Journées du Patrimoine is Sept 21 & 22

It's that time again: The 41^st annual Journées du Patrimoine (Heritage Days) takes place Saturday and Sunday, September 21 and 22, in cities and villages all over France. The program was launched by the French Ministry of Culture in 1984 and has since spread all over Europe; this year 50 countries will take part.

Officially it's called European Heritage Days or JEP, (for Journées Européennes du Patrimoine) but everyone just calls it Patrimoine.

Roughly 20,000 sites or so across France are expected to participate. This is one the biggest events in the country and one of my favorite weekends of the year.

The idea is that a wide range of monuments, religious sites, estates, gardens, museums, workshops, galleries, ateliers, factories and more are open for special visits, including many that are normally closed to the public. Most sites are offering free entry and will have a guide on hand; some host special tours and events (mostly in French). Some of these events may require you to sign up in advance, for others you just show up. Some villages will have events on Friday Sept 20 as well. 

Every year, Patrimoine has a loose theme but this year there are two that overlap. The first is  "Heritage, Routes and Connections" which pertains to planes, trains, cars and boats...but also roads, paths and other routes used for spiritual or commercial purposes. The second is Maritime Heritage, including seaside architecture, shipbuilding, aquaculture and more.

Ok, allons-y! What to see and do?

The main Journées du Patrimoine website is here and the department-by-department listings are here. But keep checking back because details continue to roll in as Patrimoine weekend draws closer. Local tourist offices will have Patrimoine info on their own websites and over the years I've found that their info tends to be more comprehensive and up-to-date than the nationwide Patrimoine website.

Every year, my village (St. Remy) publishes its own terrific map/guide to all its Patrimoine sites and activities. You can see the 2024 version in PDF form here. Or, grab a hard copy at the St. Remy Tourist Office.

And here are the programs for Avignon, Aix en Provence, Arles, Marseille, Nimes and Nice. The large Luberon region is here. But don't forget about our hundreds of smaller villages which sometimes offer fantastic tours and visits as well.  

Then there are listings for the six departments of PACA (Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur): Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Alpes-Maritimes, Bouches du Rhone, the Hautes-Alpes and the Var. For the Vaucluse, try here and here. And here's the Gard (which is not technically in Provence but never mind…we love the Gard anyway!). 

Up in Paris, there are more than 1,500 sites participating this year. See a great listing of events and some highlights here.

Throughout the weekend, some activities will happen at specific times, on one day of the weekend on both. (You can expect tours to be in French but a translator is sometimes provided or the guide may speak some English or someone in the group might offer to translate.) For example:

*In St. Remy, enjoy a 1.5 hour guided tour of the old village at 9:30 am on Saturday (to reserve: +33 4 90 92 05 22, meet at the Tourist Office). Or, join a guided “discovery” of the Canal des Alpines on Sunday starting at 2:30. The canal hike is an easy, flat 6 km and includes a visit to the Domaine de Lagoy (rendezvous in the parking of the College Glanum).

Also in St. Remy, the architectural site of Glanum is offering free entry all weekend with guided tours (no registration needed) on both days at 10 am, 11 am, 2 pm, 3 pm and 4 pm. See all the Patrimoine activities at Glanum here.

The Jewish Cemetery in St. Remy, created in the 15^th century and normally closed to the public, will be open Saturday from 10 to noon and Sunday from 10:30 to noon and from 3 to 4 pm, with guided visits available both days.

*In Nimes, go behind the scenes of the Arènes (the Roman amphitheater), and visit the areas usually not open to the general public (including where the bulls are kept before bullfights and bull games), the chapel where the matadors pray before entering the ring, and more. Or climb the scaffolding on the façade of St Castor cathedral for a once-in-a-lifetime close-up glimpse of  the medieval frieze depicting the Old Testament, which is currently being painstakingly restored by stonemasons and restorers. Also in Nimes, there's a free organ concert on Saturday from 2:30 to 3 pm, at the United Protestant Church, built between 1714 and 1736…on an organ built in Avignon in 1814.

*In Marseille on Friday night at 7 pm, take a special nighttime double-decker bus tour of the city (10€) and see the famous Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica, which will be exceptionally open this evening. (For info and to book, click here.)  

