Me in Melange

Euro Adventure 2019: Day 34 Mad Crazy Market

Today was our last day to hit one of the markets.  If you are wondering. if I'm sick of going to markets, the answer is NO...they are sort of different and since I haven't ever really had as much time as I want to stroll around, I still want more.  Today we went to L'isle Sur La Sorgue, which we went to 5 years ago with dear friends and have fond memories of.  It's a frighteningly adorable town, with a gorgeous crystal clear little stream running thru it.  The market is amazing, however it's a MADHOUSE.  Like so crazy that it's just wall to wall people, you can barely really shop for anything.  

We collected everyone for today's journey, since it was an hour away we weren't leaving anyone behind.  Ava said goodbye to her friends which was hard.  It was another 90 degree day, so while we were driving by 10 a.m., it wasn't early enough to really avoid the heat.

It's such an adorable town though, and the market had so many beautiful antiques, linens, food, you name it.  I could have spent twice as long there, and my only wish was that we were there in April, when there are probably half the people.  There are a ton of home stores there too, all of which make you desperately wish you had a home in Provence to decorate.  I do really love this area, and can easily see living here.   The people are very mellow (in contrast to Paris for example), and the country side is just gorgeous.

We found a huge table cloth at the market, 158" x 65" which is perfect for our big table at home (it's actually bigger than I normally get which is awesome), so that was kind of exciting. I'm starting to have a little panic about how we're going to actually get all of our exploded possessions back into our suitcases and carryon, AND on the plan tomorrow morning.  We've become fairly lazy with our big car, we just keep throwing stuff in bags and tossing it in the car--whatever doesn't fit in the suitcases.  Well, by now, that's a LOT.  It's hard to gauge it still because I have two loads of wash still to do, and that all has to get added in.  Plus dang, those plates are heavy...I know I'm going to be happy to have them once I'm home, but lugging them tomorrow will not be fun.  On the way back to our car this afternoon I overheard an English woman and her husband standing outside of a gorgeous home store looking at something displayed outside and he said to her, "How are you going to get that home?"  Her answer, "I'm going to carry it."  Yeah, sounds familiar...famous last words.  

It I was coming back to Provence, this would be my must-do market.  For sure.

On our way home we had a long conversation about how, from a practical standpoint, there was so much graffiti on the freeway overpasses.  Are people hanging from the top, repelling down?  Getting really. tall ladders and hoping no car runs into them?  There is a TON of graffiti and you do wonder how people get to these dangerous places and do something that can't be a super quick process.  Puzzling.

John's super sad to be leaving the area, and now I'm hearing complaints that maybe we should have just gone to the beach instead of England.  Too late now.  John will always opt for the beach, but the kids really wanted to see England and I think we'll be glad we went, it's just hard to leave this beautiful area.

Signed, ME {lv}

Euro Adventure 2019: Day 33 Aix, Salami and Grown Up Dinner

Today was the big market in Aix, which is only 15 minutes from our house.  Ava and Lucia spent the night with Ava's friend last night, and Ava had plans for the day but Lucia decided to come home and sleep (I don't even want to think about how little sleep she got last night.).  She was skimpy with the details of the evening.   We wanted to get off to the market relatively early, so that we could be back relatively early.  We gave the littles the option to go, or not.  Romeo opted to stay, Gia came (since Lucia was staying home, Romeo could stay with her.)

It was a hot day, just over 90 degrees, which means in an ideal world we would have been at the market at 8:30 a.m. and done by 1030 a.m.   Alas, we were there more like 11 a.m., and it was heating up quick.  The market is huge, but spread out which makes it feel slightly less crazy than some other markets.  We had fun just walking around, checking everything out.   John and Gia bought a ridiculous amount of salami (considering we only have today and tomorrow and then we leave and can't take much food with us.) They have ambitious salami eating dreams I guess.

We found some gifts here and there to bring home, and once again, ate our way thru the market, finishing at a cafe for wine, ice tea, water and a bathroom.  Gia had to go on the bungie jumping ride before we headed out, and she jumped so much she felt like throwing up for at least an hour.  Too much heat, too much jumping.

