A lulling train ride north and a little east brought us to the town of Sisteron. There's a citadel that has been restored after a series of ruinous Allied sorties during the mid-40's. Went there, saw, heard the constant moan of wind through rocky outcroppings. Good view but for us less captivating than alleys and stairways through tunnels in the town itself, finding cats grandly getting warm on sunny pavement.

This was the day for bistros for some reason. Two patisserie-coffee shops and a restaurant in the same few hours is quite an event for us. The coffee and goodies, and the well-presented meal, were quite good but less captivating of mind and heart than the people we enjoyed along the way. A lesson for life.

One of the only organized tours we enjoyed, was this day spent driving and walking through the Luberon region. You'll read descriptions of this area uniformly describing it as delightful. Believe it. There is a captivating mood that pervades the very air, sunny (as it was for us) or otherwise. Cannot comment on the mistral. Happily, we missed that.

A huge quantity of worth-learning history seeps from everything here. We strongly recommend a guide to help you enjoy these embellishments of significant events that abound at every turn, seasonings to every vista.