StayTuned

I am in Provence without a cord to upload photos. Check back on Tuesday.
It was pouring yesterday and I hoped to go to a botanical garden near st. Tropez. Instead I got side tracked by a beautiful little town and a monastery. The monastery was off the very narrow main road...it was a 5 kilometer windy uphill drive thought a forest. No was was out yesterday so I very rarely saw another car. If a car was coming on the other direction, both cars had to crawl to get by each other. It was raining hard when I got to the top. I parked and started walking down the long muddy road that leads up to The monastery of La Verne.
From the distance, it is just magnificent...on the top of a hill, surrounded by woods in the middle of no where. There was fog all around which softened the whole picture.
Walking throughout the visitors areas, it is very beautiful, but it's all been redone for tourism. I saw one nun and that was it. She was cutting branched to decorate the roman chapel. I took some good pictures and will post when I get back.
When I left, it was raining harder. The trees were all in a haze for the thick mist. I walked a ways up a hiking path into the woods and took out my camera. I think I have some beautiful shots.
Perhaps I was imagining it but as I was getting my big camera out, I was squatting down with the umbrella over me....I felt something warm around me and the gloom became lighter for a moment. Perhaps I was being thanked for appreciating the beauty of all of it.
Can't wait to see the photos.
Then I drove to the coast and had lunch on a sweet little seaside town called st. Claire. I was late so could only have pizza. I had the Diable pizza that was very hot and very good with a beer.
It was time to head to Aix so I started off, drove through Hyeres, underneath Toulon through the tunnel and on to a motorway. Just before Marseilles you turn right and head north through a very barren and interesting landscape. Everywhere you look there was something interesting to see. The are big signs along the freeway pointing out landmarks...also electronic signs telling you to be courteous .
Aix is very beautiful, but how I found the hotel will always be a mystery to me. I was about to give up. I circled round and round. I had 2 print outs from mapquest and I could not find one of the streets on the map. It's a pretty big place with a big university and lots of people walking around. The parking is crazy. I  was about to give up when suddenly I saw a sign for the hotel....wow...could not believe it. I am now parked in their underground garage blocked in by many many cars. The receptionist had to go out to the street and stop traffic for me to back up and get in to the parking spot.
This hotel is the worst. It's like sleeping on a water closet. I'm on the first floor and all the water above comes rushing down ., loudly, right next to my head. I learned the trick is to stay up later than everyone and then you can sleep. when that water comes rushing down it sounds like there is a pipe burst in the bathroom mad that it has been flooded, each time some above uses any form of water. The is no sleeping through it. The walls are paper thin. I heard almost every kind of human noise there is....coughing, whistling, snoring,singing,  baby crying, TV, arguing, laughing...and some others I won't mention. Might they have given me the worst room in the place...room number 9, number 9, number 9....( Beatles reference)