Day 17 - Aix-en-Provence

This is my third visit to Aix-en-Provence. I last visited here in 1994 and loved it. This time around I have not been as enamoured with the place. True it is a beautiful town, with lots to see and do with its grand boulevards and fountains and cafes and buildings. But the big problem with Aix today is that it is dirty. The streets and footpaths simply aren't washed, the rubbish bins are overflowing and the place just smells. It is a travesty that such a graceful, elegant (and expensive) town should have to breathe through all the grit and grime that lies about its streets. You can actually feel your shoes sticking to the pavement as you walk around, just like the carpet in a nightclub at 3am, non? I can only hope that one day a more-responsible council will become aware of this and do something positive to correct it.

Off the soapbox for now, and onto the day's activities. We started with a walk through the Mazarin quarter and inspected some very old, grand buildings along the way. This morning we spent a great deal of time in the Granet Musuem which is named after the painter who donated so much of his work to it. It also houses works by Cezanne, Rembrandt and Constantin. We were fortunate to see an extensive exhibition by the (still-living) artist, Pierre Alechinsky, which were bold and somewhat abstract. We are not huge fans of contemporary art, but there were some really good works on display here by that artist.

We walked back along the Cours Mirabeau and happened across a street market that was primarily selling arts and crafts and there were some splendid items on display. We bought a couple of photographs we liked from one of the street vendors. We are hoping we can keep them protected during the remainder of our trip.

Had a nice but very filling lunch in one of the restaurants that spills out onto the Cours Mirabeau. Monsieur had the trois fromage pizza et jambon fumee d'Italie, whilst Madame had the saumon fumee fettucine avec basile. A grande bouteille of San Pellegrino to wash it all down with. Very nice indeed.

During the afternoon we learnt that Kym had achieved an HD for her most recent university subject last semester, so there was much celebration. We were very, very happy. Conincidentally, the subject had a large still-life component, so M.Cezanne would have been impressed too! Rod shouted Kym a double boule cone of icecream - tres bon. Then we went for a final walk down the Cours Mirabeau loop (see today's pic) and said goodbye to this very pretty little town.

Tomorrow we are off to the seaside - to the Cote d'Azur and in particular, Nice. That will be our destination for the next three days, including the national holiday Bastille Day celebrations on July 14th!