etty

SELF-CATERING AND HOUSE HUNTING IN THE LUBERON<BR><BR>You will be relieved, I’m sure, to know that I do not intend to give a day-by-day, minute-by-minute account of my week in Provence. Rather, I will hit the highlights.<BR><BR>I first tried house rentals in France in 1996 and loved it. That time I was with friends in the Lot area, near Cahors. Two years ago I organized a trip for a group that varied from 6 to 13 people over the course of a month, Sept. 15 – Oct. 15. We rented houses in the Vosges Mountains near Alsace, Normandy and Provence. I feel that this is, without a doubt, THE best way to get to know an area. I love staying put in one place for at least a week, with no packing and unpacking every few days. I love the extra room you have in a house as opposed to a hotel or B&B. I like doing the shopping and cooking some of the meals at “home.” I like being able to do your laundry at midnight or 6 am if you choose, rather than spending valuable touring time in a laundromat. And, most of all, I like feeling like a part of the community, talking to<BR>neighbors and being recognized in the local shops.<BR><BR>So, when I began to plan this latest trip, I was determined to have my own place for a week in the Lub&eacute;ron, which I fell in love with two years ago. Since I had budgeted for only two weeks that meant a mad dash through the rest of my itinerary, but it was worth it. I also felt that I needed at least a week there to check out possible rentals for my group next June. <BR><BR>So, as soon as I had nailed down my flight (July 28-Aug. 12 was the best I could do), I began my search for a small house or apartment in the Lub&eacute;ron area. I knew that finding an available place for the week of Aug. 3-10 would be difficult at that late date, but I didn’t know just HOW difficult. I must have tried 35-40 different places through a dozen or more websites and kept getting the same response: “Not available.” I was just about to give up and look for a B&B, when I finally got an “Available” from http://www.provence-luberon.net regarding the house in La Tour d’Aigues. There was only one small picture and a very brief description on the site, so I called the owner, Mme. Piechaczek and asked a bunch of questions. She was very patient with me, answering all my questions, and I got good “vibes” from her. The next day I called her back, saying I would take the house. At 274 &euro; for the week I wasn’t expecting much. I sent her a 100 &euro; travelers check as deposit.<BR>

Betty

LUBERON (cont.)<BR><BR>Fortunately, when we arrived at the house, I was pleasantly surprised. The entrance was on a sort of alley (“Impasse”) just off the street. Up a few steps to a little porch with a table and 2 chairs and a railing with roses. The downstairs room, approx. 12’ by 20’, has a kitchen corner (sink, stove, fridge) with adequate pots and pans, a cupboard with plenty of dishes, a table with 4 chairs, a small sofa (loveseat), coffee table, TV (satellite) and a highchair. There are two windows that overlook the street. Up the (rather steep) stairs, there is a large and modern bathroom with tub/shower, sink and toilet and a bedroom with a double bed, a small armoire w/shelves, wall hooks for hanging clothes, bedside tables with lamps, an iron and ironing board. Floors throughout are red terra cotta. There is a parking area a short walk away. A few negatives: no washing machine (but there’s a self-service laundry in town), a good bit of street noise (motorcycles at night, tractors in the morning) and since my street is on a lower level, it’s a pretty steep climb to the main part of town. (After the first night, I decide I’ll drive in!)<BR><BR>La Tour d’Aigues is actually a bit bigger than I had thought. Two main shopping streets, one big caf&eacute; and several smaller ones, a pizzeria (saved me from starving the first night!), a few bakeries, several restaurants, a laundromat, a couple of banks, and its claim to fame, a renaissance ch&acirc;teau in ruins but still used for theatrical and musical presentations. Market days are Tuesday and Thursday (smaller). Quite a nice little town. Pertuis, 5 km. away, is much bigger with lots of good shopping and a huge market on Fridays. There is also a handy Cybercaf&eacute; with reasonable rates, but odd hours.<BR>

