Falling in love can be so easy, can’t it?
Sometimes you just know. I had a hunch from the first moment that the village of Simiane la Rotonde would be the real thing and my instinct didn’t let me down.
Patina, time pushing up against each other at odd angles and solitude. Simiane checks the boxes of more than a few of my favorite things. Remi and I eventually stopped talking as we wound our way up and around, delighting in suspended gardens and ornate gates leading to forgotten bastides.
A bird is free now to make his nest in the curlicues of a Renaissance manor but Simiane was once quite wealthy, quite populated. While 1,157 people strolled its cobble stone streets in 1753, there are 30-70 residents living in the village year-round, depending on who you ask.
The 16th century covered market hall opens out onto the lavender fields below and is a simple token of the village’s more glorious past.
But touches of gentility remain…
I’ll be quiet now and let you wander…
…take your time…
…because as Diana Vreeland so wisely commanded “The eye must travel”…
But what, you might ask, is that large sugar lump of stone? More of that in the next post…for there is still much to share…
When we fall in love it is hard not to be exuberant, n’est-ce pas?
Aargh! I am short-circuiting over here at the thought of such a meeting! Zzt! Don't do that to me Suze! You with your mysterious black cat. Goodness. I could hide for days feasting on the like in such fine company. And I am sorry but I didn't quite get the words to fingers today. "Strawberry ghost" however? Well? Need I say more?
Bisous,
H
Yes, we absolutely were and I hope to share more with you why on a day when I am feeling more verbose. Today was a quiet rainy day here in Arles so I fear I did not muster up the proper enthusiasm that this wonderful place deserved!
Crappity, crap! I can't believe that I am still alive. I misquoted one of my heroes and yet somehow her ghost did not come down and smite me. Perhaps you saved me. And yes, what a fantastic, needed reminder to keep filling the well. I was telling Remi again that recently at a rather excellent show in Aix of a wonderful collection from Germany with some stunning late Picasso's (a period I love, sorry), two good De Kooning's and two absolutely stunning Richter's–that what little I know about art I learned from seeing it in NYC–I went at least once a week to either a gallery or a museum depending on my financial situation and was never bored nor lonely because those works were my friends. And more fascinating ones than many a person could be. I go back to say hello when I can.
On a silly note, on one day when I was feeling enooormously self-confident (at that time), I passed an incredibly handsome man decked out impeccably. Somehow I managed to croak out "lovely suit" with a smile no less! I later remembered that face when I saw it in a society magazine, it was Peter Beard. No wonder he seemed surprised at the random harpie making comments! 🙂
She who is happy that you write advisedly,
H
It looks like a place out of a fairy-tale. I cannot believe that so few people live there. Such a pity. I can see why you fell in love with it. I know I would have fallen for it too. It reminded me of one of those forgotten Italian villages in the hills of Tuscany or Umbria.
Dear Heather,
Yes….I've long loved that Vreeland quotation about the eye's needing to travel.
In a similar vein?….
A longtime friend of mine, who's about twenty-five years older than I am (and I'm now fifty), is a very well-known stage-director (I think I've asked if you knew him at Yale). He took an interest in me when I was 27 or so….flailing around with an eternally prolonged dissertation on Thomas Hardy (which, by that time, bored the hell out of me)when I wasn't sort of half-assedly accepting offers for at exhibits and book covers without really committing myself to switching careers….so that, in the end, I wasn't really pursuing, with any intention, either "career".
He had dinner over at my little gradstooding apartment one evening, patiently (and he IS a very wise, experienced man-of-the-arts) listened to my frustrated mewlings, and eventually/pleasantly said goodnight.
I came back from tiredly-teaching at Duke the next afternoon and found a box on my front stoop. It contained a large, expensive-looking, hardbound copy of "Passages" (the collected phtographs of Irving Penn, from the MOMA exhibition), a copy of Peter Beard's "In Africa", and a hardbound copy of "Sophie's Choice" (which I hadn't previously read during my all-too narrowly academic studies over four previous degrees).
He'd included a note ( I still have it, of course) which read:
"Thank you for dinner last night. You reminded me of several students I've had. I'll tell you what I've told them—- You're not feeding enough.
Feast on these books, and I look forward to seeing your next show.
your friend, ________"
Wasn't that a lovely gesture and wise-advice for a confused and struggling 27 year old? No wonder he's been such an idolized teacher (I should emphasize that he was teaching at an entirely different university than mine, and I wasn't in the least his responsibility).
and, yes….."The eye must travel".
Advisedly yours as ever,
David Terry
http://www.daviterryart.com
Heather,
I am speechless! What a charming and wonderful village!
xx
Greet
I visited this village last January with the fierce Mistral at its full blown speed…and despise the wind, the freezing temperature, loved it!
gorgeous. thank you for the stroll.
The eye has to travel … FEAST!
Favorite line: 'But touches of gentility remain.'
Favorite image: the one above the Vreeland quote.
Heather, I would love to have you over for mole and Mexican hot chocolate — which, if prepared correctly, is even better than an Aztec latte.
xx
Hello Heather:
Oh well, you know us, we fall in love at least three times a day…..four on a really good day!!!
And, we know immediately that we should definitely fall head over heels in love with Simiane La Rotonde at first sight. Your photographs really do capture the very soul of this truly charming place. The village wears its age with a comfortable elegance, no need for frills and fripperies here. The warmth of the stone, the flaky paint and, everywhere, the most glorious of views. It is a piece of Paradise and, like star crossed lovers, you and Remi must have been in seventh heaven…..well, we certainly hope that you were!!!