Aix & Arles

Today, Saturday, has been the first day that I know what day of the week it is. I guess that means I'm settling in and am through the time change.

We've spent the past couple of days exploring Aix-en-Provence, our home for these two weeks. Aix is a medium-sized city in the south of France. It's a very youthful city due to several universities that are located here. The nightlife is lively and going strong. It must also be a popular place for American students to study abroad as I've heard American English being spoken on several occasions.

There's no lack of restaurants in this city. And they're good ones too; I haven't had a bad meal yet! A favorite has been the tapas restaurant that Pam, Bob, Allen, & I had lunch in yesterday. We were the only people there at the time so we had very attentive service, from one of the owners himself. He and his girlfriend, the other owner, had just completed a round-the-world trip last year. The restaurant was only 2 months old. They based the menu on the trip they took offering foods of the world. Everything we had was really delicious.

Aix is known for its water. It was founded by the Romans in the first century (I think) as a hot water spa. The hot water baths still exist today though they are now a fancy, expensive spa. All around the downtown area are fountains, the biggest of which is at le Rotunde, a large traffic circle at the heart of the old city.

The streets of the old city are narrow and twisty. Fortunately we don't have to drive downtown; whenever we go there we can take the bus, which is much easier. The bus stop is just about a 5-10 minute walk away from our house.

We did get a surprise yesterday when we picked up our rental car. We had reserved a compact expecting something along the lines of our Honda Civic parked in the garage back home. Instead we got a Fiat Duplo which is much larger than our trusty little Civic. It's also a standard shift, which is typical in Europe. So we are getting used to it.

Today the adventure was to drive to Arles, a city about 45 minutes away. I had downloaded an app for my iPad which was supposed to be a GPS system for France. I paid little or nothing for it so wasn't sure what to expect. It worked great on the drive over to & back from Arles, I'm happy to report. It even has voice instructions, in English yet.

It was the big market day in Arles, so we first did some shopping, mostly picking up food for the house. After lunch, Stan, Allen,& I wandered around to see some of the antiquities that makes up Arles. The city has several Roman ruins: a theatre, some baths, and a coliseum still intact. We only went into an old church and it's cloisters, which dated from the 12th-15th centuries, if I remember correctly. It was a fun day. And Allen gets great amounts of credit for his driving skills through the narrow, twisting streets of old-town Arles in our Fiat.

Now the afternoon sun is starting to set and we are settling down to some cheese and crackers prior to dinner. Adieu.

Pictures below:
--The fountain at le Rotunde
--Market day in Aix
--The front door of our house