Betty

LUBERON (cont.)<BR><BR>So, how did I spend my days? Mostly driving around looking for houses I’d seen on the net, talking to people about other possible rentals, doing some shopping (I needed to buy tablecloths for a friend and a wedding present for another) and doing some e-mailing home. The house hunting was frustrating because often there was no answer at the phone nos. given on the site or the houses were rented and owners did not want me disturbing the current renters. I was able to drive by a few and get some sense of whether they would be good for my group and, thanks to an agency in Lourmarin, I was able to see inside one large house in M&eacute;rindol. The British owners were there and kindly agreed to let me have a look. I had especially wanted to see a couple of houses near Saignon that I had found on the net, one that would sleep up to 10 and the other 6. I called the number given, no answer. Left a message. Called again, no answer. Left a message with my cell phone no. No response. Tried to find the houses on my own. No luck. Finally found another no. for the owner. She had received my other messages but hadn’t bothered to respond since they had lots of requests for the houses and, besides, they were already rented for next June. I got the distinct impression that she just didn’t want to bother with me. So I never got to see those houses. What a disappointment! I left my name and e-mail address with a couple of agencies who said they would get in touch if they had something that would suit my needs.<BR><BR>Although the house hunting was a bit frustrating (kind of like swimming through molasses), it was not a total loss. I really got to know that mountain, north and south. I must have visited, stopped in or driven by two dozen or more villages. And I had some interesting experiences, like talking to the guys at the lavender distillery at Les Agnels or discovering that the owner of a shop in Saignon knew some people that live about 30 miles from me in SC or talking with an American woman, married to a Frenchman, who ran a caf&eacute; in Reillane. <BR><BR>Everything seems to take twice the time you think it will. Midday shop and office closings (often 12 – 3 pm), twisty mountain roads and crossing the mountain from north to south, or vice versa: all gobbled up time. There are two decent roads that cross the Lub&eacute;ron Mountain: toward the west, from Lourmarin to Apt and further east, from La Bastide des Jourdans toward Reillane. Either route takes at least 30 minutes and getting from La Tour d’Aigues to those crossing points took at least another 20. So it took the better part of an hour to get from where I was staying on the south side of the mountain to the towns and villages (Apt, Saignon, Bonnieux, C&eacute;reste) on the north side; and another hour or so to get back. <BR>

Betty

LUBERON (final)<BR><BR>Still, I’m glad I did this. If, in the next few months, I discover an interesting property in Grambois or Ansouis or Lauris or Gargas, I will know something about where that is and how easy or difficult it may be to get from there to other places I want to visit.<BR><BR>The shopping part was fun. I bought a tablecloth at the market in Lauris, and material for two others at the market in Pertuis and a shop in Apt. Also in Pertuis, but in a nice shop, I bought my wedding present: a “service petit d&eacute;jeuner,” the big cups and saucers for morning coffee (they have daisies with the French phrases that are the equivalent of “he loves me, he loves me not,”) and a tea towel in Proven&ccedil;al blue and yellow with an excerpt from a Verlaine poem. I had already bought some napkins in La Tour with similar colors. I plan to put all this in a basket with some French coffee, jams and a jar of lavender honey. I think my French teacher friend will be happy to receive this. In the same shop in Pertuis, I also bought myself a demitasse cup to add to my collection. This assumes that they will all arrive unharmed in the package I mailed from Pertuis. I simply did not have room for all this in my two small pieces of luggage. I also threw in some books I bought and most of the brochures I had collected over the two weeks. I sure hope it all makes it. It cost me over 50&euro; to mail the 6-7 kg. package and that was “&eacute;conomique”! They said it should arrive in about two weeks. That would be today. We’ll see.<BR><BR>Finding an Internet caf&eacute; in the Lub&eacute;ron was not easy. Two years ago I had used one in Apt that was inexpensive and very handy. When I returned there this time, it was, of course, closed. I was told that there was one in Gargas. Not! I found one at the M&eacute;diath&egrave;que in C&eacute;reste and paid 8 &euro; to use it for about an hour. After I had finished the lady told me that I could have composed my e-mails on Word for free and then just pasted them to Yahoo e-mail! Thanks for telling me now! I also wasted another 7&euro; at the post office in Apt to buy a card that gave access to their one computer. After finally getting on to Yahoo e-mail I found that it would not accept my ID or password – something about it not accepting cookies. So I was glad to finally find the one in Pertuis, “La Cave aux Loups,” that was easy and not expensive, something like 5 &euro; for an hour. <BR><BR>I wish I had planned for two weeks in Provence rather than just one, but if I had, I would probably have wanted three. One valuable lesson I learned was that I don’t want to go back in August. Another thing that slowed me down was all the traffic and trying to find a place to park. Even walking through the streets of Apt was difficult with the crowds. I thought about going back to Roussillon, but having been there in October of 2000 and having had some trouble finding a parking space then, I knew it would be impossible in August. I hope next June will be easier. Someone along the way told me that June is actually better than May, because of all the school holidays in May. And, of course, by July the summer vacationers start coming in. So, we’ll see. Wish me luck!<BR>

