In St. Saturnin----Finally

The travel gods were angry on Thursday.  They teased me with an easy flight from Durango to Denver, then slapped me with a flight delay that got me to DC 15 minutes after my Paris flight left---au revoir.  Initially I was told there was nothing to do but wait a day and get the same flight, making me spend a night at Dulles airport.  Finally one agent offered a late flight to Frankfurt, transferring to a flight that would put me in Paris late afternoon---I chose to overnight at CDG instead of Dulles. The gods must have decided they had messed with me enough, because I got a seat on the Frankfurt flight, which was totally booked, that happily was beside 2 "no show" seats.  I had 3 seats, the entire section, for myself.  I lay flat down, took a wonder pill, and slept across the Atlantic.

Once in Paris, I had to reorganize all my careful planning,starting with a new train ticket for the next morning, then a place to sleep for that night, then the car pick up in Avignon and notifying all the people who were expecting me to be in St. Sat that day.  The hotel I chose was an Ibis, which I knew was a well regarded lower cost chain.  This one was quite an experience---it was an Ibis Budget---completely no frills and not attempting to be anything else.  But it was all I needed.  There was a bed, comfortable, and a bathroom, clean.  It was small, utilitarian, like being in a neat and clean dorm room.  See what I mean:

When I walked down the stairs at the Avignon TGV station, there was a nice young man representing Renault, holding a big sign with my name on it.  After all the chaos of the previous 2 days, that was somehow immensely comforting---my life was getting back on track.   David, the Renault guy, took me to his office, aka, the convenience store, explained the car, especially the GPS, had me sign a paper, fill her up, then sent me on my way with a brand new tiny Renault Clio. Despite my fears of the straght shift, Clio and had a lovely trip through the heart of the Luberon to St. Sat.

I found my home for the next 2 weeks without any problem, settled quickly and took a walk around the village.  It is lovely, typically full of stone buildings with tile roofs, narrow streets running up and down a hillside, with a ruined chateau above it all.  M. Jullien's house is 3 restored stories with a fourth above.  I'm in a large room with (non-working) fireplace, ensuite bath,  at least 5 ft. tall windows with heavy wood shutters---exactly what you expect from the real estate pictures of the classic Provencal village home.

This is the exterior of the house, the one with the blue shutters, on the Rue de la Republique.  My bedroom windows are the 2 on the left of the 3d story.

This lovely old church sits at the top of the street,
about  a half block away, and has lovely old
church bells that ring every hour.

The bottom of "my street", with the boulangerie/patisserie on the right side, the Bar Mes Amis on the left, the ochre colored front 2 doors up from the bar is my school.







I've just heard the lovely old church bells chime the half hour, meaning it's now 11:30, so I should be in bed.  Tomorrow is the first day of school---what shall I wear???