Saint-Remy-de-Provence, Friday, March 26, 2010, 5:30 p.m. – I am sitting in the quiet garden outside our hotel, a 200-year-old stone farmhouse called “Mas de Carassins.” There’s a lovely pool in front of me, a fountain framing the rocky outcrops of the Alpilles mountains that van Gogh loved to paint while he was convalescing at a sanatorium less than a kilometer from here. The sun is amazingly warm, the air fresh, and Will is playing ping-pong with his dad while we await a bottle of local red wine to enjoy by the pool. Can you say perfect in French? Parfait!

We had a perfect day in Provence, our best yet in the south. We woke to a driving rain, Mitchell even saw hail, and our host, Michael, told us to rethink our plans of seeing the Roman ruins, the sanatorium, the villages I’d mapped out in the hills to the east. Undaunted, Rick, Will and I donned our raingear and set off for the ruins of Glanum, just a hop and a skip up the road. We parked at the sanatorium, which had views so familiar from van Gogh’s paintings. There were reproductions of his paintings with the actual backdrops behind along the road into the hospital where he took refuge for a year after he cut off part of his right ear while living with Gaugin in nearby Arles. Van Gogh was exceptionally productive during his time here, and we walked through the cloisters of the hospital, which is still being used by psychiatric patients. In fact, a silent but friendly patient greeted us with a huge vacant smile and a very soft handshake. Rick, in particular, was moved by the experience, perhaps all the time he spent at the Oregon State Hospital. “Thinking of van Gogh in that little room and painting all these amazing things,” Rick said.

But before we toured the small room, which re-created van Gogh’s actual room, we noticed the sky clearing, so we headed across the road to the Roman ruins of Glanum. What a treat! These were the most amazing ruins we have found (Nigel told us it would be so, and he was sooo right.) Set in a narrow valley under beautiful rock outcroppings, Glanum was a fully formed urban town in the time of the Roman empire. Earlier still, local Celt/Ligurians inhabited the same place, the site of a sacred spring, which Will, to his delight, discovered.

The ruins stretched up the valley and included a forum, meeting places, large stately houses, temples, wells, sewers. It was the first place in Provence that made us feel the power we felt in Greece at the ancient sites there. Fortunately, perhaps because of the weather, we were alone at the site, which made it feel even more special, and made it easier to imagine walking the streets alongside men in togas.

The weather continued to improve as we swung out of town toward the hilltop town of Gordes on the Vaucluse Plateau. We stopped at an amazing Provencale restaurant, La Farigoule, just below Gordes, where we had fancy salads with foie gras and Will had an unbelievable chocolate cake with the texture of mousse.

We then stopped at the Village des Bouries, the site of an ancient village where all the buildings were built of stacked stones. People lived alongside their cattle, sheep and pigs and threshed their grain on the huge flat rocks underlying the site. The last inhabitants left in the early 18^th century, but it was restored in the 1970s. It was a delight for Will to run through the buildings and around the site, imagining he was living in a time long ago.

We then headed up to Gordes, perched on a hilltop, topped by a castle. We wandered the narrow steep cobblestone streets and enjoyed the wonderful views across the valley to the Luberon mountains. Fantastique! We then veered down the mountain to the russet-colored Roussillon, another hilltop village built from the ochre-hued earth in the area. We bought a few souvenirs – lavender soap, a few sachets – and headed down the valley again to the Pont Julien, a 2,000 Roman bridge. One final stop up the other side of the valley, in Bonnieux, where Rick watched men playing bocci and Will scored another pain au chocolat. (I won’t mention the cream-filled almond croissant and raspberry-pistachio tarte Rick and I just devoured.)

We arrived here an hour ago and plan to eat here (again) tonight. Fabulous food. Tonight salmon, last night veal. Rick was just asking if we could cancel our hotel in Arles tomorrow to stay here. I think we would have stayed here the entire time, if we had known how lovely it would be. We will return!

We send love home and will touch base tomorrow, after a trip to Les Baux and Arles, our final full day in Provence.