Europe 2017 Part 5: A 3-star trio - Gordes, Rustrel, & Roussillon

It's been a while since our last post, but we've been busy playing tourist. And trying to solve technical glitches to make it quick and easy to do these posts was, we trust you'll understand, lower on a TO DO list which we vowed not even to bring on such a trip. On the technical side, we've decided to post the pictures in the "large" format this blog allows, so you can see the whole picture at once if you are viewing on a smaller screen laptop, but if you have access to a larger screen, and if as a viewer on this "Blogger" site you can left click on the photo and change it to "X-large" format we encourage you to do so. So here we go - Lorna and Dave Europe 2017 - Part 5:

First, a little Lorna-and-Dave-do-Europe tradition, if you can call two trips in eight years a tradition:

1. Every trip to France must include a favourite Citroen “Deux Chevaux” pic. So far this is it. If we capture one we like better, we’ll let you know. Now on to the other 3 stars:

2. Just below the beautiful hilltop town of Gordes, a 3-star hotel and restaurant beckons,

3. hinting ever so gently of fine dining and accommodation.

4. Gordes the gorgeous, wrapped around a Luberon hillside,

5. home to the wealthy – this one an architect of homes.

6. You could stay here,

7. or here,

8. where this would be the view out your window,

And these, as you walked out for your morning croissant and espresso:

9.

10.

Or afternoon wine and cheese or patisserie – oh hell, why not both?

11.

12.

13.

14.

And if you worked for those rich folks,

15. this might be your window view.

But we're in tourist mode, so let's leave the political commentary aside for now, and move on to our 2^nd star, Rustrel, and delights of a different nature:

16. A small hint of things to come,

17. just up around this bend.

18. A shocking burst of colour, and I promise, no filters on the camera. That’s what you’ll see when you come here.

19. A source of ochre powder and colour,

20. promoted and marketed in Rustrel and Roussillon, both as tourist attraction, and as a pigment for industrial and artistic uses.

21. Speaking of shocking . . .???

22. Is he speaking to the water creatures?

23. Or practicing for a Superman gig? Or just championing the cause of free-thinking artistic expression? We’ll buy that. You?

24. And while we're free-thinking, you can’t pass up a dramatic penis shot when it’s standing right there in front of you.

And with that, let’s move on to

25. the third star of tonight’s show:

26. A setting not far from Rustrel,

27. but a totally different vibe.

Let’s let the pictures do the talking for this one:

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31.

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33. 

34. And one last glimpse at Roussillon before calling it a day.

‘Til next, we hope these pix have brought a little extra pleasure into your life, having brought a whole whack of it into ours. 

Being in France is Wonderful, and

there are a few things that we'll fondly remember as having been not so perfect.

• the airport in Paris had us walking about as far as it would have taken to walk to the Champs Élysées, had we wanted to do that
• we couldn't find a Timmie's at the airport but we've been amazed to see how many McDo's there are across the part of the country we've been in
• we found that we were wrongly pronouncing the name of the city we were in.  Apt is pronounced Aupt not Apt
• not liking a grubby Nissan rental car should not necessarily have led us to rent a BMW, but my it's a lovely, spoil-us-forever vehicle
• I have a previously not-recognized fear of curvy winding mountain roads which are about as wide as a tourbus
• We both fell in love with Nice, even though the room we were in had a seriously leaking shower and the make-it-yourself breakfast left a lot to desire  (but there were chocolate-filled croissants)
• Fourteen years after working in both official languages, I find I don't really have a good hold on either of them
• Annecy, where we are now, is a bit colder than I thought---duh, it's in the Alps
• I brought five pairs of pants and have been wearing the same ones for a week, with washing in there somewhere because I unfortunately can't fit in some of the ones I brought---two pairs of jeans that were just dandy at home.
• It's really hard to choose among the cheeses.
• We only arranged for 10 days in Annecy where we have this lovely corner flat with a curve-around balcony

Enough whining.  Hope you're all having a wonderful long weekend.

Dave & Lorna, France 2017---Part three.

1. The Luberon - a beautiful region of Provence: rolling hills, green valleys, hilltop villages with cobblestone streets, ceramic roof tiles, and prominent church steeples.

2. The streets are narrow.

 3. Biking is dangerous.

4.  Too many Kodak moments? - Try cloning.

5. Gotta give it to the French - they know how to protest.

 6. And where . . .

 7. to build your house . . .

 8. or your church.

 9. Walk this way, very slowly.

10. Moustiers-Sainte-Marie . . .

11. beautiful name . . .

12. beautiful village.

 13. A gentle message at the Church entrance:

 14. The "Très Sainte Vierge" looks down on the people of Moustier,

15. while in Flanders Fields, and here in the Luberon . . .

Lorna and Dave, Europe 2017, Part Two: Not far from Apt

Today one of the things we did was to attack another set of mountains, with swirly narrow roads and breathtaking views, to get to a small village called Bonnieux. It was beautiful, gray and stony and serviced with streets that didn't allow much safety to the no-sidewalk visitors. Early on our walk, we found a sweet little shop called Aux Doigts de Fée ( Fairy's Fingers) that we thought we'd look in on for a minute and were greeted by the Fée herself.

She was ageless, white hair in a long braid down her back, dressed in her own hand-knitted garments and surrounded by the most beautiful sweaters, shawls, jackets, children's toys and clothes, all hand-made during her 7 am to midnight work schedule. The work she loves means she isn't on the internet though, so we can't link you there.

Each sweater was different because she doesn't like to be bored, and because she has the most amazing eye for choosing multi-textured, multi-coloured, beautifully finished garments. Some of her sweaters had two wonderfully different sleeves, different in colour, or texture or shape and obviously suitable for the most elegant affair, or the most cosy. None of the garments were in a price range that didn't leave us gasping, at the same time as we knew that they were priced exactly as should be.

In spite of her realizing we were not likely to spend 500 Euros on a sweater, she showed us all her favourites, answered all our questions and seemed as pleased with us as we were with her.

It was, like some of the drives we've taken, a once-only event.

Lorna and Dave, Europe 2017, Part One: Paris to Apt

 1. When in Europe . . . drive well

 2. Sleep well

 3. And eat well.

 4. Use clean, safe ??? power

 5. Driver's eyes on the road

 6. Lorna's eyes on the sites

 7. Little house on the prair ... mountain

 8. The long and narrow road

 9. Old blue eyes

 10. Shine your little light on me

 11. And don't let me be . . . slip sliding away

 12. Pas le pont d'Avignon

 13. Tunnel of love

 14. We went down, down, down

15. How Apt: couldn't wait to go shopping

 16. Didn't take long to cave

17. Look who's taking a selfie now!

18. Honest, I was just filming the doorknob.