I Am A Traveler - What I Learned in Provence

We have returned home from our trip to Provence, in France and Barcelona, Spain.  The bags are unpacked, the laundry done and I spent a good part of the morning putting all the photos from my camera, cell phone and tablet into a folder.  As I perused the pictures I tried to identify the “take aways” from the trip.  What insights, thoughts, impressions stayed with me from spending time in these different countries and experiencing different cultures.

There definitely is a different pace to life, especially in Provence.  Restaurants are open when it is time to eat…from 12 to 2 in the afternoon and from 8 until 10 in the evening.  If you want to eat dinner earlier than 8 you have to find a small café or brasserie…the restaurants are closed!  Shops also close at various times and days to provide the down time that the people factor in to their way of life. 

In France we had a rental car to use for transportation.  We spent the first part of the week pouring over the map trying to figure out how to get from point A to point B.  What was the road number?  Did we take D398 to D901 then merge to D28?  And where were the highway numbers posted?  There were moments of stress and confusion with Jay asking me, “Do I turn here?  Is this the right road?”  And I, the faithful navigator, kept the map on my knees and my nose in the map!

It took us two days to figure out that we were going about it all wrong.  The French do not care what route number they are on.  They just know their destination.  And they trust…they trust that the signage will continue to point them in the right direction.  So, we are going to Tarascon.  Just head down the road and wait until we see a sign that says Tarascon with an arrow indicating the correct direction.  They focus on the destination…not the details of how to get there…just keep moving toward the destination.

And each time there is a decision point with a variety of roads leading in various directions, you can circle the round-about as many times as you need to until you see the correct sign with your destination.  If you miss it the first time around, no problem. Just go around again until you see it clearly.

Learning these little tricks of the culture allowed us to relax and not get so wrapped up in the details.  This was no race.  This was not a test.  It was a journey with a destination in mind and if we happened to take a wrong road, just sit tight and in a little while we would see another sign with our destination and an arrow to get us back on track.  

This might be a sensible way to approach life.  How often I get tangled in the details, wanting to do it exactly right and not make a mistake.  Maybe if I just kept my final objective in mind and lift my head from the map (and the to-do list) to watch for destination signs, I could also have the pleasure of enjoying the scenery on my life’s journey!

Driving toward Tarascon

Looking down on the Luberon Valley

The town of Gordes in the Luberon

The town of Bedoin on the way to Mont Ventoux

The olive trees that Van Gogh painted in San Remy de Provence

The Rhone River next to the Castle in Tarascon

The Papal Palace in Avignon

All of this mental rambling brings to mind a song from the documentary, Young@Heart, where the Senior Musical group sings "We're On The Road to Nowhere" with the famous line..."We may be lost but we're making good time!"  Sounds French to me!