Or, take the "Marseille Liberated" Tour on Saturday at 3 pm and retrace the journey of the fighters who liberated the Garde Hill and the sanctuary on August 25, 1944...10 days after the Allied forces landed in Provence (book here).

Or, sign on for free guided tour of Marseille's Vieux Port on Saturday or Sunday, from 10 am to noon or 2 pm to 4 pm. Reservations are required; call +33 8 26 50 05 00 or marseilleexperience.com. 

Or take a tour and sketching workshop at the port L'Estaque quarter of Marseille (info here).

*In Aix, there's a free guided tour of the 14th-century Hotel de Ville (Town Hall), on Saturday or Sunday at 10 am, 10:45, 11:30, 2 pm, 2:45 or 3:30. Or, if more modern architecture is your thing, take a backstage tour of the music hall called 6MIC on Friday (5 pm to 6:30) or Saturday (10 am to 11:30). To sign up: billetterie@6mic-aix.fr

*In Arles, the LUMA Foundation is offering special events by reservation on both Saturday and Sunday…see them here. Also in Arles, there's a guided tour of the show “Antoine Raspal, from Réattu to St Trophime” on Sunday from 2:30 to 4 pm, celebrating the reinstallation of two monumental paintings by Antoine Raspal in the Saint-Trophime church. The tour is free but register before Friday Sept 20 at 4 pm please: +33 4 90 49 37 58, reattu.reservation@ville-arles.fr

And really, that's just a fraction of the fun stuff you can do during Patrimoine. There's a beach clean up on Corbieres Beach in Marseille, a kayak trip on the canals of Martigue, a treasure hunt for families in Roquebrun-sur-Argens, a horse show in Pertuis, 8 or 17 km runs and a gourmet walk in and around Oppede, a 32-km tandem bike ride around the Mont Ventoux...and much more.

As the Patrimoine weekend gets closer, the organizers will continue to update the clickable nationwide map, which you can see here. It's all a bit clunky but you're smart and you'll figure it out!

And for additional updates, follow the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine on Instagram and on Facebook. 

Vive le Patrimoine de France! 

Photos: Get out there and explore! A few of the thousands of sites hosting Patrimoine events include: (1) The ancient village of Glanum in St. Remy. (2) The Basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde in Marseille. (3) Fondation Vincent Van Gogh in Arles. (4). LUMA Foundation in Arles. (5) The Saint-Trophime Church in Arles, to learn about the career of eminent Arlesian painter Antoine Raspal. (6) Carpentras and other villages of the Vaucluse; join a tandem bike ride here.(7) The Roman Amphitheater in Arles. (8) Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild on the Cap Ferrat (info here). (9) The Jardins du Roy René and the Musée du Calisson in Aix. (10) Villa Roche in Nimes. (11) Norman Foster's Ombriere at the Vieux Port in Marseille, on a guided walk from the Ombriere to the MUCEM Museum. (12) The port of L'Estaque in Marseille. (13) The Théâtre Antique in Orange. (14) The Jewish Cemetery in St. Remy. (15) The 6MIC Music Hall in Aix (16) The Chateau d'Aulan in Aulan, 8 km from Montbrun-les-Bains, in the Drome Provencal. (17) The Maison Carrée in Nimes. (18) This year's Patrimoine poster.  

Heritage Days are Sept 21 & 22

It's that time again: The 36th annual Journées du Patrimoine (Heritage Days) takes place Saturday and Sunday, September 21 and 22, in cities and villages all over France. The program was launched by the French Ministry of Culture in 1984 and has since spread all over Europe (officially it's now called European Heritage Days). This year the theme is "Arts & Entertainment" and 17,000 sites in France are participating, with 26,000 events. It's one the biggest events in France and one of my favorite weekends of the year.

The idea is that a wide range of historic monuments, religious sites, estates, gardens,  domaines, workshops, galleries, ateliers, factories and more are open for special visits, including many that are normally closed to the public. Most sites are offering free entry and will have a guide on hand; some are hosting special tours and events (mostly in French). Some may require you to sign up in advance...but for the most part, you just show up. 

The main website is here (or in English here) but you'll fare much better with the department-by-department listings here. Or, check in with the Tourist Office or the tourism website of the village, city or region you want to visit. For example, as of today the department-listings page mentions just six participating sites in my village of St. Remy (in Department #13, the Bouches-du-Rhone) but every year the village publishes its own terrific guide and this year it lists 22 participating sites. You can see them all, with the map, here. If you prefer a printed copy,  you can pick one up at the St. Remy Tourist Office or at most of the participating sites.

