Aix-en-Provence

Water is the essence of wet

After enjoying a week in Italy for vacation, then a brief stint back at work which included 3 nights in London for me, we were back on the French trail for a long weekend to round out the end of summer. Adding to the excitement on this trek, visiting from the motherland of Oregon were our close friends and fellow Lone Pine Wildcats, Chad and Tasha. Chad and Tasha, who were enjoying their own child free week of European holiday, carved out a few days with us to go to the South of France to spend 3 nights in Aix-en-Provence.

Ahhh, the French countryside

Aix is one of those towns in France everyone tells you to go see. Sitting at the south end of the Rhone Valley, not too far from the Mediterranean, it was a city we have had on our list of places to go in France. Bonus: Given its location in the south where the weather would still be nice and warm, it seemed like the perfect fit for everyone.

Meeting up with Chad and Tasha at the train station in Paris as they returned from a visit to Champagne (did the tour with Rachel of course), off we go to Aix. About 3 and a half hours from Paris, we started the trip by passing the time with some wine and cheese and we even got little Bean to take a nap which almost never happens. Of course we rented a great apartment for all of us to stay and upon arrival we quickly obtained the necessary provisions and enjoyed happy hour and take out dinner for our first night in town.

Wine Tasting!

We had two full days to fill. The first day, based on the recommendation of my coworker whose husband is from the area, we decided to rent a car for the day and drive around the Montagne Sainte-Victoire. We stopped in a few villages along the way and we even had a great restaurant recommendation. Of course being in France, we had to pull over at a random winery for a bit of tasting and some great pictures courtesy of Tasha and her photog skills.

Traditional French Saturday market

The second day in Aix we dedicated to the proper French tradition of visiting the Saturday town market to buy all the ingredients for dinner that night. The Saturday market in Aix actually spreads throughout several parts of the town and included not only the traditional farmers market for food, but also a flea market of sorts. After spending some time wandering around and getting all we needed for the evening, we found a nice lunch spot to sit and enjoy the weather along with a bottle of rosé from Provence. Pleasant lunch, some nap time, and a great evening dinner made for a great second day in Aix.

Dinner in Paris with the Bartley's

Aix definitely lived up to all the hype. We really found the city to be a bit larger

than expected with lots of interesting streets, shops and great food. We were even treated to an early morning "extreme" thunder storm which woke everyone up around 6:00 am Sunday morning. After an enjoyable and all too short trip, we headed back to Paris, bringing our summer vacation to an official end. Good news, we still had a few nights with Chad and Tasha at our place as they rounded out their trip with a few days in Paris.