We were resting when a
woman in gypsy garb rode by on a horse and I sat up astonished. Walking into
the woods between fields we passed a colourful caravan and I asked our guide,
Thierry, if there were gypsies in Provence. He said yes. The fields were being
hayed and grapes were ripening in neat, orderly rows. We walked on a pathway screened
by vegetation and lined by oak trees. Thierry stopped us and told us how his father
hunted truffles and what his father had taught him. Thierry pointed to the
ground and showed us what to look for and answered the question that the French
don’t use pigs as the pigs are rather prone to eating the truffles but instead use
dogs. These paintings by Van Gogh done in 1888 seem to capture the moment, effortlessly spanning the centuries
