Marci and Steve Go Back to Europe

After breakfast we sped west, leaving the Camargue behind. On our way out we watched the bulls being herded in and saw some of the famous flamingos swimming in the lagoon. Our very zippy little six speed Ford Focus was soon on the A9 heading to Carcassone (ka-ka-sone, though I am sure the French hear the ‘r’ when they say it; I do not!).  It was about a two hour drive to this Medieval City with a 12th century castle, ramparts to walk, and a lunch reservation. We had to decide -  do we go directly there and not rush through Carcassone or take the slow way along the coast stopping maybe at Sete, maybe at Assignan, or some other quaint seaside place?  It is the dilemna of our travel days, short stops with time for serendipity and surprises or in leisurely in-depth visits to the highlights? Carcassone was our main stop of the day before ending up in a B and B in a small village nearby, and from all the research I did, it warranted spending time there. We will save t...

So first, apologies for receiving two blogs in one day or actually for us missing a day. We did write but could not get on the internet even with the ident and password, so we had to wait until breakfast this morning to get wifi. I know in today’s level of technology blogging should be easy and perhaps it is if you pay for a blog app. But we use an App that is free ( and the worlds biggest platform) but it’s buggy &  a bit dicey to write, edit, correct, upload our day’s photos and add them( because Google bought them years ago, and apparently has spent nothing on it since..??). With no wifi until 9am, we just didn’t post until the email deadline was past.... pardon, mon amis. OK, so back to brekky. What do you think they serve for breakfast on a bull manade (farm, yes, of course there is a special word)???  -  Bull! Bull paté, bull sausage and bull...well some other type of bull meat pieces pressed together, all served cold with a great selection of cheeses, baguett...

Before leaving Aix, there was one more thing on my list of Must Do’s, an early morning last stroll down the Cours Mirabeau by myself to enjoy the morning market. The vendors set up by 8am, stalls full of linens and soaps, jewelry and shoes, and of course, scarves and linen clothes galore. But like everywhere in the world today, most of it is inexpensive imports from cheap labor countries, although many tags say Made in Italy. I am guessing somewhere there is a city with the name ‘Italy’ in China or India or Vietnam. But it is not hard to tell the difference and so I found the one vendor whose scarves were from France, the linen man whose Provencal dishtowels were woven not printed, and I fell for one ‘Made in Italy’ blue linen dress that I will enjoy wearing on the portal on a warm summer day.  Thanks to the Axios news feed that Steve and I subscribe to, we had read about an experience called Carrieres de Luminares , just outside of Le Baux, a short drive NE of Arles and n...

It is our third and last full day in Aix which means we have walked every street in the city at least three times and the Cours Mirabeau probably more than a dozen times. We probably can spout the names of every cafe along this street from The Irish Pub to the famous Duex Garcons, past the Monoprix and Bechards.  So out of town we head bright an early to the  Foundation Vasarely.   Sound familiar? No? How about ‘Op Art’,  surely you remember that. Victor Vasarely invented this genre of art using math, shapes and color. The building itself is a pure representation of his theories and the curation of his eye popping massive works in seven hexagonal cells is remarkable. His works are in plastique, metal and even woven as Aubusson tapestries, all one dimensional surfaces with Escher-like moving three D shapes.  Whether you like his art (I do) or not (Steve doesn’t), you must appreciate a man who created an entire new wave of art.... Next we he...

An early call this morning, so early there was no time for a cup of cafe creme, before the 20 minute walk to the Bus Station to catch the number 50 bus to Marseilles. We had arranged to meet Patrick, our greeter, at 9:30 on the grand staircase at the Marseille train station. We spotted each other easily from previously exchanged photos and with a traditional kiss-kiss we were off. Patrick’s English was excellent and he was enthusiastic to show off the city where he was born and bred, though he lives just 30 minutes out of town now. And we were lucky to get him since he had retired from greeting a couple of years ago and we were his first tourists in his encore performance.   We had read about Marseilles and knew it had cleaned itself up quite a bit from the gritty reputation of yesteryear. We found it to be a lovely city with lots to see. Patrick had the whole day planned including bus tickets in his pocket for us and a trip on the cross harbor ferry. We...

After a good night sleep we awoke to another sunny, blue sky day, which here also means almost no humidity and no frizzy hair (this might qualify for reason #4 to live here). So far we have stayed at hotels where breakfast is not included, which we actually prefer. It leaves more room for lunch and vin.  In Valbonne we had an electric kettle and some Nescafe, still wildly popular in Europe, which could hold me over for an hour or so until we had a proper cafe stop. But here in Aix, a kettle, mugs and nothing else. So we were up and out a bit quicker this morning for our cafes and a shared pan chocolate (a rectangular croissant-like pastry filled with chocolate, but you knew that).      We headed to the main tourist drag, Cours Mirabeau, to La Rotunda fountain, and to the TI to get the requisite walking maps and info. It was still too early for the upscale shops or musee so we did a bit of shopping to find the right adapter to charge our devices, an...