A favorite word of mine: yes.

I looked at Friday’s weather.  It was 100% chance of rain.  I considered cancelling my car reservation.  Since I rarely regret saying “yes”,   I stuck with my plan.  I had a few French field trips still on my wish list so with a car, I knew I could explore.   We are traveling the next two weekends and then it will be December 21st.  That day, I will not only be forty-five years old, but I will be on an airplane saying “au revoir” to France.  So Friday, I decided to go to Les Baux-de-Provence.

A few weeks ago when we ran into the green vests on the way home from Orange,  we were quite closet to Les Baux.   As Brewster mentioned in his blog post, he was ready to go home that day so  my request to stop in the hilltop town was denied.

I figured I’d go by myself another day.  Since I knew it was going to rain on Friday,  I found  an 11am yoga class in Saint-Rémy which 15 minutes from Les Baux.

My mom enjoys going to new churches when she travels.  I like yoga studios. A few minutes before 11am,  I pulled into a cozy old boutique hotel called Mas de L’Amarine where the class was taught.    Immediately, I knew my day away from Aix was already worth it.   I walked through the drizzling rain, past a long garden table, right into the cozy reception area.  “Bonjour?” I said.  Please-have-yoga, please-have-yoga I silently hoped.

A darling Frenchie wearing an apron greeted me in the kitchen near the yoga space.  She confirmed that yes, there was a yoga class.   And I was in luck because the teacher was from Aspen, Colorado.

A few minutes later, my teacher walked through the door smiling.  “Hello!” I smiled back.  We introduced ourselves and  hugged – I am such a hugger.  Her name was Sabrina Sadeghi Millecamps.

I told Sabrina how I arrived to her studio and what I was doing in France.  She shared with me that she snowboarded for the US team 20 years ago, married a French man, was raising an 8 year old girl and taught yoga.  She laughed.   Her students knew that she ran on Provence time so no one arrived for awhile.  Ten minutes later the room was full.

Sabrina was a talented teacher.  She taught her slow flow class flawlessly in English and French.  I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed practicing yoga in English.  The biggest difference was that I could close my eyes and focus on my breath.  In my other French yoga classes, I constantly look at other yoginis near me to see what asana the teacher just cued.

I walked out of  Sabrina’s class to the smell of fresh food. I decided to stay for lunch and ordered a curry cauliflower en papillote with fresh mushrooms, herbs, topped with a little local cheese.  I ate slowly at the counter, watching the rain outside.  It was a serene meal.

After lunch, I drove towards Les Baux.    A few minutes down the road, I passed a Roman arch in a large park. I quickly realized this was Les Antiques de Glanum, one of the oldest and best preserved mausoleums in Europe.  When we were in Saint-Rémy in September with my sister Mara, we didn’t make it to this historical marker. On Friday, not surprisingly,  there was no one there.  I felt so privileged to be there alone.

After a few minutes there, I drove up the mountain to Les Baux.  I skipped the castle, worried that it may be outside and it was still raining.  Instead I went to an art show at the Carrières de Lumières.   Picasso paintings were projected on the 50 foot cave walls.   The show was synchronized lights and music.  It reminded me of our Palais des Papes show in Avignon.  I enjoyed the solace of the experience and the massive caves.

I left Les Baux in plenty of time to pick up Sadie at school in Aix at 4:30.  I asked her if she wanted to go to a modern art museum with Brewster after school.  She gave Brewster the choice and I was delighted when he said yes. I had been to this Vasarely museum a few weeks ago.   I knew the kids would love it.  Since I had a car and it was in Aix-en-Provence, Friday’s visit was easy.

Victor Vasarely,  a 20th century artist is the grandfather of optic art.   The museum building is a hexagon filled with  his incredible artwork. For almost an hour, Sadie Brewster and I marveled over the fact that the pieces were indeed flat but so many of them had illusions making us think the lines were curved or the art was 3D.  Brewster appreciated the geometry and Sadie loved the colors.  I enjoyed their reaction to the art and especially appreciated that they said “yes” to go see it at all.

We found parking easily in our neighborhood after the museum.   Sadie and I walked to town to pick up sushi and we were surprised to see the streets filled with lights.  The holidays have arrived in Aix!

Saturday, I planned a trip to Sainte-Victoire.   Paul Cézanne painted this mountain nearly 80 different times. We occasionally see the mountain on our way to school and when Matt was here in September we briefly drove near it.   I wanted more.  I found a two hour drive which worked well because we had our rental car all day.

We woke up to thick fog so there was no hurry to leave early.  By 12noon, the sky was blue the sun was out.   We hiked, photographed and drove on Sainte-Victoire all afternoon.  I love, love, love Brewster’s affinity for photography.    Any opportunity to watch him photograph is a pleasure.    His talent is worth checking out insta: brew_photography.

We stopped for lunch in a deserted hill-side town, Vauvenargues. It was late and the kids were “hangry”.  While we waited for our food,  I found Harry Potter trivia on my phone which Sadie rocked.  Brewster had his revenge with world geography trivia.  Engagement is essential when waiting for a meal with kids.

We were back in Aix late afternoon, and I dropped the kids off at home and returned the car.   By 5pm we were snuggled up watching the 7th Harry Potter movie.    We went to bed early because Brewster had his last basketball game at 9am.  It was in Aix-en-Provence so we could walk, but we had to leave by 7:30am.

Announcement:  Brewster’s team won their game!   Brewster scored nearly twenty points.  It was a great last game.   We walked home via the Musée du Vieil Aix.   The first Sunday of the month some of the museums in France are free and I am a sucker for free.  I hadn’t been to this museum and I was happy it was free because it was underwhelming.  We were only there for about 15 minutes.  I asked the kids if they wanted to go to another one and Sadie said “two museums a weekend is plenty.  Thank you.”  She was ready to chill at home.

Around 2pm we were back on the couch with popcorn and blankets watching the final Harry Potter movie.  I was blown away.  JK Rowling is a genius!  Sadie kept saying “I freakin’ love these movies.”  She is officially obsessed with Harry Potter and counting down the days to our Harry Potter studio tour in London.  T-minus one week.

I feel so grateful for the opportunity to be in France with Sadie and Brewster and have Matt’s unconditional and financial support.  We all miss him.  Soon we will be reunited.  In the mean time, we continue to to squeeze it in and keep saying “yes.”