Une semaine parfaite en Provence

Warning: It's pretty hard not to wish just a little bit that you were in the French countryside when you look at these pictures. Apart from a slight head cold and some rusty work with a stick shift, we had just about a perfect week in Provence. Jason skillfully communicated for the two of us (gracefully tolerating my made-up French, which is mostly composed of lines from Beauty and the Beast), while my job (at first) was driving (I would like to publicly thank my parents for making me learn to drive a stick in high school, my sisters for fighting with me for six years over our Honda, and my friends in England who were 20 instead of the required 21 to drive the rental cars when we traveled, thus forcing me to quickly learn the art of the round-about). We were quite a team.

Our first day we ventured out into the ancient side of France with a visit to Pont du Gard, an ancient Roman aqueduct, and the city of Nimes, which has the most well-preserved Roman arena outside of Rome. We also sat outside at a cafe with beverages reading A Year in Provence.

above Pont du Gard

In Nimes

The next day we went to the market in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, the town nearest our cute bed and breakfast (the breakfast part of the bed and breakfast was one of my favorite parts of France--chocolate for breakfast every morning). We spent the afternoon driving the windy roads through the hills of Provence, visiting the Abbey de Senanque and the red, red town of Roussillon.

we were just weeks too early for the lavender fields around the Abbey to be blooming

a view of the town of Gordes

Jason and the ochre hills outside Roussillon (matchy, matchy)

Roussillon

We liked the little towns so much that we spent Friday doing much of the same--we spent the morning at the adorable little market in Lourmarin and ate a picnic in view of the local chateau before taking a drive through Lacoste and Bonnieux. We listened to the Amelie soundtrack while we tried to remember to shift into first gear.

eating our bounty from the market in Lourmarin


the sounds of Lourmarin market

the "breakfast" part of our great bed and breakfast

We flew in and out of Geneva, so Saturday was a four-hour drive back to Switzerland so that we could catch our flight the next morning. We took the scenic route through the Cote du Rhone wine country, with amazing patchworks of vineyards. I would love to see them in the fall! We also got a peek at the Alps on our drive before settling into Geneva for the night.

our view of the Alpine foothills from the car

We are now planning a summer of delicious Provencal food (soup au pistou! tapenade! chocolate croissants! goat cheese on everything!), still suffering from un petit peu jet lag, and finding our hands prepared to shift when we go uphill in our automatic. Love loved it.