Bonjour from Provence

Yes here I am again...not even sure where to begin...we bought a house!!!! and it is Sunday morning in Le Thor! Outside the bell tower is ringing the hour. The bell begins to chime at 6 a.m. and bids us bonne nuit at 10 p.m. and its such a nice sound...unless you don't want to wake up at 6 a.m.! This is not a problem for me since I am an early riser after so many years of teaching but perhaps tourists who are in town might want to sleep in!

We have been in France now since May 7th...we arrived ahead of the Air France strike just in time for the train strike so we rented a car at the airport, filled it with our seven suitcases and headed south a few miles. We stayed the night in Pommeuse land of Brie cheese.

We found a great place to stay...a bergerie on the grounds of a small chateau. Here is our rental car parked at the entrance of the bergerie. Yes, its a Ford...the only "larger" car available!

Our room was upstairs and looked out into the area of the former farm. The owner's family have had the chateau for over a hundred years and now have several rooms which they rent out with breakfast included.

Early the next morning we drove out of town and south...it seemed like we might not have too much jet lag at least at first!!

Lunch was at this rest stop on the highway...the weather was perfect for driving and we sat outside and had our lunch...no wine and a good strong cup of coffee!

Since you are basically stuck on the highway in France because you pay coming out, the rest areas are well equipped with little shops and restaurants like this and they are becoming more modern and really quite nice compared to how they used to be. As we drove we could tell we were going to doze off so we pulled into a nice rest area in the shade and took a nap! We did this several times before we finally reached Carpentras that evening. Loved seeing this castle en route!

We could not get our house until May 14th, although we signed the day we arrived, so we spend a few nights in Le Thor at the hotel St. Louis...the place had a swimming pool but the weather was just awful so we didn't use it. The parking is to be done between little olive trees...here is a sign to remind French drivers to park correctly!!

 The hotel had a very nice little restaurant attached to it and we have returned several times to have dinner here.

 Our "new" house is located in the historic part of Le Thor within the partial wall of the ancient city...

You can see a branch of the Sorgue river on the right of the photo above which is steps from our front door. In the photo below you can see more of the wall and a couple of our "neighbors"drying off after a swim!

This former Hospice is located across the street and is now a retirement home.

Le Thor has two weekly outdoor markets and two boulangeries as well as a large cafe on the market square. I will tell you more later as we start to get to know the place. We happen upon little events every so often as we stroll the town and just heard the children's choir performing the Pink Martini song "Je ne veux pas travailler" to great applause at the salle des fêtes!!

 Here is some bounty from the market just last week...it happened to be a sunny morning then. We have had so much rain...more than they have seen here in 40 years so a sunny day is such a treat! I just love how artistically the produce is put out on display...makes you want to buy it all!!

 I did come home with this...fresh strawberries from the famed Carpentras strawberry producers! Can you smell their wonderful fragrance??

This reminds me its time for breakfast here so I will say à bientôt...stay tuned for the progress of the move in!

Paris again once more

Well, it is the last day of April as I write this and last night there was a full moon...the pink moon which is so named because of the wild ground phlox which starts to bloom at this time. Everything is blooming pink around here in Portland! The spiritual meaning of this pink moon is that it is a time of renewal and rebirth which is what is going on over here in my house right now (more explanation coming in May)...sort of. That said, I want to give you some final thoughts on the wonderful trip to Paris and some photos too so here goes.

We had to do a pose at the Palais-Royal one day when we were searching for some good moules/frites restaurants.

We did quite a lot of walking on that day and I spent some time taking photos of shop windows and things on the street. This really interesting boutique was located not far from rue Saint Antoine and everything looked so stylish. Lots of white in here.

 These necklaces were actually beads on lace confections...the reflection in the window made it hard to get a really precise photo but I do like how the building is reflected in the plexiglass stand.

Of course everyone knows that I adore the little deux chevaux and I'm always on the look out for them. This one I find particularly sweet...what is better than a pink car except one that has many shades of the color. To me it looks like it is smiling or at least winking at passersby!

Quite a contrast here to these three we saw on the Champs Elysees parked in a row. I think it might have been one of those tourist things where you drive a Ferrari through Paris??? Lots of people were having a look at them before they drove off.

We both like the selection of eyeglasses in this boutique which sadly was closed or we might have slipped a pair or two in our carry ons. I really like the pink ones in front but the yellow ones on the left are not bad either.

 These two dolls were keeping and eye on everyone.

Over by the Senat, near the Luxembourg gardens the children's clothing  store Bonpoint had a really fairyland style display for the winter season. This shop always has the most amazing clothes.

Down the street a bit these little elves were standing around cool beaded trees...remember it was nearly Christmas!

 This place had all things silver and glass. I would like to go back and see the street now. I had never actually been there before so that does prove that one can never see all of Paris no matter what.

