Smitten by the South of France

Check the castle at the top of the mountain (upper right)

After three years of attending product launches, I can say with impunity this is the most entertaining event I've attended. The best roads, the best scenery and some thoroughly impressive machinery -- bar-none. Everything you've heard about Southern France is true and likely understated. The combination of the Mediterranean, the Alps in the background and the most impeccably maintained tarmac (and this coming from a California boy) has made my first full day one to remember. Here's more less-than-stellar iPhone pics (you can click each to enlarge) and I'll have some shots of the Jags I was driving tomorrow.

View through the windshield - The Alps

Some randomness - Pic above is a two-way street. Unfortunately, just after I took this shot a tour bus came through and I had to back up, along with two other cars, to let it get through. The streets that run through the villages were not designed for cars. But then again, they're three-times older than the whole of the United States.



The restaurant we went to tonight was an olive oil processing plant for the last few centuries.

Most of the equipment is still in the building.

Those are actual keys embedded into the concrete at the entrance to the restaurant.

The soufflé (my first) and the cheese course that preceded it blew me away. (Left) Chocolate sorbet (Right) Orange soufflé.

The reason I'm back in my room. It's a liquor that's similar to absinthe (anise-flavored), but I don't remember the name.

Served like so. One shot of the liquor is in the glass below. Ice-cubes are filled in the cone-shaped glass above. Water is poured through the ice and filters (chilled) through a small hole into the liquor-filled glass below, diluting it. As someone who likes absinthe, it's good, if a little on the weaker-tasting side. But it's probably 120 proof, so it's time for bed.