November 2015 – Art as Artifact

Perth: Or… Was that Just Australia in the Rearview Window?

November 26, 2015/10 Comments/in Australia, Voyages /by ArtasArtifact

From Singapore our exploration of travel in the front half of the plane continued with business class flights on Thai Airways (or in their lingo, Royal Silk Class. Highlights… got to check in in a fancy little room at the Singapore airport and go right through a ‘dedicated’ security check, so much quicker. We were on a 777 to Bangkok that while certainly comfortable, was a very odd design. The seats were of some sort of molded plastic. Maybe they were going for a streamlined look, but the configuration meant that there was no seat storage, odd design choice.

Thai Airways 777 business class, why no seat storage?

Once at the Bangkok airport we got to visit the Royal Orchid Spa and got a fantastic 30-minute foot massage. The next leg, from Bangkok to Perth, was in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Another plane I’d wanted to try. This design was much nicer, and had at-seat storage, so not everything had to go in the overhead bins. All in all a super way to travel with great food and service.
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This then landed us in Perth at about 7 am, well before our check in at our second Airbnb of the voyage. I got a very decent coffee at an airport kiosk and we sat down and got online (as opposed to many airports, the Australian and New Zealand ones let you get online without having to give your blood type, four last known addresses, etc…. ok a bit of an exaggeration, but hopefully ‘free’ Wi-Fi providers will learn soon that filling out all those fields on a mobile phone is very frustrating, and with no check on accuracy, what’s the point). All was going well until the building crew came in, seemingly right above our heads. So we moved on to the next terminal, figured out how to get into town, and went to a fantastic café where I got my first truly good coffee in months at Daphne. Owned by a couple who also curate shows by local artists. Australia and New Zealand are thankfully “into” coffee, kind of like parts of the US. Local roasters, well and ethically sourced beans, quality espresso machines and trained baristas. From there we again were lucky to check in early and get a chance to clean up and refresh.

Australia is enormous, nearly the same size as the US. And Western Australia, WA, (not Washington, which I kept seeing when I saw it written) is huge. About a third or Australia’s total land mass, and about the same size as all of Western Europe. We saw the equivalent of a pinpoint, but it was a good taste of Australia. Highlights of our drive by:

Jacaranda trees. Fragrant, purple trees all over town. We got there perhaps just after their peak, but most trees still had many blooms, and they were everywhere. Big purple trees are not anything I’m used to seeing. Loved them.
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Flat whites. I love France and their food is amazing. But not their coffee. After a month of very so-so coffee, was great to get back to snobby coffee. Plus, Australians have a drink called a flat white. I first tried this in London and loved it. Looked it up and basically it’s similar to a latte but with higher proportion of espresso to milk, plus the milk if done right is slightly foamy all over. I always think lattes are too milky, and cappuccinos are impossible for most people to make well. The flat white is my Goldilocks “just right” coffee drink. While Daphne had great drinks, they had no Wi-Fi, which is not great for blogging or travel planning. Luckily even closer to our rental was Get Ya Fix a friendly, coffee/bicycle shop. Great drinks, relaxed, interesting owners, good people watching, slick-looking bicycles, etc. This was my morning spot.

Indian Ocean. Not only did this visit to Australia add a continent to my travel list, it also added an ocean I’ve now played in. I wouldn’t say swam in because the waves dominated the action, and mostly it was just jumping around in them. We had lunch (yes, with local oysters) in Freemantle, interesting historic town, looking out over the ocean. Not part of the ocean, but if anyone goes to Freemantle, the Freemantle Arts Centre is definitely worth a visit. After lunch and browsing through a great Aboriginal art gallery, Japingka, we took the train up to Cottesloe (fun to say) and jumped in the ocean, then sat on the terraced grass banks just above the beach. (Note that the art pieces were displayed in the Freemantle Arts Centre. One by Poppy van Oorder-Grainger the other by Colin Story.)
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Feeling right at home… Perhaps part of what I liked (and simultaneously did not like) were all the similarities between Portland and Perth. Obviously the coffee culture. But more than enjoying and doing coffee well, the cafes themselves had a very similar style to those in Portland. I could easily have been in a café back home (though better because I could get a flat white and the accent is fun). Kings Park is considered one of the world’s largest inner city parks. Boasted in the same way as Portland’s Forest Park (though Kings Park has an amazing botanic garden and more infrastructure).
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The weekend we were there coincided with Open House Perth an annual event to showcase local design. While Portland is not part of this international group of open houses, it has a similar open studio event every year. Which brings out the similarity of both cities having a strong youth culture with a focus on design, creativity, cuisine and outdoor pursuits. That plus looking at the wine menu in any restaurant, had to keep reminding ourselves that the “WA” after the name of the wine meant it was from Western Australia not “Washington State, but it made the menus look very familiar! Oh, and hipsters, lots and lots of hipsters…

And now, the “finds”.

