Summer Explorations (Episode 2)

As the great American poet Taylor Swift once said, “August slipped away into a moment in time.” Somehow it’s September, an although it feels like we just sat on the couch all summer, we did actually get to do a bit of local exploration.

In June, we visited our repeat favorite, the Carrières des Lumières, for their new exhibits of Gaudí and Dalí. It was really great to get out and see some giant projected art. The art was pretty wild (as is expected, especially from Dalí) but we still really enjoyed it. Masks were required in the quarry, but it was fun to turn our white masks into a sort of projector screen. Always look for the positives!

Later that afternoon, we ate a picnic lunch in Saint-Rémy with Cindi, Orlando, Jed and Lauren. There was a nice park area with some big Roman ruins and benches so that was a perfect place to enjoy some food.

After lunch, we walked on a self-guided tour of Vincent van Gogh art. A lot of his paintings are inspired by or direct references of Saint-Rémy. There were posters along the path that showed where he may have painted the scenes. We were also able to see the asylum that he stayed at for a year and painted from. It was a really interesting view of history and van Gogh’s life.

My birthday was a low-key but really nice day. Jonathan and I made a little lunch and took it out to a park and ate outside and enjoyed the sun. I had a delicious cake from Weibel, one of my favorite bakeries here, so I couldn’t complain.

Jed and Lauren’s baby shower was a great time. The guest list was small, but we were able to secretly arrange for their parents to video chat in so they were able to join in on the fun. I took pictures at the shower for them and it was all really nice.

July in Provence means lavender fields are full of the purple flowers, so we had to go out and get pictures. It really is a wild experience. Purple as far as the eye can see, the smell of lavender is almost intoxicating and the drone of bees is all around you. We took some photos with friends and then had dinner at a restaurant. It was our first restaurant that we had eaten at since quarantine, so we were a little nervous but we ate outside and it ended up not being too bad. The food was fantastic.

And with that, I’ve run out of space in this blog post for images. You’ll have to check back for the next update if you want to see pictures from Sisteron (a citadel that dates back to the 1200s), Annecy (the Venice of France!) and more!

Thanks for reading! Be back soon.