Larry: thank you so much for both of the informations. Next year I will be in Provence and after that I think that my French might be good enough to take that class. It also looked like something I would love to do by myself in the winter. I saw snow in thier pictures and it looks beautiful!

Lovely report! We vacation in Bonnieux every summer so this was like a mini-break. I miss it so. Loved reading about some other restaurants! I adore Le Fournil and the pizzas at La Flambee but have never tried Le Tinel (though their ice cream is superb, especially the vanilla). La Gare sounds great, too. You don't mention the Friday market -- my favorite part of staying IN Bonnieux!

Petitepois wrote:

<i>&quot;You don't mention the Friday market -- my favorite part of staying IN Bonnieux!&quot;</i>

This may seem odd, but it never even occurred to us to check out the market day in Bonnieux. We visited the really large market in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue on our second day in Bonnieux, and then planned to return there two more times.

The booklet the apartment gave us included a sheet listing all the local markets by day. It seemed there were almost a dozen each day of the week, but the sheet didn't distinguish the really large ones from the small ones. On an earlier trip, we happened on a market in Lacoste, and it was really tiny - only five or six vendors.

On this trip, we set out to see the market in nearby Goult, but it wasn't there on the day we expected. We stumbled onto markets in Lourmarin and Coustelet and Gordes. We knew we were going to Aix-en-Provence on a market day, although that was not our main focus in visiting.

But somehow, in three weeks, we never thought to even look at the market in Bonnieux. Maybe next time.

A Google search on &quot;Markets in Provence&quot; gives sites that list market days by town:

http://www.provencelive.com/practica...et/market.html

... and sites that give markets by the day of the week:

http://www.mas-la-monaque.com/markets/

But neither of these lists Bonnieux. It's easy to find other similar sites.

To all who enjoyed the report: thanks for posting and letting us know.

- Larry

bookmarking, watching football now!

I'll be watching football soon. Good grief, I'm in New England, and the Patriots / Indianapolis game, which may well be the best of the season, starts in 40 minutes.

But really, Margie is the big football fan of our household. She attended Syracuse in the era of John Hanna and Bo Nance. When there was a game, the library closed. I just go along for the ride.

When we were in France, the World Cup Rugby finals were going on. The apartment building was full of people from Australia and New Zealand, some of whom wouldn't go out when there was an important match being televised. Some were attending matches in nearby Marseilles, and then going up to Paris for the finals.

We watched a bit of rugby on TV, but since we don't understand it at all, we really didn't have a clue as to what was going on. It reminded me of a Rita Rudner joke about American football. Rita married an English man, and when they watched their first American football match together on TV, Rita noted, &quot;He didn't know the rules, so I could tell him anything I wanted. At half time, I told him it was over.&quot;

- Larry

Ha, we also watched some of the Rugby playoffs while we were in France in September! We tried to figure it out. The big England vs. France game was on when we returned to Cincinnati. We watched it at an Irish pub here, and were surprised how many French people were living in our city!

Our football team lost again, but we're for Indy to beat your New England team now!

Thanks for your great report. I'm sure to use some of the great info during our 2 week stay in a gite in Provence next summer!

larry,

i enjoyed reading your trip report. i hope you don't mind my asking, i'm curious, the tablecloth you bought at L'Isle-sur-le Sorgue, is it antique? We are planning to visit the market hopefully w/in the next 2 years, and I wonder if the antiques are reasonably priced so I don't set myself up for disappointment in setting my hopes on buying a piece or two there of something that i can put in my living room.

when we visited st remy in 2004, we visited the asylum where van gogh stayed during his illness. there is an art gallery within the asylum that sells paintings by some of their residents and students at their art therapy class( not sure if they were inpatients or students coming in during the day.) did you make it here? thanks again for a wonderful report.

Larry's watching our Patriots play.
The antique tablecloths are expensive,you'll do better at a smaller flea market like the Saturday one in Villneuve-lez-Avignon.

Congratulations Patriot fans:)

Thanks Images but it was close but Colts played wwell.

Hi, flyme2themoon,

No, the tablecloth we bought at L'Isle-sur-le-Sorgue is not antique. It's a modern Jacquard loom tablecloth in a Provincial pattern. The L'Isle-sur-le-Sorgue market is in general known for antiques, and we did see some antique tablecloths for sale there. But Margie and I are not experts in antiques, and would be reluctant to try to judge value in that area. Based on past experience, cigalechanta is probably giving you good advice.

We also visited St. Remy in 2004, and saw the asylum where Van Gogh stayed during his illness. We went there in part because we accidentally visited on a Monday, and Glanum was closed. We found the asylum quite interesting. On this trip, we toured the Roman ruins of Glanum, and didn't return to the asylum.

- Larry

Gak!

That's L'Isle-sur-<b><i>la</i></b>-Sorgue, of course.

The road signs actually couldn't agree on whether it was L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue or just Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, without the article. Maybe it just depended on how much room there was on the sign.

- Larry

another excuse to top Larry's wondrful trip report.
Look for the treated cotton tablecloths that can be sponged clean and also put in the wash. I use them all the time after spending so much money on tablecloths and the stains would not wash off.
You can buy on line but much more expensive.

cigalechanta,

are you referring to those &quot;plastifique&quot; tablecloths? (US translation: rubberized) i bought some during our 2004 visit to Provence and regretted that I hadn't bought 2 spares. the tablecloth has a provencal pattern, and i can wipe off just about anything that spills into it bec it has that repellant quality.
btw, tablecloths or tableclothes for plural?

the tablecloth is indeed a very good excuse to return to Provence. i bought my plastifique at the Aix market and some of the pattern come with matching seat cushions, place mats, napkins. really nice.

tablecloths coated not rubberized:
The best stain-resistant tablecloth I’ve seen since oilcloth went out of fashion comes in the vivid colors of Provence. The acrylic-coated cotton fabric can be wiped off with a sponge. I used one all summer on my patio table and never had to change it. (but beware of wet leaves that leave stains) The cloths come in many colors and sizes and I bought a few from www.colorsofprovence.com
I do have the real oilcloth that I bought at the Vermont country store
in a blue/white check.

TTT

BUMP

I just noticed that earlier in this thread, I gave the URL for a trip report that I posted on my own personal web site (in addition to this one on the Forum). This reports on our previous (2004) experience studying French at <i>L'Ecole des Trois Ponts</i> in Roanne. The web-site version has the advantage of having photographs. That web page is now being moved to a new location:

http://ljkrakauer.com/france04/

The old Comcast URL will eventually stop working. I closed the account today but I have no idea if it will disappear tomorrow, or in 30 days, or who knows when.

Larry

Topping this wonderful trip report. I've already put in an order for the Luberon guidebook mentioned.

I noticed in reading their website that the authors have met local friends of mine who operate a small European touring company in France and Italy, what a small world!

Hi Larry and Margie, from a former New Englander:

<i>and then headed out to Buoux, where we had a nice lunch at the Auberge de la Loube.</i>

As you can see, I'm still following your detailed info table!

I was pleased to see your mention of the Auberge in Buoux. We first visited while on "The Peter Mayle Trayle"...that's how we heard about Maurice and the Auberge...does he still deliver a wicker basket of hors d'ouevres ? He also tutored Roz and me on the pronunciation! You've made it even clearer.

Happy travels..once gain, thank you for the very helpful service you provided (italics, bold, underline, etc)..

Stu T.