I'm back in Pernes for dinner. The restaurant that my guidebook recommends, Lou-Galou, was either hiding or closed. Instead I've ended up at a place called Dame L'Oie.

A fountain head in Pernes-les-Fontaines


Based on the decor, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that oie means goose. This is not a place for bird phobics. It is however one of those places where the decorator has been trying to say "countryside" so often and hard that she ends up shouting. As a result it seems anything but. The goose doth protest too much. And don't get me started on the wind chimes. Let's just say that one is plenty.

Anyway, the hotelier was spot on about Venasque vs. Gordes. Venasque was tranquil and uncommercialised, where in Gordes everything was about tourists. Of course, this being Provence, most all of the tourist tat was still well within the realm of the tasteful. Or tasty even. I bought several different types of honey.

There are a lot of home decorating items on offer, mostly soft furnishings in Provencale printed fabrics but also a fair amount of hardware to complete the rustic look. I'm having to restrain my nesting instincts something fierce. Mmm, this agneau is yummy. Plenty of garlic and herbs.

The Senanque monastery was a let down. You could only get inside on a tour. They were apparently timed to the minute, not to mention fully booked for the rest of the day. So much for meditation. I wonder if there's somewhere else I can scratch that itch. A bit of dedicated peace and quiet time would be nice.

Now I think it's time to read my guidebook to find ideas for what to do tomorrow.

You're not going to believe this but the waitress just proudly handed me what she declared was the desert menu. It was a wooden sillouette of a, wait for it, goose! On it was pasted a piece of paper with the deserts written in ornate copperplate. Impossible to read but oh so countryfied.

Ah, and now somebody couldn't resist one of the wind chimes. A good thing he didn't hit all five or I'd have gone deaf. I wonder how much the monster chimes with one metre plus pipes cost.

Oh lala, this orange liqueur cake with hot chocolate sauce was fantastic.

mood: happily snarky