The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to the kids playing in the pool.  Romeo has officially crossed the line and can swim MUCH better now.  They were squealing and having so much fun that we got an annoying notice via Airbnb messenger saying, basically, that the neighbors were complaining because the kids were too loud and it was French siesta time.  Now, granted, Gia's screaming is ear piercing and high pitched, it was giving ME a headache inside with the door shut.  However, it's still annoying and my immediate and snarky (internal only) response was to tell her that, "Americans don't sleep in the afternoon, we play, loudly."   That being said, I was happy to force Gia to be quiet.  Also made a mental note that having the owner live anywhere in the vicinity, even in a completely different house where you can't see them, is too intrusive.  We need space to be loud, and "American."

John and I drove back into Aix for dinner, and sat in this beautiful big square and had a lovely dinner as the sun set.  I never get tired of how the sun looks on the old sandstone buildings, and the beautiful contrast it creates with an unbelievable golden glow just at the tips of the buildings.  I'm going to also miss the tree lined roads, it's the quintessential Provence postcard that everyone has seen...the Frenchman going down the tree lined avenue in a beret with a loaf of French bread hanging out of this sac.  Other than the goofy beret which no one wears, the scene looks pretty spot on to what we see all the time.

Tomorrow is our last day in France and then we fly to London, pick up a new rental car, and head to the Cotswolds (which I'm super excited about)!

Signed, ME {lv}

Euro Adventure 2019: Day 32, 24 Plates, Cassis, and Iced Green Tea Respites

Today we ventured to Cassis, which is along the ocean south of us, a beautiful little sea village about a. 45 minute drive.  The countryside is gorgeous near the water....rolling hills and valleys with vineyards and beautiful homes.  It's absolutely beautiful, and although we wanted to stay someplace more central, being there made me wonder if we should have just stayed along the coast.  

Our day got a late start because we waited for Hanya's parents to arrive and get her.  They were great...super interesting British couple that decided to move to Provence six 6 years ago because they love it, and then just commute back and forth to London for work (which is less than a two hour flight) during the week (Hanya's mom doesn't work).  The great part about living in a place like Provence is that you are also very central--you can visit so many cool areas within hours.  They were heading to Barcelona (only a 4 hour drive) later next week.  Apparently there is quite a big community of Brits and American expats living here, and I can totally see why.

So we wandered into Cassis at about 1 p.m., and the kids stocked up on snacks at the little grocery store and then we headed to the beach.  John and the kids were perfectly happy to sit on the beach and play while I strolled back into town to explore.  It's all a stone's throw away, the town is small, the beach area is small, none of it takes very long to walk across.  So I had a lovely few hours of alone time and I was very productive.  

First off, I finally found plates.  I've been waffling on new dinner plates for years.  Not sure why, but for some reason I haven't been able to pull the trigger.  Everything is either too this, or too that.  We almost bought plates last year in Italy, and I went back to the store probably four times trying to decide, and finally decided against them.  Well, these plates I saw and I instantly thought, "these are worth buying."  Anyone looking at them will wonder why probably, they aren't incredibly unique, but just unique enough, and they were dishwasher safe and the right color.  They are sort of a grey speckled, combined with a cool off white, taupe-y color.  Each plate has a different speckled design, so none of them look the same and there is a slightly organic edge to the plate lip.  I double checked too, they can't be ordered or purchased outside of Europe, so there was no choice but to decide to lug 24 plates back.  I'm super excited about them, hopefully I will feel that way when I do the lugging.

I also had a perfectly idyllic glass of iced green tea on this little side street, completely quiet and shaded.  I got to sit and read my book and drink my tea, and it was so refreshing to be alone, and quiet, I can't even tell you.  I think that is one of things I miss the most on these trips, quiet solo time.  That, and yoga.  Those are the two things that make me excited to go home.  Well, and a garbage disposal, I miss that too, no one has them here.

We stopped at the grocery store on the way home for dinner, and Romeo found another jar of potential pickles....his little face of optimistic joy says it all.  The kids have been doing this thing since we've started this trip.  They look for real, dill pickles EVERYwhere.  Every time we shop they try to find them.  We've bought probably 20 jars of what looks like it "could" be dill pickles, only to find out they aren't dill, they are sweet, or semi-sweet.  If they find a jar that isn't conclusive, they have hope anew and the excitement mounts.   FYI, this jar was NOT real pickles either.

Ava and Lucia both went to Ava's friends' house tonight, so the house was quieter but I worried all night that they were getting in trouble--Provence style.  I'm not even sure what that means, but somehow I assume it means lots of wine and French boys, which doesn't sound like a good combo.  My texts at 10:00 p.m. saying, "what your sister and don't drink alcohol" were met with reply texts that said, "OMG mom, don't worry."  That means worry, twice as much.

