Died & Went to Heaven! - Six Days in Provence One Night in Paris!
Mar 16th, 2005, 07:27 AM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 698
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Died & Went to Heaven! - Six Days in Provence One Night in Paris!
We took advantage of the Air France fare sale last May and booked as far out as we could. We left on March 4 and returned March 12.
The AF flights from ORD-CDG and back went smoothly. They have 2-4-2 seating in "steerage" which was very comfortable. I was very impressed with the level of food service and enjoyed the complimentary wine and cognac.
TGV from CDG to Avignon was relaxing. Surprisingly there was snow from Paris all the way to Valence. At Avignon we picked up our rental car from Europcar arranged through AutoEurope. Rental cost including limited insurance coverage (Diner's Club picked up the rest) was under $300. this also included a free upgrade. We received a brand new Peugot 370 four door sedan with CD player and power options. The 5 speed transmission was very peppy. I felt like James Bond driving through the hilly hairpin turns from St. Remy to Les Baux. I was very proud of myself for not only not having anyone overtake me but passing a few cars myself.
We arrived at our destination - le Moulin de Greoux just outside the village of Maussane-les-Alpilles. This is a beautifully restored and renovated olive mill dating back to the 1700's. We were greeted at the gate by the most friendly retriever "Coco." We were weary from our overnight flight and train ride but the sight of this setting was most exhilarating. The main house has, I believe, three guest rooms but we stayed in a seperate guest cottage named the Forge.
This petite maison has it's own living room with fireplace, bedroom, bathroom and fully stocked eat-in kitchen.
Patricia had a fire going in the fireplace, a bottle of wine, loaf of bread and olive tapenade, etc waiting for us. How cool was that!
Whoops! Gotta go. More later....
JoeG
The AF flights from ORD-CDG and back went smoothly. They have 2-4-2 seating in "steerage" which was very comfortable. I was very impressed with the level of food service and enjoyed the complimentary wine and cognac.
TGV from CDG to Avignon was relaxing. Surprisingly there was snow from Paris all the way to Valence. At Avignon we picked up our rental car from Europcar arranged through AutoEurope. Rental cost including limited insurance coverage (Diner's Club picked up the rest) was under $300. this also included a free upgrade. We received a brand new Peugot 370 four door sedan with CD player and power options. The 5 speed transmission was very peppy. I felt like James Bond driving through the hilly hairpin turns from St. Remy to Les Baux. I was very proud of myself for not only not having anyone overtake me but passing a few cars myself.
We arrived at our destination - le Moulin de Greoux just outside the village of Maussane-les-Alpilles. This is a beautifully restored and renovated olive mill dating back to the 1700's. We were greeted at the gate by the most friendly retriever "Coco." We were weary from our overnight flight and train ride but the sight of this setting was most exhilarating. The main house has, I believe, three guest rooms but we stayed in a seperate guest cottage named the Forge.
This petite maison has it's own living room with fireplace, bedroom, bathroom and fully stocked eat-in kitchen.
Patricia had a fire going in the fireplace, a bottle of wine, loaf of bread and olive tapenade, etc waiting for us. How cool was that!
Whoops! Gotta go. More later....
JoeG
Mar 16th, 2005, 10:34 AM
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 698
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
As if our arrival wasn't enough to die for, we were invited to join Patricia and her husband Alan for dinner. After unpacking and freshening up we ambled across the courtyard to the main house.
We were given a tour of the house. The level of restoration and furnishings is amazing. Each room looked like a photo from Architectural Digest. The antiques and collectibles could provide enough material for an Antiques Roadshow mini-series.
Normally with this type of setting the atmosphere is cold and stiff. And yet with three (friendly) dogs running around, the atmosphere was warm and homey. This was further enhanced by the gracious and laid back manner of our hosts.
The kitchen is truly too die for. I have seen smaller apartments. This is not a "trophy kitchen" however. We were served a great meal that featured a herb crusted pork filet that was so tender and juicy you could cut it with a fork. After several glasses of wine and a sumptuous dessert we were invited to join our hosts for a wine and cheese tasting event in Arles the next morning (Sun.) at 10:00AM. After being awake for nearly 36 hours we returned to the Forge where we promptly crashed.
Next - the wine tasting....
JoeG
We were given a tour of the house. The level of restoration and furnishings is amazing. Each room looked like a photo from Architectural Digest. The antiques and collectibles could provide enough material for an Antiques Roadshow mini-series.
