Scarf, Apt Market

A lovely scarf on a lovely day.

Chevre salade, L'Estrade, St. Saturnin.

Henrietta, our host at Rose Cottage, leaves a very informative guide to the area in the house. She has reviewed most of the decent restaurants in the Luberon. This little place, L'Estrade, is in her hometown, St. Saturnin. It is run by two women and has a menu from which I could eat every day. It is her most highly recommended place to eat and we agreed.

This was a goat cheese salad that was so fresh and light and tasty that I could have eaten two. The next two pictures are from the same lunch.

Melon salade, L'Estrade, St. Saturnin.

This was Janie's choice. I got one bite and then...............rien!

Bread at L'Estrade, St. Saturnin.

If possible, this bread tasted better than it looked.

St Saturnin Street

There are so many colors in Provence. We have been back for 4 days now and there seems to be only one color, green, here. I have to let my eye readjust.

Church interior, St. Saturnin

I got lucky with the light this day.

Wall and vine, St. Saturnin.

Wire on wall, St Saturnin.

New pup, St Saturnin

As we walked into St Saturnin, these tow ladies were playing with this little dog. All three were having a great time.

The last turn.

This is on the last turn before getting to the car on our hike. Janie found a silver dollar plant just before we got there. It's probably called a silver Euro plant over there.

Fly-by

Last year when we climbed the cliff, two French AF jets flew by in full afterburner (read loud) mode. We were under the cliff and it went from dead silence to huge roar in a second. We all ducked thinking the place had exploded. This year we got to the top and I said "I wonder where the jets are." Then I looked over the valley and there were two Mirages banking for a pass over us. I got this guy as he went overhead.

We live in a navy town here and see and hear jets all of the time, but other than when the Blue Angels are here for a show they aren't allowed to fly as low as these guys were flying. They appeared to be having a ball.

Adding to a pile on the Falaise (cliff)

All along the walk on the cliff there are piles of rock that people add to as they hike by. They had all grown much larger in a year.

Rock on rock, Lioux

This is an example of the different rock types that were thrown together when the falaise in Lioux was formed. The cliff didn't rise, the land around it fell away leaving bits behind. I don't know how the holes formed in the rock.

I couldn't resist

We were at the top of the climb to the old church in St Saturnin and this tourist came up behind us. The combination of shirt and pants convinced me that he dressed in the dark.

Market day, Apt

I'm back. Only for one picture today, as jet lag has it's hold on me. We were late into Paris on Thursday and missed our plane to Atlanta by about 5 minutes. We could see it at the gate, but the doors were closed. Air France gave us two meal vouchers and a hotel room. So we went to the hotel, an Ibis, at 12:30 after a bad lunch at the airport. Our room was very small, but serviceable for two dried out travelers. But...the a/c was out, it was hot for Paris, our room was facing south and heated up quickly. I opened the window and a nice cool breeze came in accompanied by the rhythmic sounds of a pile driver about 1/4 mile away. So it was bake, go deaf or leave for a walk. But our hotel was at the airport so there wasn't much walking to be done as it was all 3 lane high-speed roads with no sidewalk. Boy, am I good at whining. We made it to 4:00 when the pile driver quit, and got naps in before dinner. The real shame was that we had 2/3 of a day free, in Paris, and didn't have the energy to go in and look around. Next year we'll plan a couple of days there to break up the trip.

Yesterday we only had two flights and they went easily, we got home and did all of the usual manic things one does after 18 hours of travel. Ate and slept well and got up to do the rest of getting settled back into a non-Provencal life.

This picture was taken at the Apt market and I couldn't have done it with my big camera, a Pentax K-5. But the little Panasonic GF3 let me lower the camera and see the picture and take it. I'm a big man and I work out at a gym but the littler camera is a real pleasure to use due to the weight and that it looks like any tourist camera but takes lovely pictures through sharp prime lenses. Thank you Carl Weese.

More tomorrow.