Paris to Provence -1

Paris to Provence along the Rhone

1

	On this trip to Paris, we tried to see the things we missed in 2002. Like the catacombs, and here, La Défense. This is the modern, high-rise district. Previously, we had only seen La Grande Arche from a distance, and no wonder. It is HUGE.
	The esplanade of La Defénse is aligned with the Champs Elysées, as this picture shows. We never found out where all the smoke was coming from. Is Paris burning?
	Isolated by a cordon of police, this demonstation, with banners and speeches, took place on Saturday, September 24. It was just ouside the Comedie Francaise, a block from our hotel. The topic was France's treatment of immigrants. This was a month before the riots started.
	The Hôtel Dieu in Beaune was a charitable hospital founded in 1443. The multicolored tiles are a Northern France, Belgium style. The site was a hospital even after WW2, but the Hospice de Beaune is now a modern hospital away from the medieval center of town.
	Oingt is a hill town, walled and gated where there is access, but otherwise it is perched on a peak. We also visited Gordes, similarly located.
	The Roman aquaducts are all over southern France. Normally, they are carefully graded at about 1 meter per kilometer, but this fragment has a steep slope because it is the top of a reverse siphon which moves water across a deep river valley and up the other side.
	About 70% of France's electricity is gernerated from nuclear power. This scenic location was along the Saône River.
	We visited wineries, and the crush was still under way at some of them, including Domaine de Chabrières (Cotes du Rhone). That is where we saw this sales location, offering wines from €1.70 to €1.90 per liter.

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