Last Days in Provence - July 16, 2010

Senne's Summary

Thursday: A little bit of shopping, a little bit of wandering… a lot of relaxing :)

Friday: Wandered/walked around Aix…off to Villefranche tomorrow by train.

Thursday July 15, 2010

Today was another lovely and relaxing day in paradise 😀 I know I’m using a lot of smiley faces, but I can't help it, I'm happy!

This morning we went for a little shopping walk. It was interesting to see that the small local shops had considerably better prices than the imported shops. For instance the stuff at Guess was even pricier than you would find it in Canada.

I ended up buying a couple more dresses from the local shops. I don’t particularly like wearing dresses and rarely do… but it’s so amazingly hot here, that even shorts and a tank top seem excruciatingly warm (and you all know I like to be warm!)… so dresses it is! Did I mention that I bought four basic summery dresses for 60 Euros… when they’re that cheap you don’t really have any choice do you?!?

We did look for a watch for Steve (and fondled many wallets) but didn’t find the right one yet.

One of the things I like about the shopping here is the variety. There are just so many different looking things than we would find at home… particularly shoes. I, a girl of almost heroic restraint, have managed so far, not to buy any shoes. I can hear the collective GASP from here!

Steve went to the Farmer’s Market this morning. There is one about a block away from us every morning. He got some very yummy fruits and veggies… his favourite were the fresh carrots. Why are garden carrots always so much yummier? My favourite were the nectarines. (We needed a little fruit and veg to counteract the prolific bakery eating we’ve been doing 😉)

We also walked through a beautiful flower market. There were stalls and stalls of flowers for sale, and the scent of them all was fabulous! It’s worth a walk through just to smell them.

We also travelled through the market on the main drag. I thought perhaps it was just a Sunday thing but the market appears to be every day. The stuff was different today though. Today was mostly clothes… even underwear… I do have to question who buys their bras off a table in the main street… but to each his own :)

Henry Kwan, we thought of you today. Can’t remember where it was, but saw some Superman undies… almost bought them for you :)

For the rest of the day we mostly relaxed. Steve and I have been inventing card games with progressively more rules. Soon the games will have so many rules we’ll spend more time discussing the rules than actually playing the game… I am on a bit of a losing streak so am thinking hard about creating a rule that will swing things in my favour!

Interesting fact of the day: I’m running out of them…oh, did you know Provence is also famous for growing olive trees? We have a little tiny one in a pot out on our terrace. It actually has olives growing on it. They don’t look big enough to stick in a martini yet, unfortunately.

Steve is bringing up the rest of the wine for us to share now, so I’m signing off before the blog turns into the long-winded ramblings of someone who can’t remember anything :) (I believe you may have experienced that on our hilltop villages day.)

Friday July 16, 2010

Well I’m going to start off the day with another interesting fact, before I forget what I wanted to tell you.

Something very different in France is that apparently you can drive and park pretty much wherever you want. Pedestrians give right of way to drivers. Drivers drive down the road and just stop if they feel like it. They turn on the hazards, pull out their cell phone and just talk on the phone while they wait for whatever it is they are waiting for. It doesn’t matter if it’s a single lane road… it doesn’t matter if 20 people behind you honk at you… you can park in the middle of the road if you feel like it. Also, you could drive up on the sidewalk and park there if you feel like it. Pedestrians beware!

Today, was another lazy day. I think this is going to be a theme. We did some wandering in the streets (saw one of our white shirt/tie guys but managed to avoid a conversation with him this time), checked out a park that the tourism guy said we "HAD to see" (It was okay), hung out and watched a couple of movies, played some cards (I did win today, but it took some crafty rule making!) and generally just relaxed.

Steve was very thrilled about the lunch we made. Baguette (balsamic vinegar and olive oil for me, butter for Steve) and a tomato and mozzarella salad. Basically cost us $4.00 to buy the supplies. Seems to both of us that food is definitely cheaper here.

Another weird thing was when we tried to go out for dinner. They don’t start serving food until 7PM! You could have drinks, but not food.

Things we liked about Aix en Provence:

1. The wine tour was a favourite for both of us. (If I could own a chateau I’d definitely come back!)
2. Lots of neat little shops everywhere. No matter which street you turned on there were always interesting little shops to see.
3. The hilltop villages were very interesting and beautiful to see
4. Steve’s favourite pizza of all time at the restaurant at the end of the Cours Mirabeau.
5. Tomato and Mozzarella Salad
6. Steve likes the limitless supply of model-like European girls… I like their shoes.
7. The sun shines every day… and it’s hot, VERY hot!
8. Our apartment was perfect even if it was a fourth story walk up! (It helped wear off the bakery and ice cream treats!)
9. Drinking wine on our terrace.
10. Farmer’s market and fresh flower market.

We liked it here. We’d come back, whenever we do decide to return to France, but there are so many other places to see first.