Out and About in Provence

I never knew how magical the autumn could be. Each day I’m thrilled to feel the change of season. The air has a hint of musty leaves and wood smoke, and leaves drift off the trees casually – like lazy confetti. The linden tree on our patio was covered with bright yellow leaves when we left for Austria. When we returned there was a thick carpet of yellow on the patio that rustled as we tried to push open the back door. The once tree-shaded patio is now flooded with sunlight giving us a full view of the valley beyond and its changing colors.

Fall has been such a stunning surprise that I wondered why I hadn't noticed it before. Then I realized that if I were at home I would be commuting to work in the dark, sitting inside a sealed building all day, and commuting home in the dark. That’s a sure recipe for missing fall! Now, I see each day as a gift.

And we’ve been taking advantage of those gifts over the last several weeks through an assortment of activities. For example, we have been to several movies. That’s not normally noteworthy except that here each time seems to offer something new. Mike and I drove to Aix-en-Provence for an outing to get my hair cut and see “The Social Network” at an English speaking cinema. We loved the movie and the other five people seemed to like it, too. It wasn’t exactly packed! Going to the movie is a different experience in France in part because the French don’t eat in the theater. They sell very small containers of popcorn and candy but it’s not a focal point of the experience. It’s kinda nice. Oh – and they were putting up Christmas lights. We’re looking forward to our next trip to Aix (Harry Potter) so we can see the city lit for the holidays.

As I continue to learn French, I decided that I should see a French movie. There’s a very small theater in Cotignac which is on the second floor of the Le Grainage, the local meeting hall. Des Hommes and Des Dieux was showing. If you’re not familiar, this movie won one of the top awards at the Cannes Film Festival this year. The dialog seemed slow paced so I decided to give it a try. The movie was playing at 9PM on a rainy Sunday night. So, in one of my less astute moments, I reasoned that no one would be going to this particular screening….a foreign film, on a Sunday night, late, and in the rain. Well – first of all, this is NOT a foreign film in France! Plus, it turns out that the movie is a national hit. I arrived a few minutes before the start to find it completely sold out. Even on my second try and arriving early I only barely got a seat on the front row. The film was very well done and the dialog (of which I could follow a little) was not necessary to the plot, thankfully. There was NO food of any sort in the Cotignac theater, and you could have heard a pin drop during the screening.

The theater in Cotignac is very nice. It is small with plush, red, upholstered seats and a pleasant young man selling tickets at the door. He also runs the projector. Mike and I went there to see The Town – in English with French subtitles. The audience included me and Mike, Catherine (my French teacher), Irene and a friend of theirs. We were chatting away so much so that the projector guy had to ask us to quiet down so he could start the film.

Lastly, I went to see Eat, Pray, Love – in French. It was not crowded at all – but, this time I didn’t do so well. The dialog was very fast and was essential to understanding the message. Luckily I read the book and could follow along but it was clear that I have a long way to go to understand a movie in French. I'm just sure it was a good experience for me!

We’ve been doing a lot of walking now that the weather has cooled down. We made an excursion to the Calanques, the cliffs outside of Cassis on the coast. We visited there with Bobbie and Robert and saw the Calanques by boat, but this time we wanted to walk the trail that skirts the water. It was a beautiful fall day with a clear blue sky. The trail plunges and climbs along the white rocky cliffs. The water has cut dramatic formations into the cliff face so that there was an ever changing vista. The hike was more like a scramble over rocks and boulders, large and small, rough and smooth. And when we reached the overlook, it was worth every step! Sheer, vertical, white rock faces drop straight into the blue Mediterranean. White sailboats and tourist boats puttered along below looking up as we looked down. Birds swooped into their nests inside the rock face and bent green pine trees provided a delicate fragrance and softness to the rocky scene. Families and kids were everywhere out for a walk on a pretty day in France. We hope to go back - with a picnic this time - to soak it up one more time.

Along with the change in season there’s been a change in the available foods, too. We discovered, for example, that we have a pomegranate tree in the back yard! We saw the trees around town but it took a while for us to realize that we were seeing pomegranates. I’ve only seen them stacked up at Whole Foods. Unfortunately, by the time I scrambled up to our tree the fruit was dry and had split. Oh well. Then we noticed trees with large, round, orange fruit - like shiny oranges. The fruit was easy to see since the leaves had fallen and these orange globes were left. It looked like a Halloween tree. They were persimmons. Persimmons! What does one do with a persimmon? You eat it. We bought one at the market and it was very yummy! I’m looking forward to the next one. And rose hips were the other thing we noticed on one of our walks. I'm sure we have them in Annapolis, but here they jumped out at us with their bright red color against the blue sky. It looked like a precursor for Christmas.

And, of course, there are always the wines. We were in the Spar yesterday and the nice, young men invited us to the release of the Beaujolais Nouveau. It was our first invitation so we couldn’t refuse! We trotted down to the Spar in the late morning (how early can one drink red wine?) and the place was buzzing. There was a tent in front of the Spar with a large crowd of people. Everyone shows up for free wine! Plus they had meats, pate, and cheeses, too. Beaujolais was the centerpiece and there were four types to taste including the Georges Duboeuf that we have in the US. I tried them all and we bought a bottle of a type not available in the US. It was an investment of less than 4 euros! Mostly, it was fun to see everyone in such an excited mood. And the Spar guys were selling wine as fast as they could put out the bottles!

Our visit to the Spar wine tasting was on our way to lunch with our rental agent, Ruth. She took us to an authentic French restaurant which is also a bar which is also a tabac! They prepare one item each day and you eat whatever they have. We had roasted pork in a garlic sauce that was excellent. On our way there, we passed a vineyard that was filled with a herd of sheep busily mowing down the grass. There were beaucoup of cute, fuzzy lambs. They were running and romping with their transparent pink ears flopping. We watched them play until we were late for lunch!

While the fall weather has been a delight, we have also taken advantage of our proximity to the Mediterranean. The temperatures are usually warmer there with a greater likelihood of sun. So, on our way back from Milan we stopped for the night at Menton. Menton is barely over the border from Italy. We’ve seen it each of the six times we’ve driven to and from Italy. The landscape along the coast is very hilly with deep ravines that drop down to the coast amidst a backdrop of blue from the Med. Each time we droven by we wondered about the towns long the coast. They looked so charming from the Autoroute that runs high above the valley floor. Here was our chance to find out. We booked a little room in Menton and arrived very late with barely time for dinner and bed. But the next morning the sun was out and so was I. What a treat to run along the promenade by the water and climb the steep hill to the church that overlooks the village and harbor. Blue water, sunny skies, yellow-gold buildings and cozy sailboats tucked into the harbor….ideal. Mike and I spent the morning wandering through the streets and visiting the former summer palace of the Grimaldi (rulers of Monaco) family. It was a lovely little palace. I told Mike that if he was looking for a palace for me this one was just my size – Versailles was just too big. The summer palace is set among an extensive citrus garden. There was row after row of trees - lemons, clementines, mandarin oranges, limes, pomelos, grapefruit, with multiple varieties of each. As we learned, Menton is known for its lemons. They have an annual lemon festival in the late winter. Guess that’s one we’ll have to miss. After browsing their market and buying a sack full of clementines, we headed back to Cotignac.

We’re preparing now for our next guests who will join us for Thanksgiving. More to come on that. In the meantime we send all our love to our friends and family as you celebrate Thanksgiving across the pond. We’ll be thinking of you all!