thedailychannel.com — adventure

Charming Roussillon

After ingesting vast quantities of coffee and bread, we set out for the nearby center of historic ochre pigment manufacture and were fortunate enough to pick up 4 kilos of the good stuff for a mere 120 francs, or about $20 when you include the obligatory factory tour.

This was a great idea beacuse the town itself was incredibly picturesque, colored w/ the 12 or 17x different tones of ochre (does not fade) from the nearby quarry, which we walked around in the 123-degree heat. Fortunately it was windy.

Earlier one of the small dogs in Roussillon came up cautiously and then ran or started to run away as I approached. But when I said "Monjour Monsour" to him he became more relaxed and resumed life as normal. A query of the denizens at the local cafe as to the location of "Place de Poste" drew a complete blank, although the post office turned out to be about 1 block away in a 4-block town.

There was more cicada art, spiral baskets, some really bad ceramic art sold over the internet. We collapsed into a sidewalk cafe and drank quarts of water while awaiting the delivery of yummy local crepes.

Next: off to Avignon for car repair... ..

July 1, 2001