First up in Australia was finding a new backpack. The Adidas bag I took from Portland was never intended for New Zealand hiking (or tramping as they say), plus it had already started to fall apart weeks back in France. So we visited a number of outdoor stores. I now have a granny smith apple green waxed canvas backpack made by Wilderness Equipment. Perfect for now and it will make a great bag back home as well. Looked at another Australia brand, Crumpler. Some tempting bags but the other won out. I do completely approve of Crumpler’s tag line…

Love the tagline

The other benefit of looking for a backpack in Perth was that, seemingly, all outdoor stores are staffed by Kiwis (New Zealanders, after the bird not the fruit). So we got a number of great recommendations of places to visit, and even books to read. The Luminaries is on iPad now courtesy of the Multnomah County Library.

As mentioned earlier, Perth has a strong youth and design culture. That definitely translates into some interesting products and shops. Some design is already past the “I just found this great new designer” stage, such as the brother and sister clothing line of Alpha60 (but look at these great clothes).

Alpha60, stylish Australian design

Others are a bit ‘smaller’ scale. Generics is a brand by designer Lisa Chau. Some fun clothes (if I were 20 years younger…) and a pure, clean line of body products.

Perth Generics, how does black and white look so good?

A bit outside the downtown area, the store Arrival Hall jumped out at me when I read about them. Described as a garage turned into a store to house the beautiful design products found on Lisa and Clem’s travels, how could I miss it? The store is a beautiful space with some sleek, attractive home design objects. Enjoyed a conversation with Lisa. Their business is nine months old so we talked about starting a business inspired by love of travel and beautiful objects. She had some great advice and lots of encouragement. Much appreciated at that time as I was going through many questions and doubts about this venture, whether it made any sense, whether too many other people had already ‘done it’, etc. Found some new inspiration to keep exploring.

Lisa smiling in her personal Arrivals Lounge

Arrivals Lounge west wall

Final word from Australia comes from our couple of hours spent transiting the Brisbane airport. It wasn’t the arrivals lounge, more the departure, but more airports should look like this…

Brisbane departure garden, oops gates

Simply Singapore

November 22, 2015/4 Comments/in Singapore, Voyages /by ArtasArtifact

More of a stopover than a full destination, nevertheless visiting Singapore was a much-anticipated destination for me. For years I’ve had in mind wanting to see one of the rapidly growing, mega Asian cities. Perhaps spurred by movies like Blade Runner along with all the sci fi and apocalyptic fiction I’ve read of late. Not a great setup I know, but trust me it’s a place I was really interested in seeing.

Another motivation was all the ‘street’ food available there. Have read for years in travel magazines about the hawker centers (open air grouping of food stalls selling quick, inexpensive food). Then watched too many Anthony Bourdain episodes set in Singapore and throughout Asia where he slurped down delicious looking noodles, rice, etc.

So yes, a combination of anthropological interest in super modern cities and food craving drove me to Singapore.

We arrived at about 7 am from Frankfurt. As noted on my last post, I don’t believe I slept for even 5 minutes, so started our quick trip in a very floatey state of being. That feeling of having been at sea for a few months and not having your sea legs.

First pleasant surprise came upon check in. I’ve booked countless hotels for this trip and they all seem to blend into one another. Somehow I remembered booking a very basic place for Singapore, so had no expectation of anywhere nice, even though the word “spa” was in the hotel title. Words are easy…

Thankfully I had completely misremembered (aided by the fact that we got a great price). We arrived at the One Farrer Hotel & Spa by about 8 am, well before 2 pm check in. Expecting nothing but hoping for an available room, we were first disappointed. The very nice clerk, in a shirt with really great buttons (white with multi-colored stripes), kindly informed us the only room ready had twin beds, which wasn’t going to work. I went off to the bathroom to change and Jeff prepared to have our bags checked while we went off to find some hawker food. By the time I got back, Jeff had worked a miracle and got us both a room upgrade and an immediate check in.
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We unpacked and cleaned up a bit, then headed out to explore the city and attempt to stay awake. Singapore is not exactly laid out on a grid, and we managed to turn ourselves around several times in our short outing in Little India. We wanted to find the Muftasa Center (huge department store with everything under the sun) and get some food. Managed despite ourselves to find the center and found a great little open air restaurant that had fresh juices and “kopi” and “tei”. Took me a while to figure this all out, but basically, I think, “kopi” is coffee. Drank a lot of that in our three days here. Also had an egg roti, a yummy egg and bread snack. Then tired and a bit snappy both of us, we decided to head back to the room and take a nap. Could have knocked us out for the day, and it was incredibly hard to get up after a couple of hours, but did a world of good.

