Provençal Markets

When last we met on Tuesday evening, rain was beginning to fall as we left Château La Coste. It continued to rain throughout the night and well into Wednesday. Although we are very familiar with the brilliant blue Provençal skies, we put on our raincoats and ventured out to see what Aix looks like under a more forbidding sky. It’s easy to see why the Impressionists kept painting when the skies turned grey, as both rural and urban scenes – albeit perpetually churning and changing under the varying light of inclement conditions – remain as constant inspiration and balm for the creative soul. Rainy days here are amazing; grey and a bit gloomy. The sky is heavily laden with clouds that roil and undulate in the wind, evoking comparisons with Van Gogh’s skies. The wet stucco surfaces take on new intense colors against the gray, centuries-old stone shiny with moisture. There just isn’t a time where the scenery, no matter how mundane, fails to inspire.

Another delightful aspect of Aix-en-Provence is the delightful surprise of temporary markets that spring up at 7am and are totally gone by 2pm. There are farmers markets, flower markets, fish markets, clothing markets, antique book markets, swap meets, and you-name-it markets. Since we have a full kitchen in La Méjanes (including TWO oyster shuckers!), delicacies at the market, like the saucisson et fromage de chèvre pictured here, a fresh baguette of bread and a bottle of good wine makes for an excellent meal on the nights when we do not feel like venturing back out from the flat after a busy day. I’ve posted a few pictures of the markets, but since it rained all day on Wednesday, I thought we would get a few more as we strolled through the wet and chilly streets of Aix.

Glad that we brought our raincoats, we bundled up and headed out. The farmers market nearest La Méjanes is protected by a giant boar outside. As you can see, his snout has been rubbed for good luck over his many years of service. This bronze fountain is reminiscent of the boar we saw in the Florence markets in 2013 on our trip to that fair city of art and science. I’ll try to get another picture of that one when we get to Florence so I can compare the two statues. Just across the plaza from the boar is Le Pain Quotidiene, which provided us with a hearty petit dejeuner et café. In this picture, I am enjoying a cocotte of scrambled eggs, served with sliced ham, robust Swiss cheese, and a mesclun salade. Miss Cyd opted for a toasted brioche with fresh cream cheese with saumon fumé. We ordered a grande café and a cappuccino, which were quite a bit larger than we anticipated with no handles, but both were quite tasty and warm on a cold rainy day. After breakfast, we wandered back out into the rain and strolled through the markets.

Provençal Market Scenes
Walking to Market	Flower Market	Fresh Seafood
More Fresh Fish	Apples	Spices
Monsieur Saucisson	Picking up Veggies	Mmmm, More Veggies

We also tried to visit the Granet Museum to get out of the rain, but they were closed for renovation through Saturday, so we will not get to visit their collections, which include quite a few Flemish paintings and some Impressionists on this trip. We went back to La Méjanes to catch up on some documentation, like the blog and Miss Cyd’s travel journal and PhotoStream and wait the rain out.

The Mistral awoke us on Thursday morning, blowing cold air from the north, but chasing the clouds and rain away. The temperature dropped about 5 degrees Celsius, but the chill did not deter us from visiting the Caumont Art Centre, where we walked through the Marilyn Monroe retrospective. It’s hard to believe she has been gone 55 years, but the photos and commentaries were still fresh albeit in French. My ability to read French – at least to some degree – is getting better, so I actually was able to follow along with the didactic labeling, although I still struggled with the audio segments. We had a fabulous lunch in the Grande Galerie that was a pleasant dining experience in the midst of a windy day. Cyd had the Don Giovanni salad, while I opted for the Les Noces de Figaro plate. Both selections were delicious, so we shared tastes of each plate.

Lunch at the Caumont Art Centre
Menu	Salon de Chinoise	Grande Galerie
Salon de Rosé	Cyd’s Lunch	Joe’s Lunch

The Caumont is a privately owned facility that was renovated at great expense, but it is undoubtedly well worth the time to visit. We just missed a Sisley exhibition that is following the Monroe retrospective in early June. I am sure that exhibition will be spectacular, as well. During our visit here, we also viewed an informative and well-made film in the auditorium exploring the life of Paul Cézanne in Provence, which covered his early life at Jas de Bouffan  through his Parisian years, his return to Aix, and eventual death while painting his beloved muse, Montagne Sainte-Victoire.

Alas, we are now down to our last couple of days in Aix. It has been a great stay this year, but the time seemed to pass far too quickly. We will spend Friday and Saturday packing a Colissimo XL box for shipping from La Poste back to the States with some of our souvenirs and and then make the rounds saying goodbye to some of the kind folks we have met here, like Michel at the hardware store and the girls down at O’Sullivan’s pub. However, I must close this blog for now, but we will have one final chapter to post on our closing adventures in Aix as we prepare to move on to the Italian segment of our trip. Stay tuned!

Happy Traveling,

Joe and Cyd.