Here are programs for Avignon, Aix, Arles, Marseille and Nice. But don't forget about tiny villages, many of which offer fantastic tours, visits and programs as well.  

The best idea is to choose the village you wish to explore, pick up or download their schedule as early as possible and map your route, because some events happen only at certain times. Some villages have events on Friday Sept 20 as well.

To get you started, here are the listings for the six departments of PACA (Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur): Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Alpes-Maritimes, Bouches du Rhone, the Hautes-Alpes, the Var and the Vaucluse. And here's the Gard (which is not technically in Provence but never mind). For an amazing list of what you can see and do in Paris, click here.

And here's a list of local and regional Tourist Offices in Provence and on the Cote d'Azur, all of whom should have info on their own sites and events.

Vive le Patrimoine de France!

Photos: Get out there and explore! A few of the thousands of sites offering Patrimoine events include The Unterlinden Museum in Colmar (Alsace), The Confectionery Factory Roy René and Museum of Calisson outside Aix, the fantastical houses of Jacques-Emile Lecaron in Clamart, the Théâtre Antique d'Orange, La Cite Radieuse by Le Corbusier in Marseille, the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild on the Cap Ferrat, the Roman Amphitheatre in Arles, the Frank Gehry-designed Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, the Jewish Cemetery in St. Remy, the Maison du Riz in the Camargue, the Fondation Vincent Van Gogh in Arles, the Heliport of Paris, The Château Raspail in Gigondas and the Palace of Versailles.  At the bottom, this year's poster.

Brand New in Arles: A Hotel for Art Lovers

Maja Hoffmann and her company Les Maisons d’Arles opened their newest property in Arles today, a 35-room, four-story hotel called L’Arlatan. 

Born in Switzerland and raised in the Camargue, not far from Arles, Hoffmann is a philanthropist, arts patron and founder of the LUMA Foundation and LUMA Arles. They’re the ones building the 56-meter (183-foot) Frank Gehry-designed tower in Arles, set for completion in 2020. The tower is the centerpiece of the Parc des Ateliers, a 20-acre experimental cultural center hosting a wide range of art exhibits and events on the site of a former train maintenance depot, a short walk from the city center. Among the shows currently on view (until January 6): Gilbert & George: The Great Exhibition (1971-2016). For other current and upcoming shows, click here. 

In addition to the Arles hotel Le Cloître and the cafe next door called L’Epicerie, Hoffman owns the Michelin one-star restaurant La Chassagnette in the Camargue. 

Hoffmann’s newest project blends ultra-contemporary, original art with traditional materials and ancient architecture. Parts of the new hotel date to the 12th century and are listed as a Monument Historique. At one time, this was considered the city’s most lavish hôtel particulier (grand townhouse) and it’s built on an ancient Roman basilica, the remains of which are still visible.

Nestled in the historic center of Arles, L’Arlatan is just a few minutes from the Place du Forum, the Church of Saint Trophime and the UNESCO-listed Roman amphitheatre (Les Arènes) and Baths of Constantine.  It’s five minutes from the Rhône River and a 12-minute walk to the Gare d'Arles train station.

Rooms and suites all have antique furniture, satellite TV and free WiFi. Some feature wood-beamed ceilings, exposed stone walls and/or private terraces.

The hotel owes its striking visual appeal to the vision of Cuban-born American artist Jorge Pardo, who turned walls, doors and guestrooms into unique works of art. The almost two million glazed mosaic tiles used for the renovation (in 11 shapes and 18 colors) were all handmade in the Yucatan.  Pardo’s paintings appear on the hotel’s 100-plus doors. For more about the hotel’s art, design and history, see the recent stories in Wallpaper Magazine and the New York Times.

The hotel restaurant, also called L’Arlatan, features “simple and seasonal” Provençal and Mediterranean cuisine. The menu is being created in conjunction with the team at La Chassagnette. 

L’Arlatan has a bar, a terrace and an outdoor pool. Breakfast and parking are available.

