Day 7

Day 7

Our last morning in Grenoble after five lovely nights at the Hotel d’Europe…we’d definitely stay there again, spacious rooms, ideally located, very friendly staff.

We packed up our bags and walked to the nearby Café Marais where we had eaten lunch on Monday.   OJ, café au lait,  and the best pain au chocolat we had in France so far.

Leaving the Café, I went straight to the parking garage to get our car, a Renault Captur, while Joni chatted with the concierge at the hotel who quickly revealed her life story to her. The concierge lived in West Bloomflield while working as a nanny. She quit her first job in Michigan when the husband, as he browsed through a Victoria’s Secrets catalog, asked her how much she’d want to be paid to wear this?  She replied, “you’re not rich enough”, and then quit.

Leaving Grenoble we took the highway south toward our destination in Provence.  After about 90 minutes of high speed highway driving we exited north of the city of Orange and followed beautiful back roads through wine country along the northern side of Mont Ventoux. It was hard to keep my eyes on the road.

We stopped for lunch in the village of Sault, one of our favorite villages in all of Frannce, which is in the center of lavender country.  

After enjoying a delicious lunch Joni shopped while I read the paper and  enjoyed another  coffee.

From Sault, we had another short drive to the atelier of a potter from whom we have been purchasing dishes for ten years.  The potter had relocated two years ago, and we couldn’t find her shop last year during our visit to the area.  That caused us great panic since we’d broken some pieces and needed to replace them. Thanks to the internet and email I was able to track her down, and we finally found her shop after almost giving up.

We finally arrived our B&B, Le Mas Perreal, in Saint Saturnin-les-Apt around 4 pm.   This is our sixth time staying with Kevin and Elisabeth, so we greeted each other like old friends.  After enjoying ice cold Perriers on the patio outside our room, we unpacked, napped for an hour or so, then showered, and eventually headed to the nearby village of Villars for our 8 pm dinner reservation.

Villars is a tiny village, but they were holding their annual summer festival complete with carnival booths and a DJ, so the road approaching the village was jammed with park cars.  

The restaurant , La Fountain, is run by one family; the father is the host the mother is the chef, and their teenage daughter is the waitress.  Located in the center of the village, the restaurant was in the center of the festival, recreating for Joni and me a scene right out of the movie A Good Year,  a light romantic comedy starring Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard.   

Our dinner was delicious; we’ve eaten here for our first night in Provence for our past six visits.  

Yes we’re creatures of habit.