RED WINE

After more than twenty years passed in France I’m still a pretty bad “Frenchwoman”: I don’t much care for wine. At least I don’t know a lot about it and I have a pretty “bad” taste in wine, I mainly drink rosé wine – and champagne, of course.

Last Saturday I found a red wine that suited my taste buds. It is light, fruity and “womanly”, a good wine for summer evenings, to be drunk chilled as a rosé. It might not suite a proper wine lover but I liked it a lot. I found this treasure at the Domaine de La Brillane, near Aix-en-Provence. This vineyard was bought by a British gentleman who made his first career in the City before becoming a French vigneron in 2000.

They produce four different wines of which the lightest and my favorite is Le B - Cuvée de Printemps. Those who like richer red wines find them as well. And the best of it is that they are produced organically. They don’t produce a lot, so you can find the wines at their cave in Coutheron, near Aix or in some restaurants and wine merchants in some English speaking countries.

I had the chance to tour the Domaine last Saturday as a kick off of a lovely day spent among some lovely ladies, all Finnish bloggers living in the Southern France. After a copious picnic at the Domaine we headed to town and strolled in the streets of Aix. I get allways nostalgic when in Aix since it is a town I love and know well since I have lived in it or near it for twenty years.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera in my “weekend cottage”, so the photos hear come from the web pages of the Domaine de La Brillane. And they do a bed and breakfast, too. To wake up in this scenery!

On the other hand I didn’t forget the camera two weeks ago. For once we spent the weekend in my current home town and we had a marvelous weather. Since I’m feeling lazy I won’t put the photos here but you can see them here and here. I realize you might not understand the Finnish texts but there isn’t much to be said about these pretty, little towns. Vaison-la-Romaine has both Roman and Medieval heritage and a very famous Roman bridge over the Ouvèze. Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux doesn’t have three castles, not even one, but it has a pretty little Medieval and Renaissance old town. Suze-la-Rousse has a medieval castle with a spectacular Renaissance court yard. The castle houses a Wine university, after all we are totally surrounded by vineyards.

UNE VRAI IMMORTELLE

Tomorrow, Thursday, the sixth woman ever becomes a member of the Académie française or as they are called an immortal. Simone Veil is a French politician, minister, chairman of the European Parliament and one of the favorite persons of the French. She drove courageously an abortion law while health minister but above all she is known to be a witness of the Shoah since she was deported to Auschwitch when she was only 16 and was the only one of her family to survive. She told her story in 2007 in her book Une vie.

MORNING PROMENADE

Saturday morning was the sort of beautiful winter day, windy and cold but sunny and with a wonderfull blue sky that one would wish all the winter days in Provence to be like. To celebrate the good weather I took a walk to Arles.

Le matin de samedi le temps était magnifique, un temps froid et venteux mais ensoleillé et avec un ciel d'un bleu éclatant. J'en ai profité pour faire une promenade dans Arles. Pour une fois j'ai pris mon appareil photo avec moi et je peux donc vous convier avec moi pour cette promenade.

Arles is a town I like a lot. It has a sort of faded, provincial charm, especially in winter when the tourists are rare. I love to walk in it's allies, looking at the pretty little details one finds everywhere. And for once I thought about taking my camera with me, so I can share the experience with you.

J'aime beaucoup Arles. La ville a un charme un peu vieillot et passé, surtout en hiver, quand la plupart des touristes l'a abandonné.

In summer, Arles has a lot of visitors but in winter it is nicely calm. It still has a lot to offer, especially for those who can see. The Japanese tourists are drawn to Arles for the fame of the painter Van Gogh.

Pendant l'été les touristes remplissent ses rues mais tout le long de l'année elle attire surtout des touristes Japonais, intéressés par le mémoire du peintre Van Gogh.

On Sunday we had a surprise coming:

Mais dimanche une surprise nous attendais:

A new snowfall, more than 20 centimeters of snow in Arles. It is very rare this late in the year, it must be some twenty years we haven't seen it.

Une nouvelle chute de neige, très rare si tard dans l'année.