6 Weeks in Provence

When Peter & Margaret Pigeon asked us if we wanted to do a house swap for 6 weeks, we hesitated for a nanosecond before starting to work out the particulars related to that proposition. It turned out to be very slick - the meeting at the airport in Marseilles, exchanging car keys and parking stubs and going over home details at each location.

When we met them this morning in Marseilles, we both agreed that the arrangement had gone very well. Now as we hang out at our hotel awaiting tomorrow morning's very early flight to Paris and then Toronto, I have an opportunity to bring some closure to this episode of my blog with some final thoughts about France.
It's safe to say that 6 weeks of immersion have improved our fluency with the language immeasurably. For the first time this trip we successfully had phone conversations in French, which in the past we've always found extremely difficult. Dawn's also starting to buy and read French language magazines, especially cooking ones.
It remains a very expensive country for everything except wine, cheese and bread. Diesel fuel was selling for around a Euro a litre - around $1.60 Cdn - and regular gas was usually 1.25 a litre - close to $2.00 Cdn. No wonder small diesel cars are still the principle way to get around.

Because of our timing this trip, we got to watch just about the entire grape vendage process. They started picking the whites about a week after we arrived and as of today, the majority of the wine crop is starting to ferment, with very few grapes left on the vines. 2009 promises to be a good crop with more sugar in the grapes than last year, but with smaller, more concentrated grapes due to the extremely hot late summer. This probably means lower yields and possibly higher prices for the consumer once the product is bottled.

We certainly learned a lot more about the wine business in the Rhone valley than we knew before. Farmers feel there is 20% too much production in this region, but who's going to reduce? Then, since the only thing that grows well on most of this southern land is grapes, with what crop do you replace that 20%? There are definitely some serious questions to be answered in coming years, as France attempts to claw its way back to the top of the wine exporting world.
We continue to marvel at how different consumer products are in France. Whether it's a cut of beef or a pair of pants, everything is different than at home. Vive la difference!
Cairanne is an excellent spot to be centred for jaunts about the south of France. There is so much to see and do in the close proximity, but with a short drive on the autoroutes, not much in the south is very far away. In a very short distance the topography changes remarkably, from the beaches of the Mediterranean, to the swamps of the Camargue, to the gorges feeding the Rhone, to the mountains of the Ventoux area, to the expansive plains of vineyards, to the ancient hilled villages. This is one very pretty region!

So as I conclude my bla-bla-blogging for this trip, we anticipate our return to France next year for more new discoveries and adventures!