As promised, I have done nothing but sit back and relax and let the batteries recharge over the past 3 weeks.  And I have loved ever minute of it.  We have however gone and seen a few things over this period because Audrey's Mum and Dad, Maryse and Christian, have organised some activities to do with their daughter while she is home.  And a couple of these things were really good to go and see and like I've said before, everything seems so close here in the south of France.
The first WE was just a little drive to a nearby lake, Lake Sagadou, to have a picnic lunch and then to walk amoungst the strange karst systems around the Village of Moureze.  After 6 days of sitting on my ass, a little walk was a must.  It was also a good way to test out the little car that Audrey and I have bought for the trip around Europe, a Toyota Verso.  The following WE we went off to see the latest edition to France's very well set-up Museum and Grand Site's, Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave.  In the south of France, the type of landscape there has lent itself to a shitload of caves and nooks and crannies and arches.  The most famous of these is the Lascaux Cave, near Dordogne, in the Vezere Valley, South-West France which has become a case study on how NOT to preserve ancient Cave Artwork and because of the knowledge gained by letting in to many tourists to see the prehistoric paintings (due to the moisture from our breathing), once the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave was initially studied, once the important was realised, it was sealed off and only a select few researcher are allowed to enter.  However we are a curious bunch us Humans and we want to see these things for ourselves so someone, somewhere in France decided that they needed to build a replica cave.  And what a job they did.  I have been into a few caves lately and if someone blindfoldered you and put you inside this 'fake', I don't think that you could tell the difference.  The 'fake' is impressive but not as much as the painting are.  There have been dated to 30,000 - 36,000 BC, which makes them the oldest in France (and Europe I think) and have lead the historians to rewrite history in this part of the land.  If this wasn't enough, no more than 500m from where the cave was discovered (BTW, it was discovered only recently, because about 23,000 BC, a landslide completely covered the entrance.  It was only found again after 3 spelunkers wandered past it's location and felt a 'breeze' coming from somewhere behind 'the rock' so they started to dig a little ... and Viola ... thank your mother ... here's a magnificent cave.  It makes you wonder what else is buried just under our feet ....) is another awesome natural feature, The Pont d'Arc.  Once again I'd seen photo's of this place many a time but had no idea where it was, a great surprise to find it only 1 1/2 hours from Audrey's place.
The next day saw me lying in bed a watching the footy (thanks to watchafl.afl.com.au) all morning before Audrey informed me that we were off to see some local music at a near by town.  I went reluctantly as the local music here is not really my type, but when you are on holidays you need to try different things.  I didn't like it.  All horn instruments and not much else.  I mean the tuba just makes one big loud farting sound, funny to start with but after an hour it starts to stink a little ... on the ears that is.
And then yesterday Maryse and Christian surprised me with a trip to one of my favourite places, The Pont du Gard, to see a spectacular show.  I still find the Pont du Gard an amazing structure considering it was built in 1AD at a gradient of 1:20,000, which is phenomenal precision for the time and probably more amazing that it is still standing and wasn't used for other building projects throughout the ages.  The show itself was all lights and fireworks and narrative in French and used the Pont du Gard to perfection.  For some reason the Aboriginals and the Dreamtime were mentioned in the show, something that I haven't figured out why yet, but to see the Pont du Gard lit up with Aboriginal dot paintings and typical kangaroo designs left me with a small lump ... not in my throat but in my bum as I was sitting on a large rock throughout the show.
I think that the batteries are charged as the itchyness is starting and I want to start using the car to go on our Europe tour, ASAP.