What a whirlwind four days in France it has been! We are now safely on board a train to Milan where we will hopefully connect to Venice and begin stuffing our faces with as much pizza and pasta as possible. We had our first major delay today, amusingly mistaking an announcement that our train was cancelled for telling us our train was superior. Lost in translation!!

And what of France? We began in Perpignan which was absolutely delightful. Just an hour and a half from Barcelona is this little town, still in the Catalan region and fusing the best of France and Italy. We started our day there with some beautiful patisserie (I had a chocolate mousse cake called Excellent that lived up to its name!) and the best cup of tea of my trip so far. We English know our tea after all! Our hotel was a family run place tucked down a little side alley surrounded by restaurants with all the elegance of French restaurants and all the flavours of Spain, bliss! We did a little exploring of an old palace of the Menorcan kings and I treated myself to a very Parisian silk dress that has revamped my limited travel wardrobe some what!

After Perpignan we travelled on to Avignon where we visited the Palais du Pape or the Pope's Palace to you and me. Avingon was the residence of the Popes for 70 years during the 1300s. Depending on whose version of history you go for this was a political move for power by the monarchy of France or just a little jaunt out of Rome, either way it left 70 churches in little Avignon and a stunning Palace. Much of the interior was wrecked during the revolution but it is still an imposing medieval structure. Avignon also has stunning intact city walls and feels bursting to the brim with life. There are over 300 restaurants, in one of which I had one of my best meals of the trip so far of baked chicken with chirizo and mozarella. Ben, unfortunately, went with an unknown cheese on sausage which turned out to be the stinkiest of all cheeses known to man. He struggled through and then tried to mask the smell with liquorice sweets. Fail. He stunk to high heaven but we found it very amusing!

On our second day in Avignon we escaped the city and visited Chateauxneuf du Pape and the little Provencal town of Orange. Chateauxneuf du Pape was revelation. We were guided around the vineyards by our official guide who, get this, has studied for a degree at a wine university!! Why did I not know about this?! Forget Theology I'm sensing a career change coming on! ;) Her studies paid off anyhow and we tried some beautiful wines. I am converted and will be looking out for those keys and mitre on bottles when I get home! Orange was a beautiful little town with an ancient Roman amphitheatre where plays are still held. We had a little wander there and then through the market. Provence is all lovely smells (except the cheese and saucisson!!) of lavender and flowers. Basically heaven.

From there we were on to the French Riveria. I can see why so many people flock there, clear and cool turquoise blue seas, funky coloured houses, great food. We had a typical Nicoise dish for dinner of a beef stew with ravioli. You can very much feel the Italian influence coming through being so close to the border. The old town in Nice was beautiful and we stumbled across the legendary Nice ice cream sellers Fennochios and Nice's own mini brew pub. It was like being at home*!

*except it was sunny and had those sparkly blue seas but otherwise you'd hardly know! ;)

And so we wave farewell to France and approach our final week of the trip. Still, I have high hopes for our big finale as we spend most of our time in Tuscany. My aim is to eat as much as is humanly possible, wish me luck!

All our love,

Nikki and Ben

Xx