We went to the market at Aix-en-Provence this morning. I combined the pictures from today and yesterday into one slideshow. Aix-en-Provence used to be the capital city of Provence and was the home of Cezanne for many years. The market is called Le Marché de Mirabeau because it’s held on the Cours de Mirabeau, considered by most people as the grandest boulevard in Aix. I was not that impressed with the market. I expected more vendors. We’ve been to many better markets in some of the smaller towns in France. We did manage to buy some presents for our granddaughters and a couple of things for the house.

We needed to change money, and were we shocked. The dollar is absolutely in the toilet compared to the Euro. The exchange rate is now $1.48/Euro. So basically, a $100 gets you €75. That’s just awful! After the shock of the money exchange, I was ready for a good lunch. There happens to be a world-famous restaurant in Aix called Les Deux Garçons  (the two boys). It was built in 1792, and Cezanne used to trade his paintings for food at the restaurant. Funny how many famous painters were starving artists while they were alive. Lunch was great, and then we went to an antique exposition in a little village outside of Aix.

I didn’t really expect we’d find anything to buy at the exposition, but I just wanted to compare prices with what we’ve been paying in Austin. Man, was I shocked! The prices we’ve been paying for French antiques at the little auction we go to are about 1/2 to 1/3 less than the prices in Austin. I was very pleased to see that we’ve made some very good deals so far.

I noticed one thing while driving today. The French drivers seem to always want to drive faster than I want to go. I’m just taking my time, admiring the sights. A local gets behind me, and I swear he (or she) is trying to count the hairs on my head. Of course, I’m usually going faster than the posted speed limit already, but that doesn’t stop them from zooming around me the first chance they get. Carolyn and I always get a good laugh out of this, wondering where they might be going in such a hurry on a Saturday morning.

Tomorrow it’s off to either L’Isle sur la Sorgue or Salérnes. There's a market in both towns, and the choice is a difficult one. Ah, as the French would say,"Quelle problème!" Until next time…

Yesterday we went to Les Baux de Provence. The Lords of Baux built a citadel atop an escarpment in Provence in the 10^th century. Bau in the old Provençal lauguage means escarpment. The village was built around the citadel and enclosed within a wall as were most medieval cities. Of course, the only way up to the city is to walk, so we parked near the entrance to the city and up we went. As you can see from the slideshow, the city and view are magnifique.

We bought linens hand-woven in Provence – tablecloths and napkins. We ate lunch at a small restaurant where they were serving one of my absolute favorite meals – Aioli. This is boiled vegetables (potatoes, carrots, green beans, zucchini, and cauliflower), a boiled egg, and a filet of poached fish. This is served with a mayonnaise freshly made from eggs, olive oil, and garlic. The garlic mayonnaise is called Aioli, and the meal takes its name from that. It is a simple meal that is served in many restaurants in Provence.

We spent several hours shopping and exploring the village and then headed back to our B&B. We were both dead tired after climbing around the old city, so we ate dinner in our room and watched the news from Cannes. Then it was off to bed as we are going to the market at Aix-en-Provence tomorrow morning and have to leave early. Until next time…

Here's some notes on using the slideshow interface.

1. You can click on the icon on the toolbar that looks like a 3x3 square of dots. This will open the thumbnail window.
2. You can drag the thumbnails anywhere on the screen you want.
3. When you mouse-over a small thumbnail, a larger thumbnail shows in the thumbnail pane.
4. If the speed of the slideshow is too fast or too slow, you can drag the little slider right or left to change the speed.

That's all I can think of right now. I noticed that the control icons are not lined up with the rest of the toolbar on some browsers. This doesn't affect the slideshow usage in any way. It's just really annoying. I'll work on this when I get home from vacation.

In the meantime, enjoy the pictures.

I’m eating breakfast this morning, and I suddenly realize why I like Provence so much. The weather is absolutely perfect – about 72 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. There is no forecast of rain for the next several days. We are at Le Domaine du Grand Chêne, a B&B outside Taverne that we discovered on our last trip to Provence in 2006. Our hosts, Anja and José, are hysterically funny and witty. We told Anja yesterday that we planned to shop for decorative items for our house. This morning she had our whole agenda planned for the next three days.

Today we went to two markets in two small towns and to a pottery factory in a third town. The first town we visited was Tourtour, "la cité dans le ciel" — The city in the clouds. It’s a beautiful medieval city on the very top of a mountain. There is a small road, barely wide enough for two cars, that leads up to the city. They were having the French equivalent of a flea market there today. We spent a couple of hours browsing at the market. We didn’t find anything we wanted, but the people were interesting, and the views were worth the trip.

After lunch, we were supposed to go to another market in Lorgues, but it was late, and we wanted to make it to the pottery factory in Varages. The pottery manufactured at this factory is the French equivalent of Fiesta Ware. It’s made in many bright colors, and reasonably inexpensive. We found many pieces we wanted, but decided to wait to purchase them until we find out about shipping stuff home from here. I’ve checked a couple of places and am discouraged at the prices to ship stuff to the US. UPS wants about $400 to ship 25 kg (about 55 lbs). That’s just ridiculous! We’re going to a market outside Aix en Provence on Saturday, and I’m told that there will be shipping companies with booths there. Maybe we’ll have better luck then.

We stopped at a market and bought stuff for dinner – fresh bread, ham, cheese, wine. Then, we stopped at a strawberry farm and bought freshly-picked strawberries. They are amazing. We ate in our room while we watched the news from the Cannes film festival on the Tele. I know, it’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it! Until next time…

I’m a little late with the posting today, but I just couldn’t get to an internet connection before we left Lyon this morning. We just arrived in Taverne about two hours ago. It’s 11:00PM here. We finally had sunshine in Lyon yesterday! It was beautiful, as you can see from the pictures on the slideshow. We walked all day (about 7 hours), and saw everything we could see.

We finally shopped a little. Carolyn bought some incredible tapestry pillowcases for the family room. They are made in the traditional fashion, completely handwoven from wool. They depict scenes from the middle ages. Very beautiful. She was pleased.

There’s really not much to report today. The drive to Taverne was uneventful. We took all back roads through the mountains, so the scenery was amazing. I’m glad we’re finally here. We will be at this B&B for seven nights. We plan to make day trips to many antique markets in the nearby villages to purchase things for our house. Also, we’re going to Cannes on Monday. It’s the Festival de Cannes (the Cannes film festival), so we thought we would at least go there and hob-nob with the stars on the streets for a day. It should be very interesting. I’m sure it will provide many pictures, so be looking for them next Tuesday. That’s all for now. Until next time…