Bienvenue chez les Bruns

I and 3 international friends were invited to the family house of a French friend of mine. It was a great, maybe the best, weekend and I’ll tell you why.

On Saturday we took the bus (5 euros) to Carpentras. We got out in the city which was called l’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (Island on the Sorgue river). When we walked to the house, we passed many canals. You could say that it’s the Venice of France. The house was like a little castle (19th century), surrounded by a typical garden for the South of France I think.

What I liked the most of this weekend was the French food. Lunch was already waiting for us, when we arrived. The lunch and dinner meals (3/4 courses) were bigger than I’m used to in Holland, of course all served with wine*. Most of the courses were French, one was Lebanese**. But I liked all of them very much!

We played two card games and the family gave us a tour in the region (Luberon, Vaucluse) on Saturday afternoon. We visited the touristic village Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, where the most powerful spring (of the Sorgue river) of France is situated. I liked the (touristic) shops in the building of the paper mill. Afterwards, we went to a parking lot close to Gordes, which is one of the ‘most beautiful villages of France’. I had a great view over Gordes and the region from there. We visited an abbey near Gordes. You could hear the monks chanting, great atmosphere. In the evening, we saw an American movie (English version, French subtitles) with the French title ‘Et au milieu coule une rivière’.

When I woke up and moved the curtains, the blue sky made my day. We had breakfast with pain au chocolat. Afterwards my French friend gave us a tour around the city. There was a big market in the city center. Seriously, I could hear more German and Dutch than French! L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue was crowded (with tourists)in the morning. I saw many water mills and antique shops, that’s what the city is famous for. We played some more card games. Everyone became more and more competitive, it was great! At the end of the afternoon, we ate a crêpe in the city center. And then it was time to say goodbye, give 3 kisses (normal in the Vaucluse region) and go back to Aix by car. It took us 45-60 minutes to go from l’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue to Aix-en-Provence.

I noticed a few interesting things, while I was there. The son of the family was often asked to help his mother, though the daughter was just a few years younger. And perhaps it is impolite to refuse to take a second portion of each course, but I’m not sure. However, I didn’t have any problems with that!

It was a pity that I couldn’t find (Dutch) tulip bulbs to give as a present. Instead, we gave a bunch of flowers and Belgian beer.

*Wines: Baume de Venise (Sat. lunch), Merlot (cote du Rhône; Sat. dinner) / Muscatine (Sun. lunch)
**Saturday at lunch: salad, “boeuf bourguignon”, dessert, coffee
Saturday at dinner: “soupe de courge”, different kinds of cheese, dessert
Sunday at lunch: “quiche Lorraine” and “tarte aux oignions”, Lebanese dish, “tarte des Alpes”, piece of fruit, coffee or tea