Erica

We will be traveling first to Wengen, Switzerland and then on to the Italian Riviera. Obviously the clothes etc. we need for Switzerland will be very different than for Italy. I am thinking we might send a package with clothes home to the US. Is that feasible? I notice that Wengen does have a Post Office. Would the cost be prohibitive? Thanks for any suggestions.

mimi taylor

I don't think I could help you alot but for a small box of dirty clothes I ship home so I can fit my bottles of olive oil costs about 25 dollars from France. But my clothes are chosen for their light weight, gauze, linen, nylon.

Carol

Mimi, I always liked your e-mail name. If you're still reading this, would you tell me whether "chanta" in your e-mail name is Provençal for "chante"? (One of my alter-egos is "l'héron vert" which might eat your "cigale" or use it as bait to catch a fish.)

mimi taylor

For Carol: It means singing cigale. I collect cigales(cicadas) one of the symbols of Provence as is the olive, pine they live on. It is difficult to find old ones. I have a small wall with them perched. An old wall vase carved in wood, and an old metal ink well that has the cigale perched and the ink well cap has the engraving of the sunflower, another popular provence motif. This is my real email if you too truly love provence.

carol

I know that's what it means, but I was wondering if "chanta" (rather the French than "chante") is a Provençal word. Just curious about Provençal language. Last year I was in Les Eyzies de Tayac after an annual Occitan festival and there were still many signs up in Occitan. I had a good time trying to read them and comparing the words to French and Italian as well as to Spanish which I hardly know at all.

cmt

Also, while on this topic, I was wondering WHY the cigale is a symbol of Provence. I noticed so many little cigale items in Provence, yet didn't notice the actual live insect when I was there. (At first I thought they were crickets rather than cicadas--close, I guess.)

Chris

Carol <BR> <BR>Break it up: "cigale chant a hotmail.com." The cigale sings at hotmail.com. <BR> <BR>That's how I've always translated it anyway.

Carol

OK, You can send clothes home. I did it from Paris on my last trip. The post office sold everything I needed and it was affordable. I sent it the cheapest method which they told me would take 4 weeks, but the things were waiting on me one week later! <BR> <BR>You need to mark the box as laundry to avoid customs!

PB

cmt: <BR>&lt; &lt; Also, while on this topic, I was wondering WHY the cigale is a symbol of Provence.&gt; &gt; <BR> <BR>I'm not sure why... whenever I ask, I get one of those answers, "parce-que" ("because"). Probably because we have so many of them. I'm listening to them "chantent" as I write this. The cigale is the symbol of happiness. <BR> <BR>For true Provençal good luck one needs to attract an owl. When you drive through the villages, you might notice a small piece of tile protruding from the peak of a house's roof.... many architect's designed their own. This is an "owl rest" - the theory being that if you can attract an owl to your house you will always have good luck. I had an enormous owl living in one of my barns when I first came here - my neighbor was quite envious. <BR> <BR>PB

Christina

I just returned from Provence and saw and heard them a lot where I was--maybe you were only in the cities? Patricia, do you know where the slang "c'est chouette" comes from? I seemed to hear that, is this a new thing? Wondered if it was related to the good luck thing.

cmt

PB, they are smart to consider themselves lucky when an owl is around. In NJ, people with city mentality want a house with the look of the country, but then are afraid when there's an owl on their property, call an exterminator because they see bats around their roof or a single snake along the edge of their backyard, and get out the bug spray when there are spiders near their front door and tiny wasps in their vegetable patch. Once rid of owls, bats, the lone snake, the outdoor spiders and the tiny wasps, they shouldn't be surprised if they're overrun by rats and mice and mosquitoes and flies and their vegetables get chewed by crawly insects. <BR> <BR>Christina, no, I was in the country half the time, in towns the other half. I don't mean I heard NONE, but I didn't hear/see any more than at home (and not as many as at home at certain times of certain years), so still wondered why they were so much associated with Provence.

Danna

Erica, we sent back 2 packages from our 4 week trip. We sent back brochures, plastic bags (we are very cheap souveniorers) and the books we didn't need and gifts we got to that point. We couldn't mail whiskey from Scotland, but the perfume was acceptable. We got these packages about a month after we returned and loved it. It was like Christmas, we got to see what we had accrued to that date. Not terribly unreasonable rate. Have Fun!

mimi taylor

A few years ago We went to the new Colette mueum in her village and spent the previous night at Lesli Caron's hotel on the Yonne the Auberge la Lucarne aux Chouettes. When I enquired if there were owls in the area, no one seemed to know.