Entries about rousillon

We travelled around Provence today, taking a tour around some of the towns not too far from Cavaillon. It was good to get a feel of our surroundings, as we haven't really been out and about these past few days. Abby and I started the morning with leftover pancakes and Nutella (a breakfast that I highly recommend), and I did an early morning milk run to the convenience store about a block away. This, of all places, is where I finally found skim milk (it's not common in Europe), and felt proud of my discovery as I sat it down on the counter in front of my dad. Turns out he's taken a liking to the half-fat stuff, and prefers it in his coffee as well. So much for that.

First we visited Rousillion, also known as the Ochre Village. It lives up to its name, as all the hills and cliffs are bright, rusty colours. The streets of the town were like a maze, twisting and meandering everywhere, so that you found yourself down alleys and under archways at every turn. Red-orange dust had collected between the cobblestones. Some of the views were really spectacular. Looking around sort of reminded us of the game Catan (some of our readers are very familiar with this game), because of the way the ochre cliffs met the forest, which was right next to the fields, which ran right up to the mountains. The weather was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky. It was quite the colourful place, and I highly recommend it if you're ever in Provence.

The next place we saw was St. Saturnin-Lès-Apt, where we discovered some ruins and an old church running up along a cliff overlooking the town. It was a happy accident that we stumbled across this picturesque site. After walking along the ridges for a bit, we decided to settle down next to one of the old stone walls for a picnic, a place that came with both a gorgeous view and an effective windbreaker. It was a virtually perfect spot, and a tough one to leave. We poked around the area for a little longer, going up and around the church and climbing the bluffs. Afterwards, we drove a bit further, admiring the countryside, quaint towns, and extensive vineyards. If Provence is this pretty in the winter, I can only imagine what it's like in the warmer months.

Eventually, we headed home, as there was grocery shopping that needed to be done. We've noticed that time spent at the supermarket, though not necessarily unpleasant, tends to suck up a lot of our evening. Abby and I played a game of Monopoly, which I won (again). Then we got to talk to our mom over Skype. We miss her! We're also jealous because she gets to drink the BC water.

For dinner, we tried something new. My dad cooked something that we found at the supermarket called paupiettes. They were thin pieces of pork filled with sausage, with bacon wrapped around the whole thing. So, meat stuffed with meat bound with meat. Really tasty, as you can imagine. As we were finishing up (this was around 7:30pm; we seem to have adopted the late European dinner hour to some degree), we got a call from favourite Auntie Helen. We've gotten to see a lot of her over Skype lately, which has been a treat. She showed us her snowy surroundings, and we in turn told her about our sunny afternoon. I may miss Canada, but I can't say I'm sorry about the weather we've been getting.