Signed, ME {lv}

 

Euro Adventure 2019: Day 31 Caves, Van Gogh, Sand Dogs & Swimming

The most awesome thing we did today was go to the Carrieres des Lumieres.  It's an old limestone quarry, that closed in 1935 and was repurposed by Jean Cocteau who filmed The Testament of Orpheus there.  Then in 1977 Joseph Svoboda had another artistic vision for the place, and created a light and sound show on the walls of the quarry.  The setting of the quarry itself is beautiful, you are on the top of a large hill, where the rocks are jagged and the landscape rolling.   The quarry itself is massive although you can't quite tell until you are inside.  As you walk into it the ceilings shoot up almost endlessly, the face of all the walls are flat and smooth and it's this  big open maze that you stroll thru that feels like a huge space which respective areas, but not closed off.  It's massive, and then the show itself is ingenious.  They've projected images of Van Gogh's artwork on the walls, but it isn't stagnant...the art moves, and grows.  If there is water in the scene, then the water almost appears to ripple.  The pictures sort of rotate and move horizontally and vertically, so everywhere you look is something new.  It's almost dizzying, like any more movement and you'd feel sea sick, but it falls just shy of that.  Then in the background is music.  Classical, instrumental, and at times even some rendition of a more modern song that was captivating and it fills the entire space.   After the Van Gogh there was a series called "Deamed of Japan" which was beautiful, faster moving array of Japanese art starting with black and white cherry blossom trees with floating blossoms, and concluding with the night sky and floating lanterns.  At first a random few lanterns floated up, and then eventually the wall/ sky/ space was filled with them.  Absolutely amazing.

All I can say is I was awe struck by it.  It's just such an incredibly beautiful idea, it's as if you are immersed in the painting.  It's even on the floors.  The show itself is maybe 40 minutes, and you have to buy tickets for different times.  I had purchased them a few months ago and so we had our tickets ready, which was good because the line was super long.  As it turns out we were running late this morning (shocker) and the entire time I had it in my head the show started at 10:00 a.m., but in fact it was 10:30, which we realized once we got into the line of all the people who had tickets already, and looked down at our actual printed tickets.  It was perfect because we got there at 10:25, waited in line 5 minutes and then was swept in for the 10:30 showing.

The biggest bummer was that we only had the little kids with us.  The older kids were so tired that they couldn't get out of bed, or more likely, they were too tired to get out of bed for "art" vs. say, renting jet skis or something of that nature.  Hanya is still with us and the girls were up late last night talking and goofing around.  We had an hour long drive this morning so we had to leave fairly early and in the end they did NOT rally and we had no choice but to leave.  Super sad for them though, it was one of the coolest art installations I've ever seen.

Even though we had two kids with us, we also had two kids that didn't WANT to be with us.  They thought the show was cool, but Gia wasn't feeling well and I think 90% of it was just fatigue.  It's really hard to get them enough sleep here.  They go to bed probably 10:30 p.m.  on a good night, but they can't seem to sleep past 7 a.m., and last night they woke up several times because the older girls were loud.  It gets hard when they don't get time to catch up on their sleep, they become a lot less flexible. 

We drove to Avignon which is an absolutely beautiful city encircled by this amazing ancient fortress wall.  We walked for all of 20 minutes, with the intent of finding lunch and hanging out, but Gia felt crappy, Romeo was whining, and it was hot.  So we gave up and drove the hour home (both kids instantly crashed and were sleeping the whole way back.)  We got home, let them eat, play in the pool for awhile (which is all Romeo really wants to do, we could be at a motel 6 in the middle of nowhere and he'd be fine if there was a pool and internet.)  

Later John and I drove into Aix to walk around a bit solo. Aix is the city that Ava has called home for the past 6 months, and it's absolutely darling.  We spotted this dog sculptor in the main square, and he was creating the most elaborate dog and pup out of sand I've ever seen, super impressive (Ava said he's always there and she always gives him money because he's AMAZING.)  John and I hung out for a bit in Aix, walked around slowly, but truthfully we were both really tired too, so it was a slow cruise and then home to make the kids dinner.  John had a late night phone conference to prep for, he was scheduled 11:00 p.m.-2:00 a.m. for the conference, which of course, is a perfectly civilized 2-5 pm. back home.  Good thing he's a night owl.  

Signed, ME. {lv}