We were all told it was raining in the south, so when we arrived to a crystal clear morning in AIX, we tore off our rainboots and slapped on our ballerines that we brought in spite of our instructor's warnings. After checking into our cute hotel, Artéa, we walked past la rotonde and took the famous cours mirabeau into town.
After visiting a museum about AIX's history, we walked around the quartier, learning about AIX's architecture and visiting some of its museums, churches, and historical landmarks. Being the weekend of patrimoine (the days when the French allow public access at no charge to a lot of typically closed cultural attractions), we were lucky to see many things that we might not have been ordinarily given access to. For example, we got to go inside the salle des mariages at the Hotel de Ville and see where probably 10s of 1,000s of couples got hitched.
We were not so lucky, however, that the expected rain returned and left many of us quivering in our little ballerines. Luckily, one of the cloitres we visited had installed roofing so that we could stay dry while we listened to a wonderful guide inform us about the history of the cloitre's diverse columns.
One of the best ways to avoid the rain was our visit to the most visited "expo" in France this year: Picasso/ Cezanne. Not surprisingly, the exhibit was pretty crowded, but absolutely gorgeous. I never realized how much Picasso admired Cezanne until I saw the paintings side by side. I recommend this to anyone in AIX!
Feeling kind of soggy and definitely hungry, we returned to the hotel to prepare for our dinner (payed for by SLC) at la bastide du cours. The food was definitely a step up from what I've been eating normally -- a salad with typical fixings from provence, a chicken with a tomato sauce and potatoes, and a rich chocolate cake with an espresso for dessert. Amazing. I wish I had taken better pictures!
That night I slept like a log before our 7 am wakeup call and our 8am petit déjeuner. I know that the French petit déjeuner isn't as "meal"-like as an American breakfast, but I want to clear up the misconception that just because the French breakfast is not typically cooked it is somehow smaller or inferior. It is not. I have to say I have never been so full after a complimentary breakfast at a hotel. Coissant, baguette, two jams, a hot beverage that comes with an extra pot, fruit, yogurt, orange juice and sometimes cheese and meat, too. What a way to start the day!
Although it was raining, we toured AIX some more, stopping by various indoor sights and 1 outdoor market where local farmers sold their very best. I couldn't help but buy some herbes de provence from an adorable man who wore a hearing aid and kept telling me that he also made spices for pizzas. My friend, Pia, got some herbed goat cheese free of charge from yet another kind AIX local.
We continued our exploration of AIX, noticing that this weekend there was a big "fête" going on and many cyclists were launching themselves off of ramps and onto a giant soft landing mat. I enjoyed the Michael Jackson and other American music before exploring some beautiful gardens outside the building that currently holds a photography exposition on Picasso.
For my hour of free time, I returned to the hotel and munched on my breakfast leftovers. This is when I came to the conclusion that French butter is the best butter in the world. It's like someone put twice the butter in the same amount of butter we usually use.
We decided to go to Cassis and Marseille now that the sun had come out again, so we all filed into a rented bus and headed down to the coast. We stopped at Cassis first and I knew I had found my favorite place. I felt right at home with the marina, the beautiful coasts, and the fortresses and castles above head in the mountains. Every restaurant looked delicious and every stretch of beach looked gorgeous. I'm coming back and bringing Jay whenever I get the chance!
Having only enough time to jump into the water and walk around the town, we left Cassis hungry for more. When we arrived in Marseille, we headed first to an expo of some of Marseille's museums' collected pieces and followed our visit up with a short free Opera concert in the sculpture room.
Marseille was full of all sorts of cool things. The graffiti was even cute. It was one of those cities where everyone hangs their clothes outside on clotheslines, each building is painted a different pastel colour, and no one looks like their in a hurry to get anywhere.
After walking around the ports for a while, we headed back to AIX for dinner at Chez Laurette -- I would highly recommend this place. The food was delicious. We had a tarte salée, followed by salmon with pesto (or lasagne with generous helpings of cheese for the vegetarians), and a simply delicious tiramisu for dessert. Wow. They also kept the carafe's of wine coming. A fabulous evening to be in AIX.
The next morning, I woke up for a petit dejeuner with all the fixings. I think I may marry French hot chocolate. How do they make it so delicious?
I stashed away some bread and butter for our early bus ride out of AIX and up into the small little town of St. Remy, where Van Gogh spent much of his time in a mental house that was converted from a monastery.
Our first stop in St. Rémy was at some very old structures that used to serve as an entrance into the city. Now they are basically just old ruins on the side of the closest thing to a freeway you'll find near St. Rémy. Luckily, we were able to walk from these old ruins across the street to the mental institution where Van Gogh stayed many years ago.
Walking up to the building, you can see a lot of things that show up frequently in Van Gogh's work. It was really cool to compare the real thing to the artist's interpretation. I always thought that Van Gogh's painting style reflected his craziness (and some of it does), but after seeing some of the trees in St. Rémy, I realized they look exactly the same as they do in his paintings.
We went inside the building to discover another cloitre, as the building used to be a monastery. All throughout the corridors were paintings by current patients who, like Van Gogh, found an outlet through art. There was some very cool work.
Upstairs, we explored the room that is believed to be Van Gogh's bedroom at the time he stayed there. Not a bad place to be cooped up in -- the view was fantastic. While in the room, we met another visitor who had brought along his little puppy! The puppy was adorable and his little face reminded me so much of my Aunt Barbara's little doggy.
After exploring the gardens, we headed into the main part of the village for some walking and lunch. St. Rémy is just as cute as is it's size would have you believe and I found that despite it's twisty streets, it was impossible to get lost. Every store was so cute and so distinct, you would remember exactly where everything was within 30 minutes of walking around.
We were lucky, too, because many musicians were staked out in front of the Hotel de Ville and various other places with in the city, giving free concerts to us travelers. After a nice lunch with some jazz in the background, we hopped back on the bus and headed for Avignon.
When we de-boarded, I was really anxious to go to the pont d'avignon and dance, but our guide did not seem interested in the bridge and informed us that "on n'y danse pas." Our guide was less interested in the children's song and more interested in the heart of Avignon as it used to be a papal city filled with abbeys and monasteries.
We entered the city which seemed to be built of stone and were immediately struct by the pure size of everything around us. It was massive! It wasn't just vertical mass either -- the buildings were wide and built like castels, with huge and elaborate facades but very few windows.
We checked out the main cathedral wich seemed to be a beast of a buiding, especially up close. The cathedral had some very interesting things inside of it, too. Most notably, there were 2 crypts for former popes. Each crypt seemed to be a mini cathedral, white and massive.
We wandered into the rest of the city and looked at architecture that spanned the ages. We learned, too, that the city has a large Jewish population as the city protected them and alowed them to practice their religion there when it was dangerous to do so elswhere.
After a long tour through the old papal town, we slept like babies on the train back to Paris. I arrived hungry and went over to the local Franprix for an easy microwave dinner.
Total expenses this weekend:
bottle of wine from Monoprix in AIX: 3,50 EUR
2 sachets of herbes de provence (yes, mom, you're getting one): 2 EUR each = 4 EUR
1 beer in Saint Rémy: ,79 EUR
Microwave lasagna from Franprix for my lazy dinner tonight: 1,70 EUR
