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I’ve taken of late to posting
daily photos of our visits these past five years
to Provence, a region
where old and elegant fountains
and towers rub elbows
with contemporary
and exciting buildings, like Marseille’s MuCEM..
We arrived in France in 2014 for a sabbatical,
and I returned to Provence four consecutive Mays with Emerson College students.
This May I won’t be leading students
to the Palace of the Popes in Avignon.
I won’t watch with them as light
dances over the buildings of Aix-en-Provence, where they studied French and lived with families.
I’m retired now, but my memories remain.
Of music and laughter
in the outdoor squares and cafes.
And still more music days when markets spill
onto the streets and squares,
in a spalsh of fresh and colorful food.
I’ll remember Aix’s elegant Caumont Art Museum.
And walks to the park where Paul Cezanne painted Mont Sainte Victoire.
The old city of Marseile
with its grand Basilica, boats hanging from the rafters,
its Vieille Charite, where the poor once lived.
We visited the Mediterranean port of Cassis
with its beach beneath the cliffs.
And saw this oh-so-French dog at Les Baux de Provence.
We visited the antique market
and food market at L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue
And so much more.
Mid-summer is hot in Provence
so this summer perhaps Paris will beckon again,
where Devon, then 7, watched the Eiffel Tower sparkle.
We later reached the top
and sat by the whimsical fountains outside the Pompidou.
Ate waffles in the Luxembourg Gardens,
sipped wine in the Tuileries.
We definitely will return to the alps and Chamonix
And take the lift up the 12,600 feet the Aguille du Midi
where the views stretch across borders
and an old hiker like me can
almost turn back time.
Perhaps we’ll visit the pictureque town
of Annecy and its lake,
where swans preen.
Or visit Strasbourg for a night ride on its canals
or visit some of the region’s ornate cathedrals.
In the end, though, travel in France, and particularly Provence, is about being rather than seeing.
It’s a place to sit, to watch, to relax
I hope that never changes.
