The Calanques of Cassis...

Cassis is renowned for its steep-walled inlets formed by limestone called calanques. The tour boats were running, but we were warned that the sea was rougher than usual (although you can see that everything was calm in the coves). We took our chances on a one-hour cruise to see this lovely coastline.

The high point for Jimmy and the girls were pretending to surf on the boat once we were back out in the choppy sea.

The Port of Cassis....

On Thursday, we set off to Aix-en-Provence to visit Curt and Veronique. On the way, we stopped at the coastal town of Cassis (the liqueur creme de cassis actually comes from Burgundy). We had a picnic lunch at the port before taking a boat ride.

Beautiful Scenery...

The girls had no problem walking up the river to meet us just below the rapids. 

Jimmy and Ashlynn then decided to climb over the rapids.

As usual, I stood on the sidelines and photographed their antics.

On the drive home, we stopped by the grocery store, where we were very impressed with the champagne cave.

An Impromptu Adventure...

On the way to search for the other geocache in Grimaud, we came upon the remnants of a 15th century bridge over the Garde River. I opted not to hike up the hill through the shrubbery in my sandals, so wasn’t there when they discovered the cache.

Afterwards, the girls couldn’t resist putting their feet in the river. 

Jimmy then suggested that they walk through the river back to the path leading up to the parking lot, while he stuck with me on the main path. As usual, the girls were happy for the adventure.

Veronica’s Model in Grimaud...

As Veronica gets more into photography, Ashlynn gets recruited more and more to be her model. There were lots of spots in Grimaud for nice photos.

Geocaching in Grimaud...

After investigating all around this 17th century wheat windmill (renovated in 1990), we expanded our search for the cache.

Jimmy finally located it on the hill below the back of the windmill after noticing this suspicious rock.

Chateau Ruins of Grimaud...

On Wednesday, we headed into the mountain town of Grimaud, named for the infamous Grimaldi family of Monaco. After lunch at the same creperie that we ate with Terri and Lauren back in 2009, we went up the hill to the ruins of the 15th century chateau (rebuilt on the site of the original 11th century chateau) which was torn down in the 17th century.

It’s great that Veronica’s into photography and Jimmy and I finally get some photos together.