Voyages around France: A cold morning in southern France.....

Just got back in from a morning walk with Rudy out in the vineyard & orchard and there is a definite chill in the air today. A thick blanket of frost is covering just about everything in the valley as far as the eye can see. It has been a mild winter so far with only one snowfall which was maybe an inch or so where we live. I am looking forward to the warmer temperatures when spring finally decides to arrive as it will be my first spring in France. I've seen many photos of the fields of lavender and I'm ready to experience them in reality.....should make for some very colorful photos too....I hope.

Alot of my time lately has been my ongoing efforts to learn the language which has truly been, and will continue to be a great challenge for me. Days not spent in the classroom will find me going over what we learned in class and then going over it again...and again...and again. For me, repetition is the key because if I don't go over what I've learned numerous times I will soon forget it. I think I'm going to have to push back my goal of being fluent in French by the end of the week... :-)

I haven't been able to take many photos the last few days but I still have my huge vault of photos taken since my arrival in August of last year. A small village that we traveled to in late summer of last year is also one we will visit again in the spring.

Fontaine-de-Vaucluse is a little village situated beneath some towering rock cliffs which gives you the impression of being remote and isolated. There are many interesting aspects and visual treats when you visit this little river town. It is most famous for the spring that originates and flows from a huge hole underneath the cliffs in the northeast part of the village.

In the summer and fall this huge opening at the bottom of a cliff is mostly just a stagnate pool, but in the spring it is a constant explosion of water that comes from deep below the surface. The river it creates flows all year long and the water is clear and COLD!! As I mentioned the main pool is stagnate in the summer although water that feeds the river comes from other cracks in the earth nearby. I plan on a return trip in early spring to see the difference in the water flow which should be dramatic.

The river created by the spring runs right through the heart of the village and of course there are shops and places to eat for all the tourists who flock here during the warm months of the year. Look up on one of the cliffs above town and you can see the ruins of a castle which I plan to hike to on my next trip....I would take the elevator if they had one.