A few thoughts on what has changed and what has stayed the same in Provence over the last 30 years, since our first visit and the publication of A Year in Provence
Category: Life in general
There are advantages to being a ‘morning-person’
Today was always going to involve an early start, but as ever we managed to wake before the alarm and were dressed in minutes, heading out of the hotel to walk to the Gare de Nord for the start of what will be Andy’s busiest travelling day yet. Our plans this year have shifted, settled…
And so begins this wonderful adventure
A couple of days ago I was sat with a friend, drinking tea and chatting about some of the things we will be doing this year saying that it will be ‘interesting’ to say the least. She smiled and said that her idea of interesting is visiting a museum or looking at some art, a…
Beating the January Blues in Provence
I have to start by saying that I really dislike January. I know it’s a a quiet time of year after the excesses of Christmas and a time for looking forward to the year ahead, also my birthday happens to fall within it too, but I still find it the most depressing of months. Despite…
Travelling to Provence is never boring… A mad dash through the streets of Paris…
Today started early, with my body-clock waking me at 3.57am, rather than the alarm, which was set for 3 minutes later… In fact I am starting to wonder why I bother to set an alarm in the first place. I must admit though, even 3.57 felt like a lie-in, as after many years of having…
When the day doesn’t go as planned……
I had yesterday planned out in my mind and very lovely it was going to be too…. An early start, with my silver-buying head on, to go to the Deballage (Unwrapping) at Avignon. This is a regular event run for professionals only to buy from dealers and I had finally got the necessary paperwork to…
Settling in after a few weeks away…..
Time is a very strange thing indeed, I have been back in the UK for less than 4 weeks and although the time has flown by, it feels as if I have been away from France for so much longer. I am sure there is some psychological explanation for this, but I wouldn’t have any…
The sweet shift of summer towards autumn….
Bizarrely we sense and feel the changing seasons more in Provence than we do in Devon. Back in Exeter the proximity to the sea seems to soften the edges of summer as it shifts into autumn and likewise, autumn into winter. That’s not the case here and today it was almost as if someone had…
Day 2 & 3.. 24 hours in Paris…. Footsore, but what a day!
After a great day in Portobello Road, we arrived in Paris to a dramatic downpour, with the roads and pavements turning into rivers as we walked to our hotel in Montmartre. Hardly the balmy, sunlit stroll along the Parisian streets that we had hoped for…. More a saturating dash, ending with us wringing the water…
Back to Provence…. Day 1… Exeter to Paris via Portobello Road Market
I honestly thought we’d tried all possible options to get back to Provence, but it appears now that we may have found another route that is a bit bonkers, but seems (so far) to have been quite fun. This time we have incorporated a couple of market visits into the trip, which has not only…
