FOUNTAINS

In Aix-en-Provence, and probably most Provencal villages, Sunday is for spending time with family. Most of the shops are closed and only the tourists wander the streets. And since we are tourists, even though long staying tourists, we went site seeing. Aix is known as the city with a thousand fountains. Here are a few of the fountains we saw today. 

   

This is one of my favorite fountains - not so much for the fountain, but the the cobble-stoned courtyard and regal buildings around it. 

The pigeons love the fountains as much as the tourists.

The fountains are life savers for cooling down. Not only can you splash a little water on your hands and face, most of the fountains supply potable water so we can fill our water bottles. 

Many of the fountains are small and easy to overlook. We spotted several today, but I think it had a lot to do with the emptiness of  streets that cater more to locals and less to tourists. 

Some are tall. So tall that I can't seem to get the whole thing in the picture. 

And some are pretty plain.

This mossy fountain is a hot water fountain.  

And although this isn't really a fountain, you do find these throughout town and they do supply fresh spring water. 

Rivi turned 8 yesterday!

Marseille

We arrived at the bus terminal in Marseille around noon. The plan was to take the metro and then take a bus to the top of the hill to see Notre Dame de la Garde.

We did take the metro, but we did not take the bus. What we thought was a bus route, was the walking route, or rather, the hiking route. It took us about an hour to reach the top, but we did stop off for small cakes and coffee (and to catch our breath).

Here is a view of Marseille from Notre Dame de la Garde. It was worth the hike.

Here is the dome, but the cathedral was too big to get a picture of it in its entirety once we were at the top of the hill. It is one of the better cathedrals we've seen. Similar in style (though not scale) to the Florence Duomo. I really liked it. 

Another view of Marseille. The cathedral is surrounded by rocky cliffs with trails zigzagging through them. If it hadn't been so hot, I'm sure we would have explored the trails. Another day. 

We did take the bus down the hill, but the bus stopped prematurely. This was the second time a bus driver told us he couldn't take us to the old port (vieux port). If we understood French better, we would have realized this was due to a huge pride parade going on that day. A similar thing happened to us in Paris.

Kyri rocked out to the parade music -Bruno Mars' "I feel like I've been locked out of Heaven."

There are sculptures throughout the old port. 

Rivi felt it necessary to plug Picasso's ears from the city noise.

Wire dress inside a very welcome air conditioned gallery.

The a/c was to keep the candle statue from melting. 

Crayon de couleur

Dauphin

View of vieux port with Notre Dame de la Garde in the background.

Refreshing Fish fountain. 

You can always count on a fountain around the corner to cool off.

We will definitely go back to Marseille for further exploration. 

It's a big city and we only skimmed the surface.

This is the view I see each morning when I get out of bed and close the shutters.
At night I open the shutters and window to let in the cooler air and listen to the swallows.
I can see the stars from bed.  

Froggie went a courtin'...

Little miss mouse...

Walking the gardens of Pavillon de Vendome in Aix

Watch for photos of fountains. This is part of a fountain in Pavillon de Vendome. 

Aix-en-Provnce (AeP) has so so many fountains. 

Gymnastics at Parc de Collines de Cuques

We are on a mission to find all of the parks in AeP.

Lavender Tour

The lavender fields of Provence really are beautiful and fragrant. 

We usually avoid tours, but this 5 hour tour of Provence's lavender fields was well worth it. We stopped at several fields and learned that their are three types of lavender in Provence. Two original species that with the local bees help, produced a third that is now the one cultivated most for the essential oils used to perfume soaps and lotions, even ice cream. 

On the tour we stopped at two mountain villages. This is Gordes where Kyri decided lavender ice cream is one of her favorite kinds of ice cream.

Beautiful and superbly well behaved girls in a beautiful French village.

Ah, Provence

Yesterday, we registered Rivi and Kyri for French public school. Today, we stood at the end of our street and watched the Tour de France blur by. Tomorrow we tour some of Provence's lavender fields and towns.  Life in a Provencal town...

France 2013

Nous sommes arrives en France.