September 15

Today was our day slated for the Gorges of Verdon. First thing I did out of bed was go for a walk with Avi. This has been a daily occurrence which has been very enjoyable. After we returned, I continued the saga of trying to secure a refund from Chase and change the dropoff location with Budget. Chase finally confirmed a refund and after many tries, I gave up with Budget. We decided to just return the car to the train station and take our lumps. 

David and I were both feeling like we'd had enough driving from the day before but our younger cohorts had their hearts set on the visit to the Gorges. We got breakfast from our new favorite spot once again and headed out. Google Maps told us it was about 70 miles but would take over two hours to get there. We were unsure why but the reasons became clear later. We needed gas and tried to fill up at a stop along the road, only to discover that it would no take American credit cards, no matter what we tried. We finally gave up and got back on the road. The only gas station we could find would require us to backtrack and so that's what we did. International frustrations are plenty when you are driving and trying to navigate roads, parking and gas stations but that is your lot when you rent a car. We tried to keep a good attitude. Finally got filled up and back on the road.

This was a beautiful drive through lavender field and small villages but to say the roads were windy and narrow is a vast understatement. When we arrived to the destination Google had mapped for us, it was literally nowhere. Just a spot in the road. We remapped our location and kept driving another 30 miles that took us over an hour. Finally we arrived to some sort of a destination but there was still no access to the water or water activities. However, the views were beyond description. The gorge was very deep with the turquoise water far below. Just spell binding. We did some further research and realized that access to the water and beaches around the lake feeding the gorge was a completely different location about an hour away. David has done so much driving this week but he was a good sport about it and back in the car we went to face yet another hour of driving on crazy winding narrow roads. We finally found some sort of a beach. It was crazy rocky and had mud that sucked your shoes right off if you ventured into it, but you could swim and there were some boats and kayaks for rent. Avi really wanted to kayak but the Gorges were closed due to low water and since it was late in the day; we settled for a little electric boat. We headed out and the day was beautiful with a gentle breeze and sparkling water everywhere. It was definitely a serene moment and we needed one! Avi jumped in the water and swam a bit but when we realized that it was almost impossible to get back in the boat, none of the others of use followed suit. Avi only made it back in because he is ridiculously strong and David gave him a lot of help. This was not something any of the rest of us were willing to try. We spent the rest of our rental hour on the boat which was so enjoyable. After returning it to the dock, we set out to try and swim. The rocks and mud were crazy but we managed to finally get in the water. The lake was beautiful and invigorating as mountain lakes are. It was a special moment. David was unable to get in with us unfortunately. The rocks and his sore foot did not mesh well and wearing sandals made the mud impossible to navigate. Back on the road after our swim to face the final 90 minutes of crazy driving to get back to Aix. By this time, everyone was starving except me. I'm a poor barometer for hunger as the diet I've been on has seriously dampened my hunger drives. Georgia was not doing well. David had brought a bag of fuel which saved us. 

Finally dragged our tired dirty selves into a restaurant in Aix for pizza. The food tasted good but starvation definitely was a factor. After dinner, crawled into bed and tried to sleep without too much dread for the next day before us.