But anyhow, today was another long but lovely day! We CEAers went on another excursion with a tour company run by a man named Georges to Isle-su-la-Sorgue, Rousillon, and Gordes. Georges is a man full of regional knowledge and also has a great sense of humor to go along with his stories! On the bus Allison and I got to talking with some of the CEA year students who kindly answered some very pressing café etiquette questions. It can be very confusing when you don’t have the entire necessary vocab and since we stiiiill can’t understand the Aixois accent it becomes scary. Fast.
***Let it be known that one leaves money on the table at a café. There is usually no hand to hand transfer of money here and if they give you a little dish its all ok… don't worry, they just don't want to touch you! interesting. At the market however, hand-to-hand exchange is expected as is paying in exact change. We were told its even okay to hold out a hand of change money to let the marchand look through and pick which of the shiny pieces (s)he wants to take! Haha! The marchands get very excited when we do pay exactly especially because they can tell that we are not French and don't expect us to do it. This morning while buying things for dinner we paid exactly and the marchand gave us a big smile, and an even bigger hand gesture accompanied by him saying “Parfait!!!!” Awwwww.
24/1/10
Our first stop was in the picturesque town of Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. It’s a town surrounded by water ways both natural and man-made and the people of the town built tons of water wheels to harness the power of the water’s flow. Through the years they have all become covered in thick emerald green moss and are the perfect backdrop for a cute ph
We got there early Saturday morning and before we could fully enjoy the grand samedi marchet we had to find some coffee. The first place we saw was a café called La Romantica and we figured we’d give it a go. As soon as the four of us were inside the door, the waiter behind the bar threw his hands up in the air (similar to the way one does when yelling “Opa!”) and said very happily, “Bonjour, les filles!!!” only I heard “Jolies filles!!!” I decided to believe the first because that made me feel a bit more comfortable. Haha ☺ When we sat down the waiter came over and he went around the whole table and greeted us individually with Les Bises (French cheek kisses, my first ones! YAY!). Café au lait all around, s’il vous plait!
We sat for a while chatting and enjoying our coffees and at one point the waiter turned up the American Jazz on the radio and had a personal dance party behind the bar. Also, before leaving the waiter came over again offering each of us his little French kisses. Cute. ☺ This would never happen in Aix from what I gather… les Aixois sont un peu plus snob que les autres en provence! Shhhhh… don’t tell them! They know where I live!
After our café we went out into the marchet and had a fabulous time looking around. There was a vendor who had hand-made soaps in every flavor imaginable and I saw one in particular that was called “Lait de la Jupen”. I had no idea what it was so I asked the vendor and he said it was from a horse. A mother horse. A mare? Yes, a mare! It is mare’s milk! Ohhhhh! A little strange to think of milking a horse, but the resulting soap had a very pleasing smell. After this we wondered around town for a bit longer, it really is lovely, and then found some lunch before heading back to the bus.
Stop two was the town of Rousillon in the Luberon Mountains and similar to Oklahoma, it is famous for its red dirt!!! Cool! Georges, our trusty tour guide, told us the story of how the dirt turned red and it goes a little something like this:
Il était une fois (Once upon a time) there was a King called Seignor Rénaud d’Avignon whose land stretched throughout the Luberon. He was a very mean man who had no pity, sympathy, or care for his people. He was so mean that he ate children and also students who didn’t study their French! He had a wife whom he loved very much but she could not love him back because he was so mean to his people. She was a compassionate soul and found love in one of the men who worked for the Seignor. They were very much in love and tried to keep it secret from him, but the Seignor found out about their affair and he killed the other man! He ripped out his heart and had it cooked up for dinner then made his wife take the first bite before telling her what it was. When his wife understand that she had eaten the heart of her love, she ran out of the castle and launched herself off a nearby cliff, falling to her death. The blood shed in this act was what forever colored the hills of Rousillon red.
The cliffs here are gorgeous though very different from those at home. Oklaoma is more like paprika while Rousillon is more like saffron. The town is quaint with some really fun photo opportunities and seeing that it was Sunday there was hardly anything open, but we did find a café to huddle inside and keep away from the cold. Lovely.
After Rousillon we went to the hillside village of Gordes. WOW. It was recently voted Le Plus Baux (Most Beautiful) in all of France and I can see why! The village is built itno the hillside and looks like a fairy tale, there’s no other way to describe it! Again, everything was closed but it was nice to wonder around the slanted streets quietly. The cathedral was open so we looked in there, impressive as always, but I think that the most impressive thing about Gordes was its teenage inhabitants and their MAD biking skills. They had free reign of the pavement on their mountain bikes since there were next to no tourists and they were goin at it! Never would I ever have attempted to ride a bike in this town, too many ups and downs and crazy obstacles, but I guess having grown up with it these kids knew what was up! They would ZOOM down great big hills towards a dead end and screech their brakes, fishtailing around to miss the wall at the last second and then peddle away as if nothing extreme had just happened! Phew… they were cuttin’ it really close! We now know exactly where extreme bikers are born, Gordes.
It was a long day but we saw and did a lot of great things ☺ When we got home, Allison and I cooked up some pasta with meat sauce and some balsamic vinegar green beans, cracked open a bottle of wine and relaxed. We are getting better at this cooking thing but really it’s not that hard when we are here in the land of fresh food!
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