Bonjour from Provence

Hellooooo,
sorry long time no post, but in switzerland the internet took francs and i was out of them and blah.... this keyboard is really tough... they moved everything!!! So, where did we leave off; aaaah Bern. So we trekked out to this hostel on the edge of town to find they had no room, change of plan. so we had her call ahead and reserve us a place in Lucern where we had planed to go the next day as a day trip anyway; also the woman insisted on calling me toot-lei because this was the supposed swiss pronouncation... i think she was laughing inside the whole time. Regardless she let us leave our bags for a while, and we went to wander Bern. Bern is named after the bears that were hunted there; so since they stopped hunting them they have maintained... BEAR PITS, how absurd... but the bears seemed pretty happy chillin down there. Also; they had a free tourist presentation on Bern, there was a video, with a spinning light up wooden model of the town, and occasional pop up talking furniture and uniforms... it was hilarious. We wandered the town a bit, finding the famous Ogre Fountain( bern has a million fountains, lovely really but the subjects run the gammut from moses to the aforementioned ogre) anyway this ogre eats kids...not just in theory but on the fountain hes got half a little bare kid butt hanging out of his mouth, plus more strapped to his belt for snacks later....

skipping ahead... we spent that night and the next in Lucern, really beautiful, lake snow capped mountains, old city etc. the next morning was overcast, dissappointing because we couldnt go up a mountain, but we walked around, it was nice. Then in the afternoon, just when the weather was bumming me out we took the ferry(free w our eurail pass) around the lake to this adorable tiny town called weggis, found a little swiss chalet that served tea and amazing apple strudel and then took the beautiful trip back, and as we sailed the sun came out on the mountains, perfect day.

Next stop was dijon, FRANCE...france france france, i love france...anyway back on topic... Dijon is a gorgeous little city, we got a cheap hotel right in town near the picture they put on all of their postcards, and it was SUNNY,yay. They also have owls everywhere because once many years ago someone carved a little owl on the buttress of their main church, which everyone touches for luck, its great.

Our second day in france we took a little train ride to Beaune, a tiny little town and the capitol of the cote dor wine region of burgondy. We toured the largest cellars i think in france, over 5km of underground caves, started as a convent and expanded over the years, really fun, plus they taste wine in burgondy in these little ornamented silver dishes that you get to keep, plus they let you loose to taste 14 wines on your own.... good day ;) Even beyond the wine beaune was just a really pleasant little town.

were almost caught up! today we arrived in aviginon didnt get in to a hostel until 5 so weve wandered a bit this evening, wed like to stay a couple of days but might have to move somewhere a bit less crowded... but i can tell you this, the weather is great here, the rhone is beautiful, the city has a really nice feel to it, and were staying right across the river from the pont d avingion(a mildly famous bridge its pretty)... tomorrow we may wine tour, or go to carcassone or arles or who knows... but i love you and miss you all... im enjoying the emails and i hope youre enjoying the blog!