"A year [right next to]... Provence."

Virtu

Noun: 1. Love of or taste for fine objects of art. 2. Productions of art (especially fine antiques). 3. Artistic quality. Virtu comes from Italian virtu¹ "virtue, excellence," from Latin virtus, "excellence, worth, goodness, virtue." This week we went to Provence to see Julien and his family. We got all dresses up for the event. We visited down town Aix-en-Provence, known for its fountains and amazing doors. It was really pretty. We met Kevin, Juliens older brother, who was really amiable, and who lives in Aix. Then it began to get too cold and rainy to continue sight seeing on foot, so we hopped in the car and drove to a calisson factory. (calissons are traditional provincial candies that are ridiculously good)It was a really tradition family calisson business, a huge house, on a farm. I`ve never tasted such soft fresh calissons. Yummm. After that we went to a vineyard Castle called beaupres, and wine tasted. I was impressed and best of all, as a gift we got three bottles of my favorite wine. I learned a good deal about wine, virtu and Aix-en-Provence. This photo is taken at La Bastidonne, the petite village where Julien and his family live. We hiked up the little mountain to an ancient chapele, called the chapele Julien, ironically enough. It was very pretty, even if the weather wasn`t. This is the house. They have been renovating it for a few years now, taking it down a floor, adding on to the dining room. The big room they have added on to looks amazing. The house will be gorgeous when it is finished. The land around it is so typically Provence, the french countryside, vineyards, and olive trees. Its so.... cute. And as an extra favor, they gave us their old TV to borrow for the year. Now we can introduce some french, into our little english haven here.

posted by Bonnie @ 10:42 AM