Mas d' Etoiles & Gordes

There is something about train travel in Europe.  It's so "Cary Grant is about to show up any minute, I should probably get out my cosmetics case so I can powder my nose before smoothing out my suit and adjusting my pillbox hat."

This is France's high speed train.  Paris to Avignon in just over 2 hours baby.

I'm SURE Avignon is lovely.  Except all of our 100 tour books said "leave NOTHING in your car unless you want it stolen."  Then at the rental car place a British couple brought their car back that had been broken into the day before.  Considering the Bobs and I had all our worldly possessions on us, we decided to make our way to Mas d'Etoiles, our B&B about an hour away.

Mas d'Etoiles translates roughly to "Home of the Stars" and where I HOPED Wentworth Miller was staying there, I figured they meant actual stars in the sky and not of the Hollywood variety.  

But, Mas d'Etoiles was a few minutes from Gordes in the Luberon region of Provence.  

The Luberon region is where the book A Year in Provence was set and some of the scenes from the movie A Good Year were also filmed there.  So I'd be lying if I said I wasn't still holding out SOME hope that we'd see someone famous ...

We arrived at our B&B and it was gorgeous.  Down to every last detail.  We entered through the front door and were met by Annette.

She showed us to our rooms.  This was mine.

And my view ... I'm CRYING right now.

This is the pool we dove in immediately upon arrival.  And yes, we screamed the entire time "WE'RE SWIMMING IN PROVENCE!!!!"  

After our dip we headed up to the town of Gordes.  A storm was starting to roll in.

We walked around the ancient town marveling at its quaint streets and sweet shops.

This was where one of the cafe scenes was filmed in A Good Year.

We had delicious fresh pasta at this cute little place.

And then headed back to Mas d'Etoiles just as the rain started to come down.

This is what the living room looked like when we arrived.  By the time we ran in from the car, dripping and laughing, this room had turned into a cozy, warm spot.  White twinkly lights were in the corner, classical music played on the stereo and the rain accompanied it in the background.

Mrs. Bob and I sat chatting quietly, curled up on the couch when Annette walked by and smiled at us.  She came back a few minutes later with a bottle of homemade wine and three glasses.  "You are good friends!"  She said.  "And good friends need good wine!"  The three of us sat and chatted until a couple from New York came in the front door.  They too had been caught in the downpour and decided to join us for a glass of wine.

As we all sat around talking, it came out that the gentleman from New York was a famous clarinetist.  Annette encouraged him to bring out his clarinet and after much pushing he obliged.  

And so we sat in Provence.  Rain and thunder outside.  All of us, warm from wine and laughter listening to Mozart being played just for us.

Home of the stars, indeed.