Cycling Adventures Day 1

I've been working three weeks and I have my first two week vacation! I love this country and its work ethics. I have had several conversations about the French work mentality vs the American, and I think my preference is pretty obvious. For the first vacation, Leslie and I decided to go the cheap route and stay in Avignon. We found some sweet bikes that are in great condition on Leboncoin (France's version of Craig's List). We have planned our itinerary for the first week and are planning on biking to villages near Avignon each day. We are staying close to Avignon so we can save money and spend the night in our apartment. Yesterday, we had our first little adventure. We biked to Montfavet which where Laura works and we packed a picnic lunch and ate with Laura at her school. We grabbed a fresh-baked baguette and a pastry at the Boulangerie next to our apartment and bought some cheese, smoked salmon and tomatoes to make sandwiches. Of course, it rained on our way there, but we didn't let it get us down. After we picnic-ed in Montfavet, we biked across the Rhone to a little island and explored the backroads. We ended up way out in the country and came across some sweet sites. I love not-knowing where I am going and finding hidden gems along the way, it makes life so much more enjoyable.

Today we had planned to bike to Pont du Gard, which is this really beautiful aqueduct bridge that I went to when I came in 2007. We stopped by the tourism office on our way out of town and got a cycling map to the site. It's only 26km away so we figured we had this one in the bag. Of course today of all days, the mistral came through. The Mistral is the wind that blows through the south of France. It is a super strong wind and biking against it was much harder than expected, I felt like I was riding a resistance bike! Our late start and the wind put a damper on things.  We biked about half way and decided it would be better to turn around. Even though we didn't make it to our final destination, today wasn't a waste in the slightest. We biked through a little town that has a large equestrian center and we saw several horses. We almost decided to ditch our bikes and steal two horses instead, probably not the best idea. I need to invest in some padded pants or invent some sort of bike seat pillow, it's only been two days and I'm already sore! My legs better look like the profession cyclists after this week!