September 30 - October 1

Wednesday was another bright and warm day, as we headed early to our final destination in Provence, Aix-en-Provence. Our objectives were to find our hotel, return our rental car, and get settled. It seemed simple enough.

Finding the hotel was indeed simple, after a trip around a few blocks to get oriented, and find parking. We gathered up the bags and got checked in. The hotel had a small bar, and we took advantage of the noon hour -- most places in France do not charge for parking from noon to 2 -- we stopped for a sandwich. We knew that the car return was near the train station. The train station was just on the other side of the town. Or was it?

We consulted with our concierge about returning the car. He told us that the car return would be at the TGV station -- not only across town, but another 10 miles away, almost to Marseille. How do we get back from the TGV station? Probably there will be a bus. Aided by the GPS, we set off.

We found the TGV station easily enough, but could not find the car return. We used our francophone (a French cell phone we bought a few years ago) to call the agency; the woman said it was inside the parking lot of the station. Okay. Now we needed gas before we returned the car. There did not appear to be any in the station, so we got the GPS running, and found a gas station about 3 miles away in another town. Back we headed towards Aix and the gas station. Once we found the station and gassed up the car, we went back to the train station, got inside, found our drop off point, found the office, turned in the keys, and were directed to a bus stop. In a few minutes the bus appeared. We paid our 7 euros, and took the half hour ride back to Aix. At the end of the line, we verified where we were, and where we would get the bus to the station for our train to Paris two days later, and set off walking toward our hotel. Along the way we saw virtually all the sights listed in the tour guides -- the main street where Cezanne and the other impressionists lived and drank, the fountains, the statuary, the civic buildings.




Nothing like an arm full o' pigeons!

(The Department of Commerce -- and aren't they happy fellows!)

Happily, when we arrived at the hotel, we found our room comfortable and quiet -- a pleasant place to rest after too many adventures and before dinner. But we were awfully glad we had returned the car that day instead of trying to do it before our train!

We decided that we could achieve limited objectives in the one full day we had in Aix. Thursday was market day -- so that was a must.

The end of season clearance sales were in full swing.


Cezanne is a very big deal in Aix, where he lived and worked for much of his life. I remember reading the story of how he went from his own home where he had his large mid-day meal with his wife and children, and then every evening went to the main street to visit his very aged mother for dinner. Sometimes he would carry her from her home to his car for outings.

These medallions are all over town. Some apparently just want to remind you that Cezanne lived here, but others form the Cezanne path, from his birthplace to his various homes, his childhood schools and workplaces.

We decided to limit ourselves to Cezanne's studio, located on a hillside above Aix, a bit off the beaten track, but still of interest. We took the town bus -- designed to carry the old folks around for their shopping -- across the town from the market to the street just below the studio. No photos allowed inside, but this is a bit of the front and gardens. Inside we saw a single room, his studio with very high ceiling and windows, and a narrow verticle window designed to take canvases in and out (the guide said it was to allow a better use of light, but with a whole wall of glass, we couldn't see why a special opening window about 12 inches wide would add much). Arranged around the room are draperies, bowls, vases and other objects that were used in the paintings. While there are no paintings there, there are copies of many that show how the furniture now in the room was arranged with the actual things he used to make the paintings.



From there we went to Saint Saveur, the cathedral.

Here (in the floor of the church) lies an anonymous Aixois (person from Aix) found in the ground of the church around the 6th century.
A poor photo, but a suggestion of the modern altar compared to the very old church.

Our final stop was the Granet Museum, established by a painter from Aix. We had just missed -- by one day -- an extensive exhibit of Picassos and Cezanne. The paintings themselves were gone, but most of the explanatory materials and interactive displays were still intact. We spent some time listening and watching, and enjoyed the permanent collection, including paintings by Granet. Then it was time for dinner -- Tom with leg of lamb and a tomato and zucchini tart, and me with lamb stew with cinnamon and spices. Tomorrow: back to Paris.