We just had the opportunity to visit one of the French air force bases nearby to the village where we are staying. The French air force is referred to as Armée de l’Air. We found that they have a historical Armée de l’Air museum at the Base Aérienne 115 Orange-Caritat that civilians can visit with advance permission. John wrote to them with our personal information and we were approved within a few days to visit on a particular date, that being yesterday.  It was a short drive to the Orange area, although Madame GPS as usual likes to test our patience, directing us to the smallest country lanes as possible, quite frequently leaving us (read: me) breathless as the driver chooses between driving into a ditch or canal or losing a mirror or headlight to an oncoming speeding truck…but I digress.

After navigating around a road closure with no apparent detour route, and finding the actual air base with minimal signage and no address, because of course, why would top secret information such as location of the air base be readily available on the internet…we found our way to base and to the sentry post. Luckily John speaks French very well, and he quickly understood that we must back up out of the secure gated sentry post into the civilian parking lot to present our identity papers in exchange for our museum ID passes. After we took care of paperwork, our guide Maurice, walked us through the park filled with one of each of the historical French Armée de l’Air aircraft.

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It looks stormy back in the US and we have not escaped rainy weather in Provence. Yesterday we had torrential downpours off and on, but when you are retired, un jour de pluie (rainy day), does not matter in the least. It was not a market day but plenty of locals found their way down our street to the main square to pick up a baguette for déjeuner, to have a cappuccino at Café de France, or to buy a Euro Millions ticket at the Tabac. Continue reading →

Lourmarin, of Peter Mayle and A Year in Provence fame, is approximately a 45 minute drive from our home base in L’Isle Sur La Sorgue. We had somehow missed visiting this beautiful Vaucluse town in previous holidays, so today was the day. It might be blasphemy to admit, but we are starting to schedule visits around the markets so as to avoid the tourists in the heat. Lourmarin market is held on Friday mornings and today is Thursday, so we thought we would be safe for a relaxed outing. The drive is scenic and awe-inspiring through the Luberon (for the passenger). For the driver, it is constant attention to miles of twists and turns and switchbacks on smallish roads, avoiding cyclists and speeding vehicles coming around the odd blind corner, through the area of Bonnieux and beyond to Lourmarin.

Soon after parking our car on the main route into centreville, a little black cat crossed our path and darted into the shadows.  Throughout our rambles, he would pop out unexpectedly and lead us down another picturesque chemin. 

First on the agenda was déjeuner at Restaurant La Récréation, which serves guests on a charming flower filled terrace.  Misters cool the heat weary patrons every 30 seconds or so. We enjoyed a huge fresh salad, salmon tartare, soft decadent bread, and un verre de vin.

Midi is time for déjeuner and nothing but relaxing, so most of the stores were closed for a couple hours.  I wonder who planned our schedule? There were many cute shops with tempting window displays so that we could faire du lèche-vitrines which means “window-licking” in French… the expression for “window-shopping”.

Lourmarin’s historic winding streets are filled with innumerable picturesque maisons to photograph and dream that you might live here amongst the flowers and vines and lavendar shutters. We did not find Peter Mayle as he moved on to another small town nearby a few years ago, but we did enjoy his muse. C’est tout.

It is Monday here in Provence and so the market has moved to Bedoin, a lovely agricultural town at the foot of Mont Ventoux. If you follow the Tour de France then you are familiar with Mont Ventoux’s status as one of the most feared and mythical climbs in world cycling. Nicknamed the Géant de Provence, it surges out of a largely flat landscape and can be seen for miles around as you drive the switchbacks, its white-topped summit dominating the surroundings like a hill-top fort. John climbed Mont Ventoux in 2-1/2 hours back in 2010, so we decided to visit the scene of his accomplishment again. The Bedoin market has grown immensely in the past 5 years and there is a new vélo rental shop in town for those strong enough for the climb.

The temps today are 95 degrees, so we opted for cold drinks and a meander through the market.  We ran into the faerie vendeur from L’Isle Sur La Sorgue.  John whisked me away before I succumbed to an addition to our faerie family.

Next on our planned journey was a visit to the Gorges de la Nesque near Monieux for a picnic and a walk around.  We passed some early lavender on the way.  C’est tout!

Sunday, le dimanche, in L’Isle Sur La Sorgue…we are one week into our vacances français, and just settled into our charming apartment at L’Ambiance in time for the traditional weekly market.

Whereas Belgium is chocolat and beer, Provence is all about the colorful flowers, fruits and vegetables.  The chocolat leftover from our first few days in Brussels and Brugge would soon melt here and must be consumed immediately! Quel dommage…  Now we must search for vin, fromage de chèvre frais, and sample endless varieties of saucisse.