"Your focus determines your reality" - Fall 2025 Travel Adventures - Update 10/13

[Dis_Yoda]

Thursday
September 18th 2025
Exploring L’Isle sur La Sorgue

I had set my alarm for 6:30AM and was not the happiest person when it went off. I debated on missing the sunrise and sleeping some more but I’m glad I forced myself to get going. The view was very much worth it as I walked down to the pool to see it over the vineyard.





I returned to the room and got ready for the day. My husband was holding back his run until later this afternoon so we didn’t have to put his sweaty clothes straight into the suitcase. We finished getting our luggage all set to place by the door to our room as well as the bags that we would take with us on the bus for the day. From there, we headed to breakfast where again I had lovely bread with butter and some cheese while my husband had the waffles. Upon finishing, we had time to go back to the room to refresh up one last time before we loaded up onto the bus.

We were starting our travels today with a visit to L’Isle Sur La Sorgue. This is a town known for its antique shops as well as having a very large market. It also has many canals running through it that adds to its beauty.


David & Goliath Sculpture

Our guide led us on a 30-minute walk through the town and markets to give us a sense of the layout and spoke of some of the history of the church as well as landmarks to recognize to ensure we didn’t get lost. Afterwards, we had about 3 hours on our own.




Once our on own, we wandered into the Notre Dame des Anges Church. This church was originally built in 1222 but was renovated in the 17th century to an Italian Baroque style. There are over 200 angel statues within the church and filled with frescos, paintings and other sculptures.








From there, we looked in various markets and stores, picking up a metal lion as well as some truffle mustard and salts.




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[Dis_Yoda]

We also ran into another Rhodesian Ridgeback!



The candy store also shows the process of making the candied fruits that are well known in the area.





Eventually we wanted a light lunch so we headed to a creperie.

We started with some hard cider to drink.




For my meal I had a buckwheat crepe topped with burrata, prosciutto, arugula, balsamic and parmesan. This was so good. While it looks like a lot of food, it was just the right amount to fill me up and keep me going until dinner that evening.



My husband had a vanilla sundae. It is vacation after all!




After our meal, we continued to wander the shoppes and look at the statues around the canals until it was time to meet back up with the rest of our group to head towards the asylum Van Gogh committed himself at.







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[alohamom]

My goodness, everything is soooo picturesque!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

My goodness, everything is soooo picturesque!

Truly! I knew it was going to be so pretty but it was truly unbelievable getting to see it in person! I see why artists love to paint there!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Thursday
September 18th 2025
Guided Visit of Saint Paul de Mausole (Van Gogh’s Asylum)

We headed to Saint-Remy-De-Provence for our next adventure. Initially we were lead to two Roman Relics that represented the arch and mausolum of Glanum.

When Gaul was conquered by Julius Caesar in 49 BC, the town of Glanum became an oppidum latinum which basically means the local elite were granted the rights of Roman life. Glanum was known for its healing spring.







The arch signified the entrance to Glanum. The mausoleum was built in memory of the Julii, members of the elite for their assistance during the Gallic Wars.

The town was abandoned in 260 AD after barbarians ransacked the city.

We crossed the street and began our walk of Van Vogh towards the Saint Paul de Mausole where they had reprints set up so you could see the view Van Gogh had when he painted them.















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[Dis_Yoda]

Saint Paul de Mausole is a former Benedictine monastery from the 11th century that was converted to a psychiatric asylum by the Franciscan monks that took over the building. It is still a working facility with both temporary and permanent residents. Occasionally you could hear the patients that were in the permanent wing.













A few months after Van Gogh cut off his ear, he self-admitted himself to the care of the asylum. As they mainly served wealthy clients, he was able to have both a patient room and a second room dedicated to his painting studio.