 I thought the inset camisole on this dress was really unusual. You can have a sleeveless dress but still stay cozy with charmeuse silk gathered at the throat. You can almost see me there in the window reflection in my burgundy beret!

 This bit of silliness was really fun to look at...boxes of "gold flakes" in the window of a jewelry store. Really so creative and unexpected!

At a visit to the Centre Pompidou I took this picture looking from the inside out. It almost has a feeling of a mountain chalet because of the clouds up there. When we cam e in the door we just came straight in but less than fifteen minutes later this was the line waiting. The bookstore here is just amazing...almost an art exhibit on its own.

Towards the end of our stay we met my cousins at a historic restaurant...one of the oldest brasseries in  Paris called Brasserie Bofinger. It was a special evening celebration for us because we only see each other once a year if we are lucky! The brasserie has the most interesting decor with this magnificent dome ceiling 

and all around the restaurant inlaid wood, mirrors and paintings. It was a wonderful way to celebrate our final time in Paris. We had choucroute garni which is a house specialty and perfect for November. You can see we are happy n'est-ce pas??

Soon after it was time to leave our little studio on rue Castex and we closed the door for the last time as we headed off to the airport.

It may be April here and trees and flowers in bloom but I love to think back to this really great trip and how lucky we are to have been able to take it! Its great having a best friend to share some things like this with. So, happy May day to you...in France they will be selling muguet...and à bientôt!

Still thinking of Paris in November

Yes. I know...its April 2018 and I haven't finished my story about Paris but actually isn't it always great to be thinking of Paris?? I have some pretty good reasons for this delay and I will get into that in another entry but I want to share more of the Paris trip which was such a great time!

Pamela and I had a few other reasons to go to Paris besides the Dior show (which was the initial catalyst). In 1969 both of us were together in Paris for a university theatre trip. It was my first trip to France and Pamela's second (she studied there the year before). On probably the first day there in 1969, we crossed the Seine and there was Notre Dame cathedral. I remember what it felt like to suddenly see that symbolic structure...I was amazed to see it in person which is probably what I am exclaiming as we both posed for a photo...this photo as a matter of fact. Check out those mini skirts!!! This might have also been the day we slept for nearly 24 hours frightening the friends we stayed with who thought we might have died!

Well...we just HAD to retake the same photo in 2018 (minus the mini skirts...November, remember??). An American tourist was kind enough to snap a photo on that brilliant, sunny day.

So...what do you think?? I think we look better today. Who said anything about aging anyway? That was such fun and the weather was perfect.

Later we walked through the neighborhood and there were Christmas decorations along the way.

In the Quartier Latin, however, near the Sorbonne this place had blooming geraniums at all the windows.

We went over to see the Gaugin exhibit too. Since I still was using my cane and it was visible, Pamela and I were amazed to see a guard come to us and usher us in a "special" entrance ahead of all those in line!

 After seeing the Dior exhibit though we were less impressed by this one. I took this picture as we left  and if you look closely at the bottom left you will see the head of a young woman whose hair is the exact color of the red in the poster...she had wonderful hair I thought!

We did have some rain in Paris...of course we had our tiny umbrellas along and we waited on the steps of the Polish Bookstore on Blvd Saint Germain while there was a downpour going on...we had just been out to have some moules/frites in the neighborhood which were delicious.

Here is a view of the church after the rain storm was over and we were on the way to Deux Magots for some well deserved coffee which, by the way, was terrific.

Another goal of our trip was to locate the "magical street" from the movie Midnight in Paris where the yellow Rolls Royce takes the hero into Paris of Fitzgerald and Hemingway and all the other expats who came to the city. Yes...we found the place (with a little help). Here I am on the steps waiting for the Rolls....

...and here is the street...no view of a Rolls coming along. I guess we had to be here at midnight to actually have it work.

No matter...we did make it over to the Pantheon which has been recently refurbished and also to pass the Luxembourg garden.

On the wrought iron wall around the park were fascinating drawings of the lawyers and judges who hold court in the building. This is one I liked.

Across the street was this shop...I liked the pale blue facade.

Since we missed Thanksgiving in the States we went off to have a Thanksgiving lunch at Bouillon Racine...very Art deco old restaurant in Quartier Latin.

This is what we had...it was the plat du jour!

Two tiny ladies next to us tucked into this with gusto and finished off with dessert and coffee...Pamela and I had a hard time finishing, skipped dessert and had coffee later after we had walked a bit!!!

Later we saw the lights near the Champs Elysees on Ave Montaigne...see the Eiffel Tower back in the distance? 

This was the Dior boutique

We walked down to the Seine to catch our bus home and really what more beautiful a way to wait for the bus than to look around from the bus stop:

I think I have one more post from Paris and then I am going to start on the great new adventure which is....buying a house in Provence!!! A bientôt.