Last night we had another amazing meal at a Michelin star restaurant in Provence. Honey roasted duck breast with slivered apple wine glaze and miniature garlic potatoes with fresh organic seasoned broccoli. Actually, Douglas made this lunch for me yesterday! He is a really good chef. We are on a road-trip to the Camargue- land…
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On Sunday we decided to take a road trip to the village of L’Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue, about 1.25 hours north of Aix, which has a huge outdoor market and antique fair. The village is surrounded by canals with moss covered waterwheels that once fueled its silk, wool, and paper mills. The guide books call it the ‘…
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We are finally settled in Aix in Provence at our Airbnb villa for the next few weeks. No more 1 night stands! Douglas calls hopping from one city to another ‘1 night stands’ and it is taxing on the body & psyche. The days are long and the nights short. Folks eat dinner between…
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“How can a nation be called great if its bread tastes like kleenex?” – Julie Child Bread is life…of course, so is wine, cheese, a good piece of meat, some fresh greens, et al. In America, we seem to be at war with bread. It is that carrier of carbohydrates that converts to sugar and…
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From watching cooking shows on the television, to reading travel articles in the newspaper, to walking into the local Asian or Mexican bakery or grocery, there is always something to learn. Food is central to all cultures, it brings families together, brings friends and lovers together– food is a medium of expression best shared with…
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Lisa loves flamingos and admits that at one point in her life she had a bunch of plastic pink flamingos in her front yard. (Baby Alex, Ant, and Ash are cringing right now). Kitsch or cool?http://europe.newsweek.com/kitsch-or-cool-upward-flight-pink-flamingo-330817?rm=eu. [Ed. Lisa also put plastic pink Flamingos in front of the old lake Austin house that Douglas and Lisa…
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We left Cassis and headed 20 min east to check out a smaller town on the Mediterranean coast that was not as touristy…well not yet… La Ciotat. There was a small farmer’s market along the wharf where we bought a nice Rose from a vendor that only sells organic products. We asked him for a…
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In the heart of Calanques National Park, Cassis is a quaint Provencal fishing village that has become a bit touristy and expensive compared to other fishing villages along the coast, according to some. But, if compared to former fishing villages like Saint Tropez, Cassis may be a bargain. We are finally on the Mediterranean, the blustery…
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There is something strange in this area called ‘ The Mistral Wind’. It is a cold, relentless wind that can gust up to 60 mi/hr usually in the spring & winter. Convinced that it comes in multiples of 3 days, residents of Provence will tell you that the Mistral Wind blows for 3, 6,…
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Today we are officially in Provence! And staying in St. Remy at a romantic hotel: Mas Valentine http://www.mas-valentine.com/. It sounds like a cliché but the light is different in St. Remy and overall Provence- it filters thru the trees, it seems to push the clouds lower to the ground, it casts soft shadows across ancient…
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I’m not sure how we wound up in the village of Cahors, but I think it is because Douglas wanted to see an old bridge [Ed. Actually, an earlier Airbnb host suggested that we visit Cahor, so we went on a ‘flyer’]. The weather still feels like autumn but the drive from Sarlat to Cahors…
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We are running out of time and need to leave the Perigord and make our way to Provence so we had to choose between seeing the Troglodyte Village or Cave Paintings. We went for the Paleolithic cave paintings that are 15k -17k years old. The former Troglodyte Village was like an outdoor wax museum according…
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So I honestly don’t know anything about Black Madonnas other than that I read that there are over 200 in France. I assumed that these statues were simply an ethnically correct representation of the Virgin Mary- who probably had dark skin. One of the oldest Black Madonnas is in Rocamadour, about 45 minutes outside of…
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e are in the land of foie gras, truffles, and walnuts in the perfectly preserved medieval village of Sarlat-la-Caneda, considered one of France’s prettiest villages and one of Europe’s best preserved medieval towns. There are more registered historic sites in this town than anywhere else in Europe. Many historic sites in France were heavily damaged…
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Wine…Gastronomy…Chateaus… welcome to the Loire Valley. With so many amazing castles to choose from and limited time as we make our way to Provence, we decided to narrow our choice to visiting only 2 castles, the most romantic, Chateau de Chenonceau, and the most extravagant, Chateau de Chambord. Chenonceau was designed by 3 different women that…
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