Day Five - French Adventure

Another peak into Corey's beautiful home.

 And then we were off to Villeneuve.

Now this market was truly an antique fair. So many beautiful things with each vendor.

I did buy a couple things here. I bought a ramie/linen bed sheet with my initials embroidered. It came from a linen collection found in a chateau. I also found a wonderful original pencil drawing of a Provincial woman and two children. I will share a few pictures in a later post.

And layers of color. This vendor dyed vintage linens in the most gorgeous colors.

And what a gorgeous village surrounding the brocante.

After I was shopped out, I sat with a couple fellow tour members and we had a lovely chat with a couple from the Netherlands in a nearby cafe. They come every year for this sale. I always love the connections with people when I travel and this was special.

And then it was time to walk to the restaurant for lunch. But first a stop at this gorgeous flower shop.

 

And then it was lunch time.

Corey took this picture, but I wanted to included it here.

The women behind me in the background was Sharon Santoni, the editor and creator of The French Country Living magazine. She had a tour group at the brocante and then lunch here too. It was fun to meet her and tell her how much I enjoy her magazine.

The woman next to me was Mary, part of our little group.

What lovely ladies I was able to travel with, an amazing treat.

A walk through the village.

An artist painting the above building.

One more stop along the way to check out more treasures.

Here I found a salad fork/spoon to replace my plastic one.

And then another lovely meal.

I wanted to bring home some feves. At the morning brocante Corey bought a box of them for us to dig through. We had so much fun digging and picking out a few treasures to bring home.

Feve is French for fava bean.  The term is also used to describe the small trinket hidden in the king's (epiphany) cake. 

And Day Five is in the bag. Off to bed and another day tomorrow.

Sending love,

Marilyn

Day Four - French Adventure

 Day four took us to Lourmarin Market and lunch.

I was thrilled to see this market once more, as I visited it several years ago and loved it.

This fountain and castle had remained all these years firmly in my heart; so I had to walk to the end of the row of vendors just to see them once more.

From this market I brought home some tapenade, nougat with cherries, fish (cod) pate, and a scarf for my daughter. Oh the flavors of France!!!!

Lunch was in a restaurant next to the market. I had a creamy, lemon pasta that I am still drooling over in my memory of it.

As we were enjoying lunch a woman heard us speaking English and stopped to see where we were from. As we chatted with her I found out she was from Camas, Washington and she knew some of the same places I knew, such as the local antique mall and my church. Small world for sure.

It was a lovely day, returning to a place I quite enjoyed in the past. It sang to my heart for sure.

Sending love,

Marilyn

Day Three - French Adventure

 

Each morning I came down early to sit in the quiet of Corey's kitchen and sip my tea.

Then after breakfast of croissants and yogurt with fruit and nuts, we were off on a new adventure.

The third day was market day in Aix en Provence. There were some booths with antiques, but there was everything from women's clothes, jewelry, soap, books, flowers, and so much more. This day I ended up finding a few clothing items (2 tops and a dress) that I couldn't resist. I also bought some soap; after all, I love French hand soaps. These are a bit smellier than I am used to; so now my bathroom smells like the soap vendors booth.

We stopped for a cold drink here. Isn't it beautiful?

Walking to the van we spotted this red man swimming through the patio.

Delphine's Atelier was the next stop. She had quite a collection of vintage fabrics, which she makes into things to sell. Her home has two rooms set up to market her products, plus other vintage things for sale. The studio is the third room and so fun to hear her passion for what she does.

And again we hopped in the van with one more stop at Corey's friend, Mo's home.

Now Mo is a pottery artist and had quite a collection of her clay pieces in this shed.

I can truly say each piece was a work of art made with a delicate black clay and creamy, white glaze. @Reves D'argile on Instagram

Then we sat at Mo's table for nibbles on the patio before moving indoors for our evening meal.

Often with the evening meal something small is served, which is most delicious. I think "oh good, not too much!" and then more keeps coming.

Plus a dessert to top it off. This was something creamy with burnt spices on top.

It was quite dark in the country side as we traveled back to find our beds for the night. Another special day and more to come.

Sending love,

Marilyn