Friday 05. 12. 08 It has been a busy week. I have been to the atelier 3 times this week working on a series of monoprints and also on my etchings. I have also joined a French conversation class run by the Acceuil in Clermont. Today took a break and went with Claire over to to the other side of the Rhone to Les Baux and St Remy de Provence. I left on the 7.20 bus from Clermont in the dark and in the rain. By the time I met Claire in Montpellier it had stopped raining and the sun was shining so we continued on to Les Baux which was deserted. Like so many places out of season there was a certain tristesse in the emptiness of all the high end shops. We finally found a café and enjoyed an expensive mid-morning break before heading out to St Remy. St Remy was not crowded but people were out on the street and the cafés were alive with people eating outside and inside. We found a brasserie and opted for the menu du jour of cassoulet which was hot and hearty if not farty! All washed down with a pichet of the local red. After such a heavy lunch we walked around the town which had changed a lot since I was last there. We posted Claire’s Christmas cards and then went to an expo of prints at the Musée des Alpilles. The expo was not up to much but the permanent collection of local traditions and industries was fascinating and the building had that near perfect mix of the old and the new with old honey coloured stone next to glass doors and stainless steel fittings. Very nice. We headed back and had tea in Aigues Morte before parting at the gare routière in Montpellier where I caught the 6.15 bus back here.
