Pentecote in Provence

It's been a holiday weekend over here and things have been  both busy and not.  Extremely busy in the tourists spots but most everything else has been shut.
Fabulous couple of days, albeit having to battle crowds.
Saint Remy was a stunning little place had a mooch about there and an excellent lunch. 
The ruins of the chateau at Baux and the little village... breathtaking.  It is up so high and the old chateau was build into the rock.  There are cave homes constructed within the grounds (photo).  Fascinating to think how people lived back then.  There view over Provence from so high was awesome.
Yesterday we went to Pays de Sorgues, they call it 'Venice of Provence'...may not be exactly Venice...but thankfully much cleaner.  A few of the waterways meet there.  It was stunning yet again and I fear we are going to just accept stunning as normal soon.
We had lunch at a cafe right on the side of the canal and watched the crowds shuffle by and fed the huge ducks.
The colours were absolutely as they appear.  The green of the water plants was such a vivid green and the blues are so vibrant, clear and crisp and both contrasted by the ochres of the buildings and their terracotta roof tiles....so much material for paintings?
We have, however, discovered a chink in all this perfection that is Provence...the 'Dreaded Mistral'.  We didn't experience this last year.  It is freaky and seems to be a phenomena of this region.  Violent, strong cold blasts/gusts of wind.  Random, unpredictable.  It can be sunny and warm, then in an instant you get blasted and then it's gone again.  When you least expect it...along comes another.
When we were walking up the hill to the chateau at Baux we were hit with a gust and it almost knocked me off my feet.  Hair, scarf, jacket,handbag etc were swept up and flapping all over and I had to hang on to my earrings, I could feel them moving and yep the hooks were half out of my ears. Trying to hang onto everything and keep balance was a challenge. I have never experience anything like it.
At least the boots have been retired again.  It has been warmer and dryer.  My poor boots should almost be dry now after their bath in Carcassonne...