Month: August 2013

Still hungry? 

For the original Saturday Treasures, click here and here!

I’m off to the market. I may even brave a visit to the Flower Man…

Have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy et Bon Appetite! 

I would make a poor alchemist as gold is not a word I cling to. And yet, each summer I am drawn like moth to flame as the stones of Aix reflect a vibrant luminosity.

Eyes distilled with a liquid prism, I wander and bask in the hue.

History, history. Draped around my torso and puddling at my feet in the longest gown. When I walk its train stretches behind me and around here in Provence. The hems kiss such Roman stones and Gothic spires in just an every day kind of way. I am grateful for the comfort, the fine company.

So when I discover a true atelier of time’s treasures, I can’t help but share it with you, most certainly one that is hidden in plain sight. The Musée Lapidaire has been housed in the 17th century chapel of the former Jesuit College since 1933, smack on the main artery of Avignon. But today, perhaps so many people are busy with the contemporary folly of lécher les vitrines of the H&M across the street that they don’t bother to part the massive red curtains at the entry.

Well, it is their loss. The Greek, Roman and Paleo-Christian statues, vases, funerary monuents, mosaics and sarcophogi are gorgeously accentuated by the white stone Baroque architecture. And while I am, unsurprisingly, a great admirer of Arles’ own anitiquities museum, I must say that the Musée Lapidaire has a mighty fine collection, one that is beautifully presented in such a small space. Surprises abound, most especially over the magnificent Greek vases that were bought in the 18th century from the aristocratic Nani family of Venice. I don’t think that I have seen anything like them during my travels so far. I was equally delighted by the Etruscan terra-cotta pieces, including the langorous reclining damsel below. However the museum’s oeuvre-pricipale dating from 50 BC, “Le Tarasque de Noves,” which depicts a flesh-eating monster (one still popular in Provençal lore today), gave me the giggles.  

I bowed my head apologetically and pulled la robe d’histoire tighter around me as I continued on.

Le Musée Lapidaire – Collection Archéologique du Musée Calvet

Chapélle des Jésuites

27, rue de la Republique

84000 Avignon

Open from 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 6pm, closed Mondays

Admission: only 2€!

http://www.musee-lapidaire.org/oeuvres-antiques/fr/home

I want to send a very sincere thank you to all of you that so kindly sent birthday wishes via comments or email. They delighted me to no end and bring nothing but happiness, the best gift of all…

Yes, I had a wonderful time and so am passing it along, wishing you a wonderful week ahead!

Not today, tomorrow but as this has been declared Birthday Weekend we are already officially celebrating…

Time to throw open the curtains and let in the light…

Woot woot!

I hope that you all find something to celebrate this weekend too… 🙂

Hendrik asked if there was anything that was missing at the safari tent. Now admittedly, as a travel writer (I usually say “former travel writer” but I must be feeling hopeful today), this is a question that usually has me rubbing my hands together with Snidley Whiplash glee. Having worked in the luxury hotel industry, I know the ins and outs of the details and can find the faults of “an experience” within roughly seven seconds or so. And yet, I came up blank. I love that tent! And the chapel! And walking through the surrounding forest and cavorting on the mountains towering above!

Ah, but old habits die hard. “Well, there is one thing…” Despite that this recluded spot was far cooler than sizzling Arles, there was still a mighty spike in temperature just at the most essential moment of the day…la sieste. I couldn’t escape the sun’s glare on the patio and felt like a slow-roasted hen inside. “Would it be possible to have a little seating section down by the riverbed? A hammock maybe?” (admittedly, this was Remi’s idea but I handily passed it off as my own). Hendrik thought that a perfectly splendid suggestion.

So perhaps on our next visit–and yes, I am ready when you are–I will nap under a leafy canvas and coax the dogs into the ice-cream thrill of plunging into a mountain stream, for normally there is an actual river and not just a riverbed. There will be so many delicate details to discover, if only I can keep my eyes open long enough to see them…

The best light can be slightly ticklish, don’t you agree? 

Oh! And I am also guest-posting for beautiful Clare at Looking Glass in Australia while she is off wandering through Peru…

http://curiouslookingglass.blogspot.fr/2013/08/guest-post-heather-from-lost-in-arles.html