It was so good to be back in Provence, driving from Sablet to Avignon along roads that have become so familiar,  they’re like old friends.  There are always changes, new restaurants, a field that was bright with sunflowers - now resting, the vines at another stage in producing the next vintage, and so on.  
Along the D23 or the Route de Vaison just outside Violes,  opposite Restaurant Chateau Le Martinet, we noticed a bright new red and yellow sign that said, “Brocanteur – Achat - Vente” …… Interesting …… a new Antique Store ……. and so close to Sablet!  The sign also invited passers by “s’addresser ici”…  come in.

That was just too good an opportunity to drive by.  The petite blue Coccinelle Cabriolet, just seemed to turn itself around and park right by the entrance!

Once inside, Monsieur le Propriétaire made us very welcome.   We told him about our recent purchase of La Baume des Pèlerins and he said, “please take your time to look around, I get most of these items from local homes in the area.”  He was very helpful with information about many of the items and looking through the books, it was very difficult to now walk out of there with lots of old treasures.  He told us a different story about why the Plan de Dieu (God’s Plain) than the one I knew from reading a book written by an American author from the 1960’s.  He offered to show us a book that told the old story – we’ll have to go back and look into that a little more. 

We thoroughly enjoyed our stop at this new treasure trove – better still, we found two lovely marble topped nightstands for La Baume – and the prices were great!  I could easily have bought lots of other items, if we had more time.  Still….. there’s always next time! We will be sure to stop and say, “bonjour” and look around for more treasures.

Coccinelle – a beetle or lady bug.  In this case the Coccinelle Cabriolet is our New Beetle convertible.

Le Propriétaire – the Owner