A Day Out in Provence 10-4-15

Our day with Julia and Jose turned out to be really fun for us, and for them I hope, it was sunny after yesterday's instant deluge and the streets were dry.  They took us to a vide-grenier (community garage sale if you will) in the village just next to Raphel les Arles where there must have been at least 50 little booths with people trying to sell their stuff.   Lots of baby clothes (ugh) but also some interesting things, Deb and I get excited over iron farm implements and there were a couple things to tempt us but getting them back to the U.S. would have been too much.  So nothing to be had today, but the hunt's the thing.
After our treasure hunt we headed East on a drive through the countryside just below the range of small mountains called Les Alpilles, which is dotted with beautiful little villages.  The houses in these villages are historic but also very expensive. sort of like gentrification meets Greenacres.  We passed one group of three houses where the owners come and go by helicopter.  This area is the one in which I bicycled extensively when we made the first house exchange with Julia and Jose several years ago so it was a bit like a homecoming for me.   Jose took us along many other roads I'd never experienced as well and we passed through acres and acres of olive orchards before we took a turn that ascended pretty quickly up on to an elevated tableland.
We drove through several villages and then came to Aureille,

another pretty little village set below what looked to be the ruins of an old castle fortification perched on the hill directly above, and parked. While I took some pics and Deb and Julia chatted, Jose talked to a local person about what turned out to be our lunch destination, La Table Alonso.
It's located on a residential street a block off a side street with a few small businesses, so one wouldn't find it unless they were specifically looking.  Even the sign isn't terribly encouraging as it looks as if it might be for an old business.
But what a meal! It could easily rival a top restaurant in Paris.  We rang a door bell and Josette answered the door.  Jose talked with her a bit and we had the option of eating inside or at the one table on the patio.  We opted for the patio as the day was sunny and warm, so we greeted each succeeding group of diners as they arrived for lunch.  
Since they only plan for 15 diners max we didn't have much greeting to do and every one was so genial in anticipation of a great meal.  We started with two rounds of amuse-bouches and then three separate hors d'oeuvres before going on to the main course, then a round of cheeses to be followed by two small desserts.
All dishes using organic food and prepared in-house by Josette's husband Gerard.  All this was provided for a fixed price of 40 euros per person.  We shared a bottle of dry Provencal rose which matched perfectly with the Scottish grouse and a wild

mediterranean fish called St.Pierre.  Each course was small but when you eat so many you leave completely satiated, and we were no exception.