We had some great plans for our last couple of days in the Luberon: dinner with Doug and Carol at Domaine de Layaude Basse, another hike, a day trip to the Ardeche.
Unfortunately, I was sick the last three days. We had company for dinner Sunday and Monday, and I got sick during the dinner on Monday. After our trip to the Coustellet market on Sunday morning, I didn't leave the house until we left for the train station on Thursday morning! On Tuesday I barely even left the bedroom.
I did read one very good book (Almost French: Love and a New Life in Paris
This was definitely a disappointing way to end my summer in Provence. I'm almost never sick!! And I really wanted to go to the Ardeche! Charley and Kelly ran a few errands in the village and got some medicine for me at the pharmacy. I felt badly that my problems impacted their last couple of days too. I had a little rice for dinner on Tuesday and some chicken on Wednesday... and I slowly started to feel better. I was worried at one point that I wouldn't be able to make the trip up to Paris, but on Thursday morning I was feeling better. Not great, but well enough.
The Mistral wind returned this week, bringing with it very clear crisp skies and cooler temperatures. On Tuesday night I looked up out the bedroom window and saw this beautiful sunset. I called Kelly to come take some pictures. It was one of the best sunsets we've seen. On Wednesday afternoon we even had some very heavy rain. The weather has been very different this summer.
Beautiful sunset on Tuesday night (photo by Kelly)
On Wednesday we did laundry, and Kelly and I started organizing our things for the trip home. Kelly has way too much luggage; her main bag is the big duffel bag I used for our 14-month trip to Europe. She is even leaving a small suitcase behind, which Charley and I will get home somehow in September. We also mailed two boxes home. I didn't really feel that we had bought all that much!
Bonnieux from a neighboring farm, just before a storm (photo by Kelly)
And so another summer in Europe... another summer in Provence.... approaches an end. It feels strange to be leaving Charley behind. He will have another week here on his own and then will travel in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Italy... mostly in the alpine areas. He's going to research two new "Experience" trips we'd like to offer in Bavaria and the Salzkammergut (possibly beginning in the summer of 2009) and then he wants to spend some time studying violin-making in Cremona, Italy and Mittenwald, Germany.
I'll meet Charley back in Bonnieux on September 14. And we are talking about a family trip back to the Luberon for spring break. As far as next summer... we know we definitely want to spend much of the summer in Europe, but we're not sure where.
A last look back at the house (photo by Kelly)
