Well, seeing as it's been two weeks since I returned home from my vacation, it's time to wrap up the story and move on. The basic reason for my trip was the ten-year-anniversary of the year I spent studying abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France. My three closest friends from that year and I have been planning this reunion for the past five years, since two of them and I celebrated our five year reunion! This time, we decided to reunite in style, by renting a house--not in Aix, but in a small town called Vaison-la-Romaine, in a part of Provence none of us were familiar with. It's a beautiful area, surrounded by rolling hills, ancient villages, vineyards, fields of olive trees and lavendar--none of which, unfortunately, were in bloom in this cold season.
I haven't seen these friends all that often over the past years, although we've stayed close by e-mail and the visits we have had. We live in very different areas: Oakland, Portsmouth (NH) and Geneva, so it was very exciting to be together--and it was better than I could have ever expected. We had a fabulous time! We drove all around the region, visiting towns, having long lunches, tasting wine and seeing the sights. We also had some adventures! These stories probably fit into the you-had-to-be-there category, but amongst the highlights were:
Allowing Claire (Kristin's friendly GPS system) to guide us to the Avignon TGV station to pick up Harriet, only to put Claire away and get lost in "le petit Guatemala" and narrowly avoid running over a chicken.
Hiking through a vineyard to reach the ancient ruins at the top of the town of Séguret, then getting caught in crazy Provencal weather on the way down, providing a vocabulary lesson: "les giboulées de Mars" (March downpours, like our "April showers" only more so)
Making Belgian BFFs, discussing American politics and the Belgian divorce rate over a long lunch, promising to send them postcards when we return home.
Causing a yoga instructor to jump out of the shower and into a pair of skin-tight gray leopard-print spandex pants in order to show us her pottery.
Encountering a real-life Town Crier and interviewing him about his round-the-world travels and ascention to the Town Crier throne (er..pedestal)
Visiting a town called "God made it" to look at pottery that was supposedly ugly but which, in fact, we all kind of liked.
Continuing the quest for perfect pottery, driving down a winding side road to a 500-year-old castle to see cups and bowls described by our landlords as "beautiful" and "reasonably priced". Finding neither of these to be true, but having spent a long time chatting with the potter's husband and discovering the three degrees of separation between him and Kristin, we make purchases anyway. Then we get a tour of the castle and have tea and 20-year-old cookies.
(Photo courtesy of Mollie)
Being like adopted daughters at this point, we agree to play a practical joke on the potters' son Barnaby, a former flutist who is building an apartment building out of bricks and plastic. He helps himself to ALL of the cookies we offer, but in the end we don't mind because he is cute, in a mountain-man kind of way.
Returning home each evening to cook a meal, open a bottle of wine and catch up with each other late into the night, discussing our lives, relationships, and jobs, and reminiscing about our year in Aix.
Conducting a highly scientific comparison test of the pastries and chocolates of many of the local bakeries:
It was a perfect week...although unfortunately the weather wasn't perfect. But hopefully we'll get some sun for our next reunion, five years from now.
Before heading home I made a quick stop in Lyon and got a tour from my friend Thibaut, who I met in Chile. Lyon is a very pretty city. It's also home to a recent installment of the worldwide "Free Hugs" movement, which resulted in my You Tube debut.
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