So began our pattern for the next couple of days. We headed out to a hawker center, ate some good food then wandered around with some destinations moderately in mind.

Telok Ayer Market, Singapore Hawker Center

Inside Telok Ayer, our first hawker center

Our first afternoon we circled the central business district waterfront area. Here absolutely was my big, futuristic city.

Singapore view

With very expensive oysters (good thing I had a lot in France, that’s about $78 for a dozen).

Wow, oyster prices in Singapore are not like in France…

Made our way across the DNA Bridge to the top of the ‘ship’ building (looks like a big boat on top of three massive towers). Drank a tasty if spendy rum drink and enjoyed the views 57 stories high.
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From there ended up on a much, much longer walk than expected to get to another hawker center, East Coast Lagoon (maps don’t always convey distance well). But the chili crab was worth the journey (sadly Jeff isn’t a crab fan, so ‘suffered’ a bit more than me…).

As good as it looks, Chili Crab in Singapore

Next day got off to an understandably late start. I slipped down to the pool for a short bit then we ate chicken congee in our room. We took off again into Little India, festive in the preparations for Diwali and found a recommended biryani place for lunch (yes, we basically ate the whole time we were here…).

Diwali decorations

Wandered through some markets and shops, and then went to the botanic gardens. The place is enormous, with some beautiful and interesting displays (sadly the toxic plants section of the medicinal plant display was closed…). The highlight was the orchid garden.
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Ended up too tired and footsore this night to trek out to any of the recommended hawker centers so followed the masses to a food center at the bottom of a huge shopping mall. Had some good if not spectacular noodles. Seemed to me there was a higher local to tourist ratio here than at any of the hawker centers we visited.

Had a harder time in Singapore than expected finding interesting local artisans. This is not to say Singapore doesn’t have them, as I know there is some amazing design coming out of this area. But it wasn’t until the last day, when we had to be at the airport by 4 pm, that I started to put together where to best search. I found two stores that curate (mostly) local designers and saw some beautiful products. Threadbare and Squirrel carry the line Emblem for example. Colorful shoes that are unbelievably light. Would probably go perfectly with some of Silke’s French bathing suits. The General Company curates a number of local and regional brands with great design taste. Along with a great coffee shop. Next time in Singapore, I will make it to Haji Lane and Arab Street. Plus a few more hawker centers…

For now it was off to the airport and a series of flights on Thai Airways that would lead us to four days in Perth, Australia. Or was it that we were back in Portland? So many similarities. Stay tuned.

A Little Bit of Luxury

November 15, 2015/4 Comments/in Singapore, Voyages /by ArtasArtifact

Several years ago I asked a glamorous and fun-living friend from Portland if she had any recommendations of the best luxurious places to stay in France. She immediately wrote back to say, La Chèvre d’Or (The Golden Goat) in Eze-Le-Village. I think the words “fairy tale” and “magical” were used as well. From that time I’d look periodically at their website and dream of how I could get there.

Once we decided to make this journey, I started to check their site and others to see if we could make it work to stay there, oh, and eat in their two star Michelin restaurant (my first Michelin starred experience). Fortunately found an autumn package that made it all seem within reach.

So we headed out of Lagrasse and drove back across the south of France (not the best planning, but the decision to go to Languedoc-Roussillon was a late one). From Nice we went through winding roads and past pumpkin-headed stilt walkers (it was Halloween, which it seems France is adopting) to get to the gates of the hotel. As we arrived early they deposited us on a magnificent balcony overlooking the Mediterranean with a refreshing cranberry spritzy something drink. Shortly thereafter we were taken to our two-story room with our own private little balcony overlooking, of course, the Mediterranean.
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Pretty much everything about our experience at the hotel was fantastic. Met and/or exceeded all my expectations. An extra bonus was the sauna they had recently installed right at the edge of a cliff, with a glass front overlooking the ocean. I love saunas and have been missing my sauna sessions with Amalie and Holly at the gym in Portland. So this was an absolute treat. Both nights we went at sunset, watching the sun dip across a low range jutting into the Mediterranean.
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Friday night was the highlight. We had an 8 pm reservation for the chefs “menu” at their two star Michelin restaurant (yes I’m gratuitously repeating that). Our table (yep, overlooking the Mediterranean, though it was dark out so only saw the lights) had two chairs and a low stool. To my inquiring glance the waiter informed me it was a “sofa” for my purse. I now always want a seat especially for my purse, brilliant.

