Somewhere in the South of France

We are just about to leave Vaisson la Romaine to head to points further south;

Not sure where I left off in the last blog. On Saturday morning we went to the Champs Elysee 5sp?). Still cold and drizzly but lots of people out for a walk--and not just tourists. Biggest sidewalks I have ever seen--and full of life! We then hopped the Metro over to Montmarte--the tallest hill in Paris--but couldn't see much because of the rain. But what a neighborhood--jam packe with people. They were there for local flea markets, for artists, for souvenirs, you name it. So again--a touristy neighborhood to be sure, but also full of locals going about their visit. Lots of winding streets, and lots of little parks and plazas. A delightful place. A 300 sqft loft will cost you 500k! As in the Marais, it is not just the rich who live there, so must be lots of renters and perhaps people who have held their property for a long time. Gentrification must be an issue.

We then packed up and heqded to Avignon on the TGV, which I described in the last post. We spent two nights there. Avignon as you may remember was the seat of the Papacy for a while in the middle ages. It is sort of like a medieval Antigua--but with a more modern and sprawiling city outside the ancient walls. Real estate is sold is intra or extramuros. Obviously very tight and walkable inside the walls. After the fall of the Romans, things went south in this part of the world and people basically lived in forts, with walls around their cities. Avignon is on a plain, and was a fairly large city. Yesterday we visited several of the so-called hill towns; The smaller cities in this period took refuge on hill tops--often with walls as well. Very tight and quant streets of cobble stone--but very little usable public space versus Avignon on the plain. Would be interesting to see how that pattern has played out over time in terms of town character (or social capital to use the technical term).

I need to describe the market--but I am running out of time. The Avignon sunday covered market was wonderful, but even better was the market here. Anybody and everybody was here. This is definitely not just a tourist market. Think of it as a fancified Guatemalan altiplano market---just way way more expensive. People hauled in stuff from all over to sell, but there was also an abundance of local and regional produce and foodstuffs. We bought way to much stuff, so we had to forgo a few meals so we could eqt qll the great stuff we bought!). What would happen if a Walmart went in here??? Most of the food we are buying here, at the outdoor markets or supermarkets (super is a relative term) is more expensive than what were are used to paying in the US. Perhaps it would be better to pay a bit more in return for vibrant towns and cities. Vaisson is just 5k people--and it is alive!!! Not sure how many towns of that size in Texas could say that. Most of them are in decline.

I will try to post some pictures of the markets etc in the next post. On to Marseille!