Provence is one of Southern France's most beautiful place for autumn touring. I spent a day there several years ago watching an artist splash and daub a Van Gogh style painting of one of the village squares. When he stopped to eat a sandwich, I told him in my high school French how much I admired his impressionist style and the beauty of the region.

He responded in American English that he had studied at the Philly Museum College of Art, my alma mater. He was much younger, of course, but we had some mutual memories of faculty and courses. He even offered me half of his ham sandwich and we shared a bottle of one of the excellent local wines.

Provence, its villages and country roads are worth exploring, especially in the fall. You may even stumble on a brightly ripening cornfield and flock of crows, just as Vincent saw them. But, please, keep your ears intact.

Submitted by John Philippa, Boston MA