Ambling Around Aix en Provence

From Paris, Erin and I boarded a train to a lovely city in the South of France called Aix en Provence.  I had actually already booked two nights in Aix for later in my trip, but Erin really wanted to see this area as well, so we decided to add one night here before heading to the French Riviera.  

I think we were most excited about having an actual hotel room!  For the most part, Air BnB’s can be wonderful!  It is so nice to have a kitchen, a washing machine, free WiFi, etc.  And the price of an Air BnB is usually much less than the cost of a hotel room.  Of course, as was made evident in London, it’s not always exactly what you bargained for and it’s certainly not like having a nice big hotel room at the Renaissance!  Anyway, when we arrived at the hotel, we were thrilled about our beautiful room, two big beds, a huge bathroom, and blasting air conditioner!  We dropped our bags and immediately went out to explore.  

WOOOHOOOOO!!!!

Aix ended up being very lovely and charming, but actually a bit bigger and busier than we were expecting.  I think we were both expecting a very cosy village, and it was much more bustling than that.  We learned that Aix is actually quite the college town with several universities and a large population of students.  I definitely saw this as we walked around, cafes filled with smoking teenagers.  The main street is Cours Mirabou, with tons of shops and restaurants.  And then shooting off in all directions from this main artery, are tiny winding streets filled with more shops, restaurants, churches, etc.  It is a really nice place to walk around, window shop, and have lunch.  Provence is most famous for their amazing rosé and we were so excited to partake!  We sat and had lunch and the rosé was absolutely delicious.  It was light and fresh and we could not get over how inexpensive a glass of wine was!  Perhaps 3 Euro?  In USD, that is only $4 dollars. I’ll have another!!  After lunch, we headed over to the Musee Granet and took a quick tour of the museum.  This museum has quite an impressive collection of Cezanne paintings.  It also has a nice sculpture collection.  

We had the concierge make dinner reservations for us that evening at 8 o’clock and we still had some time to kill.  It was surprisingly warm in Provence so we decided to head back to the hotel for a bit and go swimming.  Erin didn't have a bathing suit with her so the girl took a scissors to one of her pajama bottoms and made herself some shorts!  I have a picture of this hilarious outfit, but she would kill me if I posted it!  I told her she could totally start a trend!  We thought we’d get a little sun until a confusing tour around the hotel finally lead us to an indoor pool and sauna.  No sun for us, but the water was still soothing and cool.  This felt so GOOD after walking in the heat all day!  We also spent some time in the sauna, which was just awesome.  Between the rosé at lunch and the sauna, I was feeling very relaxed!    Finally it was time for dinner.  But first…more wine.  On our way to dinner we popped into a tiny wine bar and had another glass of rosé.  I’m telling you, I’ve never had anything so delicious.  I am not typically a rosé fan.  When I think of rosé, I honestly think of the boxed wine my ex boyfriend’s mom used to bring on camping trips.  No, I’m not kidding.  :)  I just remember it being sort of sickly sweet and headache inducing. I now realize boxed Franzia is definitely not from Provence!  Ha!  This wine was just to die for.  If I was not facing so many more stops and days of lugging my luggage around, I would have definitely purchased several bottles.  We had dinner in a super quirky restaurant that night, called La Chimere, with wild outlandish decor and decent food….and most importantly, more rosé.  A lot of it!  Yep, we definitely had our fair share of wine in the most famous of wine regions. Although the food was just ok, we still had so much fun.  Our waiter was hilarious, telling us stories about his various tattoos and his various baby mamas.  We went home that night buzzed from a day of wine and sun, full and tired and SO ready to climb into our beds.  What a wonderful sleep it was!  

CHEERS!!!

The next day we explored Aix a bit more until it was time to check out of our hotel and board the train to Nice, France.  One thing I wanted to note was this incredible salad I had for lunch.  It had fresh greens and veggies, pine nuts, and then almost like a fried cheese coated in honey.  Mama Mia it was incredible!!  More about Nice and Monaco in my next entry!