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[Dis_Yoda]

During the initial part of his stay, he was confined to the asylum grounds and painted the world that he saw around him such as the flowers of the garden, views of the hospital, ivy covered trees. As his time there continued, he eventually was allowed to go outside the walls and he painted the olive groves, wheat fields, and other typical views of Provence. He ended up painting around 150 paintings during his stay but that isn’t confirmed since he could have painted over other works or they haven’t been found yet.
The walk showed how his paintings aligned with what was visible there.








When we were at the asylum, they had the intake building set up similar to how it was when Van Gogh was there. You were able to walk through the traditional kitchen and the intake room. They had the “therapy” bathtubs that forced people to either a cold or hot bath for treatment.


Our guide talked a lot about Van Gogh’s Letters to his brother. There are theories that his illness was epilepsy. The theory was presented that Van Gogh didn’t commit suicide but rather said he did to protect two young boys playing cowboys. You can read about it here: https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2014/12/vincent-van-gogh-murder-mystery

While the museum was interesting, the tour guide went very far into art theory that my brain checked out and I wandered some. I ended up seeing some interesting sculptures and viewed the church onsite. I also ran into another Rhodesian Ridgeback. Truly, I’ve never seen this many on any of our previous Tauck tours.







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[Dis_Yoda]

Thursday
September 18th 2025
Arrival in Avignon & Dinner at Hotel

We headed to Le Pontet-Avignon for our hotel for the next 4 nights. This would be our final hotel of the trip so we knew it was time for us to fully unpack so we could properly repack on our final day between souvenirs, clean and dirty laundry and all that fun stuff.
We arrived a little before 5PM and we met the hotel owners in the garden where we were served mint tea and handed the key to our room and were taken in small groups to whichever area of the hotel our rooms were located in. We had about 2.5 hours until it would be time for dinner to enjoy however we would like. After unpacking, I head down to the spa to enjoy the saunas and whirlpool. I spent about an hour down there relaxing.



While I did this, my husband went to the gym and I got sent a photo that I asked him initially is this a dog walker? No – it’s an eco friendly treadmill! He hated it but still ran a 10k on it.



I put together all the souvenirs we had gotten and realized – wow, we only bought food for the most part. I guess that makes sense – we don’t need huge souvenirs anymore. We have photos for the memories!



A little before 7:30PM, we headed down to the restaurant and were led to where our Tauck group was set up at. There were 3 tables for us to pick from but being some of the first ones there – we took the approach of sitting down and seeing who joined us. This worked out for us.

After we made our dinner selections, we were given three options for wine, and I decided to go with red for this evening as it was a Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

The amuse bouche was smoked salmon with an aerated sauce. My husband didn’t care for this but he really does not enjoy salmon. During the course of the dinner – we were discussing other potential travel locations with our tablemates and one mentioned that certain countries on our list will pretty much try to serve you salmon every night on certain tour groups. We made a note of that if we ever head to Norway or Finland.



Amuse Bouche – Smoked Salmon

We went with the same choice for our appetizer. This was a first for me though. I think every time I’ve ever been served zucchini flower, it had been fried. This one was baked while stuffed with a crayfish mixture. I did enjoy it but just different than I was expecting. I do think zucchini flowers do better when fried though to help provide the texture element needed.


Zucchini Flower stuffed with Crayfish

As soon as I saw the duck on the menu, I knew that was what I was going for. It was perfection as it was tender with a well reduced sauce.


Roasted Duck Filet with Maison Burguad & its delicate refreshing juice

My husband went with the squab as he was not wanting to eat fish this evening and duck is not his favorite protein. The squab was tender and the confit was served on this lovely shallot tart that he also enjoyed.


Squab Breasts and Confit Legs

For dessert, I went with the lighter option again opting for the lemon and lime dessert. This was perfect.


Lemon and Lime in Different Textures

My husband had the almond dessert as it also included sesame flavors that he enjoys. The stone fruit used were peaches which played nicely with the almonds.


Amadine Tart, Roasted Stone Fruits & Black Sesame Praline

As we hadn’t had enough food, we were given one more plate of sweets that included macarons, almond clusters and marshmallows. It was a nice way to end the meal.