The menu (see image) was a six-course dinner starting with an enormous glass of champagne. It even included an oyster from Brittany… We had been handed the a la carte menu first in error (the dinner was part of our hotel package and was a set menu), but as it turns out, our dinner included everything we would have chosen anyhow. And this way no tough decisions required. Our very friendly and extremely knowledgeable sommelier selected out a delicious local white for the initial courses and a powerful Syrah for the venison course. It went well with the many, many cheeses I selected from the cheese trolley (I though it was a plate for me and Jeff together, but was apparently just for me, oops, but delicious, every bite!). We snapped a very few photos at the end on the iPhone and much as I wish we had pictures of all the courses, it just did not seem right to disturb my purse/wallet on its sofa to take out the phone and start snapping shots. Suffice it to say that this (early) birthday dinner was perhaps the best ever, and not one I will ever forget. Oh, and after dinner, a bit too full to go to bed, we wandered up into the medieval village, walking by the light of the moon. We even waltzed a bit.
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When we finally woke up Saturday morning we went down the hill into the lower part of Eze-Le-Village. It was market day and although it was a rather small one, perhaps 15 vendors in all, made two wonderful finds. First was a gentleman from Nice, M. Dominique, who works with enamel and various metals to make a wide range of jewelry. His enamel designs are all brightly colored. His metal-on-metal designs had a restrained beauty. Next was Silke of Flowers Sea & Sun. Her stall had scarves, from brightly patterned cotton scarves to softer-than-soft wool/cashmere poncho-like scarves. Also jewelry and photos mounted on wood (images from the region). She used to have a store in xx and designs her own shirts and bathing suits. My sister talks about a French bikini she had as a teen and how perfectly crafted it was. I think I’ll have to head back in the summer to try some bathing suits!
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After the market we toured a fragrance museum, with some fantastic old bottles/labels and copper distilling equipment. Then it was off to the grocery store to pick up some bread, wine, etc. so we could do a picnic dinner on our balcony (there was no topping the dinner the night before, though as a last picnic in France, this one was wonderful).
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After our tour of the market and perfumery we spent a lazy afternoon swimming in the pool and sitting on some of the many terraces snaking along the hill (the property is built into a hill descending towards the ocean). I worked on a blog post from a lounge pod I’d love to have as my normal office. We also made friends with one of the resident cats. I think he liked my shirt…
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One of the best parts was the staff. Everyone was very professional and helpful, but never stiff or overly formal.

Though we would have stayed forever, we departed shortly after the sunrise (and it put on a show for our last morning).

A brilliant sunrise for our last morning in France

Sunrise in panorama

Further consolation was that our next step continued the luxury (well, that is after a not-at-all luxurious and delayed flight to Frankfurt and stay at a basic but clean Ibis hotel).

Jeff’s shot of the Alps as we leave France

In case it’s not already obvious from these posts, and the whole premise of this site, I’m a big fan of travel. Nearly all our flights on this journey have been booked with miles, and having read so much about them, I was hoping to redeem some of our miles for business or even first class travel on Singapore Air. The absolute bonus was to get two seats in the A380 Suites, but in my research I learned that they (almost) never release two suites at the saver level (lowest number of points) on the same flight. In the month leading up to our trip I checked daily to see if any seats were open from any European city within a week of my desired dates (some sites will check reward seats for you, but of course United and Singapore will not open their systems to those sites so you have to check manually). Nothing, nothing, nothing kept coming up, even in business class. Then late one night, sick with a head cold and traveling with my mother in southern Oregon, while sitting on a bed in a perfectly adequate though decidedly not luxurious motel in smoky Ashland (during the forest fires), there they were. Two suites out of Frankfurt. Just a day after the miles we had transferred from our Chase credit cards hit our Singapore accounts. A bit afraid it was just a fluke and the booking wouldn’t work, I kept clicking on “Next,” made it through the booking process, then did a happy dance. The best part, the flight left on my birthday.

Briefly, it was wonderful. I’ve never before flown first class and it is indeed a totally different experience from the torture seats I usually fly internationally. It started with a glass of Dom Perignon.

