SWITZERLAND
PROVENCE TOUR NO. 22
BOUNDER IN
JOHN SWITZER
Photos By BRUCE LORIMER
The plane arrived over Nice and I stared down onto a Mediterranean coast (The Riviera), that abruptly rose into low mountain ranges, with a dense strip of humanity, then a rolling, semi desert of sparse, sun stroked foliage. On arrival, I saw palm trees and the largest number of private jets imaginable. We marched through customs, collected our baggage and went searching for our rental car. After a long hike through this older and tired airport; we finally scanned the cars on offer. It was astounding and I realized that I had never seen a rental lot with high end Maserati s, Alfa-Romeos, Porsches and a Land Cruiser. I was not in Ottawa anymore. We motored down the A8, a crowded high speed motorway that we could recognize, and were just getting comfortable, when a new Lamborghini screamed by. The highways were good (no shoulders), the price of gas was
20 BOUNDER MAGAZINE
$1.97 per liter, with most vehicles (French and a few German makes) being smaller diesel models. We also learned that the round 130 number signs was the speed limit! We turned our backs on the beaches of the Cote d’Azur (frequented by yesterday’s and today’s aristocracy) and climbed up into the mountain valleys of the (Le) Luberon (summer home to rich Europeans). We ascended further up into Haute-Province (very rural and less discovered by the expat Parisians, Brits, etc.) Our surroundings were sun baked steep hill sided scrub forests, with the occasional small vineyard, orchards and lavender fields. The buildings were sun faded, shuttered, beige stucco and red clay tiled roofed housing that date back to the 18th and 19th centuries. The air was clear, sweet and filled with the smell
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