My memories of the French countryside are honey-colored– and after looking through the photos I took during my time there, those recollections are pretty accurate.  The sunshine in Provence makes everything golden.  The little houses and fences are adorable.  Most of my bike ride to Gordes was along the side of the road, but I was so happy to encounter the occasional bike paths.  And so happy to encounter occasional snails.

I spent the 4th of july riding my bike around Paris.  It was a warm cloudy day with occasional bursts of light rain.  Paris is so bike friendly– so many Paris streets have bike lanes, and even many one way streets have bike lanes that go in the opposite direction.  As for the scenery, it was kind of a real life Disneyworld, with how pretty all of the buildings were, and biking down streets lined with cafes and patisseries felt so idyllic.  Peppermint Patty fit in perfectly in that city– even matching quite perfectly with the Laduree storefront.  I am easy to please– basically my only definite plans in Paris were biking a lot and eating a lot of macarons.

I’m not sure when it started, maybe with my first lush lavender bubble bath.  And then next, lavender ice cream, and then lavender granola.  Over the years lavender became one of my favorite flavors, smells, and colors.  And then I had this dream to bike through lavender fields in Provence.  So I finally made it happen!

After spending last week working from the Airbnb Paris office, I took a train down to Provence and stayed with a lovely family, who showed me the best bike paths in order to see lavender.  The family was so warm and welcoming, setting dinner and tea for me in their patio strewn with christmas lights, and we poured over bike maps into the night.  On my bed they left little tiny lavender satchels that they had made themselves.  After a breakfast of yoghurt, granola, and apricots, I set out on the many hour, uphill ride to Gordes and Abbey de Senanque.  I met another lone female biker along the way, with two blonde braids and a flower pinned to her bright yellow shirt.  She was a cook at a local bnb, and she too was in search of lavender.  Hours of hills and huffing and puffing later, we looked down into a valley of purple fields and everything was worth it.  Everything was amazing– the explosions of purple, the soothing smells, the feeling of accomplishment from my very first solo bike trip, in another country no less.  And, after such a difficult uphill journey there, the trip back was a breeze, with a few stops to munch on lavender biscuits.