My first ever glass of Dom Perignon

After selling hundreds of bottles of the stuff in my previous job, this was the first time I ever tasted it. Mostly I just drank that throughout the flight (they let me taste test the Krug, but it had too much of a fruity finish for me). I wouldn’t say the Dom spoiled me for other champagnes (as first class has definitely spoiled me for economy), but I was far from disappointed either.
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At my count we were eight people in first, and for that we had I think five incredibly professional, friendly, helpful and all-around great flight attendants. In addition to keeping the champagne glass full, they answered any questions, provided a great list of sites/restaurants/etc. to see in Singapore, and basically kept us fed and happy. Our suites were essentially pods with a large TV screen, big comfortable seat, table, lots of little storage spots, and the whole thing could become a bed upon request. Jeff and I had pods right next to one another. The flight was overnight, and actually I “lost” seven hours of my birthday flying east, but most of those 17 hours were amazing. I don’t think I slept at all; didn’t want to miss any of it.
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Towards the end of the flight, I came back to the suite to find a birthday cake and two little bears (and more champagne…).
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All in all, the end of France and launch into the Asia-Pacific leg of our journey was incredibly special. Next up, three sleepy days in Singapore.

Just Like Colorado, though with Castles and Vineyards and Oysters

November 10, 2015/8 Comments/in France, Voyages /by ArtasArtifact

From Provence we drove west, towards the Languedoc-Roussillon region and our base for the next eight nights, Lagrasse. And west it felt… the wind was blowing fiercely along the A61 (highway), kind of like it can in Colorado and Wyoming (for those who do not know, I was born in Idaho, but moved to northern Colorado at 1 ½ and lived there for most of my life). Then we turned off down the D212 and into the L’Orbieu river valley. The dry vegetation, the gentle gradient of the hills, the coloring all increased the association with Colorado/Wyoming. Then a tumbleweed blew across the road and sealed the deal. Thank goodness for all the vineyards and stunning stone homes and distant ruins or I would have been completely confused.

In all seriousness, this region is stunning. I can’t believe I never got to this part of France before. Elements of the landscape bear a strong resemblance to parts of the arid West I love dearly. But here it includes endless vineyards, stunning in their fall colors. And ancient abbeys. The Abbey de Lagrasse, visible from our apartment, dates from the 8th century with stones laid by Charlemagne. And ruins of Cathar castles atop mountainsides (really, atop them; provisioning them must have been hard enough let alone build them). Oh, and coastline with oysters… So kind of like Colorado, only better in some wonderful ways.

Here as in Provence we rented an apartment for about a week, the Riverside Gite. Also as in Provence, we rented in an old stone building near a river; this one backed right to the Orbieu. Actually a really old stone building, with the back wall dating to the 14th century. And a view down the river to a bridge built in 1303.
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A few highlights from the week:

Lagrasse
Another town included in the listing of “The Most Beautiful Villages of France” that is highly deserving of the praise. The view coming into town is stunning, especially with the fall colors (abbey, river, bridges, old stone buildings, winding streets…). The town is fairly central to sights throughout the region, especially the Corbières. Though all roads in and out were windy and some very narrow; never boring driving.

The town has about seven restaurants, though the summer season being over, only about three were open. A couple of small groceries, a wine store with mostly natural wines, an old market place (outside our door) with a Saturday market with great local vendors, and literally right outside our door, two designers with their own stores and several other artisans throughout the town.
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The ground floor of our building houses a store run by a husband and wife who do jewelry (she) and made-to-measure clothing (he), some with vintage couture fabrics. EPPO. Next door (and the first place I stepped into when we were totally lost looking for our apartment) is Beverly Smart. Instantly knew I had to return there. As Jeff would tell you I did, several times. Got a lot of great tips about the region from her. And about how to bake a round of Mont D’Or cheese in the oven (poke holes in it, insert slivers of garlic, pour white wine over the whole thing and bake for about 20 minutes). That made an amazing dinner with potatoes and bread to sop up the cheese. Beverly’s store is a beautiful, calm space. All white walls with clothes she designs and makes and jewelry she finds and/or creates in collaboration with female artisans in South Africa (a venture that started when she went to visit a friend, found amazing artisans there and wanted to work with them, so kept going back, sound familiar???). Beverly is quite tall and always made clothes for herself. Her designs are all clothes you would want to wear about anywhere, anytime. Somehow elegant and structured, yet at the same time casual and easy. I’m typing this all in a long-sleeve cape-like wrap top. Hard to describe and hard to take off. She left a high-stress job in her late 20s following a gut instinct to move to France (to Lagrasse) and ultimately found this work. A good sign such bold moves can work out.
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My favorite winery? The one next to the car park near our apartment, Domaine Durand. Small garage where a father and son make easy-to-drink, spicy yet light red wines. Made for some good drinking and was fun to say hi to father and son as we saw them around town that week. Close second was the cooperative in Camplong.
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Cathar Castles
If you had asked me before about the Cathars, I would have said “Oh yes, I know about them.” If asked to provide any details… We were right in the heart of Cathar country in the Corbières, so a quick trip to Wikipedia, several other sites, and a book in the lobby of our building helped fill in the history. For more information, see Cathar Wiki and Cathar Castles (to see the book go to Lagrasse…). In very brief terms, Catharism was a branch of Christianity that did not follow the Catholic Church and was the subject of the Church’s first crusade against fellow Catholics. From the 13th through the 14th centuries the Catholic Church decimated all those following the religion, thought to be tolerant of those following the religion, etc. etc. And as the Church and political rule was intimately tied together, the wars extended to issues between France and the then separate “Pays D’Oc”.

