The Old World or Bust (Part 2)

Clearing a path for the old man is a heavy job for Ms. B. Sunday, October 17, 2021: Gorgeous Gorge Since circumstances had dictated a change of plan on Saturday, our gang figured we would simply move the Les Gorges des Regalon outing to Sunday. Unfortunately, some nefarious consumable from the previous evening left friend Beth's innards feeling rather unkindly, so Ms. B. and I drove ourselves out to the rugged highlands of the Petit Luberon mountain range, less than an hour from our home base at Eguilles, France. The gorges are narrow crevices —some no more than a meter or so wide — cut through the towering limestone ridges by the waters of the Mediterranean and lingering river systems several million years before most of us took to wandering about on this planet. Rockslides have led to several closings of the area over the years, but it is currently open to the public, and we were fortunate enough to avoid any geological hailstorms.
When we arrived at the parking area, we found a large number of people had preceded us, but we managed to park easily enough and set out on our hike up the ridge. Ms. B. and I knew the trails here are far more extensive than we could manage even in a day or more, so we just decided to hike until we decided we were done.
That ended up being about a three-mile round trip, in terrain that grew higher and more rugged the farther we went. We encountered numerous fantastic natural formations — grottoes, tunnels, and patterns intricately sculpted by nature. In a few places, boulders hung precariously above our heads, wedged within the crevices following plummets from unknown heights. I managed to find each of the caches I hunted here. In several places, continuing our forward progress required scaling rock walls of varying heights and difficulty, and when we finally reached one that Ms. B. considered prohibitive, we opted to head back.
Once back on the road, we stopped for a cache at a very old suspension bridge, which was clearly once the main road through the province. Here — quelle horreur! — Ms. B. readily found what the old man could not. On our outbound drive, we had noticed a little restaurant/wine bar out in the middle of nowhere, which appeared to be open. So, on our return trip, we decided to give it a try, and what a great discovery for us! It was a place called L'Escale des Vins, and here we found excellent food and drink indeed. I tried their white martini, which was unlike any I had drank — citrusy, a little sweet, and not particularly strong, which I considered just the ticket under the circumstances. For lunch, I had foie gras with cinnamon crumbles, a savory sauce, arugula, and grapes. It was absolutely delicious; one of the best dishes I had on this trip.
For the evening, we hung out with the gang in Eguilles, and since almost all neighboring restaurants were closed for Sunday dinner, we visited a supermarket not too far away and picked up miscellaneous goodies to prepare ourselves. There might have been a little wine as well.   Above left: One of the sizable tunnels we passed through; above right: one of the grottoes containing a cache
Above center: foie gras at L'Escale des Vins  Monday, October 18, 2021: Au Revoir La France, Bonjorno Venezia Early Monday morning, our gang packed up la voiture — we had to squeeze in so snugly that Ms. B. and I were practically sitting on one another — and hit the highway, bound for Nice Aeroport, about two hours east. Getting past Aix-en-Provence was the usual traffic nightmare, but once we made it to the A8, things picked up and moved along swimmingly. When we arrived at the aeroport, we moved through security and such with minimal hassle, though we never did have to show our COVID-19 test cards, which was actually wee annoying, given the pains we took to actually get the things. Regardless, we had some peace of mind that we remained COVID-free, at least for the first portion of our journey.
We boarded an Easy Jet Airlines Airbus 319 for the relatively short flight to Venice. Upon our arrival, we took a bus ride to the station just outside the city and then hoofed it across the Grand Canal to the island. We had a relatively short walk to our lodgings in the Fondamenta Procuratie, where we met our proprietor, a lovely lady who spoke decent English and made us feel very welcome. Once settled, we headed out into the lovely afternoon and walked. I snagged a couple of caches. One of them was cache find #13,000, at a rather noteworthy location: ( Banksy a Venezia, GC8F84J ). We found wine. We found food. We retired to our lodgings before very late, but we did sit up with wine and goodies pretty far into the evening. Ciao di nuovo, Venezia amica mia Banksy art in Venice Tuesday, October 19, 2021: Bells Are Ringing The weather was perfect for another early morning walk, so Terry and I went out among the madding crowd and sought a trio of geocaches. I found two, did not find one (though I would discover it later — after a fashion). Once back at our place and regrouped, the gang went out and about for a bit and found lunch nearby at Osteria San Barnaba. There were sights to see and caches to snag near the Rialto Bridge, so we headed for the more eastward reaches of the city. I claimed a webcam cache ( Rialto Webcam ; GC89135 ) and an EarthCache ( Rialto Bridge ;  GC7JZRA ), as well as a stage of a nearby Adventure Lab cache. View from the Rialto Bridge Ms. B. before getting her hair done Scary folk: the officiant and
the witness
The big event of the day, though, was first and foremost among our reasons for venturing overseas to begin with. Although Ms. B. and I had been legally married back in June, mainly to make sure our asses were covered — financially, legally, and otherwise — as we began merging our households, we really wanted to have our most meaningful ceremony in Venice. Terry had agreed to officiate for us, so all that remained was to determine precisely where and when. Once we had settled into our apartment, we decided it was the perfect location. Our elevated balcony overlooked a scenic canal, and from there, we didn't have to worry about muggles getting in the way of the proceedings. And on this afternoon, the timing struck us as right to proceed. Once we all agreed on this decision, our respective womenfolk decreed that neat dress was required. So, we old men dressed up all nice and such, gathered ourselves in most dignified fashion, and Brugger and I got hitched. Maybe not "legally" in the technical sense, but absolutely and positively as far as our commitment to each other.
Once these somber proceedings were in the can, we decided to remain dressed in our finest finery and go out to mingle with the population. If you guessed there might have been another cache in the bargain, you would be correct. If you guessed there might have been more food and wine in the bargain, you would be correct again. For dinner, we discovered a wonderful outdoor place called Ristorante Fuori Rotta , where I ended up ordering fish (filet of sole) and white wine. If you think that was pretty weird of me, you be yet again correct, but since this combination called to me at the time, it happened thusly. Dinner proved fabulous. As did the day. One could hardly have custom-ordered a better day or more exciting time.
Perfection, it was. More to come.