15 August 2006
We arrived on Saturday night just as the last rays of twilight were fading. Amy had read the information on where we were staying so she navigated through the arch and up the narrow road to Le Grenier, the old grainery. It is a wonderful place, this Cucuron...far from the crowds of the city and we feel like we are the only Americans here…(but probably not…)
The town is a typical medieval town dating back to 1000. Houses have been renovated from the early stone buildings. Our Le Grenier is very modern…Amy is in the loft that looks down on the family room and Jeff and I are down the hall past the kitchen. The bells toll in the bell tower and remind us of the time…however Jeff calculates that they are 1.5 minutes too soon before the hour.
The first day we explored the town…after we slept in. We missed Mass by a half hour to my disappointment…but I thought perhaps there would be mass on the feast of the Assumption of Mary (August 15th). This morning, Tuesday, August 15 I woke at 9 to the sound of the bells…and then at 9:15 heard the distinctive peel of the bells, urging everyone to ge to Mass on time…I guessed right and was there in the third row as Mass began. It was beautiful….and many of the songs and prayers were in Latin so although I did not always know the melody, I could sing along quickly with the Latin of my youth.
Going back to Sunday, we roamed our village but like most French towns, shops are closed on Sundays or very early on Sunday. Monday is the same…so we wandered freely…There are cats and dogs everywhere…it seems at times that the cats are wild…Not too many tourists, very narrow streets with all the essentials…museum, pottery shops (Carlos would love this…), a SPAR market (very small), gift stores, restaurants (very expensive…). At the town center, we found an antique show so we wandered around and had lunch at a café. My French is coming back but I struggle quite a bit. If you make an effort, the French are delighted…and so many of them speak a little English. .
There is no wireless here nor is there an Internet café. Part of the problem is that if someone has wireless, these medieval walls are so thick that we cannot pick up the signal. We took off for Pertuis where there is an Internet café…but neither of us thought to bring the address…so we could not find it…we checked out where the Hyper Market was so that we could come back on Monday. We found a man selling delicious melons but he side of the road… When we returned, Jeff and I went to the church at 6 pm for an organ and violin concert while Amy made a wonderful dinner (pasta and mushrooms, caprese salad, and baguettes. It was delicious!
Monday…
Exploration day! We went down to the local bakery and bought some baguettes and croissants for breakfast (I am now on the all carb diet with some restraint…) and we made sandwiches to take with us on our journey. We traveled south to Cadenet where there are an extensive open market (just about anything you could think of…fabrics, linens, shoes, buckets of olives, cheeses, meats, etc.) We then headed north toward Apt and visited many hillside Luberon medieval towns (Gordes, St.Saturnin, Apt) and then we came back to Pertuis to do our marketing. It is quite an experience…We purchased roasted chicken and some lamb and then come home to our sweet village. It felt wonderful. After dinner, we walked to the donjon, the highest point in the village where the remains of the castle still stand. The sun was setting and it was a beautiful view looking down on the hilltops. We are so happy here but we fell a little “disconnected” since we do not have Internet. The cyber creatures we are!
We are so thankful that we spent so many days with Mary…there are so many little things we picked up that made our visit here so much easier…there are troglygdytes around the corner from us…more about that later…
We leave here for Munich on Thursday…and will arrive on Friday at 11 for the birthday brunch. We will call home today as well as call Bernd and Gabi to tell them of our progress…
Mary Ann
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