I took a few days off from making any entries because Paris just floored me. I'll get into that later. Before I continue with my days in Vaison, here is a picture or two from Munich:
Back to Vaison...
Dinner that night was at Guyonne's home and she invited her sister over, who lives just a few rows down. I asked Guyonne over an apertif if she was a baroness or a countess. She doesn't consider herself a countess because she said that the man she married who was a count did not take this title seriously. You have to feel what is in here and in here, Guyonne said touching her heart and her head. "If it's not in there, then what good is it?" Guyonne was much happier with her second husband and it's easy to tell when she talks about him. Her brother, whom I did not meet, fought for La Resistance during WWII, fighting of small groups of German's in the Vaison region.
Dinner was very good: chicken, ratatouille, wine made in the region, bread and cheese. Guyonne had started a fire in the living room and it took the chill out of the air. We talked for a while about family, history and the town. Guyonne can get fired about topics, like when a church was closed as we explored the ruins. We marched right down to the priest's home to inquire. Nothing came of it, mostly because the secretary there didn't know why the church would be closed (maybe someone overslept), but I think Guyonne felt better after voicing her displeasure.
The next morning we went into the market. At times it was crowded but nothing from what I hear it's like in the summer. That is when you can barely move. Not today:
For lunch we met up with Evalan and Clarie and stopped at an outdoor cafe and had thinly-sliced meat, uncooked, with a salad, cheese, bread and a carafe of red wine. After it was back to Guyonne's for some coffee and a short rest and then we were invited for dinner at her friends. They have a summer home just outside the town, nestled in the hillside overlooking a valley and the town that resides in it:
The view:
Pate, tomatoes, salad, wine and after dinner bread and cheese. They were surprised that back in the States we eat cheese and crackers before dinner and not after. Eating cheese after dinner is either a way to cleanse the palate before dessert, or depending on the cheese, dessert itself. We had it not only to enjoy but as a means to clear the palate for the gelatto.
French joke about the Belgiums: How can you tell when there's a Belgium at the airport? He's the one trying to feed the airplane.
I get it. I think. Also, it's true: the French love Woody Allen.
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