Thunder, Lightning and Fireworks

Pont du Gard to Valence

Day 30 - Tuesday - July 12
Pont du Gard to Pierrelatte
The Sanctuary of Notre Dame

Tough grapevines....good thing they don't need much plowing.

Dumping garbage knows no national boundaries either.

Roguemaure.........this little church demanded that we stop to take its picture.

Just in case we didn't know where we were. It's better than no signs at all!

The mighty Rhone River

These guys weren't slowing down for anything.

In Orange, we met Evan and Sue from Toowoomba, Australia.  We visited over lunch . They had just done the Ardeche Hills. She said "never those kind of hills again on a tandem!" They did admit that at least they were still talking to each other and that was a great thing.

Not in Paris yet but it sure looked like an Arc de Triumphe.

The Forteresse du Moines in Mornas.

Sunflowers run through it.

The Tour will be coming this way in another week for a rest day and the beginning of Stage 16 in St. Paul Troix Chateaux.

Looking across the very narrow street right into the neighbor's window.

Looking down the street in Pierrelatte.

Day 31 - Wednesday - July 13
The forecasted thunderstorm started at 4am. All of us were contemplating the wetness outside the door.

Asking to keep our room for another night....please..s'il vous plait!

The storm blew itself out around noon. We did wander around the town after that.

Only in France.......TWO whole shelves of cycling magazines.

Notice that the beer brand was established in 1240.

Now that is a sandwich!

This fellow was quite popular for picture-taking. We saw a wedding party there later in the day.

The narrow streets required that an EMT scout the route for the ambulance.

We had scouted for a dinner place earlier in the day but this very small restaurant just magically appeared at dinner time from behind its garage door (most businesses totally cover their storefront this way when closed during the middle of the day). The chef and waitress made sure we were welcome and well fed.  The menu is handwritten every day.

Tomorrow is Bastille Day in France (like 4th of July for us) and the people of Pierrelatte were starting their celebrations early.

This included an awesome fireworks display that started after 10pm. We watched it from the hotel  roof.

The sound of the day was classical music being sung live in concert with the fireworks.

For the finale the whole crowd sang their national anthem to a crescendo of fireworks.

Day 32 - Thursday - July 14
Pierrelatte to Valence
Seven-year-old Leah is from Germany and was quite interested in our laptop and chatting in English as we sat on the couch in lobby the night before. She only got shy when Donna asked to take her picture.

This store reminded us of our garage. We were surprised that it was open since it was the national holiday and most places we had passed all morning were closed.

This nuclear power plant also had wind turbines, an unneeded reminder of the stiff headwind that plagued us all day.

But at least it was sunny! We took wind breaks instead of shade breaks.

This "Flower City" gets Donna's vote for most creative hanging basket supports.

This patisserie gets both our votes for selection and artistry.

It only looks like Iowa.

We were able to catch the last 5 kilometers of the Tour on TV. The last 10 are usually the most exciting when it is a sprint finish anyway! Dinner was at Kentucky Fried Chicken because it was actually open. The food was familiar but with a definite French twist. (Did you know they only call them "fries" here, not French fries??)