Day Six - French Adventure

Breakfast each morning was sitting at this table.

The jars held granola and toasty nuts for our yogurt.

So very special to sit at her table.

Then a few more sights in her home.

Could I have carried an angel like this home on the airplane? Smiling!!

 

And off we went to Marseille.

A flea market near the sea in Marseille.

By now I was shopped out. There were some temptations, but I just looked.

My picture doesn't do the striped dress justice, but I was tempted to buy it for a friend that sells vintage clothing. It was quite beautiful.

This might sound silly, but I had been dreaming for months of once more having a nibble or two in a French patisserie and here it was. Oh the delights to the eyes!!! And then to the tummy!

Our group sharing this time together. What a special group of women.

And lunch was a French baguette, which was a dream come true with butter, thin slices of ham (jambon) and cheese. Why, oh why can't we get a baguette such as this in the US? Then a cream layered dessert just to top off the visit to the patisserie. I chose the most typical treats that represented France to me. They will always sit in my memory as delights to my heart.

Well after lunch comes dinner. This was a lasagna noodle with pesto, peas, and a creamy cheese. Now I am not a huge pea fan, but the way Corey cooked them and served them with the creamy cheese just made them delicious. Thanks, Corey, for the most gorgeous, amazing meals.

Tomorrow is the final day of my French adventure. In a future post I will share pictures of a few of my purchases.

Sending love,

Marilyn

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