Nous sommes arrivees!!!!

 We had an adventure getting here. Our flight in Atlanta got out late and we were in the oldest plane in Delta's fleet. We had a longish wait in Paris waiting for our puddle jumper to Marseille. Janie's luggage was lost. We got upgraded to a BMW suv and drove to the Super U in Coustellet and got groceries and arrived last evening in Saignon in a pouring rain. We found Annie, our host, and came to the house. It's wonderful. We had shower and a wee nap and went to Solveig for dinner. We both slept 12 hours through. Woke up to fog but a nice day and went to Christine's for palmiers and cafe au lait, see above. Back to the house, below is a view out of a window, and now out for a brief exploration. The rain snuck back so we are in for the afternoon.

Au Revoir Saignon.

This was taken on the last leg of our last walk in Saignon. A fitting way to end this blog. At least for my pictures. I have yet to add Janie's pictures and a certain dentist and his bride may send some of their pictures that will be added. I will probably add a few more of my own as time goes by. To anyone just coming to this blog, it is in reverse chronological order. If that's important to you, go to the oldest posts and work your way back here.

Gary and Cathy, Rue Cilly, Saignon

These are the wonderful English neighbors across the square, who made Saignon feel like our hometown. Thank you both!

Last night in Solveig....sniff

Our last meal in Saignon was at Solveig, of course. Very sad. The house cat came to see us off. We were the only ones in the dining room this night, the porch was packed. The food was special.

Obligatory, cliched roof tile shot, Banon

Our bedroom window, Rose Cottage

International living, Marseille

These were German football fans at an Irish pub drinking Dutch beer in Marseille, at 10:00 a.m.

Pork belly on a bed of braised red cabbage with a cauliflower coulis and a raosted clove of garlic. Bistro du Vin, Saignon

I had this three times during our stay. This is the restaurant that is ten feet from our front door.

Salmon special, Oscar's, Marseille

A wonderful main course after the soupe de poisson (see below). Light and tasty.

Two soupes de poissons

 Every year we try to find soupe de poisson. We first learned of it in St. Martin in the Caribbean. It is the base broth of bouillabaise and is a rich fishy soup. It is also like salade Nicoise, every chef makes it a bit differently. This was at lunch ay Les Deux Garcons in Aix. Felix and Isabel told us it was a bit thick and porridgey to their tastes. We loved it.

A week later we were in Marseille and went to a harborside restaurant called Oscar's. The special of the day was soupe de poisson and a salmon filet. We jumped at it. This soupe was much thinner and we now agree with Felix and Isabel, thinner is better. Putting it together is almost as much fun as eating it. You take a crouton, rub it with raw garlic, put some aioli (a mayonnaise and garlic mixture that is pure heaven) on the crouton, put a little shaved parmigiana on the top and float it in the soupe. Wait til it softens a little and eat it. Repeat.

Evening light in Solveig.

We were just sitting down to dinner when I saw this light. Solveig even arranges her door artistically.

Pumpkin patch, below Menerbes

These pumpkins are the opposite of our Jack O'Lanterns. The are sort of a giant acorn squash, with 90% flesh and 10% seeds. The flesh is a rich orange and is quite dense. You'll certainly get your daily dose of beta-carotene from a serving of this. At this time of year a lot of the local chefs have a pumpkin dish on the specials menu.  This field was all lined up and ready to be put in a truck.

Window, Christine's, Saignon

The morning light changed angles about 30 degrees while we were in Saignon. Luckily the palmiers were always the same.

One sunset, two views, Saignon

I'm not much of a sunset shooter, but this was right there and I had a camera.......

Robe and shadows, Rose Cottage