Lavender Fields in Provence, France

Saru: "Enough!! I cannot take this anymore!"

There are many ways to torture the husband and I discovered a very unique way when we were holidaying in the South of France.

We were driving around the Luberon region and the foothills of Mount Ventoux in Provence. It was late June and the country side was full of lavender, wheat and sunflower fields. Purple and violet contours extend out as far as the eye can see. Purple lines of lavender interspersed with golden wheat stalks in the foreground of a hilltop village...this is exactly how I imagined Provence to be and there it was!! A visit to Provence is a treat to all senses.

"Put some lavender stalks on the car floor. Every time you step in and out of the car, the air will be filled with fragrance" said the guidebook. I took the advice.... a little too seriously. I would stamp on the lavender, take in the heady scent and as soon as the perfume faded, I would stamp on the stalks again. In the beginning, Saru was amused. "It takes very little to keep my wife happy" he told himself and snickered while I would take deep yogic breaths every few minutes. But when the car started to smell like a like a lavender factory, he lost it!

I LOVE lavender!! At home, I have lavender scented candles, lavender home freshener, lavender oil, lavender lotion, body wash.....you get the picture!! When our trip to France got postponed to the end of June, I jumped at the chance to add Provence to the itinerary knowing fully well that it was peak time for Lavender. For 4 days, we drove around the country side stopping at every lavender farm, buying lavender products and one evening, I even made him go to a restaurant that was called "Les Lavandes" and eat lavender flavored ice cream at which point he screamed:

"Enough!! I cannot take this anymore! I need to get back into civilization soon!!

Our base was a small village called Monieux in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. We stayed in a bed & breakfast run very lovingly by Isabelle - Chez Isabelle . A lonely lady in her forties, she rented out 4 rooms. She barely spoke English, but that did not stop her from chatting with us. A little bit of English, a little bit of French and a lot of animated gestures later...we understood each other. She had a huge spread of homemade bread and jams and cappuccino for breakfast every morning.

On the first morning, we woke up early and went for a drive. A fat lady was just opening her bakery, so I ran inside and got us a couple of croissants. They were whole wheat croissants (!!!) and let me tell you something – when you are putting a slab of butter on every fold (see this picture of croissant dough) you are screwed anyway. What is the point of using whole wheat? The croissants were not so good, but the views from the hill were just fantastic. The ground was covered in thick morning mist while the sun was just rising. We spent an hour clicking pictures and just breathing in that cold crisp morning air.

Morning Mist and Lavender fields at Monieux

Saru went back to sleep while I chatted with Isabelle. I had a mini-breakfast with her and a second one with Saru.

"Un Cappuccino, deux Cappuccino, Très Cappuccino ....no problem" She said while talking me into trying Lavender honey with bread.

"I love summer. Weather is nice, rooms are full and I am busy. Winter is bad. When the mistral (cold winds) rolls in, it is so cold, I cannot leave home. For days, I do not see anybody!"

“But my daughter comes home for the holidays and we go skiing” Her eyes lit up while she spoke lovingly about the daughter that was studying in Paris.

I don’t know if I can ever live in such an isolated place, but I love to vacation in these small towns. Saru LOVES big cities and the energy in them. I like them too, but my idea of a vacation is to take it slow. The peace and tranquility of the countryside offers just the kind of holiday I want. For 4 days, we drove around some of the most beautiful villages in Provence. There was no long list of attractions – we drove aimlessly. Lunch in one village, snacks in one and dinner in yet another village. In between these villages were long stretches of lavender farms, wheat fields and wineries. After 4 days, I was completely rested and Saru was totally restless. He needed to move to an urban scene....see some wide roads, tall buildings, crowds, noise, pollution (OK....now I am just being mean here!!). More than anything, I think he was sick of being in places whose names he could not pronounce. Languages are not his forte and he will not even try to pronounce the names right. In the entire trip, I could not get him to say 'Bonjour' to anybody. He will say a very enthusiastic "good morning" or a very spirited 'hello', but never 'Bonjour'. On our trips we visited many cities and he butchered pretty much every name - Gordes, Roussillon, Montbrun-les-bains, Bonnieux, Monieux....and his personal favourite – L’Isle-Sur-la-Sorgue. For the life of him, Saru could not remember that name. On our way to the town, he kept repeating the name again and again. It was like riding the car with an idiot savant (remember Rain Man where Dustin Hoffman keeps repeating things...97X -The future of rock and roll...97X -The future of rock and roll...97X -The future of rock and roll....97X -The future of rock and roll).

In comparison, Nice and Monaco were easy to pronounce. Nice...was well... Nice and Monaco according to Saru, was a salt biscuit. Nice and Monaco deserve its own post, so I am not going to mention the topless women at the beaches there.

Here are some more pictures of the famous lavender fields. The difference in colors is because of the difference in plant species. True Lavender is the variety that is pure and used in the perfume industry. It grows only in higher altitudes (>1800 ft). Lavandin, a hybrid variety has darker colors and grows at lower elevations. We got a detailed Lavender trail from Fodors Provence forum (thanks Stu Dudley) and followed it to get to these picturesque locations. Mornings were cool in Summer, but afternoons were HOT!! Every afternoon, we would pick a nice shady tree, open the doors of the car and take a nice nap. A couple of evenings we lucked out with sudden thunder storms and then the place cooled down. I don't know if I will ever go back to Provence in the middle of Summer, but it was worth braving the sun for these views.

Traveling in Provence is a treat to all senses. Beautiful vistas of mountains, plateaux, an occasional chateau and precariously placed hilltop villages. In a follow-up post, I will write about the villages we visited, food we ate etc.

