Au revoir Aix

Today is our last day in Aix. We devote our last Aix blog to our home away from home. For the last seven weeks we have delighted in the offerings of a town large enough to satisfy all consumer needs and wants, while intimate enough to feel familiarity in a short period of time.

Not only have we enjoyed the benefits of Aix's location in experiencing provencial France with relative ease, we have also been spoilt with our apartment's utility and location; inside the old town (le vieux village) in the Quatier Mazarin, surrounded by narrow winding streets and other apartments, shops, cafes and boutiques. It is close to the intersection of rue Fernand Dol and rue d’Italie.

So we thought we might wax lyrically in attempt to give a sense of the surroundings that we regretfully leave behind.

We will miss the daily one minute walk to the boulangerie, the weekday interaction with the hairdressing students (and their experimental hairstyles) as they loiter downstairs on our steps while waiting for their college to open, and the sounds of the daily rituals of hosing down the street and garbage collection (where rubbish bags are simply left on the street for daily pick up).

We will be waiting for the chorus of church bells (right behind us!!!) to chime at 7.50 am (two lots of three chimes and then a peel of several - we never worked out the significance of the number of chimes, if any).

We will remember the "high-end" home interior decorating shop next door, the fashion house opposite and the 'bonbon' (lolly) shop on the corner. Not to mention the patisserie, the men's boutique, the 'cave' (wine shop), the florist and the boucherie (butcher; with home made sausages, trussed quail, chickens, ducks and geese with their heads and feet still intact for identification, succulent smelling chickens being cooked in the portable rotisserie on the pavement, and in-house daube, ratatouille and veal stew). All within 50 metres or so!

No doubt we will recall the 3 minute walk past colourful cafes, restaurants, beauty parlours, boutiques and other apartments to Cours Mirabeau, the beautiful main promenade; a walk where one must be alert as one navigates the narrow street with many other pedestrians, (prams, so many prams!) their dogs (and their deposits), bicycle riders, scooters and cars. An invigorating workout for all senses!

And we will wonder at the success of the tattoo parlour, come 'adult' shop, that opened just this week across the road!

So, if you are planning a trip to Aix-en-Provence, we would recommend our digs for all that it offers including a friendly, helpful and knowledgeable Irish landlord! (See link and photos right).

A bientot Aix!