{"id":395,"date":"2010-04-22T03:58:46","date_gmt":"2010-04-22T03:58:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=395"},"modified":"2017-10-19T11:06:37","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T09:06:37","slug":"provence-terre-insolite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/provence-terre-insolite\/","title":{"rendered":"Provence, terre insolite"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quand j\u2019ai v\u00e9cu<\/em> (When I lived) en Provence, j\u2019avais 15 ans<\/em>. At age fifteen, I was already fascin\u00e9e par la culture fran\u00e7aise<\/em>, and especially by le sud de la France<\/em>: the fabled South of France.<\/p>\n

When I decided to go to Provence (on a summer programme d\u2019\u00e9change)<\/em>, I thought I would be Brigitte Bardot, passant l\u2019\u00e9t\u00e9 a me bronzer sur la plage<\/em>: spending the summer tanning on the beach! En fait <\/em>(in fact), while PACA has 900 kilom\u00e8tres<\/em> of coastline, I was hours from la c\u00f4te <\/em>(the coast). J\u2019ai d\u00e9couvert une autre Provence:\u00a0 la terre insolite<\/em>. (I discovered another Provence: the unique and extraordinary land.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

P<\/strong>rovence A<\/strong>lpes C<\/strong>\u00f4te d\u2019A<\/strong>zur (PACA)<\/strong> is une r\u00e9gion<\/em> in the southeast of France. Its largest cities are Marseille, Nice, Toulon and Aix-en-Provence: I was not in any of these. I was in une petite ville m\u00e9di\u00e9vale<\/em> called St. Etienne-les-Orgues, population <\/em>800. Je parlais trois mots de fran\u00e7ais <\/em>(I spoke three words of French) and I was \u00e9tonn\u00e9e<\/em> (stunned) to be surrounded by des champs<\/em> (fields), des collines<\/em> (hills) et des Fran\u00e7ais!<\/em><\/p>\n

Quand on attend la C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur<\/em> (when you\u2019re expecting the French Riviera) et on voit des collines\u2026 c\u2019est difficile<\/em>. But I love those hills so much now that I can lose my breath looking at pictures of them. There\u2019s not tons to do in St. Etienne-les-Orgues, mais il y a tellement de choses \u00e0 voir<\/em> (but there is so much to see)! Des champs de lavande et de lavandin<\/em> (fields of lavender and lavandin), a more pungent hybrid. Des for\u00eats <\/em>(forests). Des falaises et des villes <\/em>perch\u00e9es<\/em>: cliffs and \u201cperched villages,\u201d tucked into the side of the mountain.<\/p>\n

One of the first phrases I learned was \u201cJ\u2019ai mal au ventre\u201d<\/em>: I am sick to my stomach (pas \u201cJ\u2019ai mal \u00e0 l\u2019estomac\u201d!)<\/em>. Driving around those collines <\/em>and villes perch\u00e9es <\/em>was its own d\u00e9fi<\/em> (challenge), but the view could almost make you forget les virages en \u00e9pingle de cheveux<\/em> (hairpin turns). I hope ces photos<\/em> tell some of the story, but they can\u2019t evoke the scent at the end of a day of r\u00e9colte de lavande<\/em> (lavender harvest). For that, you\u2019ll have to visit, and drive through des champs de tournesols <\/em>(fields of sunflowers)yourself.<\/p>\n

Cette r\u00eaverie de Provence<\/em> was prompted, for me, by a short film I just saw about a farmer in Lacoste, tout pr\u00e8s de<\/em> (right near) St-Etienne-les-Orgues. Regardez-le<\/em> and see if you can discern l\u2019accent proven\u00e7al du fermier<\/em>, the farmer\u2019s Proven\u00e7al accent.<\/p>\n

Cliquez sur<\/em> (click on) Documentaries<\/span>, puis<\/em> (then) “Painter of the Earth” (www.fendelmanfilms.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Vous voyez pourquoi on r\u00eave de Provence?<\/em> (Can you see why people dream about Provence?)<\/p>\n

(Merci Joel de ce lien- Thanks, Joel, for the link!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Quand j\u2019ai v\u00e9cu (When I lived) en Provence, j\u2019avais 15 ans. At age fifteen, I was already fascin\u00e9e par la culture fran\u00e7aise, and especially by le sud de la France: the fabled South of France. When I decided to go to Provence (on a summer programme d\u2019\u00e9change), I thought I would be Brigitte Bardot, passant…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":28168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[359209,2149,8400,8397,8399,8398],"class_list":["post-395","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-vocabulary","tag-film","tag-france","tag-lacoste","tag-provence","tag-st-etienne-les-orgues","tag-terre-insolite"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t