15 DAY TRIP TO FRANCE APRIL 13th to 27th 2019
Join me this spring in southern France, sketching, painting and photographing the towns surrounding Limoux, France. The workshop organizer Le Monastere Adventures has been conducting these workshops for over 20 years. This 15-day workshop was organized last minute so they are offering an introductory offer of $2700US dollars for artists and non-artist with almost everything included except airfare.
Included are: All transportation to and from Toulouse airport and to all the towns we will visit.
All breakfasts, and suppers except for Wednesdays, which are 2 days that you are on your own.
(we will help you out with any specific eating issues – allergies, vegetarian, etc). Also, we don’t put limits on house wines (very good).
Use of our easels, camp chairs, and in-house atelier.
Accommodation at Le Monastere (double occupancy), or if overflow at our Vine House.
Total use of Le Monastere

This is not a touristy kind of workshop where you have a guide touring you through crowded tourist traps. Here is a Rough Itinerary for each day: We will be having breakfast in the morning followed by a short time going over things in the classroom for what we will be doing that day. Then we head off to a town that the hosts and I decide on. When arriving at the town we will be walking and hiking around the town with a host who will be giving us all the information (toilets, lunch spots, tours, etc.) and history of the town so we can photograph and check out what we will be painting and doing after the walkaround. If there is time before lunch we will sketch and I will do a short demo lesson.
After lunch, I will pick a spot where I will be painting/sketching, where you can also do the same or head off on your own. Non-artists can also head off on their own. The host has a lot of information about the towns and what the artists and non-artists can explore and do in each town, so the afternoons will be filled with whatever we decide will be best for that particular town. This will be a small group of 14 with possibly 8 artists and 6 non-artists so many things will be decided as we go. Here is a small sample of some of the towns we may visit: Limoux, Mirepoix, Lagrasse, Collioure, Minerve, Foix, Rennes le Chateau, Bugarach, Cucugnan, Peyriac de Mer, the Canal de Midi, Montsegur. There are 30 others.

Itinerary:
April 13 - Saturday Arrival: pick up at the Toulouse airport sometime in the morning. Getting settled into Le Monastere and the town.
You can get lunch in the nearby square at one of the several restaurants. Dinner at Monastere
April 14 - Sunday: Off to the first site close to Limoux: Dinner at a restaurant in the town square
April 15 – Monday: see choices above: Dinner at Le Monastere
April 16 – Tuesday: Collioure if the weather is good there: Dinner at a restaurant in Limoux: Note we always go to Collioure. If not this day, then another.
April 17 – Wednesday: You are on your own except for breakfast; You can explore around Limoux or you can take the train up to the medieval walled city of Carcassonne
April 18 – Thursday: Either Minerve or Bugarach, or towns nearby: Dinner either at an artist studio or a mountain feast
April 19 – Friday: see choices above: Dinner at Le Monastere
April 20 – Saturday: A site close to Limoux: Dinner at Le Monastere
April 21 – Sunday: HAPPY EASTER! see choices above: Dinner at a restaurant in the square
April 22 – Monday: see choices above: Dinner at a country house
April 23 – Tuesday: see choices above: Dinner at a restaurant in Limoux
April 24 – Wednesday: You are on your own except for breakfast; You can explore around Limoux
April 25 – Thursday: Either Minerve or Bugarach, or towns nearby: Dinner either at an artist studio or a mountain feast
April 26 – Friday: see choices above: Dinner at Le Monastere
April 27 – Saturday: we drive you back to Toulouse

Traveling to Toulouse I suggest you leave for the trip late Thursday, April 11th which will get you to Toulouse, France Friday, April 12. where I suggest you get a hotel room near the airport for that Friday night to rest up from your jet lag. Saturday morning take the hotel transportation service back to the airport where you will be picked up by our host from LeMonastere Adventures.

To register for this workshop adventure trip send a deposit of $500US dollars to:
Le Monastere Adventures, PO Box 4222, Station E., Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B2 Canada
or to use a credit card email Rosemarie at monastere@compuserve.com and let her know in the email that you would like to make a deposit.
Final payment for the trip will be $2200US dollars due by February 13th, 2019

For everyone that puts down a deposit, David will be communicating directly
with each person through email or by phone. David will also be sending you supplies for this workshop.

For more information that isn’t on this blog please email David at BeckerArt@gmail.com
For more information from the host Chris email him at c.georgas@wanadoo.fr 

David already has enough interest in this workshop to almost fill it, so if you are interested contact David and see if there are any spots left.