Follow-up Post : Beautiful Villages in Provence -Les Plus Beaux Villages de France

Writing this post is like shooting myself in the foot! There is already a perception among friends and family that I travel too much and here I am laying it all out in the open. "Where are you going next?" was the most asked question of 2009 and pretty much every time I WAS going somewhere. While this post might be an open invitation to taunt me about my hyper-active travel schedule, It might also give me a chance to redeem myself.

2009 was a wonderful year for us. This was our first full year in India after moving back from California in May 2008. If you do something as big as an inter-continental move, you also want to take that opportunity to change a few things in your life. After working non-stop for 10 years, I decided to take it easy. I became an independent consultant which is really a euphemism for jobless. Other than an odd project here and there, I was not getting much work because of the recession. I took full advantage of this and happily settled into a routine of traveling, blogging about it, traveling some more and blogging some more and did I mention "Traveling". I joined groups, became friends with fellow travel bloggers and much to Saru's dismay, started planning trips with them. "You are welcome to join us" I offered graciously to which he replied "Freaks...all of you are freaks" (totally uncalled for!)

I was so happy doing this routine that I said "No" to a perfectly good job offer. "I don't feel like working full-time" I said and then went on to declare " I am going to do whatever makes me happy this year!". Saru didn't flinch because he is used to my grand statements - "This is going to be the Summer of my life" I said one year and went on to work my ass off. The year I declared that "I don't care about money and I am going to spend as much as I want" was the year I saved the most!

Sure enough, a week later I started worrying about my career and took up a half-time job. The other half, I said should be open for consulting work(in other words jobless). To my utter joy and delight, the job required me to travel a good bit! Work trips are usually not fun, but I would make it a point to stay an extra day and see the sights. International cuisine is something I miss in Navi Mumbai (unless you count Mumbai High that serves Indian, Chinese, Thai, Italian AND Mexican all under one roof), So I would research and eat at really good restaurants. After some hesitation, even Saru started enjoying my trips. I would come back home from a trip full of juicy stories and follow him all around the house like a happy puppy talking about it. Soon, he started boasting to his friends "My wife understands what is important in life. She has figured out what makes her happy and is following it. I am proud of her". He would make his friends read my blog, and more importantly pain them to leave comments. Every comment on his photographs would increase his enthusiasm for the hobby. He joined me in as many trips as he could, and the rest, he enjoyed (or was forced to) by hearing about it a zillion times.

So folks, here is a list of all my trips in 2009. Pay attention to the words "work trip" which means that I "HAD" to go and did not have a choice. For all of you that give me grief about it, I will have you know that I did not leave Saru and go to all these trips. I HAD to go for work( Gosh....I just love this excuse....it sounds so legitimate). The two non-work trips I did without him were Corbett and VOF. He could not make it to Corbett because of work and didn't come to the Himalayan hike because....I am quoting his highness here "Hiking is pointless!"
January
January took me to Singapore for a work trip. Walking around the waterfront area and the Jurong Bird Park were a highlight. I had fantastic Italian and Thai food, not to mention the famous Singaporean Roti-Prata.





February
I made my first trip to Calcutta for work. Thanks to Shantanu's blog, I found out what and where to eat. Lucknow Biryani and Kababs were delicious and so was the Thai food in Oberoi.





March
Another work trip, this time to Bangkok. The temples and the grand palace were magnificent. The Royal Thai massage and foot massages were just what the doctor ordered at the end of a long day.






Corbett National Park was just fantastic. My friend Tara says that you know you love a place when you want to go back there again and again. This is one place I would love to visit multiple times.







April
Saru joined me in Delhi for his first visit to our Capital and was totally impressed. Delhi is my favourite city to visit in India. I feel a rush of emotion seeing India Gate and all other monuments I grew up seeing on TV.


May
Saru was sick and tired of hearing me talk about safaris after Corbett. He wanted his own safari experience, So we went to Bandipur NP. We traveled with fellow bloggers T&S and had a fantastic trip. A tiger, tigress with 4 cubs, leopard with a cub and 22 wild dogs were the highlight of our trip.




June
This was our big 10th anniversary month. After debating endlessly and researching locations in every continent, we finally settled on familiar grounds-France and it didn't disappoint! Driving around the country side, stopping at lavender farms, perched villages, sea side was my kind of a slow vacation.






July
Mangoes and Monsoons are what I love about Indian Summers. Waterfalls and green hills everywhere.





August
This was my very first multi-day hike to the Valley of Flowers. The Himalayas were absolutely breathtaking! I plan to do another hike this year.





September
Saru and I went to Maharashtra's Valley of Flowers with Adesh and Mandar. Acres of pink, blue, white and purple flowers sat pretty on the plateau.







October
We celebrated Diwali in the wild with a birding trip to Dandeli. A spooky and adventurous night walk was the highlight of the trip





November
A work trip took me to Indonesia. I took a sunrise trip to see Mt.Bromo, an active volcano in the area. Balinese massages and fantastic food were the highlights of an otherwise boring work trip.






December

December was like a grand finale to the year. I spent most of the month travelling. I went hopping from Delhi to Agra to Fatehpur Sikri to Jaipur to Ranthambore NP to Udaipur. Saru took this surreal picture in Ranthambore. We have a ton of close-ups, but this picture is my favourite of the lot.





Plans for 2010
2010 is shaping up to be a very busy work year. The half time consulting slot which was really an excuse to goof off in 2009 is suddenly getting active with a lot of work. Work hard...party hard will be my mantra in 2010.
January is shaping up to be a busy travel month. I leave for Bangkok next week and then we are going to Pench National Park for the Republic day long weekend. I signed up for Nature India's birding trip to the North East in March. Other than that, my year is wide open. There are talks of visiting the US for work, making a road trip from Manali to Leh and a girls-only trip to Europe. Let's see what pans out.

Where are you going in 2010? Leave a comment or a link to your recent blog post about this.