The drive was long. 10 minutes out of Paris and we hit the traffic. Not good planning I guess, leaving town with the rest of Paris as they migrate south for their annual August holiday. It wasn't too long before we were back up to speed though. 130kms is the speed limit on this toll highway. Nobody goes the speed limit! You need to go 150kms and stay in the slow lane or you are just plain in the way. I can't help being reminded by Johanne's comments yesterday regarding the quality of Paris drivers. I better pay complete attention as virtually every car on the road is coming from Paris.
When you someone passes you here, they like to let you know that you have been passed by seeing how close to my front bumper they can get as they aggressively move back into my lane. Once it was so close I am convinced, we touched! You should have heard the backseat driver's when that happened. Rightly so! I curbed my instant desire to pass him back and cut him off, shoot him the universal peace sign and generally give him the non-verbal head shaking disgusted look. I really, really really wanted to do it. But I have precious cargo and well that is how the 50-50 accidents happen. So I am left with imagining what I am doing to him. Smiling away contently as the kms pass. Other then feeding the toll troll every 20 kms or so, the rest of the trip is uneventful.
The GPS gets us to the street we are looking for in Le Paradou. From there, it is guess work. No one has addresses. Our directions are to turn right at the Post Office... Check.... Drive about 50 metres up the road and look for the sand coloured house with the Blue shutters. OK, easy right? Have you been to Provence? All the houses are sand colour and 80% have Blue shutters, in fact on this street, they all have Blue shutters. We get out and start pressing door bells. No luck. Johanne is now walking the street, a little further up the road,when we spot a woman looking out between the gaps in her rod iron gate. Could this be it......Victory. We have arrived.
After the usual 3 kisses per person... times 4 people... times 2 we have been properly introduced. This is exciting, we are doing our first house exchange. The Galy family is leaving later today for Palm Springs to enjoy our home in Southern California, while we do the same here.
I have one last task, to drive them to the airport in Marseilles in their car with a french GPS! No room for Johanne in the car....I have to manage! Meanwhile, Frederic and Florence, friends of the Galy family from the neighbourhood, have offered to bring Johanne, Mom and Dad to a nearby village to eat. I will meet them there upon my return. Again, traffic was heavy and I made it back much later then expected. Considering I had no idea where I was going, it is somewhat of a miracle it all worked out. Johanne was certain I would never be seen again. So, as I drove down the main street of Maussane looking for them, she practically stopped traffic as she ran out to flag me down.
Day one complete. Tomorrow we shop for essentials and relax for the day before adventuring out to Les Baux, a mere 2 kms away.
First impressions of Provence after the drive through and the first couple of days: The region is to die for! Endless fields of lavender and sunflowers and colourful window shutters everywhere...yellow and blue being the preferred colors for fabrics as well, here. Everyone is very friendly and the warm nights and sunny days are most inviting. The village streets have canopies of trees.....it's like going to a wedding. The shopping for food in the stores and markets is a unique experience ....fresh everything, succulent tomatoes, zucchini, figs, melons, peaches and olive oil from hundreds of producers in the region. The charcuterie is an endless choice of pate, hams. Even the "prepared food to go" like roasted chickens, tapenades (green or black olive paste), ratatouille, bouillabaisse (fish soup) and the wine...OMG! it's cheap to be a wino in France! The whole thing is just like a dream!
For our 3 weeks in Provence, we will change the format a bit and not give an account day by day of our excursions. We will list all the interesting places we visited (with a few anecdotes of course). Life here, is a lot slower, even for us.
Be Well
Sante
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