By jadoerge
Semester Break Vacation Part 8: Aix-en-Provence
Although we were quite unhappy to do so, Morgan and I did eventually leave the wonderful city of Nice to explore other parts of France. After a short train ride along the beautiful southern coast of France, we slowly arrived in a very different kind of city, Aix-en-Provence. Although the apartment in which we stayed was right in between Aix and Marseilles, we spent most of our time exploring Aix on the recommendation of our host.
After a wonderful homemade breakfast from our host at the time, we set out on the regional train to explore the city renowned for its more quaint atmosphere and abundance of lavender fields. One truly only needs a few minutes in Aix to realize that outside of the city center, it quickly becomes rather rural. However, that does not mean that there is not PLEANTY to see in the city, particularly when lavender isn’t quite in season. As we wandered the winding sidestreets of the retail district, we stopped into some very quaint churches built into the tiny streets and took a couple of breaks to enjoy some French baguette sandwiches and a couple of crepes. While all of the usual culprits (H&M/Zara/etc.) were there, smaller shops dominated the small alleys breaking off of Main Street. From small artisanal cheese shops to lavender stores with every possible implementation of the flower, there was plenty of classic French charm to go around. We even managed to wander in to a huge museum having a free-for-students special and featured a special exhibit about art in the digital age. It also happened to be the premiere evening for the collaborative efforts of a few groups of elementary school children and it was a blast to watch the reactions of the children and the parents as well as being offered free food and drinks on behalf of the museum! After more exploration and some great champagne cocktails to cool us off, we said goodbye to Aix and hope to see it again when the lavender is in bloom, so that we can really appreciate the more rural areas of the region.
The next day was spent mostly exploring the areas near the train station in Marseilles and eventually hopping on a train to our next French destination: Lyon!