L'Hostellerie des 2 Lions Forcalquier

Late start today but I managed a quick refreshing dip in the river before we set off. I said to Kim give me 5 minutes she reckoned I would only need 2! She was right. Easy drive to Lac du Ste-Croix which is a huge blue lake. We found a fantastic park overlooking the lake, alongside several ...

It was quite a study in contrasts moving from the bright, festive colors of Roussillon to the severely plain, unadorned walls of this medieval Cistercian Abbey. We originally sought out the Abbey, in part, because in most of the pictures of it, it is surrounded by lavender fields which the monks tend to support their order. Alas, it is too late for lavender! Still, the building is very majestic and sits alone in the bottom ...

... I will stay here. It was quiet and so beautiful. Again, it was so hilly that we watched a toddler giggling as she tried to walk down this treacherous landscape with no concern at all. Luckily, her parents each provided a steadying hand.

Most of the buildings in this valley are built with limestone from the local environment. There are meticulously tended ...

This was a long and eventful day, so I've broken it up into separate entries to make it more manageable. We headed toward the village of Gordes, on the recommendation of our French friends. Our struggle with the GPS continued, but today it worked to our advantage. After we missed our turn we stumbled on a Lavender museum established and run by one of the top lavender producers in the ...

... garden, and take care of the girlies, which i am quite happy doing!

After i am done here, i will be going to work on the goat cheese farm, (more friends of my dear friends, Clara and Pierre) !!!

Today, i tried to get the rake out of the shed, and bumped the ceiling and was chased and stung by three wasps, at the same time. Luckily the plantane here looks the same, and i saved myself a teeny bit of pain.

Ive also been having quite the reaction to mosquitoes here, they ...

... far as French-language ability goes, I clearly had the least proficiency.

Designated for protection as a national park, the wilderness area of the Gorges du Verdons and the surrounding Lake St. Croix region boasted brilliant, almost-unreal colors. For instance, apart from the violent Provence storms that passed by quite quickly and ferquently, the sky was as blue as it can get. Most blue skies have little wisps of cloud or haziness, even if just a little. But not ...

The lavender season in Provence starts around mid-July so it's a pity that I was too early for it. I joined a half-day tour to the Luberon mountain area to visit several picturesque towns and the lavender field, which was still lush green but would become a sea of soothing purple flowers in one month or ...

... area of the car. No problem, no luggage needed for the next few days.  On the ride back to Jean's home in Coudoux to return his car, Michael did well driving the streets of Marseille and Coudoux. He hasn't driven a car with a standard transmission in years, but it's just like riding a bicycle -- you never forget. However, without Dominique's expert navigation, I'm not sure we would have made it back to the house as quickly as we did. After ...

... Especially the last one I ate before I left: a delicious medium-well burger with cheese, red onions, lettuce, mayo, and ketchup, served on a *buttered* bun at Ruby Tuesday. Mm-mmm!) I don't like what America stands for: Being #1, greed, and having more, more and MORE!!--or at least that's how the rest of the world sees it. It's refreshing to be in a place that stands for exactly the opposite: France doesn't care about being a world superpower; it is ...

... we arrived, it seemed that everywhere I looked contained some aesthetic essence about it. For example, since the town literally sits in the middle of the river, on almost every street, you could see a branch of the river running beside you. There were old waterwheels, some still turning and in use, some not in use but left corroded as if to brag about their age and previous utilization. All along the river, locals and tourists alike were dipping their feet in the ...