C'est Mardi
Time is a paradox. Some days speed by. And others feel like a week. This past seven days felt like a month. But here we are and it's Tuesday again. Hard to believe, only a week ago, Matt was here with us in Aix-en-Provence. It was the first full day at school for the kids and Matt's last day in France, so we decided rather than walk around Aix, why not drive around Provence? The beautiful weather gave us inspiration to rent a convertible. Tuesday morning, we picked up the car and they asked us if we would like an upgrade at no cost. How about a Mercedes C220 Cabriolet?"That would be fine" Matt said, doing his best to keep a straight face. Wowzah! He was a kid in a candy store. I loved the sportiness of our ride and but was relieved that he'd be doing all the driving. The French are crazy behind a wheel.We had a blast! It was a little stressful getting out of Aix but ten minutes into our trip we exited off the A51 and were on a mellow country road. The trees create a canopy along the vineyard-line road. I felt like I was in a painting of Provence.[gallery ids="138,145" type="rectangular"]I picked Bonnieux as our first town after reading the description as "a romantic city on a hill nestled in the heart of Petit Luberbon". And it was only 45 minutes from Aix-en-Provence.Before reaching Bonnieux, we drove by the beautiful Château de Lourmarin towering over the tiny town.
We stopped and admired the beautiful gardens and view and then hopped back in our sport car and drove up the hill to Bonnieux. We hiked to the top of the church in Bonnieux and around the tiny ancient town. The streets are narrow. I don't think two cars can pass. I'm not sure how the summer traffic would be and we were happy it was a Tuesday in September and not Saturday in August!Our next stop was red rocked town of Roussillon. We found a parking spot right away. I was in charge of the parking meter. I am still not sure our 2 euro covered the hour or the day.It was lunchtime so we we found a little spot with a table by the window and enjoyed some delicious pasta and a croque monsieur. 
I remembered being in Roussillon with my family and my dearest friend Amy Conger when I was pregnant with Brewster. Matt didn't remember the town and I reminded him that he didn't leave the pool at the chateau where stayed for two weeks. In July, 2004, Matt took the Utah Bar and then we travelled to France. He was exhausted and all he wanted to do (and did) was read fiction and chill by the pool. He had secured a job in Salt Lake City and we were moving to Park City from San Francisco but first we spent two weeks in France and then a month driving around Spain and Portugal.The French portion was a Fuller Family Field Trip. My parents had rented an old château, Mason George, for two weeks and the Garretts, Hutchinsons and my parents met in Gordes. My sister, Mara & her husband John went to visit their friends in Asia so they didn't make it. But Amy Conger, Heather Staples & Mike Carlson happily stepped in for the O'Briens. Every day we went to a different market town in Provence. We came home after lunch, napped, cooked and then feasted. I baked a number of fig tarts since we had a tree in our yard and Tom Garrett not only loved my tarts but was tall enough to pick the figs off the tree. Châteauneuf-du-pape flowed.No doubt, the seed for my current French sabbatical was planted back in 2004. Last week, Matt and went looking for our château in Gordes but didn't find it. But we did drive through Gordes and relived our baby moon with a big heart.
After Gordes, we climbed up to the small town Murs before it was time to head back to Aix. About 4pm, we arrived at Brewster and Sadie's school and picked them up. We took them for a drive in the convertible. On the map, near their school, we spotted a park in a little town Tholonet with a road up a mountain called St. Victoire . We winded our way up the mountain and were delightfully surprised with what we encountered. There is no lack of beauty in Aix![gallery ids="149,155" type="columns"]We dropped off the kids near our apartment close to 5pm leaving ourselves an hour to return the car. The rental shop is less than two miles from our apartment. We followed our google map and were stunned when it lead us to a one-way street, the wrong way! We stayed calm and looped around. It was 5:30pm but the traffic was building. Unable to cross the Rotonde (the center rotary of Aix) we had to drive all the way around the city to arrive at the rental shop from the opposite direction. I lost my mind in the grid lock traffic. Finally, about 6:20pm, we arrived and they were closed. I was STRESSED!Matt's flight from Marseille was the next morning at 6:30am. No part of me wanted to drive the fancy car. So I made Matt continue to drive in traffic to find parking. Ready to quit, he found an overnight garage near by. Desperate, I begged him to try to find a spot closer the car rental place. I didn't trust myself driving the nice car. He agreed, flipped around and went back to where we were supposed to drop the car off. And what do you know?? My parking angels were with us! Matt found a spot directly across the street from where we needed it to be the next day. Yay for us.I look at the Aix traffic and drivers differently since last Tuesday. I am certain that we made a good decision to buy bus passes and leave the cars to the locals. Matt and I had a such an OMAzing date in the Luberon before he flew back Aux Etas-Unis. We miss him! One week down. We'll see him again in five more.