Sweet Treats

After some more conversation, we called it a night.​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Friday
September 19th 2025
Visit to Les Halles in Avignon
Wine Tasting at La Mirande

We slept in this morning until about 7:30AM and eventually made our way to breakfast. This breakfast was the weakest of the three hotels but as I was pretty much just going to eat some French bread with butter, it didn’t bother me. My husband was happy they had fresh squeezed orange juice and he was all for that!

At 8:45AM, we all met in the lobby to get onto the bus to head back to Avignon and have a walk with our guide through the city as we headed to Les Halles.









Les Halles is the covered market of Avignon. The vendors here are a lot more permanent than the other markets as I’m sure the fees to keep a shop here are higher. Our tour guide talked to us about the stables of Provence and he talked about a retired butcher who used to always play it up with his guests, being silly with the duck. Around this time – the retired butcher showed up with his grandchildren and put on the show. We would be meeting our chef here but we had some time on our own to shop around. I got more salt, this time a hibiscus one, much to my husband’s dismay. (I have used 3 of the 6 salts I’ve bought so far at least back at home while I cook)

Once the chef arrived, we were led to the La Mirande hotel and taken to the lower floors.





Our group was split into two groups of 8. My group headed to the wine cellar even further downstairs for a wine tasting with their sommelier. She also let us inside the vault where the really good wine was so my husband was in heaven.









She talked about the grapes of the region and we went through the various types of wines. We had a rose, a sauvignon blanc then two red blends.​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Friday
September 19th 2025
Cooking Lesson w/ Michelin Star Chef
Avignon on our Own

After our wine tasting, we headed back to the main room to switch places with the other group to start our cooking lesson with Thomas Longuesserre around 11:30AM. He is the head chef of La Table Haute of La Mirande. They host cooking lessons here in the historic kitchen of La Mirande using a 19th century wood stove.






Our group was to help finish the prep for the meal for the group that the other group started.

The chef divided out tasks among the group. I was helping cutting the stone fruit and then topping them with honey and thyme. We had others chopping garlic, herbs, shallots or prepping the pumpkins or stirring the soup. We also had to prep the duck breasts that we were shown how to trim. This lesson took a little over an hour.







Once we were done – we were led to the dining table where our whole group was going to enjoy the meal. The chef was putting the finishing touches on the items we prepared and plating them for all of us.



The first course was a cream of mushroom soup that actually made me not hate mushrooms. The texture was so velvety with flavor throughout. The pumpkin seeds added a needed textural element to the dish.


Cream of Mushroom Soup with Pumpkin Seeds

Our entrée was the duck breast we had prepped along with the pumpkin one of our classmates did. The roasting sauce included cherries, garlic, figs which complimented the duck well.


Duck Breast with Roasted Pumpkin, Figs and Eggplant

Dessert was simple. The stone fruits were roasted and served with vanilla cream. It felt like a nice light fall dessert.



Stone Fruit (Peaches and Plums) with Vanilla Cream

After our meal ended, we were led to the main square of Avignon (aka where the carousel is) and had about an hour of free time around the city before we would head back to the hotel. We went on a mission to try to find the gaming store we had noticed earlier on our walk from Las Halles to La Mirande. We did stop at another specialty food store and picked up some more items to bring home and then attempted to find the store. Along the way, we did find some Disney graffiti and I got the worst boba tea I’ve ever had. The jelly was warm.



We failed badly at finding the store as my apple maps didn’t pick the correct store when I searched for it and the stores it was sending me to were closed. We ended up in a silent fight at this point as I think we both were frustrated. We made it back to the group with like a minute to spare on the meeting time because of how deep we ended up making it into the city.