Normally with this type of setting the atmosphere is cold and stiff. And yet with three (friendly) dogs running around, the atmosphere was warm and homey. This was further enhanced by the gracious and laid back manner of our hosts.
The kitchen is truly too die for. I have seen smaller apartments. This is not a "trophy kitchen" however. We were served a great meal that featured a herb crusted pork filet that was so tender and juicy you could cut it with a fork. After several glasses of wine and a sumptuous dessert we were invited to join our hosts for a wine and cheese tasting event in Arles the next morning (Sun.) at 10:00AM. After being awake for nearly 36 hours we returned to the Forge where we promptly crashed.
Next - the wine tasting....
JoeG
Trending Topics
Mar 16th, 2005, 11:08 AM
#8
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 17,226
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Mar 16th, 2005, 12:24 PM
#10
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,698
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Joe, we will be in Arles in September. I visited the website, but there is only pictures of the forge. How expensive was this? Did you do any of the cooking classes? I e-mailed them for more information, as this looks great, just hope it is within our price range. How many nights did you stay?
Mar 16th, 2005, 12:37 PM
#11
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 49,560
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
JoeG:
You're making me extremely jealous! I would normally be right there at the moulin this time of year, cuddling Coco (who, by the way, was bought at the market in St-Rémy - best market purchase ever!)and helping PB whip up delicious things in that kitchen, but my plans had to be scrapped this spring.
Glad you had a great trip. I bet you had a bit of wind, though, eh?
You're making me extremely jealous! I would normally be right there at the moulin this time of year, cuddling Coco (who, by the way, was bought at the market in St-Rémy - best market purchase ever!)and helping PB whip up delicious things in that kitchen, but my plans had to be scrapped this spring.
Glad you had a great trip. I bet you had a bit of wind, though, eh?
Mar 16th, 2005, 02:06 PM
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 698
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
StCirq,
You are correct - the wind - Mistral was intense. Someone said that "You know it's a bad wind when they give it a name." Brilliant sunshine though.
Anyone that is interested in more info can contact Patricia at [email protected] - she has excellent photos.
Sunday morning we made sure that we didn't oversleep because we really wanted to do the wine tasting.
The drive to Arles was a familiar stretch as we drove this route many times on a visit to this area two and a half years ago. The village of Fontveielle has many inns and an inordinate amount of what look to be neat restaurants.
The wine tasting took place in gymnasium of what must have been the equivalent of Arles High School. What fun it was to go with someone that spoke the language fluently with all of the vendors. All we had to do was drink wine and eat cheese, sausage and all kinds of food items. Not your usual Sunday morning activity. I was quite taken by the number of wineries represented and the relative reasonable cost of the wines. California wines have gotten so expensive.
Lynn bought two types of mushrooms - morrel and one other - really expensive. 40E for a small paper bag full(it seemed illegal). We also bought some frozen escargot that had the garlic butter sauce already in the shells. More about these later.
It took a couple of hours to poke through the entire event. I lost count of how many wines we sampled but it seemed to enhance a delayed jet lag reaction. On the way back, we had to pause while a sheep herd crossed the road. Lynn took several great photos of this event. Particularly good was the shot of the rams eyeing her with bad intent.
We returned to the Forge to take a short nap. Once rejuventated, we ventured off on a long drive through the countryside. We started getting hungry around 5:00 and noticed that one of the bakeries in Maussane had re-opened. We proceeded to buy at least one of everything including bread, pastries, chocolate, even pizza. When we returned to the Forge we combined all these goodies with the wine, sausage and cheese purchased earlier, built a fire and proceeded to stuff ourselves silly.
I was pleased to discover that my iPod worked great with the small stereo so we spent the evening cozying up by the fire, reading and listening to great tunes while the Mistral howled!
More later......
JoeG
You are correct - the wind - Mistral was intense. Someone said that "You know it's a bad wind when they give it a name." Brilliant sunshine though.
Anyone that is interested in more info can contact Patricia at [email protected] - she has excellent photos.
Sunday morning we made sure that we didn't oversleep because we really wanted to do the wine tasting.
The drive to Arles was a familiar stretch as we drove this route many times on a visit to this area two and a half years ago. The village of Fontveielle has many inns and an inordinate amount of what look to be neat restaurants.
