i have discovered why french people don’t look you in the eye when walking down the street. it’s because they are all watching the sidewalk to make sure they don’t step in dog poop. anyway. nick says that most of the cities and towns in france feel dirty to him. i sort of agree, but at the same time, i argue that it’s probably pretty hard to keep a city looking sparkly clean after hundreds or even thousands of years.
yesterday afternoon the sun finally came out in aix, and so i walked to the cathedral st sauveur, which is only about a quarter of a mile away from nick’s apartment. maybe even closer. i got a couple good picture of the cathedral lit by the setting sun, and walked around the inside for about 15 minutes. the organ was playing and it was quite peaceful…until the huge group of japanese tourists came in. 😉 ah well. there were some very pretty stained glass windows and statues (see page du jour for pictures).
after touring the cathedral, i spent another hour just walking around the town. i made my way back through the place de l’hotel de ville (the town hall square) and back past nick’s apartment and eventually to the cours mirabeau, which is sort of like the main street of aix, and one of the borders between the old town and the new town. it is a wide street with big tall trees and lots of shops and cafes. there are fountains every few hundred feet, culminating in one huge fountain in la rotonde, at the end of the road.
the office of tourism is also right there at la rotonde, so i went in and got a brochure with a map of the cezanne trail. it’s a tourist thing where you follow these bronze plaques in the sidewalk and it takes you to all the places that were important in the life of paul cezanne, from the house where he was born to the place where he is buried. i may do that tomorrow afternoon after we hike the mont st. victoire, or friday afternoon while nick has class.
today nick brought home croissants for breakfast. mmmmm. and this afternoon we’re headed for an aqueduct that is west of aix.
(12:26 a.m.)
wow, where to start with a recap of today?? it was absolutely fantastic! well, except for when nick woke me up by flipping on the bright light. but i got over that soon enough and joined him for yet another yummy breakfast of jam, cheese, and (for something a bit different this morning) fresh croissants. mmmm. it’s really a shame that you can’t get bread like this in the states. or coffee either. i love european coffee.i took a shower and got ready for the day while nick went to his 12:15 class, and also made it to the post office for a few more postcard stamps before he got home. wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles, the woman at the post office actually understood what i was asking for. when nick came back, we stopped by a sandwich stand and headed to the bus stop.we caught a bus to ventabren, a little town about 12 kilometers away from where we are in aix. our end goal was the roquefavour aqueduct, which is actually outside ventabren, but that’s the closest town. with the cooperation of at least 5 different people sitting at the front of the bus, including the driver, we finally figured out which stop we needed to get off at in order to head toward the aqueduct. turns out this stop was in the middle of nowhere in the french countryside, but there was no stopping us at that point. we were walking.it turned out to be 6 kilometers to the aqueduct and then 6 kilometers back, which took us just under an hour each time, but it was definitely worthwhile. see the page du jour for a picture, and i’ll post more on my site when i get back to houston.
we got back to the bus stop with 10 minutes to spare, and got back to nick’s apartment with just enough time to change clothes and catch a ride with a rotarian (anne-marie). she drove us to a dinner date with another rotarian (ives), his wife (chantal), and his daughter (anne). they live in a house on the outskirts of aix, and had invited nick over for traditional french fondue. when he said i would be in town, they invited me along as well.
i cannot gush enough about how good it was, and how much fun the evening was, despite the fact that i only understand bits and pieces of conversations, and can speak far less than i understand. we started off with appetizers and a wine sort of like champagne, but not. we then moved to the table for meat, followed by cheese fondue (and more wine), and finally an apple and pear dessert. it was all absolutely delicious, and funniest of all was that i found that my french comprehension declined in direct proportion to the number of times ives refilled my wine glass, despite my protests of “non, merci!” 🙂
after dessert, chantal brought out a bottle of alcohol that she made herself. oh my lord, i have never tasted anything so potent in my life. it was like i have always imagined backwoods moonshine must taste like–52% alcohol. 52 percent!! the funniest part was that anne, the 16-year-old daughter, was allowed to have a bit, though she wasn’t allowed to drink any wine, and when nick asked her if she liked it, she replied with “oui, je l’adore.” i swear this stuff could cure any ills; in fact, ives even said it was for good health. 😉
from there, the music and dancing began. anne played her clarinet, chantal played the accordian, nick and i gave a rousing rendition of “heart and souls” on the piano, and we also waltzed to the accordian (though there wasn’t much room for more than a few turns). all in all it was a great evening.