Today there stand many ruins of Cathar castles, strongholds atop mountains. We visited two, Peyrepetruse and Quéribus. Absolutely stunning and a bit magical. We visited on foggy days, and with the clouds swirling in and amongst the ruins, you could almost imagine being there in any century.
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Mediterranean
We made two daytrips to the Mediterranean. The first day was a walk between Leucate Plage and La Franqui, along the bluffs overlooking the sea. Once in La Franqui we had an amazing lunch. We learned you could do the set menus with one person getting an entrée (appetizer) and main dish and the other getting a main dish and a desert, an effort to reduce our gluttony a bit. Here we shared and entrée of mussels with butternut squash ‘fries’, followed by steak for Jeff and white fish in a crab bisque sauce for me, and a molten chocolate cake with caramel center for desert. Paired with excellent local wines. We then walked a bit in the ocean, then put our shoes back on for the return to Leucate and a visit to, hooray, the oyster shacks. Had a dozen on site plus another dozen to take home. Two dozen oysters plus wine for 15 euros… These were good, firm and salty (but I’m still a Normandy oyster gal). And yes, this day was as good as it sounds.
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The next beach foray was to Collioure, close to the border with Spain. A quintessential seaside town with brightly colored buildings rising up from the harbors, an old fort/castle, plenty of ice cream, and anchovy processors. Fauvism started here, inspired by the light. Plaques around town show where Matisse and Derain painted. Here another delicious lunch, highlight was a seafood risotto for me and smoky, spicy chorizo risotto for Jeff. Couldn’t resist picking up seashells, rocks and sea glass, but in an effort to keep our load lighter, just took a picture and threw them back at the ocean.
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Historical Cities
Day one in the region we visited Carcassonne, a “new” city and an “old” city, the Cité de Carcassonne, a medieval fortress restored in the 1850s. Wandered all over the old city, including around the fortress walls. Never would a tourist site in the US allow people to be up on such unprotected edges. Was fantastic. In the “new” city had lunch at a café in the town center, which it turns out is a well-known and loved place, Chez Félix. Then walked along the Canal du Midi and to the art museum. Check out this man’s shoes.
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And in Carcassonne finally found my local beauty product! Walking towards the castle noticed a little shop done up in pale blues. Turns out this blue coloring was made from the woad or pastel plant (scientific name Isatis Tinctoria). Toulouse was famous for production of pastel, exporting “cocagne”, little balls of dried pastel. Production declined in the 1800s and was recently revived. The plant has a long history of cosmetic and medical uses and “Graine de Pastel” has created a line of face and body products, soaps and so much more. As I was about to celebrate a birthday, I bought a few items from the ‘anti-aging’ line. Will see how it does! The store clerk patiently explained all about the history, product and company, answering my many questions. She was obviously a devoted fan (has worked for the company for over four years), and told me they have just started a push to open more stores in France and abroad. So if anyone is interested in opening an outlet, let them know!
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Albi
Finally, we made a day trip to Albi, home of Toulouse-Lautrec. This is technically part of the Midi-Pyrénées and is undoubtedly a beautiful city. Unlike the other areas we visited, Albi was built primarily with brick, so it has a very different look and feel. We had an amazing lunch at L’Epicurien, a restaurant recommended by a friend. Three courses starting with lentils and salami, followed by white fish on potatoes with an herbed ‘foam’ sauce, followed by three small cream puffs. Amazing.
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After lunch we toured the massive cathedral of Sainte-Cécile. A truly beautiful ceiling and interesting feature in the middle. A highly ornate gate across the middle of the church. Apparently all/most cathedrals had this. Had to keep the commoners on one side and the nobility on another. Did not learn a lot of endearing historical facts about the Church on this trip…