The wine tasting took place in gymnasium of what must have been the equivalent of Arles High School. What fun it was to go with someone that spoke the language fluently with all of the vendors. All we had to do was drink wine and eat cheese, sausage and all kinds of food items. Not your usual Sunday morning activity. I was quite taken by the number of wineries represented and the relative reasonable cost of the wines. California wines have gotten so expensive.
Lynn bought two types of mushrooms - morrel and one other - really expensive. 40E for a small paper bag full(it seemed illegal). We also bought some frozen escargot that had the garlic butter sauce already in the shells. More about these later.
It took a couple of hours to poke through the entire event. I lost count of how many wines we sampled but it seemed to enhance a delayed jet lag reaction. On the way back, we had to pause while a sheep herd crossed the road. Lynn took several great photos of this event. Particularly good was the shot of the rams eyeing her with bad intent.
We returned to the Forge to take a short nap. Once rejuventated, we ventured off on a long drive through the countryside. We started getting hungry around 5:00 and noticed that one of the bakeries in Maussane had re-opened. We proceeded to buy at least one of everything including bread, pastries, chocolate, even pizza. When we returned to the Forge we combined all these goodies with the wine, sausage and cheese purchased earlier, built a fire and proceeded to stuff ourselves silly.
I was pleased to discover that my iPod worked great with the small stereo so we spent the evening cozying up by the fire, reading and listening to great tunes while the Mistral howled!
More later......
JoeG
Mar 17th, 2005, 07:25 AM
#13
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 698
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Monday we decided to drive into the Luberon, an area we never really penetrated on our previous visit. Our only regret with visiting at this time of year was that nothing was in bloom. The upside, nothing was crowded. It was extremely picturesque driving through the countryside and the hillside towns of Roussillon, Gordes, Menerbes, Bonnieux. We stopped in Roussillon for lunch at one of the few places that was open. We did get lucky and had a terrific meal.
Upon our return later in the day, we were invited to have dinner with our hosts and a house guest of theirs from the States. What a treat! Patricia whipped up another excellent meal featuring a Coq au vin entree that melted in your mouth. I brought a bottle of 1988 Duckhorn Cabernet from home and hoped it hadn't turned bad. The first taste was a little iffy however Alan poured it into a decanter and after letting it breathe for awhile it seemed to open up quite nicely. I've kept a fair amount of good wine dating back to 80's vintages and I've come to the conclusion it's better to drink it right away.
Eating great food, drinking good wine with interesting people in a fabulous environment, what could be better than this?
Tuesday we had no agenda and Patricia suggested Pont du Gard. We were off. This was another sight we had not seen and it was quite imposing. I can't believe that they let people walk across it. It looked like this attraction is set up to accomodate hundreds if not thousands of visitors. On this day we saw no more than 8 or 10 other people.
From Pont du Gard we drove to Uzes where we poked around in the village and had lunch in a tavern that was bustling with what seemed like locals. It's so fun to just sit and absorb all the atmosphere. Even in this establishment which we would characterize as "bar food" back home we had a great plate lunch featuring steak au poive. We had been out and about for three days now and I still had not heard any English speaking tourists.
That evening we had dinner reservations at La Petite France. Two years ago we had a very memorable meal there. It was very formal with many courses. Since then they apparently "turned in" their Michelin star. It is now less formal and is called Bistro La Petite France. We thought the changes were for the better. Much more relaxing atmosphere, not so stiff. You could order ala carte but they had a prix fixe four course meal for 25E that we thought was a great value. Lynn had a guinea fowl that was rolled with vegetables, herbs and spices that was extremely flavorful. Now instead of the cheese carte, they have a cheese course featuring four unbelievably yummy local cheeses. We also had an excellent, reasonably priced bottle of wine from their well crafted wine list.
Next - market day in St. Remy.
Joe
Upon our return later in the day, we were invited to have dinner with our hosts and a house guest of theirs from the States. What a treat! Patricia whipped up another excellent meal featuring a Coq au vin entree that melted in your mouth. I brought a bottle of 1988 Duckhorn Cabernet from home and hoped it hadn't turned bad. The first taste was a little iffy however Alan poured it into a decanter and after letting it breathe for awhile it seemed to open up quite nicely. I've kept a fair amount of good wine dating back to 80's vintages and I've come to the conclusion it's better to drink it right away.
Eating great food, drinking good wine with interesting people in a fabulous environment, what could be better than this?
