Friday @ Lourmarin and Ansouis May 13, 2016

We arrived Lourmarin early for the Friday market where later we me Anne, Al and daughter, Stephanie and Al's brother, Kirby from Canada.  We met these folks on the Danube river cruise last year.  We walked around the market with them and stopped for a coffee in the market before we drove from Lourmarin to Ansouis, about 10 km where we had reservations for lunch at Le Closerie, a one star Michelin restaurant in this little village of Provence containing 1,100 inhabitants.  First off the restaurant was small, seven tables seating 30 persons but with starched white tablecloths and napkins and the wait staff was delightful.  After much menu reading and translating around the table (they  speak some form of French), everyone made their decisions which included some cool rose wine produced just outside Ansouis.  Iris, Stephanie and I opted for the "small menu" starting with zucchini soup with warm foie gras topped with toasted parmesan cheese, the main course was quail breast on risotto followed by dessert of strawberry soup (cold) with strawberry sherbet with a muffin on top.  It was all quite delicious, beautifully presented and not too expensive for such a wonderful meal.  The others opted for the big, 4-course meal.  Three hours after we arrived we needed a walk so we walked uphill to the chateau located at the highest point in Ansouis overlooking the vineyards and the winery.  We then strolled back down to our cars and our friends loaded up and took off for Aix en Provence for the night before flying out of Nice on Saturday home to Canada.  We had a short drive back home through the Luberon (read winding mountain roads) and arrived in time for a quick nap before it was time for the news.  All in all, a great day!