The group walked back to the bus and we headed to the hotel for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Our tour guide let us all know if we wanted to go back to town to meet in the lobby at 6:45PM as our bus driver & him were going to go to dinner in town. During our down time – my husband did a 2-mile run on the dog pacer at the gym and I just relaxed in the room enjoying the soaker tub before dealing with some ridgeback club business on my phone.​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Friday
September 19th 2025
1 Star Michelin Dinner at Pollen

At 6:45PM, we met with our tour guide and driver as our guide had offered to the group that they would head into Avignon this evening so anyone could enjoy a meal in town but you would be on your own for the return to the hotel. As we had a Michelin Star meal booked – we took them up on this offer as it would save us a taxi/uber fare! We were the only ones in our group that took them up on the offer though which led to some interesting conversations during the drive. Our group was his final tour as a Tauck tour guide, and you could tell it didn’t fit his soul anymore. He was ready to just be a farmer but did enjoy the travels the company had provided him with. He had some interesting stories about how the covid shutdowns were handled as well as when the Chilian government was overthrown as he was in South America for that. He had been offered a job as one of the guides for the new Roam by Tauck product but during this trip, he decided to decline as he just couldn’t agree to sign on for another two years even if they only had him have a few tours.

We were dropped off in town and I put the address to our restaurant into Apple Maps and we began slowly strolling that way. It took a little bit to figure out where the restaurant was as it wasn’t off the main street but rather tucked inside an alley.






The menu was very simple. We had a choice of either a 5-course menu or a 7-course menu with or without wine. We could also add an additional cheese course if we wanted. With those options, our meal was easy to decide on. We would opt for the 7-course menu with wine pairing. We would skip the cheese course though. We also ordered a bottle of sparkling water.

It didn’t take long for our first course to be served. 3 of the 4 were hits with us. We were pleasantly surprised at how good the mussels were with the lime ginger garlic sauce was. You can never go wrong with brioche with butter. The veal tartare was covered in a chive sauce that really worked well with the veal notes. The fail for us was the onion tarte. I ate the piece and my husband said I made a face that cemented him not even trying it. Oh well, at least I tried!



Mussel with Ginger Lime Sauce
Veal Tartare with Chives
Onion Tarte w/ Anchovy and Olives
Porcheni Mushroom Butter with Brioche

After this, we were served our first wine – a nice white from the Rhone Valley using Viognier grapes.



The wine matched well with the swordfish of the next course.


Swordfish with Spanish Pepper and Chilis, Cucumbers and Peaches

For the next courses, we were served a chardonnay from Burgundy.



This went with pollen’s signature dish which is vegetables with a citrus butter. The citrus was grapefruit and the different flowers and lettuces used all complimented the butter in different ways.

The other dish was probably one of the favorites of my husband. It was simple but complex. Stewed white beans topped with smoked roe. The salt from the roe was enough for the seasoning of the beans.




White Beans with Smoked Herring Roe
Signature Dish – Vegetables with Citrus Butter

For our next course we had a rose from Provence.

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[Dis_Yoda]

When initially served, I was a little apprehensive as normally I have a texture issue with squid but whatever they did to cook it was perfect. It was pan fried just enough to keep the meat tender but cut the rubberiness. The sauce had a nice kick to it.


Pan Fried Squid with Spinach and Chorizo Sauce

Our next wine was a Pinot Noir from Burgundy. This was very robust and played well with the flavors on the next course.



The john dory was lightly seared and topped with the thinnest strips of bacon I’ve seen. They were clear but had all the notes of bacon.


John Dory with Bacon

The next wine was a grenache and Carignan blend from Minervois AOC. It was heavy which was needed with the cuts of pigeon that were in the next course.




Roasted Pigeon, Herb Coulis, Figs

The final wine served was a Muscat from the Rhone Valley. The sweetness held up with the variety presented in all the desserts. I think my favorite was the sage ice cream as it presented such a nice earthiness to the other dishes. The chocolate torte was my husband’s favorite.




Dark Chocolate Torte
Sage Ice Cream
Plum served with light vanilla cream
Apricot Bread




We were served two sweet treats when we paid for our bill and we had the restaurant call us a taxi to return us to the hotel. The drive took about 20 minutes so not terrible and we hit the bed in a blissful food coma once we returned around 11pm.


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