From here we walked across the square and waited for the Toulouse-Lautrec museum to reopen (nearly everything closes for lunch). Housed in the Palais de la Berbie (palace built by the bishops of Albi), it is the largest collection of Toulouse-Lautrec works. I have long been a fan of his works. Too much has been written about his work to add much here, but in a nutshell, for me he captures the anguish and despair of life, while somehow conveying its beauty and wonder. And he does so with such a restrained elegance. A single line, a small sweep of color, and a world of emotion is conveyed. The beauty continued with a walk to the river Tarn. The light was magical, with stunning reflections of the bridges.
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There’s so very much more to share about this region and our short time there, but if I don’t stop here this will never go online. But just for the heck of it, here are photos of fabulous mustard in a little to go package, our cassoulet, and perhaps my favorite French food, fromage blanc.
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Three Themes in Provence

November 2, 2015/9 Comments/in France, Voyages /by ArtasArtifact

Provence, just saying the word makes me relax a bit and dream of “the good life”. Countless movies, glasses of rosé wine, and lavender products have probably contributed to that. And the area did not disappoint (though as noted before we missed the lavender fields by a couple of months… one reason among many to return). We were based for a week in the Luberon, perhaps the heart of, and certainly the most well known part of Provence. This is where the movie A Good Year was set and the region about which Peter Mayle wrote.

How to sum up a week there? Every day could be a full blog post, though every day was so full time slipped away for writing here. So here is an overview by recurring themes. Three come to mind: village markets, hill towns, and of course, treasures.

Village Markets
Nearly every town has a market day and we managed to visit at least three – Lourmarin, Apt, and L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. They all feature fabulous food, artisanal products, clothing and more. The one in Lourmarin seemed most geared to tourists (it’s a fantastically beautiful town with an old castle, so it is a top destination in the Luberon). The one in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue had everything other towns have, plus numerous antique stalls as the town is filled with amazing antique stores. The one in Apt was the most “real.” Luckily for us we arrived on a Thursday night in Apt, and with its market day on Saturday, we were able to ‘shop like locals’ to provision our apartment.

Quick aside – this is our apartment in Apt.
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I was confused while looking for places, not sure why there were so many apartments, abbreviation “apt” in this one region. Finally figured out there’s a town named Apt. Aha. Decided that although it is not the most charming town in the Luberuon, it looked nice enough and that being based in a slightly larger town/very small city could work well. Plus the place seemed perfect, La Madone. An independent apartment, but within a larger house with local hosts. So we could make meals, have a bit of space, but not be fully on our own to navigate the ins and outs of a rental. Plus every morning the owner Natalie comes to the door and hangs a linen bag filled with chocolate croissant, butter croissant and half baguette. Absolutely spoiled.

Back to the market. All but one photo come from Apt. Special note about the paté from Maison Border. Simply delicious products, all made by Olivier, the grandson of the founder. The four tins we bought served us well for several dinners in the weeks to come. One photo from L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue of what… oysters of course. The vendor clearly thought I was crazy, but he shucked half a dozen oysters from near Marseille, and the kind vegetable vendor next door threw over a lemon (bought some of the best plums I’ve ever tasted from him after).
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Hill Towns
Beyond its fame as an epicenter of the ‘good life’, the Luberon is famous for its hill towns. This region (as with so many around the world) was subject to regular warfare. I’m not an expert in the many wars that swept across what is now France, but throughout the centuries, those in power built castles and populations settled in walled towns. In the Luberon, hills abound and many of these towns were built upon hilltops. In the last centuries many fell into ruin. Today the Luberon features these towns in all states, from nearly full restoration to still in decay. We visited numerous little towns: Gordes, Rousillon, Ménerbes, Bonnieux, St-Saturin-les-Apt, Lacoste, Oppede-le-Vieux, Goult. Many of these are registered in the association of “Les Plus Beaux Villages de France”. Never tired of them. Beautiful stones, plants, houses, settings, cafés and on and on. Again, the pictures speak loudest.
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Some highlights. Locals all directed us to the town of Goult, and they were not wrong. We visited this next to last and it was the most beautiful of them all. If we return to Provence, we’ll rent a place there. From Goult we did a couple hour hike, getting ourselves a bit lost here and there, but always surrounded by beautiful countryside: ancient ruins, streams, terraced vineyards. One thing with hiking in France, though they terrace vineyards, they don’t seem at all interested in switchbacks. It’s straight up and straight down these hills.
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Lacoste was home to a castle owned by the Marquis de Sade. It had rained hard the night before we visited. Still overcast and misty, the town had an eerie feel to it, and on one particularly steep slope Jeff slipped and cut his hand. What should normally have been a little scrape was in fact a pretty deep gouge and took a while to heal, even though we cleaned it and did everything as you should. I’m convinced it was the Marquis continuing his evil ways.
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In Bonnieux we managed to land at the ‘locals’ pizzeria. Had a great conversation with two Brits who live there and witnessed an American woman come close to breakdown. Seemed to be a group of father and wife and their son or daughter and his or her husband or wife. All very well dressed, in an expensive car. Upon leaving, the mother asked when the store that advertised sales of “spiritiuex” (hard alcohol) opened (meaning after lunch, everything closes for lunch). The owner said “jamais” (meaning never, because it like so many other places was closed for the season). At this the woman broke down and asked with great exasperation where she could please find a bottle of vodka. Sometimes travel really takes it out of you…
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Gordes was simply stunning.
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Treasures
Traveling with the expressed purpose of “finding beautiful things made by interesting people” provided full license to explore the many treasures on display in the Luberon. Sure, there is plenty of kitsch and the typical “Provencal” busy fabrics (sorry to those who love them, just not my style). There are also some beautiful and interesting crafts and creations.

