An American in Provence

A windy mistral day in Provence...
Waiting for the bus after work...
When suddenly, a window that had been left open in the building across the street slams shut, the glass breaking and falling down onto the street and sidewalk below...

Before I moved to Provence, I had heard tales of the legendary MISTRAL.
The wind that you can apparently blame everything on.
Late for a dinner party? Sorry, I got held up by the Mistral.
Go nuts and shoot your spouse? Sorry, but the howling of the Mistral drove me to it.
Forgot to do your homework? Sorry, but the Mistral blew it away.
Get caught kissing someone else? Sorry, but the Mistral just blew me onto to her/him.

According to Wikipedia:
The summer mistral
The summer mistral, unlike the others, is created by purely local conditions. It usually happens in July, and only in the valley of the Rhone and on the coast of Provence. It is caused by a thermal depression over the interior of Provence (The Var and Alpes de Haute-Provence), created when the land is overheated. This creates a flow of air from the north toward the east of Provence. This wind is frequently cancelled out close to the coast by the breezes from the sea. It does not blow for more than a single day, but it is feared in Provence, because it dries the vegetation and it can spread forest fires.

Before moving here, I had also heard tales of pioneer women in the US, left alone out in log cabin and going bonkers just listening to the wind all day long. I thought "that's crazy- that could never happen"
But after four years here, I can understand how it might happen.

Anyway, back to my story of the Rain O'Glass.

After the first pane of glass broke, I kept a wary eye on the slamming window across the street. Where is that darn bus?
Another crash! and the entire rest of the glass panel came crashing down.
A worker finally came and removed the now-empty window frames, but all the rest of the windows had been left open, ready to be slammed by the wind.

There were a few of us waiting for the bus, and we saw a group of people about to pass under the building. We were waving and yelling at them to not pass on that side of the sidewalk, but just at that moment a bus came by.
A man with a baby in a stroller understood something at least was amiss, so he crossed the street, but an elderly lady just stopped and stared at us uncomprehendingly. She finally moved on, probably wondering what those younguns were ahollerin' about.
Here is a lesson- maybe if a bunch of people are yelling and waving at you to move away, maybe you should move because maybe you are in the "Risk of Being Bisected" Zone. Don't stop right in the middle and try to figure out what is going on- move out of the way and then figure it out because you might be about to receive a shard of glass in your neck.

The worker (they are renovating the building) locked up and left, without securing all the windows. As he walked away, another window slammed and a pane of glass fell down onto the sidewalk and narrowly missed him.

Next time the wind is blowing, I think I will be very aware of possible danger from above.

My first two summers here in Provence, 2005 and 2006, I thought I was going to die from the heat. When we went to Bretagne in August 2005, it was a relief- finally, a break from the heat.

After getting started at the crack of 11 am, we spent the entire day Out of Sync.

We wandered around, trying to find breakfast which is usually pretty easy in France, however, there is not a single boulangerie in all of Lyon. It is true. All of the street-level space is taken up with Expensive Shops. Besides our miserable hike in the Alpes (where it rained the entire time) I have never walked so far in France without coming across a boulangerie. Yet there in middle of the second largest city in France (or third, depending on whether you are talking to a Lyonnais or a Marseillais), there was not a single one to be found. It was too early for lunch, and apparently too late for breakfast. We finally found a Paul (sandwich/boulangerie shop) and managed to get a tiny coffee and pain au chocolat (out of croissants).

Tried to visit a church, but they were having a service (at 11:30 am!! who would have thought?).

We headed over to the Musée de l'Imprimerie, but it closed at noon, reopening at 2. We then decided to head up towards the Croix-Rousse. Rather so-so in my opinion. If you are in Lyon, only go there if you really have seen everything else or else enjoy the smell of urine.

Wandered back and waited for the Musée to reopen. Spent a good two hours visiting the museum, which I highly recommend IF you can read French. If you can't, you will probably be bored. It was really interesting. After we finished with the museum, we were hungry, but now it was too late for lunch but too early for dinner. McDonald's it is! We had some McDonald's by the Place Bellecour, then went to visit the Palatial church- yep, another service at 5 pm. Visited the treasury and waited for the service to be over.

On the way, I saw this maternity wear store, which I thought the name is hilarious. Hey pregnant ladies! Feel like you are as big as house and that you might actually explode? Nothing fits and you might as well wear a rucksack? Come shop at Balloon!


By this time we were tired, so we headed back to the hotel to rest for an hour or so.


Around 8, we wandered out again to find dinner. After much hemming and hawing, we finally decided on a place by the Hotel de Ville. Lyon at night is very beautiful.

Had some ice cream on the way back (not as good as in Italy) and crashed at around 11.