Provence and thoughts of France

Just returned from a 9 day trip to Provence and 5 nights in Paris. Since I research so often on this site I want to offer any help in this report to someone else that might be planning a trip to France.
We got a very cheap flight to Paris through Icelandair- $450 round trip from Paris to JFK. We loved stopping over in Reykjavik to break the trip up and having the smaller airport to make the change of flights in. It was easy and fast. We were sorry to a see that the fine print on our tickets said $100 for our luggage but at least the flight $ was good. Lesson for next time😦
We stayed our first night in the Marais so we could easily walk to Gare de Lyon to catch our train to Avignon the next day. It was an easy walk. Bought our first class train tickets before we left home and that was simple and handy as well. Picked up our rental car at Avignon TGV and headed out to Gordes where we stayed for the first 4 nights. We had been there before just for an afternoon and love the size and charm of this smaller town.....we also felt to was an easy travel point through Provence for our first 4 days of driving to markets. I am a HUGE researcher....do not want to miss anything that is right under my nose.....so we had each day planned as to market days, etc. Saturday was Aix-en-Provence’s market. It was fantastic-huge and full of life. So glad we started here. Bought a bouquet of peonies to enjoy in Gordes. We stayed in Gordes at Le Jas de Gordes- what a treat! They could not have been nicer. The grounds were beautiful and the breakfast wonderful. They even washed our clothes for us one night. By all means stay there if you go. It is on the road into Gordes and an easy pleasant walk into town when you want to go. We drove to L’Isle sur la Sorgue’s market on Sunday-rained like crazy. That was disappointing but we did get to see some stands and shops before everyone closed up and went home at lunch. Loved this quaint and charming town and all of the antiques. Bought some beautiful antique lace and linens there. I want to say that we were so pleasantly surprised at how KIND the merchants were to us at every stop. We made a point to greet each shop owner and thank them as we left. At three points on this trip I made purchases and the shop owners gave me a gift for buying from them.....it was something small that I eyed as I was leaving and made a comment about and each time they would say to take the item and enjoy it......I was overwhelmed at their treatment of us! If you just try to be kind and appreciative and show any interest in what they are selling they bend over backwards to help you. We took the rainy day opportunity to drive that afternoon to Roussillon, Menerbes and Lourmarin-all villages on the MOST BEAUTIFUL VILLAGES IN FRANCE list and well worth doing. Lourmarin was my favorite.
Moved on to St. Remy de Provence for our next 5 nights. We were charmed by the precious small old town within the circle of the town. We LOVED walking its small alleyways and looking in its cute shops. We wanted to see Gordes’ Tuesday market so we drove back over to see it and the trip was so worthwhile. Found a beautiful oil painting of the poppy fields and some great buys. Thoroughly enjoyed St. Remy’s Wednesday market-it was fantastic. Thursday we stumbled upon Le Chateau Des Alpilles, a beautiful chateau in the countryside of St. Remy. We had lunch on their terrace that day and were all alone as we ate in this peaceful garden. You need to see a place like this where we all dream of Provence. Could not have been more special! You can stay in the home as well if you want-I will next time!