Valence

I've passed by Valence many times on the train and in the car, but I've never stopped because I thought that it must be a lot like Montélimar.  Honestly, I probably never would have gone there if I had not received a nice invitation from my friend, Juana, the Spanish teacher.  She wanted to take me to her favorite Indian restaurant, Shalimar, and show me the sites.  We had an absolutely scrumptious meal and then walked and walked and walked for hours.  Here are a few of the things that we saw.

Griffins in the fountain!

Griffins in the park!  It must be time to go home; I'm seeing Griffins everywhere!  

This park alone would have been reason to visit Valence with Jed.  There is a carousel, a train, fountains, bumper cars, a playground, a café, and lots of open space.

A detail on La Maison des Têtes, an example of 16th century architecture.  It gets its name from the many heads on its facade.  The heads represent fortune, time, medicine, law...  There are apparently other Maisons des Têtes in France as well.  

Peynet's kiosk---Peynet was a graphic artist who died in 1999.  His drawings of a young couple in love (Peynet's lovers) made him famous.

Peynet's lovers adorn the kiosk.

The tiny vineyard in the Saint Jean neighborhood in the old part of town was planted in 1999, and the first wines appeared in 2006, I think.  I cannot find any information on pricing, but I imagine that it is pretty expensive given how little is produced each year.  

Just another gorgeous building!  There were many.

Juana descending the steps to our parking lot.  We climbed several of these steep staircases during the day.  We had to work off that Indian food!