Tuesday we had no agenda and Patricia suggested Pont du Gard. We were off. This was another sight we had not seen and it was quite imposing. I can't believe that they let people walk across it. It looked like this attraction is set up to accomodate hundreds if not thousands of visitors. On this day we saw no more than 8 or 10 other people.
From Pont du Gard we drove to Uzes where we poked around in the village and had lunch in a tavern that was bustling with what seemed like locals. It's so fun to just sit and absorb all the atmosphere. Even in this establishment which we would characterize as "bar food" back home we had a great plate lunch featuring steak au poive. We had been out and about for three days now and I still had not heard any English speaking tourists.
That evening we had dinner reservations at La Petite France. Two years ago we had a very memorable meal there. It was very formal with many courses. Since then they apparently "turned in" their Michelin star. It is now less formal and is called Bistro La Petite France. We thought the changes were for the better. Much more relaxing atmosphere, not so stiff. You could order ala carte but they had a prix fixe four course meal for 25E that we thought was a great value. Lynn had a guinea fowl that was rolled with vegetables, herbs and spices that was extremely flavorful. Now instead of the cheese carte, they have a cheese course featuring four unbelievably yummy local cheeses. We also had an excellent, reasonably priced bottle of wine from their well crafted wine list.
Next - market day in St. Remy.
Joe
Mar 18th, 2005, 07:37 AM
#15
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 132
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Joe -- your report is bringing back wonderful memories of past trips to Provence and great anticipation of our next trip there in October. Thank you! We just used our tickets from that same Air France sale for a long weekend in Paris for the annual soldes in January.
Mar 18th, 2005, 07:55 AM
#16
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,327
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I too am enjoying your report.
We were in Roussillon during the Mistral once. We were actually sitting outside at one of the cafes in the square when the wind struck up and all of a sudden the umbrellas started flying everywhere (they were not the types that went through a hole in the table). Got a little dangerous, but it's a fun memory.
Mar 18th, 2005, 08:31 AM
#17
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,588
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Joe, it's wonderful to read your account. Thanks so much.
The mistral ...the Michelin guide says that Madame de Sévigné described it as "that bitter, freezing and cutting wind," and isn't there a saying in the south of France that the mistral can tear the ears off a donkey? It certainly is miserable when it strikes.
Anselm
The mistral ...the Michelin guide says that Madame de Sévigné described it as "that bitter, freezing and cutting wind," and isn't there a saying in the south of France that the mistral can tear the ears off a donkey? It certainly is miserable when it strikes.
Anselm
Mar 18th, 2005, 09:23 AM
#18
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 698
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Wednesday we departed early for the
St. Remy market. There is a very easily accessible municipal parking lot as you enter town from the south. It's only a few short blocks before you get into the heart of the shopping district.
In spite of the Mistral there were many vendors spread out over a several square block area. Because we enjoy cooking and had a fully equipped kitchen, we were looking forward to buying fresh vegetables as well as goodies to bring home. Lynn bought some kitchen towels and two really nice scarfs. We also bought some neat containers of sea salt from the Camargue, which is probably a big rip-off but who cares?
We got all kinds of vegetables (for potato leek soup), salad fixings, bread and several pastry and dessert items. We figured that we could add the escargot that we bought at the wine tasting event on Sunday and together it would make a good meal.
Lynn had been looking for the Joel Durand chocholate shop and on the way back to the car we found it. They have many flavors of chocoalate candies each with a letter on it. You can combine these to make someone's name. They wrap these in nice little boxes and they end up making great gifts. We spent a lot of money at this place and returned on Thursday and spent even more. Lynn claims this is the best chocolate that she ever had!
On our previous visit to this area we became hooked on the local olive oil. We brought some home with us and of course ran out of it very quickly. Since that time I've been ordering from France from various places on the internet. The shipping is very expensive and it takes four or five weeks. I've recently found a place in Seattle - chefshop.com that carries it. Very expensive to buy but cheap to ship and it takes less than a week. Long and short of it - it costs three to four times what it costs to buy it in France.
The olive oil that we like the most is Mas des Barres right in Maussane. As luck would have it is just down the road, walking distance from Moulin de Greoux. We stopped at the little store that they have at the mill and bought four litres. I would have gotten more but was concerned how much I could fit in my luggage. We also bought many bars of soap, olives and tapenade. There was a very sweet girl working in the gift shop that spoke a little English and was very helpful. We returned to our our petite maison with all the booty collected during the day.
