Little terraced garden, Apt

Waiting for the tow.

These were taken right after my famous dumbass moment of putting 12 liters of gasoline into the tank of our diesel rental. As ever, Janie did the heavy lifting with her French and her ability to deal with service people.

When we realized my mistake, the girl at the gas pumps helped push the car over out of the way. Janie called Sixt, our rental company, and went through reporting our mistake. In my defense this is, apparently, a common problem and not only with elderly Americans. Sixt sent a tow truck to take it to be pumped out, at our expense, at a garage. Janie did all of the talking and this man arrived and picked up the car and drove off.

Suddenly, there we were in the LeClerc parking lot, with two huge bags of groceries, ten miles from our house. Yikes. We went to the service desk in LeClerc, a chain of French supermarkets, and asked for taxi company numbers. They gave us six and Janie called them all and they had no cabs!?! We went back to the service desk and the woman had to call three more before we got a cab back to Saignon. From what I could determine, if a taxi company in France/Provence?/Apt? has all it's cabs in use, it says no cabs. They don't give you a wait time or take your name and address and send a cab later. There must be a logic to this, but it had us looking at a ten mile walk up a steep hill with two heavy bags. Scary prospect late in the day.

All's well that ends well. We got the cab and the next day our friend Gary Brown took us to get the car....28 km away!

Leaf, Apt

Rust never sleeps II, Apt

I believe this should be called genteel decay.

Graffiti, Apt

This is a pretty daring one, as it's right in a well-lit square.

Cat and shutter, Apt

Two ads, Apt

This just seemed to be an odd place to put your motorbike ad.

Pizza at Pizzeria O'Grill, Apt

If I'm spending my money on a pizza in the Luberon this would be my first choice. Unbelievably thin, slightly burned crust, homemade tomato sauce, lovely tangy cheese and minimal toppings. They also have the best hot oil in the region to pour on top. My second choice is Paolo's in Isle sur la Sorgue.

Cafe doors, Apt

Carousel, Apt

This was set up in Apt's parking lot for most of our visit. It opened after school and ran until dinner time.

For sale, as is, holds a lot for it's size. Bonnieux

But a very small driver's seat.

Lion, Bonnieux

A forlorn little kitty, with a lot of charm.

Gecko, Bonnieux

Recycling bins, Saignon

 The French, and I imagine, the rest of Europe, recycle more aggressively than we do. These bins and the tubs nearby let you recycle, easily, almost all plastic, glass and paper. People do it almost as second nature. The only things that don't get recycled, apparently, are the metal caps on glass bottles. Thus the detail below.

Driveway on our walk, Saignon

The more often you walk a path, the more you notice. This driveway is lined almost exclusively with roadside weed trees, including a Sumac that turned flame red as the visit went on. It's sort of fun to see trees that epitomize wild weedy growth placed in a formal setting and trimmed. The Italian cypress looks all the more stately for the contrast.