Today came several milestones: Julia turned 1 1/2 years old, we are at the 1/2 way point of our time here in Vaison la Romaine, and Sara barfed 1/2 way up a mountain.
We celebrated Julia's 1.5 year "birthday" with a nice lunch in Buis-les-Barronnies. She sure has opinions even at her young age.
As for Sara's barfing, I can now say that oatmeal looks about the same when it is regurgitated as when it is freshly made. As we were on a twisty windy road enjoying mountanous beauty she said, "I hope we get there soon," and then she just let it fly out of her mouth. It got on her clothes, her car seat, and on herself. Dan pulled over and we spent several minutes getting her cleaned up (diaper wipes are very useful!) and getting fresh clothes on her. [I always bring fresh clothes for Sara and Julia, you never know when they will come in handy.] After she was cleaned up, Dan spent several minutes standing up with her in his arms to giver her some fresh air - and take the in the view with her. That made her a bit less green (and us too!).
The views were similar to yesterday so I'll not repeat my thoughts - and we twisted and turned on the impossibly narrow road all the way to "Brantes." A place we have never been.
Brantes is "one of Provence's most spectacularly located villages" according to our guide book. We agree. When we turned the corner and saw it perched on the side of the mountain we were speechless, other than to say "wow."
Dan parked the car below town and we walked up. Sara and I went first, since Julia was in the Bob-stroller and the first thing we saw were stone steps up. Up, up, up, is the theme of these hill towns. While we were off exploring Dan went back and exchanged the stroller for the Kelty backpack-carrier - so then we all walked around.
Brantes is small. There were some shops for artists - but it was kind of like Les Crestet - only more alive. There weren't any streets really - just stone pathways that wandered this way and that way - going up, down, left, right, with about as much rigidity as Jello.
Luckily for us Sara had to go to the bathroom so we wandered into the only restauarnt. It was empty, except for the one person who was cooking. We explored the restauarnt (it was tiny) and wandered out to the deck - it was perched high up - and you couldn't even see what it was attached too - the view was out to the mountains and straight down. Thus, we had to stay. We bought ice cream - and we all sat down on the deck to savor it. That turned into coffee for Dan and I - and we let Sara/Julia wander around the deck (we were the only ones there) as we just wondered how lucky we were to find that exact spot. It is what travel is all about, finding a little gem to savor.
After that we went back to Buis-les-Barronnies for lunch. We looked at other restaurant/cafes but ended up right back at the one we liked yesterday. The waitress recognized us (it was just her and the chef) and we had another great meal. She was even more friendly to us, and treated us as friends.
We strolled around town after that - enjoying the narrow streets, a garden, one or two shop windows, and maybe passing 1-2 other tourists. It is a very unspoiled real place - with local ladies in their 80s leaning out of their windows with their hair up in a cloth -- just passing the time looking at the world walking by. For a few minutes today - we were part of that world.
The drive back here was about an hour. Sara slept. Julia played "pass Buster" a toy that has buckles on it - she would buckle the buckles - then pass it to me to un-buckle the buckles. At one point she held my hand. The held it tightly. It reminded me so much of how Grandpa Hoffman used to hold my hand that I actually got weepy.
Back here we played a little in the yard, ate dinner, and did bed time. Dan and I have been relaxing in the sitting room, but we will soon get to sleep too!
Quote of the day:
Sara: "I will lead the way. If you go the wrong way, I will keep going, and you can catch up." (Said when Sara was our lead adventurer as we strolled around Brantes - a hill top town with arches, serpentine paths, no real roads, a lot of stone steps, and a few artists.)
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