Merry Christmas to you,
Or "bonne fete" as everyone over here says to each other, which kind of means good celebration. Here is a photo of Connor and Santa Christmas, or " Pere Noel", eye to eye, when he came to visit the village here, big moment.
Yes, Santa came to our village, unbelievable. Here he is in the main square handing out lollies, and there is Connor in Jane's arms front and centre.
We then all walked up to the Salle de Fete, every town has one. It literally means "room of celebration". It's an annual tradition.
The Salle de Fete was a classic, it's straight out of the 1950's, fibro type walls, old school murals everywhere. The tradition is that all the village's kids from the local school come together to sing previously prepared songs, they are then given a hot chocolate drink, chocolate croissants, and some oranges, and then Santa gives out presents one by one to all the kids. Here is a photo of the kids singing, Sophie is up there in the second row. I love it how Santa hangs out and watches as well. Our little village must be a major priority for Santa, who would have thought.
Even Connor, who is too young for school, received a present.
Here is Soph, very happy with her present.
Here is Jane and the kids putting decorations on our "live" Christmas tree. I can't remember the last time we a live Christmas tree. The French really get into Christmas, it's great fun, and so much so for the kids. We have visited a few Christmas celebrations in various towns or villages, and this usually involves drinking vin chaud (hot wine), and I tell you, it's lovely stuff.
Last Saturday we visited the amazing Roman Theatre of Orange. This thing was built 2,000 years ago and still stages concerts. It was a real highlight for me. I remember The Cure played there earlier on in their career and it was just so cool, and in one of Peter Mayle's books he talks about going to see Pavarotti sing there one barmy summer's night. Below shows Soph as we headed up the seating rows.
Below is another photo of this really impressive structure. I had to test out the acoustics and let out a few baritone notes whilst I was there, even received a clap from some unknown tourists.
The town, Orange has a fascinating past. It used to be its own little country headed by the Princes of Orange and through marriage and wars the Princes of Orange ended up ruling many municipalities including land in Germany, The Netherlands and England. King William the Third of England who was Dutch was a sovereign Prince of Orange. He and various Princes of Orange are why there are the Orangemen in the North of Ireland, why there is Orange County in California, the Dutch Royal House of Orange-Nassau, the Orange Free State in South Africa, and even little ole Orange in New South Wales, Australia, and that's just to name a few.
We have been enjoying our picnics despite the chilly weather. Here we are in the famous Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine AOC (Appelation d'origine controlee) just outside of Orange.
And here are the kids after lunch, taking it easy. It was interesting to see the vines growing out of land covered in these large smooth rocks. At some point, a long, long time ago, I suppose all this land would have been covered by running water.
I've joined a French walker group, thanks to our neighbor here, Jean-Piere (pictured below along side myself), who is an avid walker. They had their last walk for the year last week which included walking up to this huge cave up in the limestone mountains near Saint- Saturnin-les-Apt. It was about a 12km walk that day.
Here is Maite, a good friend, admiring the view from the cave.
Here is a photo of the cave on approach. A couple of the guys had gone ahead to light a fire which you can just see in this photo. We barbequed our own meat, and everyone shared just about everything they had brought, including wine of course, and then there were sing-a-longs, followed by joke telling which of course went straight over my head. It was great fun and another truly memorable experience.
We have adopted another child, well not really. Our good friends Martin and Roxanne have two girls roughly the same age as our two and thanks to their Roxanne's idea we look after both littlies when the two oldest are at school on Monday and Tuesday and then on Thursday and Friday it's the other way around. It's fantastic. We get to two full kid free days, hooray! Here is Jane with gorgeous little Alkyoni and Connor.
We visited the well known Gordes for the first time recently, here a photo of this stunning village on approach.
And another looking out across the Luberon valley from the other side of Gordes, the cobblestone streets were full of rustic character.
After heading to the olive pressing co-op with Gilles and him saying that if we like we could pick some more for ourselves, I thought yes, has to be done. So below is a photo of the 5 kilos of olives Jane, Soph, Connor, and I picked.
After the Saturday markets at Apt one day we headed part way up the Luberon mountain range where we had a picnic at this glorious spot - we could see the the snow capped Alps! This is a photo of the hilltop town of Saignon above Apt, with Mount Ventoux, which we climbed recently, well almost, way off in the distance.
Recently we went for a nice long drive west of here, primarily to find ruins of the 12th century castle where the Count of Provence, Ramon Berenguer IV brought up his four daughters, including Eleanor of Provence, Jane's great (x 18) grandmother! It was at the top of a prominent hill, as shown below, overlooking the small ancient town of St-Maime.
