Excursion to the Lubéron!

This Saturday, Professor Lydgate took some of us on another amazing daytrip to the beautiful area called Le Lubéron, northeast of Aix-en-Provence. If you've ever seen a postcard or token image of the South of France, this is where those pictures have come from. It was a little bit of a drive, probably about 2.5 or 3 hours in the bus, but I am so incredibly glad that I went.
We began with a visit to the tiny town of Roussillon, nestled on top of a peak in a mountainous area filled with vineyards, bright colors, and tiny villages. Roussillon itself is a tiny tiny tiny village that I'm pretty sure you could do a complete tour of in about an hour and a half. It is most famous for its red, orange, and yellow-colored "ochres", the name given to the rock formations and cliffs that are found on the same peak upon which the town is situated.

We were given a little over an hour to wander around and explore the town for ourselves. A good friend of mine, Jacqueline, who has joined us in the cabanon, and I had a WONDERFUL time strolling around and taking pictures. The town is absolutely adorable, with tiny shops and buildings that echo the colors that compose their natural surroundings. We saw tiny kids running home with loaves of bread, an old man strolling with his hands clasped behind his back who offered to take a picture of us...it was beautiful.

After a ridiculously delicious lunch in a fancy restaurant called Restaurant David which had an amazing view of the valley and mountains surrounding the town, we loaded up the bus again to drive through part of the Lubéron on the way to L'Abbeye de Sénanque. We passed by gorgeous vineyards which were made even more beautiful by the sunshine (which we haven't had here in Aix for about 2 weeks straight), and we drove through the breathtaking town of Gordes, which looks incredibly similar, to me, to that fort in the mountain in the Lord of the Rings II: The Two Towers. SILENCE. I can hear you all laughing at me. You know you loved that movie.
Finally, after driving down frightfully narrow mountain roads in a humongous bus (we chased a little car off the road, it was ridiculous). We arrived in the parking lot outside of the tranquil Abbaye de Sénanque, tucked away in a tiny valley between mountains covered in bright red, orange, and yellow autumn foliage. L'Abbaye de Sénanque is a living Cistercian monastery that once housed 60 monks but now holds only 6. Because it is a Cistercian monastery, all the monks have taken vows of silence and live a very very strict lifestyle. The 24-hour day is divided into 3 equal parts: 8 hours for prayer/study, 8 hours for rest/eating, 8 hours for work which can be working the famous lavender fields or honey farm.
We got to take a tour of the interior of the monastery and see the church, the old bedroom for the monks, their old study, the "Room of the Chapter" where they read one chapter of the teachings of Saint Benoit each day, and the courtyard.

It was absolutely gorgeous and one of the most calming places that I have ever been. If it were possible, I would love to sit in the courtyard and just and write for a couple years...but I'm pretty sure that might bother the monks a little bit.
Then, we loaded back onto the bus and headed back to Aix-en-Provence. We were treated with a beautiful beautiful sunset on the way back.All in all, a PERFECT day in the Lubéron, perfect to lift my spirits after 3 weeks of no ultimate, 2 weeks of nonstop rain, and 1 week of not leaving my house because of the amount of work that I had to do...and will have to do. Oh well :)