 8 & 4 as it was way to hard too find tables).

Monday 25th Sept - Again we headed to Beaucaire but only because Tim (Paul's mate from long back) and his new pregnant fiancée Annabelle were walking there. We saved them the last mile or so; they were so grateful after walking the cramped country roads they shouted the coffees with Annabelle's smidgen of French. Definitely not tourist country!!

We then headed south towards Arles as this was Van Gogh country. It's tourist industry revolves around Van Gogh with tee-shirts, coasters, calendars and anything they can print onto at all the little shops. Funnily enough in New York we saw some of his work in The Museum of Modern Art. The Starry Night, in particular.


After a pleasant wander around the sites including a fantastic small coliseum, now used as a bullfighting arena, we set off to see Avignon.


Avignon saw Tim into a internet cafe to chill, with Mandy, Paul and Annabelle having a coffee and sightseeing. A pleasant city with an old city wall and cobbled centre with a masterpiece church in the centre meant the proverbial tourist swarms but small and not so bothersome.


Making sure we had supplies it was back to our temporary abode for a group BBQ and dinner. Nothing better than 20 people squeezing around a table (inside to avoid the mossies ) with food, wine and noise!! Hope we didn't keep the owners up.