Following my two very chilled first weeks here, work began and I found myself splitting my days between the Château and the bus stop. Motivation to pass my driving test has never been higher - although the buses are cheap and fairly reliable and the drivers often let me on for free, coordinating the two I need for the commute means I often arrive at one stop just as my second bus is disappearing round the corner....not cool!
(Louise Bourgeois' Crouching Spider - the first sculpture on my walk into work)
But now on to the beaches and boulangeries! My friend Mhairi came to stay last week, just as I'd moved into my new studio so I suppose it was a housewarming trip of sorts. We ate out every meal, sampling some of Aix's most authentic cuisine...that is, if we count sushi as fruits de mer.
We toured the markets where were given extensive descriptions and taste tests of all the spices in the world, marvelled at the most beautiful garlic you've ever seen and encountered the first grouchy French person thus far - a chippy waiter who delighted in quashing our French and reminding us of our British, tourist status. But his frostiness was a throwback to the Kaffeehaus waiters in Vienna so, little did he know, it made me feel at home!
Then, with the 'we-must-do-everything-in-two-days' attitude, we set off after breakfast for a day trip to La Ciotat! After a very bendy, bouncy, coach-sickness inducing ride, we arrived at the port and scurried over the hill to Calanque de Figuerolles. We swam, ate, people-watched and swam again. This place will never get old!
Mhairi returned to Annecy, I returned to work and a few days later, I had another visitor! Mum's trip coincided with mine to the emergency doctor for an eye problem - turns out chasing your minibus down a dusty track is not a good idea...after sloshing my eye with water, he exclaimed that he'd washed out lots of 'poussière' and after that, I could magically see again! Although it wasn't pleasant I kind of feel like a run in with the health service is an obligatory part of the year abroad?
With my reborn sense of sight, we trekked up to Cezanne's Atelier to see the (tiny) studio where he worked - ginger jar and all. We then climbed even higher to the Terrain des Peintres for the view across to Sainte-Victoire mountain which Cezanne painted so frequently during his career.
Back down the hill and onto Pavillon Vendôme for a photography exhibition of the same mountain - I get the feeling it's Aix's biggest asset.
And now onto the patisserie - below, the ultimate pain au chocolat!
After a day at the beach, these chilled tarts were heavenly! And they turned out to be much needed when our bus home was 40 minutes late, meaning we missed the shuttle back into town and were greeted with another uphill trek in the heat.
Third trip to La Ciotat in two weeks? The pull of the sea and admittedly, that boulangerie from last time, were too much to resist.
Not technically patisserie but Amorino's ice cream is unbeatable! We ate these in a square buzzing with the annual Aix opera festival. Lots of official lanyards, lots more English to be heard on the streets and restaurants full to the brim with people fuelling up for the 3 hour, late-night performances!
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