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Published: April 28th 2019
Room 26
Hotel CardinalAix is a very lazy town on Sunday, most shops and other businesses are closed, many of the restaurants are also closed, finding a dinner location for later today was difficult we had two places cancel on us before we even got here. Since it is Sunday we opted for a lazy slow start to the day. We slept in until about 10, then took our time getting ready. We did not really have a lot planed for the day, brunch and several things to walk by but only one thing to actually go into.
In order to give you a better idea of our room, and for me to remember in later years, I have added some pictures on this entry. It is very large and decorated very period.
Caumont Centre D’Art Out day started a short walk form our hotel at the Caumont, located in the Hotel de Caumont, formerly a private mansion in the Mazarin quarter, not far from last nights dinner. The mansion itself dates back to 1715 and was turned in to an art center in 2010. It is a small museum and a few rooms are dedicated to what it looked like
when actually lived in. There is also a lovely garden space and a café. The café is where in fact we had brunch.
Brunch, is not what it is in the U.S., no all you can eat buffet, but simply a very nice and taste fully larger version of a typical French breakfast. It started with coffee, freshly squeezed orange juice (it was so fresh you had to stir it because of the pulp) a basket of croissant, chocolate croissant, baguette and other pastries. This is were a typical week day French breakfast would end, but we had two more courses. The main dish was a poached egg in a small bowl over which was an incredible sauce of cream fraiche and chives. This was served with a version of potatoes dauphinois but with a light mustard sauce instead of cream, along side a green salad, topped with ham for me and salmon for Jerry. The eggs were the highlight of this brunch.
We ended each having a very nice strawberry tart. The berries were could, not as good as what we had in Paris, but certainly better than anything we can get in New York. When we
first arrived, we were the only ones there, as we left the place was beginning to fill up, mass must have been over.
After brunch we walked around the museum, most of it was closed as they were preparing for a special exhibit that will be starting on May 1. The only two rooms that were open music room and the bedroom of the last mistress of the house. The museum was also viewing a short 30-minute film about Paul Cezanne. This is the city of Cezanne, his birth place and where he died. It was a nice film, in French, but English subtitles.
After the museum, we were off to walk the streets of Aix. First stop Fontaine d’eau Chaude. The fountain of hot water, back in the day there was a thermal spring under the city and hot water actually came out of the fountain, today it was pretty cold. We continued our walk.
The day was sunny but there was a strong breeze, if you were in the shade it could be a bit chilly, but we were doing a fair amount of walking so being cold was not going to be a problem.
After the fountain we headed for Pavillon de Vendome.
Pavillon de Vendome is a villa in the Baroque style built in 1665 as a country house for the Duke of Vendome, really it was built for his mistress. It is just outside the city walls, not really out in the country. The next stop was Atelier Cezanne.
Atelier Cezanne is the studio he moved into after his mother sold his beloved Jas De Bouffan, which was truly in the countryside. This is about half a mile outside the city walls and an easy walk, although up hill. We could have gone in, but the only English-speaking tour was another ½ hour away and they limit to 25 people. Jerry just took some pictures and we headed back into the center of Aix and towards Cathedrale St.-Sauveur.
The cathedral, has a double naïve, Romanesque and Gothic side by side and a Merovingian (5
th century) baptistery. Jerry understands all of this, what I know is that it has competing architectural styles that spanned several centuries. We continued onto Hotel de Ville, otherwise known as City Hall, as we walked towards Hotel de Ville, we passed a nice memorial to
those members of the French resistance they gave their lives for the cause or concentration camps. In fact, the Mansion we had brunch in was actually used to hide many members of the resistance during the war (WWII for those of you under 35).
Our final stop was to be the Palais de Justice (courthouse) but it was undergoing major renovation so there was not much to see there. Instead we just leisurely wound are way through the fairly empty streets of Aix back to our hotel and Room 26. This is the room you will want to request should you stay here; we will certainly request it on our return, of which there will be many once we retire to Carcassonne.
* * *
At the moment we are relaxing in our room, one last dinner in Aix, then tomorrow back to Paris and the last night of this trip.