We made it to the top of that hill, and had a picnic. What a spot it was, beautiful day, and surrounded by history we felt we had some sort of connection with, very special. I took this picture looking down at the Jane and the kids from the top of the ruins. That was the castle chapel on the top right and Dauphin, another ancient hilltop town in the distance.
Here is Soph and Connor walking over the ruins. On the right you can see a massive wall of the castle that has collapsed.
And right at the top, here is Jane and Soph in front of what remains of one of the castle's defense towers.
We then drove onto the nearby town of Forcalquier where Count Ramon of Provence ruled from. Right in the centre of town next to the 12th century Notre-Dame Cathedral, was a large monument dedicated to two of Raymond's daughters, Margaret of Provence who married King Louis IX of France and Eleanor of Provence, as shown below, it says: "To the memory of Eleanor de Prouvenco Fourcauquie, the wife of Henry The Third King of England."
On the way back from Aix-en-Provence we visited beautiful St-Remy-de-Provence. It has the amazing ruins of the Roman settlement Glanum on the outskirts of town. The Romans were an impressive lot. It was built about 2,000 years ago, but the design of the village was so sophisticated. For example the main road through town, as shown below, had a guttering system that carried all waste water away and allowed the locals to walk around town without getting their togas and sandals muddied.
This is what the archeologists believe Glanum would have looked like around 50 BC, around the same time as Julius Caesar was conquering his way through the south of France.
Saint Remy was where the famous astrologist Michel Nostradamus was born and also where Van Gogh stayed in a convalescent home, at his own request, for a year, from May 1889 to May 1890. He painted many of his famous paintings here including The Starry Night, The Irises, Self-Portrait and the painting below of a nearby olive grove, "Les oliviers". This plaque is positioned where they think Van Gogh would have roughly sat when he painted "Les oliviers".
And just to finish, here is a picture of Soph in front of the little olive grove next to our house here in the village.
Or "bonne fete" as everyone over here says to each other, which kind of means good celebration. Here is a photo of Connor and Santa Christmas, or " Pere Noel", eye to eye, when he came to visit the village here, big moment.
It's that time of the year when family is so important and for us this year is particularly so. My Dad has just had a major operation. I won't go into the details here, but I'm very glad to say it was a success, thank God. It has been tough being so far away through this. I feel so lucky and appreciative to have such a close, supportive family and extended family. Thank you so much. Here's to you Dad, well done, you're as tough as they come.
Below is a great photo of mum and dad with all their grandchildren, ex Soph and Connor of course, taken just before the operation. We miss all you guys back home so much.
Yes, Santa came to our village, unbelievable. Here he is in the main square handing out lollies, and there is Connor in Jane's arms front and centre.
We then all walked up to the Salle de Fete, every town has one. It literally means "room of celebration". It's an annual tradition.
The Salle de Fete was a classic, it's straight out of the 1950's, fibro type walls, old school murals everywhere. The tradition is that all the village's kids from the local school come together to sing previously prepared songs, they are then given a hot chocolate drink, chocolate croissants, and some oranges, and then Santa gives out presents one by one to all the kids. Here is a photo of the kids singing, Sophie is up there in the second row. I love it how Santa hangs out and watches as well. Our little village must be a major priority for Santa, who would have thought.
Even Connor, who is too young for school, received a present.
Here is Soph, very happy with her present.
Here is Jane and the kids putting decorations on our "live" Christmas tree. I can't remember the last time we a live Christmas tree. The French really get into Christmas, it's great fun, and so much so for the kids. We have visited a few Christmas celebrations in various towns or villages, and this usually involves drinking vin chaud (hot wine), and I tell you, it's lovely stuff.
Below is another photo of this really impressive structure. I had to test out the acoustics and let out a few baritone notes whilst I was there, even received a clap from some unknown tourists.
The town, Orange has a fascinating past. It used to be its own little country headed by the Princes of Orange and through marriage and wars the Princes of Orange ended up ruling many municipalities including land in Germany, The Netherlands and England. King William the Third of England who was Dutch was a sovereign Prince of Orange. He and various Princes of Orange are why there are the Orangemen in the North of Ireland, why there is Orange County in California, the Dutch Royal House of Orange-Nassau, the Orange Free State in South Africa, and even little ole Orange in New South Wales, Australia, and that's just to name a few.
We have been enjoying our picnics despite the chilly weather. Here we are in the famous Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine AOC (Appelation d'origine controlee) just outside of Orange.
