We saved the best for last. And I did shed a small tear as we drove home from this vacation. Maybe because it was our last real vacation... but a week in Provence? Probably the best thing ever.
I guess its no coincidence that when we told our B&B hosts that we were from CA, they said "Well, Provence is the CA of France!" What is that old quote about traveling all over the world in search of what you need, and returning home to find it? But although similar in some respects, this was definitely France- and France at its best.
Somebody here is obsessed with lavender, warm weather and small towns in the countryside... as well as French food. So when we found a B&B in a renovated farmhouse outside of L'isle sur la Sorgue that offered family style dinners with the other guests during the evenings, we knew this would be a little slice of paradise.
Every day we leisurely toured a town or two, then came back to the farmhouse for some relaxing and nap time for Ellie.
On our drive down, we stayed in the quaint little Burgundy town of Vougeot. It was surrounded by vineyards and had a gorgeous chateau we could walk to.
The next day we checked into our B&B Sous L'Olivier in Lagnes. We also met Provence's crazy winds, "Le Mistral."
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| Just a little windy... |
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| Farm Fields surrounding the B&B |
We popped into L'Isle sur la Sorgue to check it out and grab some food.
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| L'Isle sur La Sorgue has a bunch of cute crafty and antique shops... |
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| And beautiful water wheels and canals. |
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| Lots of shabby chic decorating ideas |
The next day, we went to Pont du Gard to admire the ancient Roman aquaduct. It was huge - only 6 feet shorter than the Coliseum in Rome.
We then stopped in Avignon briefly to check out the Pope's Palace.
And back to the farmhouse for a swim and one of our dinners in.
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| Ellie LOVES water - hot or cold! |
On our next day, we went to see some awesome hilltop castle remains in Les Baux.
There were beautiful views, and of course, some lavender.
On our way down we stopped in the cute town of St. Remy to enjoy their market, get lunch, and go to the Saint-Paul Asylum, where Van Gogh stayed while he was ill in the late 1800s.
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| Beautiful cloister looking area of the asylum. |
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| Van Gogh's room, not looking too different from his famous painting. |
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| Tired baby |
On Thursday, we went to the market in L'Isle sur la Sorgue. It is not the fabulous antique market that they have on Sundays, but it was great and we bought a bunch of Herbes de Provence and handmade soaps, as well as some other treasures.
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| Colin thought to buy a couple of these crates as decor. We found a cute old farmer who sold us two for the whopping price of 1 euro! |
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| I loved this little market stall - basically like a Parisian boutique! |
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| Ellie is a good shopper! |
Back at the B&B, we were getting along splendidly with the other guests. At dinner, we had fascinating conversations with people from Russia, Australia, Great Britain, US, Belgium, Columbia, Mauritius and Curacao. Our host Julien was a chef who studied food in Brussels. He and Colin bonded over a love for Belgian beer.
He made us outstanding food - with amazing salads with the freshest produce from local farms, and entrees of pork, lemon chicken and fresh veggies. The courses just kept on coming... from the aperitif with bread and a tapenade or pate, to the salad, to the main course, a cheese sampler and then dessert. His desserts were incredible - one was a pudding from his grandmother's recipes, and one was a cherry pie with locally grown cherries. We'd put Ellie to bed, grab the baby monitor, and enjoy some adult time with the other guests. It couldn't have been more perfect! We also had fun bonding with the parents of a 4 month old, also equipped with their baby monitor.
I didn't get pics of any of the dinners, unfortunately, as we were just too busy eating, drinking and socializing. But I did get this photo of the breakfast spread, where we had the most amazing Pain au Chocolats and an array of fresh fruit smoothies every morning, along with about 30 different types of homemade jams and a bunch of other food!
On our last day, we saw the gorgeous Senanque Abbey. I was determined to have a mini photo sesh of Ellie in the lavender, but she was more interested in eating the dirt.
We then drove to Roussillon. On our way we saw this beautiful field of yellow flowers, and had to stop.
Roussillon was cute - different than the other towns due to its position on an ochre ridge.
In Roussillon, I found one of my favorite souvenirs: a huge beach bag! Its not photographed, but I plan to get lots of use from it when we move back to CA!
Back at the farmhouse, I snapped a few more photos of Ellie and we relaxed before one more amazing meal with our new friends.
I could have stayed there all summer.
Although we are going to Bruges one final time (with one my college roomies and her husband!), and we are hopefully going to make it to Giverney and Versailles, this was our real last vacation. I hope I have time to blog some final sentiments about those trips and our European extravaganza, but the packers are coming in less than a week and it is a bit overwhelming over here.
But, I'm refusing to put any real concluding remarks down right now because then I won't be motivated to come back to it amidst the craziness. So here's to more travels and more blogging if there is time! And some panoramic shots.
