Walkabout Provence Trip Report
Walkabout Provence 2024 - September 14-21
We made it!
Fourteen women.
One beautiful French mas.
Two vans (one huge!).
Three village markets.
Four UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Five chef-prepared dinners.
Six days of art lessons.
Seven days of laughter.
Eight baguettes consumed each day (just kidding . . . maybe).
Nine beautiful bedrooms.
Ten (or more!) takeaways from a week rich with friendship and lessons learned.
Our beautiful group of women!
We started out as a very diverse group of women--a large age span, from women in their 30s to their 70s--with incredibly different backgrounds and stories. All arrived at the Avignon train station, eager and excited to get going. This was going to be a week of exploration, reflection, and creativity.
Seven days later, on our last evening together, I gathered the women in our "salon" (such a fancy name for a living room!) and asked everyone this question: "What's one takeaway from our week together for you?"
Everyone shared what the week had meant to them, and it was a beautiful time together. Everyone had a different answer, all personal to each one.
I shared that, to be honest, I wasn't sure how the week would turn out, simply because of the vast diversity among us. Before we left home, I had spent quite a bit of time praying that God would bring us together in miraculous ways because I felt quite incapable of doing it.
And don't you know he did it? Again.
Every time I lead a Walkabout group I am blown away by the goodness of God to us. How he shows himself to us in unique and beautiful ways. How he brings each group together, bonding us, creating friendships that will last, and teaching us lessons that we can all take home with us.
This was no exception. Why did I even doubt it? What God did among us was mind blowing to me, and I am still so grateful.
So, besides becoming friends, what did we DO on this trip? Well, a lot! Here's a quick recap.
We visited markets, including L'isle sur la Sorgue, the largest antiques market outside of Paris.
Treasures at the L'isle sur la Sorgue market
And St. Remy, one of the most charming, I think.
One of the many inviting squares in St. Remy.
And Eygalieres, which was an absolutely beautiful surprise.
Beautiful pottery in Eygalières
Wine time: 10 a.m.
This is Provence! Why not?
We visited historic villages like Arles, where Van Gogh lived for a year before committing himself to the St. Paul Asylum.
Street in Arles, France
And, yes, we visited St. Paul, where Van Gogh lived for a year before his death.
St. Paul Monastery in St. Remy
This is where Van Gogh lived during the last year of his life.
Van Gogh’s bedroom in St. Remy
And Les Baux, a medieval hilltop town with some incredible churches and views.
We went wine tasting at Mas de la Dames where we learned that Van Gogh himself had visited and painted the farmhouse. When we asked where the painting was today, the owner smiled and said, "Nobody knows. It was stolen."
We all took a collective gasp at that one.
One of the owners of Mas de la Dames, Anne Poniatowski
We visited with artists--some planned, some not. Stories for another day.
Artist, Ashley Tinker (aka Curious Provence)
Ashley graciously opened her studio to us and fed us a beautiful Provençal lunch.
We met artists, Dorlie Fuchs, in Arles when walking past her studio. She invited us in!
And we made our own art, thanks to my sister-in-law Julie who led art classes each day. I was so impressed by the creativity of each women and the way they jumped in to embrace the project.
So now, Walkabout Provence is in the books, along with six other Walkabout tours. What started as an experiment--will women really want to do this?--has become an actual, viable thing that, it seems, women really DO want to do. I'm a little floored by it . . . and a lot humbled.
As with every trip, God showed himself to be real, true, and faithful to each one of us as we spent the week “Behold”-ing his glory. “Behold” was a fitting theme for our week as there was so much to take in. It was so good to spend time simply reflecting on who God is and how he is at work in our lives.
I hope you have the opportunity to travel like this one day, with a group of diverse, yet likeminded individuals. Something so special happens when we all come together to travel, to learn, and to behold the wonders of God’s creation.
Shelly
