Aix-en-Provence Le Deux . . . ou Trois?

I've posted this again . . . this time with pictures! (It only took me a good 6 hours or so to sort out my computer . . . )

*apologies for my absence - I have had tonsillitis and that has made me very cranky and not so much in the mood for blogging!*

I have been taking a look through photos on my laptop and realised that in addition to not posting pictures from my trip to France in October, I also don't remember writing about it on my blog! So, before I can fill you in on Edinburgh I should start with my trip to Aix last year.

In case you were wondering, Aix is pronounced like "x" or "ex" . . . I know was quite curious about the pronunciation before I left for France. The plan was to fly from Dublin to Nice and then take a train to Aix . . . that meant I needed to buy a train ticket and I better know how to pronounce where I was going!

My journey to Aix went something like this: Up at 4:45am (this wouldn't have been too bad if I hadn't been up late packing . . . I've always been a *bit* of a procrastinator when it comes to packing!) then taxi-bus-plane-plane (I changed in Zurich, Switzerland) - bus - train - train (I changed in Marseille) finally arriving in Aix around midnight! I was pretty tired and pretty sure I'd caught something on the plane/train/bus/taxi, but I was very happy to see Jen, if not much of a conversationalist!

We headed back to her place albeit in a very indirect manner! But, I have to say that my first impression of walking through Aix at night was really nice. The old town has a lot of character with plenty of winding streets that do look a little similar, so I can't blame Jen completely for getting a bit lost! Plenty of student-type people were still out at restaurants, sitting in squares finishing off their wine. I immediately got the feeling I would enjoy Aix!

Aix is famous for Cezanne, a famous painter who did a lot of very cool impressionist paintings. I love impressionism and while I didn't know too much about Cezanne, I was willing to learn. So, one day we went in search of Cezanne paintings . . . by accident, we went to the wrong museum, but they had a very cool exhibit on Picasso so we checked it out for a while. It was one of the best exhibits I've seen and they included quite a bit of technology to make it all a bit more interesting too. They had this huge room (see picture below) filled with poles on which pieces of wood were connected that listed various works of Picasso. The pieces of wood that were lit up could be touched and then the corresponding work of art would appear on the wall beside you. To top it off, each lit up piece of wood not only triggered the art to appear, but also resulted in a musical note being played! It was really neat and you could make your own songs up while works of art flashed up on the wall.

Picasso Exhibit

While Picasso is interesting, I still really wanted to see some work by Cezanne. Time was running out, so we made a last ditch attempt to locate a museum with works by Cezanne by heading to the tourist information building to ask them (in French, I might add!) where I could possibly find some paintings by Cezanne. Surely there must be a museum dedicated to his work in his hometown? Well . . . there is . . . however, all his paintings were currently out participating in a travelling exhibition! No Cezanne for me then. (UPDATE: I did eventually get to see 1 painting of Cezanne's when I visited London in December - I really liked it!)

Another thing that Aix does oh so well is fountains. They seemed to be everywhere, and whether they were working or not they were pretty spectacular. The best one was in the middle of this crazy roundabout that had probably 5 different points of entry and 3 or 4 lanes across. It would have been nice to get closer to it so that I could get pictures without a car zooming in front of me, but I decided not to risk it . . . at least for now.

Fountain in middle of roundabout

One of my favourite little squares was the Place des Albertas. It didn't have anything of interest in it really, except a fountain that wasn't working but it was just really pretty. I especially like the nonchalantness of the motorbike resting against the beautiful fountain.

Place des Albertas

The other highlight of my trip to Aix was the Natural History Museum. Now, if you've only been to the Natural History Museum in Ottawa, London or New York City, this museum will perhaps be a *bit* of a disappointment! However, I think that considering its size, it didn't do too badly. They had an interesting display on dinosaurs, which I wasn't really expecting to find there and also some old skulls from our long-lost ancestors.

At the Natural History Museum

My time in Aix was short-lived. I did make sure to go out and enjoy some proper French cuisine and wine and (of course!) crepes! But quicker than I expected it was time to head back to Northern Ireland . . . no problem! Bring on the train-train-bus-plane-plane-bus-taxi!