Hotel L’Arlatan

26, rue du Sauvage
13200 Arles
France

 +33 (0)4 90 93 56 66

arlatan.com

contact@hotel-arlatan.fr

Photos: The design and decor of Hotel L'Arlatan was inspired by Provence, the Camargue, Mexico and even Japan. Owner Maja Hoffmann says she hopes the hotel will attract artists of all types...and the travelers who love them. At the bottom, the Frank Gehry-designed tower currently rising in Arles...centerpiece of the Parc des Ateliers, a vast "experimental cultural center" celebrating all types of art including photography, publishing and multi-media.

Fall in Provence: Cruising the Rhône

The weather is wonderful in Provence right now: sunny days and cool evenings. In Avignon, a nice thing to do on a warm afternoon is a 60-minute site-seeing cruise on the Rhône that's only 12€ for adults and 2 € for kids age 2-8. When I travel I love to get out on the water, if possible, and there aren't so many ways to do that in my part of Provence. This is a good one: easy to book last minute, super relaxing and cheap!

The 60-minute tour on La Saône sails upstream along the town walls, so you can see the Rocher des Doms and the Pont St Bénezet, the famous Avignon  bridge. Then it heads over so you can discover the Philippe Le Bel Tower of Villeneuve Les Avignon and its historic Fort St André.  

In September, the one-hour cruises are offered at 3 pm and 4:15 pm. Reservations aren't required and tickets can be purchased 15 minutes prior to departure. Cruises run every day, until the end of the month.

A slightly longer "Popes Cruise" leaves at 12:30 and returns at 2:30; it's offered September 28, October 2, October 30, November 8 and December 8.

Full-day luncheon cruises are offered in autumn as well. These include one to Arles (leave at 11:30 am, return at 6:45 pm), one to Tarascon (11:30 to 6:15 pm) and a "Winemakers Cruise" (12/12:30 to 4 pm). There's an afternoon Disco Cruise (with music from the '80s and dancing) and a number of dinner cruises as well. Details about all of them are here. The company operates year round, with a schedule that changes each month. 

To see what's offered each day, see monthly schedules here but be sure to choose your preferred month from the drop-down menu.

Where to park? If you know where the Ferris Wheel is in Avignon, that's a great lot to park in; it's called the Le Parking des Allées de L’Oulle (good luck pronouncing that!). But the Ferris Wheel comes down for the season on September 23 so best to just GPS the parking lot, which is directly in front of the tour boats. Or leave your car wherever it is in town and walk over...the dock is just outside the city walls.

Mireio Croisieres

Le Chardonnay, Le Mireio & La Saône
Allée de l'Oulle 
84000 AVIGNON
Tel +33(0)4 90 85 62 25
Fax +33(0)4 90 85 61 14
mireio.net
contact@mireio.net

Note from Julie: Sometimes people ask if they can pay me to write about them but the answer is no, there's no pay for play on Provence Post! I write about the things I think my readers would most enjoy learning about...that's it.  And I make it a point to not to write about my advertisers, for obvious reasons. But no sooner had I posted this story than Google put an ad on my blog for the very same company, Mireio. Those of you who know about Google Adwords know how it works...they place ads on your site that specifically target who they think your readers are and what they think interests them. So if you see that ad like I do (and you may not), well that's how it got there...twasn't my doing and I'm not promoting an advertiser here. I just enjoy these cruises and thought you might too!

Deja Vu: Rencontres Photos in Marseille

Every year, the city of Arles hosts the sprawling Rencontres de la Photographie, an international photo festival which lasts all summer and takes over many of the city's historic buildings, galleries and other public and private spaces.  (My story about the 2017 Rencontres is here.)  And this year some of the very best work from the 2017 Rencontres is being shown again, in Marseille.

Called Le Monde Tel Qu'il Va! (The World As it Is!), the Marseille exhibit is comprised of eight separate Rencontres shows in their entirety, plus one new show by local photographer Monique Deregibus. Altogether 40 photographers are featured. Admission is free but the show ends on January 7 so carpe diem!

According to the press materials: "The more we think countries are closed off and mired in political or economic crises, the more photographers are there. They reveal, tell, attest, invent, repair and rebuild with their own language, that of the image. They decode the early signs of social change. The World as It Is! offers a journey from the shores of the Bosporus to sub-Saharan border areas, from the divided island of Cyprus to a Libya torn between war and refugees. Come and share this taste for other places at major exhibitions that marked the Rencontres d’Arles this summer with 40 photographers who are wondering about the state of the world."

