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We finished the bike trip. As with most biking, the end is a lot the same as the start … you’re biking. Of course here it’s biking on tiny country roads through cute French villages, stopping for spectacular little lunches with great rosé wines and then going out for great dinners (with more wine). Beats the heck out of biking across Nebraska.

After finishing up in Avignon we took the train a little south to Aix-en-Provence, a little college town in southern Provence. It was a beautiful little town, but for whatever strange reason we didn’t get a lot of good pictures. And unfortunately we found ourselves there on Sunday and Monday – most restaurants are closed on Sundays and many of the good ones are closed on Mondays as well. We’ve really come to hate all these holidays and “days off” crap. Why can’t people just work all the time?

Now we’ve moved down to Marseille, France’s second-largest city and the biggest port, right on the Mediterranean. Our first impression is pretty good, but no one would ever mistake this for Paris. It’s got a much more exotic feel, with all sorts of North Africans and other Mediterranean types around. Definitely grittier and dirtier than anywhere in France we’ve ever seen so I think we’ll love it. We’re already scouting out the best places for bouillabaisse, the city’s iconic fish stew. I expect we’ll have some pictures soon.