This post comes to you from behind the window at top right, in the city of Aix-en-Provence.
Happy Summer Solstice! I hope everyone enjoys the longest day of the year with some nice sunny weather, relaxation and cold drinks. It is still very hot here in the South of France. Although I acknowledge the inherent wrongness of complaining about this, honestly we aren't loving it. We love the sunshine, but both of us are sweatshirt-wearing, Starbucks-sipping Pacific Northwesterners and we simply wilt a little in the heat.
Unfortunately we also don't love our current hotel, although as you can see it is certainly pretty on the outside. It is an "apartment hotel" of the same chain that we enjoyed so much in Clermont-Ferrand. With our previous happy experience in mind, we'd planned to stay here for a full week and take it easy. But this apartment is much smaller and uglier and has no air conditioning. It's in a historic stone building but unfortunately that doesn't seem to make it any cooler. Our room is on an upper floor and very hot and muggy, although happily it does have a fan!
Tomorrow: Nice is Nicer (We Hope)
So, we've changed our plans and tomorrow morning we are leaving for Nice! We'll spend the remaining five nights of our relaxing-in-Provence period there instead. Nice was one of the main stops on our honeymoon and we really enjoyed it, so we're excited to go back. David was already planning a day trip from Aix anyway. I've found us an All Seasons hotel that has air conditioning and is just on the edge of the Old Town, not too horribly far from the beach.
Yesterday: Not Much
In the meantime, we spent yesterday dutifully relaxing as planned. We read novels in our hot room and in the hot courtyard most of the day, and it was mostly OK. It was best after dark, when it finally got cooler and we sat at an outside table reading by the light on our building and rooting for three little lizards hunting bugs on the wall. We didn't sleep very well thanks to our wimpiness in the heat, though.
Today: Aix-en-Provence and Silvacane Abbey
Today has been better. We got in our air-conditioned car this morning and drove in to explore the town of Aix (pronounced as "Ex"). It's quite attractive in the old center, with nice shops, well-dressed skinny French people and tourists, and a cathedral with a wonderful cloister.
Streets of Aix-en-Provence
Cathedral cloister
David and St. Peter in the cloister.
Ancient (6th century) baptistery in the cathedral
After visiting the cathedral we wandered in a few shops, picked up a couple items from a bakery (seriously delicious chocolate brioche for me; a croissant for David) and then picked out some handmade fresh pasta from a little shop and fresh fruit from the outdoor produce market above. Good times.
We came home for lunch and the Formula 1 Qualifying Race, then this evening we took a 40-minute drive to a Cistercian abbey called Silvacane (12th century). We enjoyed high-blast A/C in the car again, and some of the old buildings of the abbey were nice and cool. Ironically, the coolest place was the old Warming Room, whose stone fireplace oddly still smelled of wood smoke. The abbey is no longer in use and very nice. I even got to chase a big orange butterfly through the cloisters.
