A trip to Venice, some fitness activities and settling back into the life and pleasures of Provence is what the last couple of weeks have entailed.
We landed in Nice, France, where we were greeted by Aurelie's parents who picked us up and we headed straight in the direction of Italy for a couple of days in Venice.
With the exception of a night staying in a little village in the Italian countryside, and a visit of Verona, synonomous for being the home of Romeo and Juliet, it was direct to Venice.
We spent an extremely enjoyable couple of days meandering through the cobbled stone streets that ran along the canals, getting lost, visiting San Marco's square and some of Venices primary attractions, going to a Venetian show and taking a boat road through the inner sanctum of Venice.
Venice by night was a pretty spectacular sight!
Venice is a city like no other! It is however a true tourist haven. After paying 19 Euros for a beer, we quickly realised that we were certainly no longer in Africa!!
We returned to Mazan, the home of Aurelie's parents, just in time to watch Aurelie's sister, Claire, run her first marathon which she completed in fine style. A couple of days later it was Aurelie's turn. Mazan's annual running event 'The Mazan Classic' was on, so it was obligatory for Aurelie to compete in her home village. The race was a 12km event, the atrocious conditions put a slight dampener on things. This however did not stop Aurelie winning and becoming the new poster girl of Mazan. She took great delight in collecting a big bouquet of flowers and a feast of local delicacies for her troubles!
The Mayor of Mazan presenting Aurelie with her box of local Provencal delicacies!
After our wedding here a couple of years ago, Mazan, a tiny little village now seems like the 'place to be'! The other day it hosted the second of it's major celebratory weddings with Kiera Knightly and James Righton getting married here in front of their small entourage of celebs. Unfortunately we missed out an an invite but it was still funny to see these folks getting married in the same place that we did.
Preparation also commenced for our 'Tour de France' by bike. With Aurelies father, Jean-Paul, in now full training, we decided to join him for a couple of 'warm-up' rides to get the cycling legs into shape. These sessions turned into 60 - 80km work outs around the Provencal countryside and up and down some of the local mountains. Shane also joined Jean-Paul and the local cycling club for their weekly Sunday morning circuit, a very brisk 100kms....certainly a good initiation for what was to come.
The next week was spent being spoilt sampling the amazing French food and wine, catching up with Aurelie's friends and family and immersing into the local way of life....a way of life that we could easily get used to!!
Ah the good things in life...a box of french macarons!!
The only downside thus far has been the weather. Since we returned to France, it has been nothing short of abysmal for this time of year (meant to be Spring). We are definitely hoping for some improvement over the next month as next up on our itinerary is our 'Tour de France' by bike.
27 days on the bike soaking up the beauty of France...can't wait!!
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