Two countries in one day = two posts in one day!
Following my nail biting wait for a negative test result, the rest of my journey to Provence played out fairly seamlessly - I flew from Vienna to Paris then caught the TGV down to Aix en Provence and then finally a taxi to my airbnb in the centre. It's cliché I know but the air was different when I stepped out of the train in France and, as pointed out by a friend back in Vienna, even the sky's colour palette was so utterly and obviously different to that of Austria just hours before.
I've been here a few days now and am loving it! Aix is just a dream city - walkable, incredibly beautiful and filled with the nicest people. The amount of friendly interactions I've had with strangers has made me question whether the stereotype about the Viennese being 'cold' might, in fact, be true after all..? And on the topic of interactions, I haven't yet heard a single word of English on the streets! Again, I suppose that's thanks to Corona since this little town is famed for being a tourist hotspot but it's so so refreshing to be completely immersed in French, even if just to overhear/eavesdrop!
To continue the Austrian day trip theme, yesterday I went to the beach! Having been landlocked for 9 months, it was utter bliss to look out at the shimmering horizon and even better to plunge into the water at multiple different coves. I took a bus from Aix to La Ciotat, (just round the headland from Cassis where I went post-A Levels!)
Being a Friday, and a fairly early one at that because of the bus times, I was one of the first people to set up camp at the Calanque de Figuerolles. The view was out of this world! After a quick scan for jellyfish, I dived in and had a mighty fine time.
Back up the rocks and down a different road to Parc du Mugel - a stunning, botanical park with cliffs to climb, parakeets chirping in the palm trees and yet more turquoise coves. Talk about heaven!
I LOVE the sea!!
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