Lynn made the soup and and I made some homemade croutons with the olive oil for the soup and salad. The Forge was filled with pleasant aromas. Since Patricia's house guest had left and Alan was away on business we were thrilled that she accepted our ivitation to join us for our little meal. It was especially good since she brought little gadgets to fish out the escargot from the shell. We made a fire, put on some music, opened a bottle of wine and had a very enjoyable little meal.
Next....... Wine and Tripe for breakfast!!!!
JoeG
St. Remy market. There is a very easily accessible municipal parking lot as you enter town from the south. It's only a few short blocks before you get into the heart of the shopping district.
In spite of the Mistral there were many vendors spread out over a several square block area. Because we enjoy cooking and had a fully equipped kitchen, we were looking forward to buying fresh vegetables as well as goodies to bring home. Lynn bought some kitchen towels and two really nice scarfs. We also bought some neat containers of sea salt from the Camargue, which is probably a big rip-off but who cares?
We got all kinds of vegetables (for potato leek soup), salad fixings, bread and several pastry and dessert items. We figured that we could add the escargot that we bought at the wine tasting event on Sunday and together it would make a good meal.
Lynn had been looking for the Joel Durand chocholate shop and on the way back to the car we found it. They have many flavors of chocoalate candies each with a letter on it. You can combine these to make someone's name. They wrap these in nice little boxes and they end up making great gifts. We spent a lot of money at this place and returned on Thursday and spent even more. Lynn claims this is the best chocolate that she ever had!
On our previous visit to this area we became hooked on the local olive oil. We brought some home with us and of course ran out of it very quickly. Since that time I've been ordering from France from various places on the internet. The shipping is very expensive and it takes four or five weeks. I've recently found a place in Seattle - chefshop.com that carries it. Very expensive to buy but cheap to ship and it takes less than a week. Long and short of it - it costs three to four times what it costs to buy it in France.
The olive oil that we like the most is Mas des Barres right in Maussane. As luck would have it is just down the road, walking distance from Moulin de Greoux. We stopped at the little store that they have at the mill and bought four litres. I would have gotten more but was concerned how much I could fit in my luggage. We also bought many bars of soap, olives and tapenade. There was a very sweet girl working in the gift shop that spoke a little English and was very helpful. We returned to our our petite maison with all the booty collected during the day.
Lynn made the soup and and I made some homemade croutons with the olive oil for the soup and salad. The Forge was filled with pleasant aromas. Since Patricia's house guest had left and Alan was away on business we were thrilled that she accepted our ivitation to join us for our little meal. It was especially good since she brought little gadgets to fish out the escargot from the shell. We made a fire, put on some music, opened a bottle of wine and had a very enjoyable little meal.
Next....... Wine and Tripe for breakfast!!!!
JoeG
Mar 18th, 2005, 09:48 AM
#19
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 609
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
JoeG, I think your title is right on the money: reading about your vacation does sound like you died and went to heaven! Aren't the markets wonderful? My husband and I returned from Provence with suitcases stuffed to the brim with goodies purchased at the market in Uzes. Food and pottery were our favorite finds. My friend Marcy, who just came back from a trip to France, was bemoaning the fact that the lavender honey she brought back is now sadly finished, as is the olive oil...good reasons for a return trip, heh?
Mar 18th, 2005, 11:46 AM
#20
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 698
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Anselm,
I think we saw a few loose donkey ears blowing around! LOL.
mermaid,
We brought an extra suitcase that folded flat in our luggage and packed it full on return. It was really, really heavy. The Mas des Barres has their olive oil packed in tins so they are easier to pack than bottles. Airport security at CDG wanted to know what all the metal objects were.
KT Tomlinson,
What did you do for your "long week-end in Paris?" I love that concept. I think we have one in our future. The cheap air fares really make that a possibility.
JoeG
I think we saw a few loose donkey ears blowing around! LOL.
mermaid,
We brought an extra suitcase that folded flat in our luggage and packed it full on return. It was really, really heavy. The Mas des Barres has their olive oil packed in tins so they are easier to pack than bottles. Airport security at CDG wanted to know what all the metal objects were.
KT Tomlinson,
What did you do for your "long week-end in Paris?" I love that concept. I think we have one in our future. The cheap air fares really make that a possibility.
JoeG