Linen. No pictures of his booth, but found a vendor, Les Voiles de Lin, at the Lourmarin market with exquisite linen by the yard, plus some beautiful scarves. I could not resist one in a loose weave made with natural dyes (below I’m wearing it at a café). We also found some elegant (and heavy) table linens at the Apt market. Clever name of “Lin et L’Autre”“Lin et L’Autre” (play on the saying “one and another”). This woman and her partner hand make these classic pieces with contrasting borders.
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Pottery. Unfortunately this vendor, Dany of Terre et Soleil, was adamantly opposed to people photographing her wares. I would have bought plenty if we weren’t traveling so much longer. As it is I broke down and bought a coffee mug, the only one with a photo. Her other pieces included bowls of all sizes in a variety of deep and vibrant colors and patterns, plus beautiful jugs and plates and on and on. She was at nearly every market we visited.

Coffee is better in a mug from Provence

Miscellaneous. One stall, Ecolochic Concept, again at all markets, had products made from the type of tabs found on soda cans. All hand-knit together into belts, purses, even halter-tops. Lots of beautiful leather bracelets. Deeply lustrous olivewood bowls, boards, spoons, etc.
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Scarves. So hard to restrain myself. I did buy the natural linen one. I was very tempted by these raw silk scarves from Madagascar (the owner of this stall works with a cooperative there that hand looms them).

Raw silk scarves in the Lourmarin market

Olive Oil
From what we heard, there’s been a revival of olive oil production in France. Several small towns showed off their local presses, and this store featured olive oils in three states: young green olives, slightly more mature olives, and matured black olives. You could taste many varieties of all three and really get a good sense of the variety of flavors, all made by “small” producers.
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Tea. Amongst the antique stores in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue I found a light and bright tea store, Florel en Provence. Apparently the company has been making teas since 1989 and just opened this flagship store less than a year ago, with a colorful array of organic teas crafted in Provence. The herbal teas are made primarily from plants grown in the south of France.
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And one final note… Hospitality
One of the finest things to experience – true hospitality. We were incredibly fortunate to be taken in for an otherwise wet and miserable night by a creative and very interesting couple. It goes like this, through Facebook and a shared love of animals and the protection of their wellbeing, my sister knows an Irish woman who has a home in Provence. When my sister learned we were traveling to France, she sent her a note to say we’d be there and to see if she had any suggestions to help us best experience the region. So on a windy, rainy day, this lovely Irish woman met us in a parking lot and drove us to her stunning “typical” Provencal stone home. A fire was raging in the fireplace and it stayed that way all night. What started out to be a glass of wine and some light snacks turned into a dinner party that lasted until 2 in the morning (with an (accepted) offer to stay the night). Said evening consisted of: Countless bottles of local wines; a long list of what not to miss in the region; delicious salmon; great Irish cheeses (yes we ate Irish cheese in France); wonderful music, including Keith Richards latest album; intellectual and stimulating discussions of art, current events, cultural differences; the lowdown on the ups and downs of living in France; all punctuated by the coming and going of two adorable black Scotties. Note the shaky image is not the result of wine, it’s that somehow the camera was stuck on shutter speed 200… Finally, our hostess finally helped me to find the unique local body products I’d been searching for. Turns out the grocery stores carry a line called Le Petit Olivier. Maybe it’s in the US and I haven’t seen it. But rather than search the little boutiques for my natural local brand, it appears I should have been in the big grocery stores. Fantastic array of products including more than soap… Bought some super cream without spending a fortune. Hoping actually I will find this back home in the supermarket, even if it means it’s been ‘discovered’ already…
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