While I have a moment, it is a good time to ramble about the trip. We, as always, started hard and fast and by the time we got to Carcassonne were exhausted. But after 5 days in the South of France, we are not rested
Music Room
Hotel de Caumont and ready for what would normally be week three of our vacation. Unfortunately, this is only a 14-day trip, our bigger trip this year will be in November when we will begone for 25 days to South America.
It has been a great trip, they all are. As with any experience there are some experience that are not 100% positive, but most of the time, everything works out for the best. What we have learned from this trip, is that we need to learn to modify our way of travel. We are getting older, as much as we both hate to admit it, our bodies in our mid 50’s do not want to do the same things they did in our 40’s. Our minds may think we can, but the body says, “take it easier.” Yes, we are still climbing every tower we can, and will continue to do so for as long as we physically are able to make the climb. At some point it maybe the only thing we accomplish for that day, but that view is always worth the huffing and puffing and burn in your thighs.
It has always been our plan to travel
as much as we can before we retire, we just do not want to be that couple who invested in a house, kids, etc. and put off travel until they retired, then they get sick and never get to travel at all. When we retire in a few years, we will have already seen the world, not that we won’t continue to travel, but it will be a different kind of travel not the big trips that we have planned in the next years, which include; 3 weeks in Ireland, Scotland and England, 3 weeks in Scandinavia, an African Safari, the pyramids of Egypt, Peru & Equator, Transpacific cruise from Tokyo to Alaska, finishing off the remaining states we haven’t’ been too, China and India. There is a lot to do in the next 8 to 9 years, then when we retire to France or Spain, we will dedicate most of our travels to Europe and a bit of Northern Africa. There is also a trip with my younger sisters to Puerta Vallarta in the near future.
Anyway, we still have one more full day on this trip, a last dinner here in Aix and a final dinner in
Garden
Hotel de Caumont Paris before we return to New York and work. Jerry is currently slicing the remaining cheese and sausage we bought in Carcassonne for the train ride back to Paris tomorrow, a tricky thing with a butter knife.
Le Bistroit des Philosphes We are just back from dinner, and I just do not know where to begin. It was a very pleasant surprise. We were concerned because Aix is pretty closed up on a Sunday, but this was such a good little find. I made the reservation via e-mail and it actually was on the books. The first thing I am going to say, is go hungry, do not have brunch or anything else that day, the portion sizes are huge. It was about a 10-minute walk from our hotel, including a stop at the ATM for cash. The streets are so quite and empty. The walk was pleasant but a bit of chill in the air we did need our light jackets.
We were prepared for very little English but they were fluent, except the food runner. The menu was in French with English underneath, this is actually my preferred type of menu, as it allows me
to test out my ability to read a French menu. The menu was small but full of great sounding choices. Our choices were not difficult.
The entrées, were all to share, actually we needed Christina because it was enough for three. We started with a tomato tart, a nice pastry shell baked with tomatoes, mozzarella and herbs. It was served with a watercress salad and a tomato sorbet, yes, I said tomato sorbet. Of course, we had our traditional glass of champagne and toasted to our final night in the South and Provence.
The plats (or mains in case you have not figured that out, or we forget when we are reading this in our twilight years); Jerry had a duck breast with a fig sauce and ceps. It was the biggest duck breast we have ever seen; he could only eat half of it. I had a steak and roasted bone marrow combination; I will need to up my Lipitor tonight. They were both served with caramelized shallots (the entire shallot skin and all was carnalized) and according to Jerry the best potatoes dauphinoise in all of France. Everything tasted amazing, our only complaint was the food
could have been warmer. We again had a great red wine from the Provence area, Cuvee Bastide Dalmeran, from Les Baux de Provence. It was not as good as last night, but it was still very good and went well with our dinner.
The portions were so big we simply could not order dessert. It was a good thing that we had almost a mile walk back to the hotel, to work some of the food off.
We are now enjoying a bit of Chateau-neuf-du-Pape in our room. I just ate a Calissons d’Aix, there are store for them all over Aix. It is a type of almond lemon cookie, chewy and not to sweet.
Tomorrow it is back on the TGV to Pairs for our final night of vacation. Aix is everything I remember, even without the broken rib I incurred the last time we were here.
Almost forgot, dish of the day, the eggs at brunch.
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Christina Lopez
non-member comment
Wish I had gone!
Loved reading your blog! Can’t wait to read about your last day in Paris! Have a safe trip back!