Out and About in Saint Rémy de Provence

Sunday, 8th of September ...

Our first full day in Saint Rémy de Provence. 

We all awoke fresh after a good night’s sleep in our super comfortable beds/ bedrooms.

Today we ventured out to explore/ familiarize ourselves with the town. 

Our location is primo with easy access to everything Saint Rémy de Provence has to offer. It’s just a few steps down our lane to the Main Street ... ring road circles the Centre with many pedestrian streets in the interior.

                                  

                                                     

The beautiful lanes are lined with fantastic boutiques, speciality shoppes selling everything from sweet smelling aromatics to sweet tasting treats! 

                                                   



Here we were tempted by free tastings ... nougat anyone? 

Madame Susan’s sweet tooth was intrigued and she purchased a sliver that became a slab for €17.

This was reminiscent of our first experience purchasing cheese at a market ... where the seller offered us “Un petite goût”! A small taste was a very expensive experience and we still talk about the “ Golden cheese”! 

Now we can regale our friends with the “Golden Nugget”story. 

                   

Every so often we lost “Les Monsieurs” as they lusted over various automobiles! 

Nostradamus is everywhere ... here he is sitting in the window.


              

Ah Monsieurs do you want a pedicure? ... 

Les poisson dit “mais non! The fish said “but no”! 
 

What’s the libation / aperitif of the day? 



A ricard for the men, « kir pour moi et une Biere pour Madame Susan »!
  


Time for lunch at the Brassiere du Commerce overlooking the Place de la Republique facing the carousel. 

Team Monsieur chose the lamb as their main course, their entree was a delicious pâté plus dessert! 

Les Madames selected the fish dinner.

Back to the comfort of our « Home Away from Home » at Mas d’Oscar for an afternoon of rest, relaxation and sunshine! 

Tîme for me to get my book / iPad and join everyone ... the view from my bedroom down below to the courtyard!

Tonight’s  light dinner ...  was delicious and even  better because our «  Monsieurs « the loves of our lives had prepared this tasty meal of nibbles!

                                        

Finally time to say “bon nuit” from Saint Rémy de Provence! 
 



 

Are We There Yet?

We each left our homes Friday, September 6th, 2019 from different directions heading to the airport with one detour into Guelph for the Brennans so Sheila and Walter could vacation with their foster parents, Julie & Lisa.

We arrived within a half an hour of each other.  Checkin, baggage drop off, security screening all went smoothly (also known as slick) for both couples. 

We met at our departure gate, then it was time for some refreshments & a bite to eat. 

Our travel day aka ...  “Hurry Up & Wait Day” certainly held up to it’s name! 

Toronto’s departure went off without a hitch. 

On arrival in Montreal we were held on the tarmac waiting for a gate! 

At least 45 minutes!

Passengers with connecting flights including us were anxious that they would miss their connection. 

Also, would our luggage make the connection? 

Credit cards were at the ready to buy the necessary items, underwear, etc!

Finally, we disembarked in Montreal (our 2-hour plus layover had quickly disappeared) ... 

Our connecting flight was boarding in minutes at the furthest gate from where we had disembarked! 

Hurry up! 

Ah we made it!  Finally time for take off and away we go! 

We landed in Barcelona on time along with 1000s of others. 

I’m not  sure how many planes had arrived, but passport control was backed up and more travellers kept descending from the escalator to customs.

We lined up weaving in and around the roped off areas just like cattle lines. 

Passports stamped and entry permitted, next stop baggage pickup! 

The delay at customs had it’s advantages ... our luggage  was waiting for us at the carousel! 

Hurray, now off to pickup our car. 

This did not go so smoothly. 

Once all sorted we were on our way for the anticipated four and a half drive to Saint Remy-de-Provence. 

 Only one short pit stop on the way for a quick sandwich and we finally arrived at 6:30PM.

With a couple turns around the ring road not finding our destination, we just parked and called Genevieve and set out on foot looking for the lady in the white dress (one of many ladies in white)!

After meeting Genevieve our landlady and an introduction to Mas d’Oscar, the four of us walked two minutes to our local supermarket for some immediate provisions ... wine, bread, cheese and a few other necessities.

Our first apero night! 

Les Monsieurs ...

Monsieur Mark 


Monsieur Honey 
 

After 36 hours of travel time (mostly awake) we were off to sleep. 

Goodnight everyone! 

Tomorrow we will be off to discover the town. 

A Rendezvous in France

#frenchtravels#southoffrance#friends

#castledurham

This adventure has been in the planning stages for many, many years.

Early September 2006 on the Labour Day Weekend we held a 3-Day “Garage/Yard Sale” with the added twist of an Open House to see if we could find an interested buyer for our cherished homestead lovingly named “Castle Durham”. 

A car load of four (two couples) stopped by looking to see what treasures we had on offer. 

Monsieur Honey was the saleman.

After some small talk, we learned that the wife and the other couple were/ had been teachers. 

You see “Castle Durham” is a renovated one room stone school house originally built in 1874 (by Canadian standards that’s old). 

I offered a tour of the gardens and later inside the old schoolhouse.

To make the long story short we found the perfect couple to buy our old homestead and we became great friends. 

Over the years we have shared stories of our travels and our friends M & S always told us when they retired they wanted to travel to Europe with us. 

Well it is now finally happening. 

We’re down to counting the sleeps until we depart! 

Stay tuned to follow us as we share our love of France and Spain with our friends.