Saturday morning arrived very early, so to compensate, we arose very late and didn't manage to organize ourselves and leave for the day until well after 11:00. A bright sunny day with a brisk nippy little breeze, a very good day for walking so the plan was to explore the Marais with, en route, a visit to the Pompidou Centre. On our way to Boulevard de Sébastopol, the main artery along which we had planned to begin our walk, we discovered and wandered through the Passage du Grand Cerf, a very elegant glass roofed passageway of about 100 metres linking two roads and lined with very interesting shops. At the end of the passage was an attractive little café, Le Pas Sage, where we decided to stop for lunch; appearances can be deceiving unfortunately and the dishes were ambitious failures, not ordinary or boring but examples of creativity getting ahead of technique and skill....

Up early on Thursday morning, packed and enjoyed the suddenly ever-present sunshine. Our TGV to Paris is at 11:45 so left about 10:15 and ambled our way to the train station bought some sandwiches for the trip, and relaxed on the platform until the train arrived. Our luggage, like us, has gained considerable weight since we arrived. My two bottles of pinot, V's very large earthenware jug a duplicate of which she had admired at La Cloiserie and tracked down at a local store, and multiple acquisitions both large and small. Coming down from the airport last week we had taken two first class seats which, since the train is a two story affair, were on an upper level. Going back up to Paris we were on 2'nd class tickets which are on the lower level of the train which makes stowing luggage much easier, and apart from the difference in altitude, there really is not much difference in the classes; such is not always the case....

Yesterday's red sky at night was a snare and a delusion; could hear the rain drumming on the roof overnight and it greeted us when we rose to start the day. There are a number of villages perchés, old medieval towns built on the heights of the highlands in the region that we have been wanting to visit, but had delayed since there was not much point of driving up in the rain only to be greeted by cloud-covered vistas when we reached the top, but since today was our last day we decided to go anyway. Chugged our way up the hills to Bonnieux, where there was a restaurant that had been recommended and arrived at its doors as the town clock struck twelve. The restaurant was not yet open but fortunately we stuck our head in the door and made a reservation for 12:30 when it opened. I say fortunately because, as it was May Day and a holiday, the town was full and when we returned at 12:30 for our table, the place was packed and people were being turned away....

Monday was an "offal" day, both dining and weather. Rain once again but we decided to drive to Lourmarin for lunch, wander and explore. We went back to the little brasserie where we had lunched on Friday and since we were returning to La Cloiserie in Ansouis for dinner we did not want a three course set menu for lunch but simply one dish from the carte. I ordered an anduilette and a beer, still more food than was necessary, but....

Saturday morning dawned grey, fog-shrouded and cold, continuous, unremitting and relentless rain.

A slight digression here; in the last couple of months we have become great fans of the Nespresso coffee system. Small counter-top footprint, very easy to use and really good coffee. Our little house here has a machine and our hosts had generously left us a couple of sleeves of coffee with 10 Nespresso capsules in each....

Beginning a new format for the blog today. Virginia has not had an opportunity to add her share of insights and observations to my jottings so, from today we will be adding some "She said" sections so that all points of view can be represented....

Yesterday was, for the most part, cloudy, overcast and periodically threatening but today dawned hot, bright and sunny.

We had originally planned to spend the day in Aix but the weather was so charming that we decided on a drive to Cassis for lunch. My only previous knowledge of Cassis was as the critical ingredient in a Kir Royale but the town, as we discovered, is an extremely pleasant place to spend a sunny afternoon, on the water with massive headlands and cliffs directly behind the town....

Today is our first full day in Les Roux, a very small hamlet of 59 inhabitants located between Peypin-d'Aigues and La Motte-d'Aigues two slightly larger villages about 30k from Aix-en-Provence.

Red-eye flight from Toronto to Paris, a 2 hour wait at the CDG TGV station at the airport, a 3.5 hour train ride and, after picking up our car, a very kicky little Peugeot, an hours drive through the countryside being misled by the GPS which didn't know the location of our village any more than we did. Fortunately we had arranged with the caretaker of the property to meet us at a little village that the GPS could find who led us to our home for the next 10 days...