And here are the kids after lunch, taking it easy. It was interesting to see the vines growing out of land covered in these large smooth rocks. At some point, a long, long time ago, I suppose all this land would have been covered by running water.
I've joined a French walker group, thanks to our neighbor here, Jean-Piere (pictured below along side myself), who is an avid walker. They had their last walk for the year last week which included walking up to this huge cave up in the limestone mountains near Saint- Saturnin-les-Apt. It was about a 12km walk that day.
Here is Maite, a good friend, admiring the view from the cave.
Here is a photo of the cave on approach. A couple of the guys had gone ahead to light a fire which you can just see in this photo. We barbequed our own meat, and everyone shared just about everything they had brought, including wine of course, and then there were sing-a-longs, followed by joke telling which of course went straight over my head. It was great fun and another truly memorable experience.
We have adopted another child, well not really. Our good friends Martin and Roxanne have two girls roughly the same age as our two and thanks to their Roxanne's idea we look after both littlies when the two oldest are at school on Monday and Tuesday and then on Thursday and Friday it's the other way around. It's fantastic. We get to two full kid free days, hooray! Here is Jane with gorgeous little Alkyoni and Connor.
Below is a photo of Martin and Roxanne's grand 18th century house, well, mansion really. They are renovating it and plan to have it running as a multi room B&B and live there at the same time. It's a huge, exciting project. Both of them are architects so they know what they are doing.
And another looking out across the Luberon valley from the other side of Gordes, the cobblestone streets were full of rustic character.
A little while ago we helped Gilles, the owner of our home here, with picking the olive trees in the backyard. Despite it being less than 5 degrees that day we had a ball. Some vin chaud (hot wine) would have gone down a treat. New tradition possibly? Here is Gilles picking away with a bit of help from Soph and Connor.
We had a break for lunch and here we are having a hot coffee following. From left to right, is a Stan and Ingrid, the American couple we met at Gilles house, Gilles and his wife Louise, and Jane.
After heading to the olive pressing co-op with Gilles and him saying that if we like we could pick some more for ourselves, I thought yes, has to be done. So below is a photo of the 5 kilos of olives Jane, Soph, Connor, and I picked.
And from that we received about one litre of olive oil. So we've been using it ever since in our cooking, with great satisfaction I might add.
Recently we went for a nice long drive west of here, primarily to find ruins of the 12th century castle where the Count of Provence, Ramon Berenguer IV brought up his four daughters, including Eleanor of Provence, Jane's great (x 18) grandmother! It was at the top of a prominent hill, as shown below, overlooking the small ancient town of St-Maime.
We made it to the top of that hill, and had a picnic. What a spot it was, beautiful day, and surrounded by history we felt we had some sort of connection with, very special. I took this picture looking down at the Jane and the kids from the top of the ruins. That was the castle chapel on the top right and Dauphin, another ancient hilltop town in the distance.
Here is Soph and Connor walking over the ruins. On the right you can see a massive wall of the castle that has collapsed.
And right at the top, here is Jane and Soph in front of what remains of one of the castle's defense towers.
We then drove onto the nearby town of Forcalquier where Count Ramon of Provence ruled from. Right in the centre of town next to the 12th century Notre-Dame Cathedral, was a large monument dedicated to two of Raymond's daughters, Margaret of Provence who married King Louis IX of France and Eleanor of Provence, as shown below, it says: "To the memory of Eleanor de Prouvenco Fourcauquie, the wife of Henry The Third King of England."
On the way back from Aix-en-Provence we visited beautiful St-Remy-de-Provence. It has the amazing ruins of the Roman settlement Glanum on the outskirts of town. The Romans were an impressive lot. It was built about 2,000 years ago, but the design of the village was so sophisticated. For example the main road through town, as shown below, had a guttering system that carried all waste water away and allowed the locals to walk around town without getting their togas and sandals muddied.
This is what the archeologists believe Glanum would have looked like around 50 BC, around the same time as Julius Caesar was conquering his way through the south of France.
Saint Remy was where the famous astrologist Michel Nostradamus was born and also where Van Gogh stayed in a convalescent home, at his own request, for a year, from May 1889 to May 1890. He painted many of his famous paintings here including The Starry Night, The Irises, Self-Portrait and the painting below of a nearby olive grove, "Les oliviers". This plaque is positioned where they think Van Gogh would have roughly sat when he painted "Les oliviers".
And just to finish, here is a picture of Soph in front of the little olive grove next to our house here in the village.
Joyeux Noël et le meilleur pour vous et votre famille
(Merry Christmas and the very best to you and your family).
Jane, Sophie, Connor et moi.
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