Sublime

The beginning of a hot summer day in the Lubéron, sitting on the terrace with a bowl of café crème, the bees rummaging in the lavender, and the light turning the forest to a dark burnished green, is better than waking up suddenly rich.

The day’s work done, we retired to their shack for a tasting of their wares, a few dozen fresh Arcachon oysters and a bottle of dry white Bordeaux. It was eight o’clock in the morning.

As I drove back home in the evening against the trailer tide, I wondered what it was about the Côte d’Azur that continued to attract such hordes every summer. From Marseilles to Monte Carlo, the roads were a nightmare and the seashore was covered with a living carpet of bodies broiling in the sun, flank to oily flank for mile after mile. Selfishly,

We were eating gros blancs, or escargots de Bourgogne, one of the best-known among hundreds of varieties that can be found in France. Another is the smaller, less distinguished gray snail, the petit gris,

Il Pirata delle Cinque Terre, an endearing tourist trap, is located in the workaday zone behind and above the train station. The dynamic Sicilian duo Gianluca and Massimo (hardworking twins, a.k.a. the Cannoli brothers) enthusiastically offer a wide assortment of Sicilian pastries. Their fun, playful service makes up for the lack of a view. Massimo

maisons secondaires, the vacation homes that every French family seems to have, where they retreat to every summer.