Imagine fields and fields of bright purple under a deep blue sky. With every breath you experience the true scent of Provence. We arrived in Provence just as the lavender is at its peak, which happens sometime between late June and mid-July. The large bushes of little purple and mauve flowers are springing with color. On this leg of my expedition, I must leave all the main roads, and take the roads less traveled. It's along the narrow (really narrow) curvey dirt roads that I

I wasn't sure what to expect when we headed south from Giverny to the Midi-Pyrenees region of Southern France. But when we rounded the final bend around the bluffs to St.-Cirq-Lapopie, I was mesmerized. The entire village is perched on the side of a steep cliff. The buildings cling to the rocks and their facades blend in to the natural stone as if camouflaged. The most prominent is a church, which sits tall above the rest of the village. I wandered the single main street that

It's one of the few phrases that I've mastered in the French language. I walk into a room, a shop, a hotel, and if I need any sort of interaction with another person I say clearly and loudly: Parlez vouz anglais? French a romantic language to be sure. But a difficult language. My niece, who spent a semester in Paris last year, is fluent in the language. And until now I haven't realized how remarkable that is. There have been several times when I know I could have used her ass