Girl time in Provence

Jan and I have been friends since we first met in seventh grade homeroom.  Through the years our lives have gone separate ways, mostly with her moving to Europe with her husband and family for a time to minister to churches in both Germany and Prague.  Yet, we still kept in touch and always caught up on things when we did get together.  It was because of her that I made a trip to Europe in '92 with my boys....meeting her in London, then traveling together in Germany and the Czech Republic. 

And now, she is retired from Northwest Airlines and has the privelege of not only traveling, but of continuing their mission work around the world.  She and her daughter visited me two summers ago, and she wanted to come again for a quick "girlfriend trip", just a get-away.  I chose an overnight in Provence, an area that I love and one that she had not seen before.  Besides, the weather is always nice in Provence, right?

We spent her first jet-lag day, though, in a rainy day in Paris.  We both love history so I suggested going to the Cluny Museum, built right over the old Roman baths from the first century, some of which are still visible. 

The Hotel de Cluny  was built in the late 15th century and contains artifacts from the Roman Empire through the Middle Ages, including stained glass windows, sculptures, paintings, and jewels.  One thing that fascinated us, though, was the discovery of 21 of the heads of the kings of Judah from the early 1200s.  They were taken from the Notre Dame facade during the French Revolution (mistaken for French kings) and buried.  In 1977, they were discovered by chance under a bank building!

 It also has the famous and beautiful "Lady and the Unicorn" tapestries....six of them in all that cover the walls of one room.

We left the next morning on the super-fast TGV for another ancient Roman site, Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. This was started as a Roman outpost in 122 BC and is now a University town and center of Provence. The artist, Paul Cezanne, painted the countryside around this town and there is still his studio there as he left it....

 The weather cleared up a bit for us....a windy day blowing the clouds away. The main street of the old town, Cours Mirabeau, is said to be one of Europe's most beautiful boulevards.  It has pretty fountains through the center of the street, shops and cafes on one side, and old 17th and 18th century mansions on the other...

We stayed at a cute B&B in town, with a welcoming French woman who LOVES AMERICANS! We settled in and with map in hand, explored the charming narrow streets, churches, and cafes......we were there just to relax and chat and catch up.  We were not going to be the tourists, running from one place to another....so the weather didn't really bother us, right?

This chapel on the right has its baptistery dating from the 4th and 5th centuries!

And the paintings on the wall are still visible.....

Walking through the streets after a dinner of duck a la Provencal....

....and waking up to a sunny morning and hearty breakfast....

.....we set out for some shopping in the hundreds of tempting shops throughout the narrow streets.  But the rain didn't hold off any longer, and we were soon on the hunt for umbrellas and cafes where we could warm up and dry out.

Shop, eat, shop, drink, shop.  That was the rest of the day.  We did end the day at the famous "Le Deux Garcons", where Cezanne and Churchill, among others hung out.  We just added our names to the list.

                       Ahh...a bit of cognac, a little wine, some profiteroles.......what could be better?

We were quite glad to get back on the train that evening, with frozen and wet feet.  We heard that there was actually snow not too far away, and 30 ft. waves in Nice!  So much for sunny Provence!