Dreaming of France -- Cassis

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

While we were in the South of France in March, we took a day trip to Cassis. It's one of those villages that you hear about where people are charmed. Surprise, we were too.
When we arrived, we learned that market day was in full swing. The streets are narrow on normal days and blocked off on market days. We parked in the municipal lot and wound our way to the center of town to the tables and tents of the market.
I stopped at an adorable toy store and bought a pop-up puppet for my friend Emily's new baby. The puppet was Puss-in-Boots. I didn't take a picture of the puppet, but I did snap a photo of this adorable ride-on toy that looks like a lady bug.

Here's a picture from the edge of the market, which was fine, because we didn't need to do any food shopping any way. You can see the lovely pale-colored buildings and the distinctive trees trimmed closely, their leave not out yet.

And just a few steps from the market was the harbor. 

After walking down to the beach, we returned to the buildings you can see behind the boats and we had a cup of coffee. 

If you look closely,  you can see me and Earl in this picture. He's reflected in my sunglasses. Also, notice the cliff behind me.

Everywhere we turned the scenery was beautiful.

Thanks for playing along with Dreaming of France. Please leave a comment and visit each other's blogs, too, so you can get your fix of France dreams.

Hope everyone is having a sun-shine filled July. I'm hooking up with Paris in July as the month sadly comes to an end. 

Dreaming of France -- No, Really, Dreaming of France

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.
This morning as I listened to Marketplace Money on my local NPR station, I heard a story about how anticipating a vacation is almost better than the vacation itself.
A study in the Netherlands found that people were happier right before a vacation than right after. The promise of the reprieve might be better than the actual trip! Nothing can go wrong as you are dreaming about it, but in actual travel, many things can go wrong, explained the author of the study who was attacked by a shark in Hawaii.
I don't fear shark attacks on our next trip to France, and I am enjoying the joy that comes with contemplating walking off the plan in Paris and traveling by train down to Aix en Provence.
I  Skyped last week with a blog friend in Aix en Provence, Delana (who hasn't been blogging much but who runs Travel Solo Bootcamp, was full of fun ideas for me and Earl.
One of the things she told us was that the Calanques, between Marseille and Cassis are open to cars during March. That means that we can drive our rental car on the calanques, a kind of Mediterranean fjord. Most of the time, people visit them by boat or they have to park and hike in to see them.

This photo comes from the Alaric English Speakers website. 

Delana explained that the roads are twisty through the steep landscape. Other articles explain that creeks cut into the stone leaving these dramatic shapes. Then the creeks pour into the Mediterranean, leaving the water pure and fresh. I wonder if we'll get any photos as dramatic as this.
I'm really dreaming of France and looking forward to our adventures.
What are you dreaming about this week?
Please leave a comment and visit each other's blogs to see what others are posting about.