Saintes Maries De La Mer

Well, its Day 3 in France and my first full day in SMDLM. One day before the Fete. Thinking the procession of St Sara to the sea was today Ah alas twas not... Okay wait before I go any further.... What is the deal with the ROUND ABOUTS IN FRANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARRRGGGG! Okay where was I? First stop was "le eglise " to see ST Sara.. She's a must stop every time I come here to thank her for bringing me safely here. Next stop food!! All right I was hungry.... tee hee.. After a great lunch I wondered around to see what I could see. I ran into some friends that I had not seen since January.. This is an amazing place. The friends you make here are friends for life and you can be away for what seems like forever and yet when you see them again it's like you just saw each other. After wondering around for a while I decided that my NY pastey white skin was not going to cut it here in the land of dark honey so took my big ole white butt to the beach... Shocking that this white girl did not burn... Stuck my feet in the Mediteranean sea.. Felt wonderful just to be able to cool off..... The sun here is so amazingly hot but it feels like a huge set of warm arms are wrapped around you. After a while in the sun I decided that I needed to go back to Arles and refresh myself and recharge my batteries. I was at the house for little more than an hour when Las Amigas de Gypsy Soul called and stopped by... I hadn't seen thes chicas since the last Fete... It was great to see them again!!! After being refreshed I headed back to SMDLM to, again, see what I could see.... Started out eating AGAIN!! After a wonderful dinner I walked back to the church where there were several small groups of Gypsy musicians getting ready to play... From the sound of it they were ready to play well into the night..
The plaza around the church was packed with people. There were so many groups of musicians that it was so hard to sit and listen to just one.. So wondering became the thing for me to do.. I didn't want to miss anything. After a while I left the crowd and walked away from the church and I litterally ran into Mis Amigos.. Stopped and had desert and drinks with them... It was truly an amazing day. Got to see some dear friends and hear Gypsy music in it's purest form.
|My first couple of days were slow here.... Which for me was a good thing..
But I have a feeling things will pick up just a little...
MEL