Anyways, after dropping our stuff off at the hotel, we decided to wander around and find dinner. We got pretty lost trying to find the town center, as all of the streets are basically windy alleyways. Eventually we did find it, and there were fountains around every corner. It would have been adorable if it wasn't freezing and raining.
We decided to go to dinner at Le Cafe Latin, a restaurant recommended by the NYT. I started with an excellent glass of wine, and I got the "Menu Decouverte".
My appetizer: foie gras (maybe the best I've had ever), smoked salmon rolls, chickpea tagine
Then duck for the entree:
And finally, creme brulee, some sort of cheese/strawberry thing, and chocolate mousse:
Very satisfying dinner. Afterwards, the rain had slowed down, so we walked around a bit. We discovered what seemed to be the main town fountain, all covered with Christmas decorations, and there were carousels that were closed. The street, Course Mirabeau, is the main boulevard, and it's got fountains from the 1600s every few blocks and tons of lights.
As we were wandering back to the hotel, I was coughing up a storm, and so we decided to stop for tea. We sat down at a cafe, and the waiter told us they couldn't serve us hot drinks -- it was a law in Aix after 7pm. Only alcohol. We were like, wtf?? But then we walked passed another cafe/resto that was serving coffee...so either it had a different license or that first place was lying. But whatever, we got our tea.
The next morning we woke up and it was actually sunny! A little cold, but still. We went out onto the terrace of the hotel, which actually had a lovely view.
After brunch, we walked to the major sites in Aix, which are all in the old city and are fairly close together. They are all mostly fountains (it was a city full of them!), churches, old buildings, and a city hall.
Cute dog at brunch
After that we went to Cezanne's atelier. He lived and painted in Aix. He had such a pretty garden. (They wouldn't let us take pics inside). Turns out it would have been destroyed in the 50's if a bunch of Americans hadn't donated a bunch of money to save it. Hah.
As we were leaving, it started thundering and lightning a few miles away...So we went to the one church we'd missed, and then sat down for some crepes as it started to pour. After crepes we debated whether to continue with some further away sites or be lazy. I was looking up these old Roman baths from 2000 years ago, and turns out they've been turned into a spa (Aix has natural hot springs). That perked us up, but of course after a 20 minute trek through the rain...the spa is closed on Sundays. We retreated to the hotel for a bit, then went to see one last sight. It was a castle that this duke had built to hide his mistress. Of course, the garden wasn't that pretty with the rain, and the museum had closed 10 minutes before we got there...
We still had a few hours before our train, so we walked over to the holiday markets. I was going to buy lavender incense, because Provence is famous for it's fields of lavender, but I thought it smelled gross. So I bought cedar instead. Last stop was Les Deux Garcons, a cafe open since the late 1700s, where Cezanne, Emile Zola, Picasso, Churchill, and others used to eat. The food was eh, but it was really pretty.
We took a cab to the train station. We were waiting for our track to come up...and then all of a sudden, one by one, the board changes all the train times to "Retard Indetermine"...indeterminately late. As I said before, it was because of a broken cetenaire. I ended up getting back home at 2am, after freezing in the train station for 2 extra hours. That kind of ruined the trip.
Most discouraging board ever
I'm still kind of sick, I don't have tons of energy. Ugh. Hoping I can better for the rest of my dad's visit and people this weekend!!!
Article written by AUTHOR_NAME
WRITE_ABOUT_YOURSELF
Follow YOUR_NAME on Twitter
0 commentaires:
Enregistrer un commentaire