Provence

This was the 3rd Holger-familytrip to the provence.

It all started 6 years ago when Holger´s brother Oliver got married to Nina. They thought it would be a good idea if the 2 families get to know eachother better. So we all went to the Provence. Us, Holger´s parents, Oliver and Nina, Nina´s parents and Nina´s sister+husband. 10 people by that time. Now Oliver and Nina have 2 kids, Johanna (almost 3) and Benedikt (almost 1), so this year we were 12 people in one house. The house had a wonderful view over Mont Ventoux, it was in the middle of a wineyard and surrounded by Olivetrees. It had a nice pool which we definately used, because it was very warm. Of course we didn´t stay the whole time at the pool. There was still some historic stuff to visit.

Like Pont du Gard. This Roman aqueduct was built 2000 years ago. It´s purpose was to supply Nimes with fresh water. People actually used it for over 400 years. After those years it was stuck with lime, so people took the stones to built houses. It´s very impressive. You can also swim in the river, the water is very clear, or you can kayak. We would have jumped into the water, but forgot the bathingsuits. It was damn hot there. So if you ever go there in the summer - go swimming!!

Instead of cooling down in the water we went to Uzès. It´s a very cute and small Provence town with a very classical market square in the midle of the town.

The big trees make it shady and the temperature acceptable. We had a traditional provencial lunch with cooked lamb and vegetables on rice. Very good!! After that we hit a winery on our way back and bought quite some red wine.

Another day we drove over MontVentoux, passed a few fields of Lavender, tasted lavender icecream - it´s not good - and drove through the Gorge de la nesque. That is a canyon, not huge but pretty deep and on the road you have wonderful views through the gorge and on Mont Ventoux. By the way Mont Ventoux is very famous for cyclists. Even the Tour de France hits Mont Ventoux once in a while. It´s 1909 m. This year the clyclists of the Dauphinée tour had to climb up the mountain. I could never do it... Altough if I would use all the good medicine they do....

These are the cute kids and the dog, who kept us awake every night. Either a kid was crying or the dog was sick.

But they are cute!! We tried to teach Johanna how to swin, but she was so afraid of the water, that we only got her into the pool once and only for a few minutes. But she has to learn it some day. The dog wanted to swim in the pool, but was not allowed to. He tried to jump over the edge once, but slipped and fell into the pool. That was funny because the dog looked so shocked.

Here´s the whole bunch of people I spent a week with!

from the left:

Oliver, Karl-Heinz, Sigi, Nina with Benedikt, Erika(Holger´s mother), Helmut(Holger´s dad), me and Holger.

Front row:

Merle(dog), Johanna, Jörg and Natasha

Tennis at Roland Garros

Last Tuesday I went to the French Open! Exciting! Because Holger couldn´t come I asked my friend Isabelle to come. We found a babysitter for her little girl Lea, and the matches could begin. We had tickets for court N° 1 and all the other courts except the 2 big stadiums. The first game was tragic for me and all ther other Germans. 19 year old Angelique Kerber lost in 2 sets. No chance. The second game was tragic for all French Fans, including Isabelle. The French girl who was playing, lost against a girl from Venezuela in the 3rd set 9:7. It was really close. After that we walked around, tried power plate. I think power plate is awesome. Half an hour on that thing, is like going running for an hour. It saves actually time!!!
We didn´t buy anything, even a tennisball was too expensive. Then we found the German guy called Phillip Kohlschreiber on one of the courts. Playing of course. So we thought we watch that for a while, before going back to our court N° 1. Not knowing that this game was going to last for almost 5 hours. Isabelle had to leave after the 3rd set, because of her baby. I stayed and supported the German. In the fifth set he had 4 matchpoints at 5:4, and I really needed to pee. But Phillip did not want to win that soon. So it was 5:5, 6:6, 7:7, 8:8, 9:9, I still don´t get why they don´t have a tiebreak in the fifth set-it was torture!! I really needed to pee at 12:12, so I had to leave the court at 13:12, running to the totally overcrowded stinky bathroom. That was torture, too! When I came back, it was still not over, 14:14! I thought they were going to play for ever. But finally Phillip Kohlschreiber won with 17:15. The next round he lost though. Like all the Germans. But that game was worth watching!! I really want to play Tennis again now. Where is my racket?