Cezanne's Place

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Well, we woke up bright and early, with the full intention of packing up, having breakfast and then taking the bus to Aix. Of course, by now we we're full up on souvenirs and other extra luggage, so we thought we'd see how much a cab might cost... The lady at reception, who thought we only knew English, rang up and asked, and was quoted (en Francais) 87 Euros. She then said she'd ring a guy she knew, who was a tour guide and former receptionist at Hotel Danieli, as he'd possibly take us for less than a cab and show us around a bit. She spoke to him and then quoted us 100EUR, and I said the cab was cheaper so we'd take that, she denied that the cab quoted less, and in the end we got him down to 75EUR for the drive.

David, the driver, was a nice enough guy. He's been living in France since '99 and is originally from Texas. He took us on the scenic route, and we got to see some more of the lovely Provencal countryside along the way.

When we arrived at Hotel St Christophe, they said our room wasn't ready yet because the last people checked out late, so we left our bags and took a stroll around Aix. We grabbed some maps and info from the tourist office, and then had some lunch. We got back to the hotel around 2 and then eventually got our room key. Sam was just now starting to feel a bit under the weather.

We took a stroll down to the Parc Jourdan, and had some icecream and watched some of the locals playing Petanque. We decided they were too rowdy and went up into the lawned area and read for a while and just enjoyed the sun without the Mistral for the first time in days.

Dinner was had at a nice little restaurant out behind the town hall, and the family of Germans next to us were quite well behaved. The food was ok but certainly not spectacular, though dessert was nice.

Sam felt much worse, with a sore throat and blocked nose the next day, and there wasn't much we wanted to see, so we planned to take it easy. We walked up thru part of the old town and up a steep hill to visit Cezanne's studio, where he worked from 1902 - 1906 before he died. We then went back through the rest of the old town, stopping to look thru a book market, and to have a bight for lunch.

We walked around some more, but then went back for a rest in the hotel room. We had dinner at restaurant on the main strip and sat outside as it was a pleasant enough evening. But for the undeniable stench of dog faeces, the recycled bread and the typical smokers, dinner was rather bland. Perhaps they should call the place an English, not an Italian restaurant!!!

We went back to rest and pack our bags for Nice...

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Comments

[Andrea]

Running out of time Ive!
Given that you are now in Wales and the ambience of Paris has passed, there has been no mention of the proposal of marriage to young Sam!! I'm sure we were all half expecting it so Ive, congrats on continuing to be original.....