Le Monde Tel Qu'il Va! is at the just-reopened J1 (also called MJ1) terminal building on a long pier near the ferry port in the Joliette district of the city.  The building was entirely refurbished in 2013 as part of the Marseille-Provence Capital of Culture celebrations but according to my blogger friend Sheila at Marvellous-Provence, it's been closed ever since, the victim of local politics and squabbling. "With its huge spaces and spectacular views," Sheila says, "it was easily one of the most popular and most visited venues of that year.  So the fact that it has now reopened--now called the MJ1--is excellent news."

More info on Le Monde Tel Qu'il Va! is on the Rencontres site and the MJ1 site.

If you miss this exhibit, the next show at the MJ1 will be part of the Marseille-Provence 2018 festival, featuring six months of events with love as the theme. Officially called MP2018: Quel Amour!, it launches on Valentines Day, runs through the end of August and features 200 cultural events (music, dance, art, etc.) across the region.

Le Monde Tel Qu'il Va!

Eight exhibits on view until January 7, 2018

Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 6 pm, with special hours Dec 31st.

Free admission

Hangar MJ1
Quai de la Joliette

13002 Marseille

Photos: Three views of the J1 building...and the poster for the show. Top photo by Michele Clavel, second photo by Frederic D. at Photos-Provence.fr. Third photo (inside the J1 looking out) by Alizé Almozinos. 

One Restaurant I Love: A Guest Post

You can't live in Provence and not be passionate about food.  The cliché is that the French spend much of each meal talking about what they ate at their last meal or what they'll eat at the next. The produce here is so good...and there's so much culinary talent...there aren't enough days in a month to try a fraction of the restaurants I'd like to. Many of my friends feel the same way so of course we trade notes constantly. Periodically someone will rave so enthusiastically about a meal that I'll ask them to share the info with all of us, through a guest post.  And since it had been a few years since I wrote about Jean-Luc Rabanel (one of my favorite chefs) and his outstanding restaurant, L'atelier, in Arles, I was delighted when Keith Van Sickle suggested a guest post about a recent meal there. Keith's bio appears at the end of this text; read on for his Rabanel review!

There are a lot of great restaurants in Provence, with Michelin stars galore like Le Petit Nice in Marseille and Baumanière in Les Baux. But for my money, the best fine dining in Provence is at L’atelier de Jean-Luc Rabanel in Arles.

In 1999, Rabanel became the first chef in France to earn a Michelin star for an organic restaurant, Coté Garonne in the small town of Tonneins in southwest France. He later closed that restaurant and moved to Provence, renowned for its fresh produce, and opened L’atelier in 2007.  

On a quiet street just off the Place de la Republique, Rabanel works his magic. He calls his approach “Greenstronomie” – light on the meat and heavy on the abundance of Provence. As he puts it, “At the center of my cuisine is emotion and taste, a philosophy based on the vegetable. Vegetables, roots, plants, leaves, flowers and wild herbs thus become the main actors of my creations.”

L’atelier offers you just two choices: the six-course menu (95€) or the nine-course menu (123€). That’s it. On certain days, there's also a three-course option for lunch (55€). You can order wine by the glass, by the bottle, or pick one of the wine pairings chosen by the sommelier (three glasses, 45€; five glasses, 65€). 

The server will ask if you have any food allergies, which is a nice touch. I can’t eat gluten and I normally have to bring up the subject myself, which can make for an awkward moment. I appreciate that L’atelier made this discussion a comfortable one.

My wife and I went to L’atelier recently for her birthday, as it's our special occasion restaurant of choice. We usually order the six-course menu. The courses are small but you always get more than advertised (this year we counted eight courses) so there's no risk of going hungry. 

Plus there's the bread - you're served a selection of five different freshly baked varieties. And lucky me, I enjoyed the best gluten-free bread I’ve ever had.

After a glass of Champagne, the plates started arriving. My wife says that each plate is like a work of art you get to enjoy twice. First you appreciate its beauty, and then you savor the tastes. 

Our meal began with a piece of raw tuna marinated in sesame oil and laid atop sliced celery root and basil. This was sprinkled with a peanut crumble. Oh yes, there were also little pieces of smoky lardon hiding in there. And the flower on top was spicy. All those flavors were nice way to wake up the taste buds!