Betty

CLOTHES AND PACKING<BR><BR>I am not the type to obsess over clothes. I took pretty much what I would wear at home: 4 prs. lightweight slacks, 1 skirt, ½ dozen interchangeable tops, a lightweight jacket, 1 pr. black Easy Spirit tennis shoes, 2 prs. sandals (1 black, 1 navy). I will admit to one stupid neophyte’s mistake: I bought the black sandals just a couple of days before I left and had not worn them. They were also Easy Spirits and I’ve always had good luck with them. Not this time! I wore them to dinner the first night in Paris and thought I would have to get a taxi to make it back to my hotel a few blocks away. I had to buy another pair in Paris. Luckily, I happened upon the end of the sales period and was able to buy a pair of Clarks at a shoe store on rue Cler for a decent price. Those Easy Spirit sandals stayed in my car until I left Provence, when I mailed them home with my purchases. Maybe I can get them to work if I have them stretched a bit. Just couldn’t bring myself to throw them away. It took the rest of my time in France for my toes to heal. Never again! <BR><BR>Since clothes are not very important to me, I tend not to pay much attention to what others are wearing, either. But after all the discussions on this board, I did notice a bit more. One day while sitting at a caf&eacute; in Lourmarin, I amused myself by taking note of what people were wearing. I saw just about everything imaginable. Lots of shorts on people of all ages, male and female, French or otherwise. Caps, sunhats, halter tops, tank tops, jeans, fanny packs, white tennis shoes, you name it. Of course, this is somewhat of a resort area, so I guess you would expect that. I don’t recall seeing any shorts in the larger towns and cities, however. Conclusion: wear whatever makes you comfortable. No one else will take the slightest notice.<BR><BR>Although I have long been a proponent of using ziploc bags for small items, toiletries, medicines, wet wash cloths, etc., this was the first time I tried using the larger ones for packing clothes. I used the gallon size Glad freezer bags (a bit sturdier) and was able to get a couple of items in each bag. After I had pressed out the air, they held their seal very well and I was amazed at how much room they saved. By doing this I was able to get all the clothes listed above, plus the usual toiletries, hair dryer, curling iron, maps and papers, etc. in two carry-on size pieces of luggage. Going over, I checked the 22” rollaboard and kept the black canvas satchel as my carry-on. When I needed to carry both pieces, I could stack the satchel on top of the rollaboard and wheel both around very easily. Coming home I checked both those pieces and used a canvas tote I had packed as my carry-on containing some of my purchases (mainly food items) and anything I thought I would need during the flight. I also used the tote in place of a handbag while touring around, as it could easily hold an umbrella, bottle of water, guidebooks, etc. I found two smaller pieces of luggage much more manageable than one larger one. And if you are concerned about trunk space, smaller pieces work better as well.<BR>

Betty

A COUPLE OF TIDBITS<BR><BR>1) MONEY: I used my MBNA Visa credit card for plane tickets, train tickets, car rental, hotels, restaurants, major purchases. I had called a few days earlier to let them know I would be using it in France. Got my Visa bill a couple of days ago and the amount charged in dollars is just about equal to the amount in euros, which is what I expected, with the near-parity in the exchange rate. There does not seem to be any extra “conversion” fee. My card was refused only once (probably something to do with the “chip” thing) at the restaurant in Cucuron but I had enough cash to cover the bill. For “walking around” money I used my Visa Check Card (ATM/debit) in the ATM’s. I had absolutely no problem doing so. ATM’s are everywhere, easy and quick to use.<BR><BR>2) HOW TO FIND A SALESCLERK IN THE HYPER U: As I mentioned before it was quite hot down south (though not as hot as Paris was on July 29-30). My little house in La Tour d’Aigues did not, of course, have AC, so at the first opportunity (Monday) I went in search of a fan. At the Hyper U in Pertuis they only seemed to have the big ones on a stand that were rather expensive, but there was an empty shelf with a tag indicating that it was once occupied by a desk fan. I finally found a clerk who said he thought he might have one left in the back. After a few minutes he came back carrying a rather large desk model that cost 30&euro;. I thought that was still a bit much so told him I would look a bit further and come back later if I couldn’t find anything less expensive. <BR><BR>All that day I looked for another fan but found that stores were either sold out or what they had was more than 30 &euro;. So at the end of the day I was back in the Hyper U in Pertuis. I looked up and down all the aisles near where the fan was – no salesclerks. I even went to the door of the back room and called – no answer. As I was walking toward the front to ask a cashier for some help, I spied the same model desk fan sitting on top of a washing machine. It was plugged in, but not running. I tried it; it seemed to work fine. It had a UPC tag so I unplugged it and headed for the checkout. I had not taken ten steps when a young man came running after me “Madame! Madame! Please let me have that one back. I’ll get you another one in a box.” I hastily explained that I hadn’t been able to find a clerk and thought that that one was perhaps their last…etc. etc. I had every intention of paying for the fan, so why did I feel like a shoplifter?! I had a good laugh over it later. And, fortunately, I was able to put it together and was considerably more comfortable the rest of the week.<BR><BR>I have one more bit of info I want to post – about using my cell phone in France, but I think I will do that one separately since someone wanting to know about that might not think to plow through all these posts to find it. I hope I have been able to give some interesting and/or useful information about my trip. If anyone has gained 1/10 the information from my posts as I have learned from this site, it will have been worth the time and effort. Thanks again to all who have helped me, directly or indirectly. I’ll be out of town for a few days this week but will be happy to respond to any questions after that.<BR>