JULY - A SUMMARY

We arrived in Aix-en-Provence just over a month ago finding our way to our new apartment via the longest route possible, on foot, while rolling our disintegrating luggage over cobblestone sidewalks in the blaring sun.  Epiphany number 1: we over-packed. However, after a month of exploring, we can now navigate our city pretty well. We know the shortest way to the Centre de Tourisme, which has been so useful so many times and to the Cite de Livre (library), which is air conditioned. Most importantly we have learned not to take the small alleys that look so charming and inviting because this city does not have a stoop and scoop policy and the cats are pretty good pigeon hunters, but forget to dispose of their catch.  Aix isn’t a very big city and fortunately there is a fountain or cathedral at every corner serving as landmarks.  Strolling is what we have done most. We learned quickly to leave the house early each morning to do errands or for site seeing before the full strength of the heat arrives, along with the tourists. This allows us to get to the market, which we do every Tues., Thurs. and Sat. for fresh produce -we cannot buy enough cherries and apricots – with relatively little traffic.  It also keeps us from sheer exhaustion. The heat is pretty intense in the afternoons and that is why we do what all the locals do, we go home, eat a big lunch and then move as little as possible while our food settles and the temperature goes down. We don’t have a/c in our apartment, but I’m learning how to open and close windows according to the way of the sun and wind. After 16h (4pm) we usually go out again, either for shopping at the grocery store or going to a park and almost always for crème de glace (ice cream). Dinner is between 7-8pm, which is very late by our Canadian standards, but absolutely necessary here due to the heat, and we rarely cook. Dinner usually means leftovers from lunch, a big salad or pizza.  There is a second reason we do so little cooking.  Our kitchen is very (and I am not exaggerating), very small. Ori and I cannot comfortably fit in it together. 

Food – Yes, French food is among the best cuisines in the world or so I have heard. Unfortunately, although adventurous eaters, we are not connoisseurs (a nearly impossible word to spell by the way). We are also cheap, so yes, we’ve had escargot and I’ve prepared lapin (rabbit) and the girls have crepes regularly, but mostly we eat at home. Yet, we have discovered that Dijon mustard is a perfectly yummy salad dressing and if you mix it with pistou (aka, pesto) it is amazing.  There’s a pretty nice selection of cheeses to choose from too, chevre being the most common.  Cheddar is non-existent. 

The French are incredibly kind, helpful and generous. I have no idea where people get any idea otherwise. We have had nothing but pleasant interactions since we arrived. To give you an example, when we registered the girls for public school, we had to go into the head office of the school board of Aix. We went in as prepared as possible.  Still the administrators in the office speak very little English and we speak even less French. However, the two women we worked with did not seemed burdened by us at all. Instead they took their time. We used what French and English we could, we used sign language, and we used google translate. It could not have gone more smoothly if we were in North America trying to enroll the girls in a new school. I think our attempt at the language and general courtesy plus lots of smiling and patience gain us a lot of ground.

We still have a lot of exploring to do before we fully understand Aix, but so far, although not as breathtaking as other European cities we’ve visited, it does have many treasures.  Many of which you will see in pictures.