Next came the sweetest peas I’ve ever eaten, mixed into a fava bean puree and topped by Parmesan foam and a shrimp that had been dipped in ginger and grilled.

After that came mackerel over fava beans and then asparagus with morel mushrooms and white garlic ice cream.

While the menu changes regularly, we were thrilled to be able to enjoy one of Rabanel’s signature dishes. This is an impossibly tender filet mignon of taureau de Camargue (bull) topped with an egg yolk that's been marinated in soy sauce and rice vinegar. The combination is to die for!  It was accompanied by too many kinds of vegetable to count.

Then came the desserts, three different ones. The first was a jelly of verbena, topped by pureed Jerusalem artichoke hearts and macha ice cream. The second was a combination of fresh and sautéed fruits with tarragon sorbet. Then came the black-olive cookies and citrus macarons.

L’atelier has two Michelin stars and is unlikely to get a third, even though the food is as good as it gets. Why? Because to get a rare and coveted third star usually means you have to invest millions of dollars in the décor. Rabanel has chosen to keep the décor simple, the staff relatively young, and the focus on the food.

This is the reason that the Gault Millau guide, which rates purely on food quality, has given L’Atelier 5 toques and a score of 19 out of 20. These stratospheric ratings make it one of the top restaurants in France.

Since he first opened in Arles, Jean-Luc has grown the business organically. Once L'atelier was up and running he opened a bistro next door, called À Côté, which remains extremely popular. Then he opened a seafood spot called Iode, which has since closed. 

He also expanded L'atelier, doubling the dining space and adding accommodations. Today you can rent rooms in two flavors: “Les Confidentielles” which is a guestroom plus meals if you want them (breakfast + either lunch or dinner) and “Les Appartés,” which is four rooms with a common living-room area...which you can rent by the room or as a whole.  If you're staying in Les Appartés you can request cooking classes for your group there; classes are also available in the restaurant in the morning for would-be sous chefs who want to cook along with the restaurant's brigade. All the details are on the restaurant's website here.

So if you have a special occasion coming up, or want to taste the best that Provence has to offer, consider a meal at L’atelier in Arles. You won’t be sorry.

L'Atelier de Jean-Luc Rabanel
7, rue des Carmes
13200 Arles, France
Phone: +33 4 90 91 07 69
rabanel.com

Photos: (1-3) A few dishes from Keith and Val's recent meal: raw, marinated tuna on celery root with smoky lardon, a sprinkle of peanut crumble and an edible, spicy flower; 
sweet-pea and a fava-bean puree topped with Parmesan foam and a grilled shrimp; and a Rabanel signature: filet mignon of taureau de Camargue (bull) topped with an egg yolk that's been marinated in soy sauce and rice vinegar, accompanied by "too many kinds of vegetable to count."  (4) Jean-Luc with a few of his favorite things. The ingredients are all organic and many are grown specifically for him by friends. Photo courtesy of Le Figaro. (5) The dining room is striking but simple, meant to keep the focus on the food. (6) You'll find hearty, Spanish-influenced bistro fare at Rabanel's restaurant À Côté, which is right next door. (7) The rental accommodation called Les Appartés. (8) One of Jean-Luc's many cookbooks. (10) Val and Keith in front of the Château de Vauvenargues (wondering, no doubt, where they should have lunch).

Keith Van Sickle is the author of "One Sip at a Time: Learning to Live in Provence," which was published in January, 2017 and is available on Amazon here. He grew up in Alameda, California, and got his first taste of overseas life during a college term in England and later, a six-month backpacking sojourn. Grateful for the scholarships that helped him pay for college, in 1987 he started a foundation that helps students from Alameda pursue their own educations. His career has been in tech, primarily on the finance side. During a five-year work assignment in Switzerland, where they lived in a village with more cows than people, Keith and his wife Val fell in love with the European expat lifestyle.  After returning to the US, Keith helped start a company whose product was so geeky he says he still doesn’t quite understand it. When the couple decided they wanted to live abroad again but were unable to find another expat gig, they decided to invent their own. Now they and their trusty dog split their time between Silicon Valley and Provence, where Keith does financial consulting for startups and Val consults in a variety of fields. Keith publishes a blog called Life in Provence and you can follow him on Twitter,  Facebook and Medium.