LA BASTIDE ROSE - PIERRE SALINGER

From one gorgeous, special place to another. 40km away from St.Remy to the north we are now in the countryside outside the small village of Le Thor which is close to L’Isle sur-la-Sorgue, (the major French antique centre outside Paris where about 9 years ago we bought the marble table that now resides on our terrace at Collingwood St),. We have gone from the Les Alpilles region into the Luberon.

La Bastide Rose is owned by Poppy Salinger, widow of the late Pierre Salinger who was Press Secretary to JFK and later briefly for LBJ before becoming a Democratic senator for California.

He married Poppy in 1989 and later came to live with her here at La Bastide Rose until his death in 2004.To read the announcement of his death in the Washington Post click here.

Poppy has been running La Bastide as an upmarket B&B for 8 years. It is utterly charming, I will attach a pic.

The house is three stories with three large bedrooms on each of the upper two floors. The D’Arcy’s and ourselves occupy two of the rooms on the top floor. There is also a studio in the grounds while Poppy and her son Emanuel & his wife and children live in a separate apartment at the back. E’s wife and children are away for the summer in Corsica visiting her parents. Emanuel seems to do almost everything. He carried our luggage up and provided passwords for the WiFi connection and tonight he is cooking!

Also on the property is the Pierre Salinger Museum and we were fascinated by this collection of photos, posters, video clips, and memorabilia.

Also each year from June 7 until the end of September they have a major sculpture exhibition on the extensive front lawn. More about this to follow Philip & Sarah.

Pirre Salinger's autobiography, cleverly titled P.S. A Memoir was published by St.Martin's Press in 1995 and I have been reading a copy I found in the library here.Fascinating. I'll check later to see if it is still in print.

Here are the final three paras from his introduction:

Looking back, it's clear that in addition to all the good times, I've had my share of tragedy. I lost two of the greatest men I've ever known to asssasination - and a son to suicide. But like the 120-year-old French woman just designated the oldest living humna by the Guiness Book of World Records, whenever anything truly bad happens, "I just turn another page". That ability has served us both well.

On the positive side, which is where I choose to dwell, I have enjoyed a life that has been, for the most part, filled to the brim with the finer things - music, poetry, Bordeaux wine, cigars, amour, chess, children, and work worth doing.

It's been quite a life, and, take it from an old newspaperman, quite a story. I hope you'll enjoy reading about it as much as I have living it.

Well Pierre I'm only 77 pages into your life story and I have to say I am totally engrossed.

Here is Pierre Salinger's entry on Wikipedia., from where I took his pic above showing him at the time he was JFK's press secretary.