Oct 3 -- Provence,ocher factory, and Aix en Provence

We drove winding roads to a town that had a Sunday market that specializes in antiques. Balika and Sven found their cast-iron, hand-shaped door-knocker. We ate lunch in a cafe next to a clear, fast-flowing canal. Balika and I shared a salad with warm goat cheese on crackers. Our carnivore, Sven had raw hamburger with a raw egg on top. The waiter confirmed that he was knowingly ordering, "beuf tartare."

Sven's Beuf Tartare

We returned to St. Saturnin by way of Roussilon. Until the 1960's it housed a substantial factory that mined and produced various colors of ochre dyes.


Walking by a system of decanting pools throughout pine woods, we checked out the monstrous gears and belts of the grinding, pressing, and filtering machines in rooms covered with red, yellow and orange dust.
At the end of the tour the kids, including Sven and me, mixed water- colors and painted on paper provided for us.





The following morning we went to Aix en Provence to meet Philipe, friend of Sven's. Philipe's boat is wintering in Kodiak after completing transiting Arctic Russia. We followed Philipe in the rain through the streets of Aix looking for an open restaurant.

Our two, bright-colored rainy day, girls

Its too bad it is Monday--everything is closed.