Aix-en-Provence and Uzes

Once you leave Paris and head south in France, the terrain begins to be dotted with farms and villages such as pictured above. Sheep farms are common. 

As we approached Aix-en-Provence, the train station before Marseilles, we spotted this aqueduct. Anton later told us it was the famous Pont du Gard, built by the Romans two thousand years ago.

 By the time you near Marseilles, the terrain in high ground becomes rocky, barren of trees. Here, you can spot a church on the hill on the right.

The Hotel St. Christophe, an old establishment on Victor Hugo near the Fontaine De La Rotonde, was welcoming. Passed a warm lounge and bar is the reception desk. When we arrived in Aix-en-Provence from Marseilles that first evening, there was a space for us in the cramped basement garage. A kind white-haired clerk buzzed us in and came down to  greet us.

In this view of the hotel from Cours Mirabeau, the open-air shopping mall, the ledge near the Apple computer store (white building on right) is where some teenagers sat, talked, and smoked l'herb late into the night, outside our window, disturbing our rest.

Fontaine De La Rotonde 

The farmers market, at Place de Verdum, was wonderful to peruse. We brought tea here.

The vendor was very cheerful and talkative. In addition to spices and tea, he also offered l'herb, but I declined..

The famous Marseilles soap was for sale at the farmers' market, but the proprietor of this stall was gone.

Leona wanted the large cubed bars of Marseilles soap, the ones that sell for up to 800 NT ($24) in fancy stores in Taiwan, but there was no price attached, and so there was no sale. Later in our trip, she found them in a nondescript shop in Marseilles for $3 us 

  "It is great that you will be passing by our way on Wed 27th Jan. as Wednesday is my day off so I am free to meet up. You might like to come to Uzes and have lunch before continuing the drive on to Barcelona which is about a 4 hour drive from Uzes. Uzes is a picturesque market town and there is a Wednesday morning market. From Aix-en-Provence, it is about 1 hour 40 min drive to Uzes." Mimi's welcoming. 

Part of the wonder was visiting with Mimi and  Anton in Uzes for four hours Wednesday. They are so proud of their children; Rachael, Eva, and Jacob, and told us of their educational experiences. We walked with Mimi and Anton to the farmers' market and met Anton's mom and dad there. Mimi looks so much like Selma and Irv! I joked that the nut doesn't fall far from the tree and Mimi quipped it wasn't the first time she was called a nut. 

We had such fun, it was hard to leave. Mimi made a lovely lunch with the cheese and salad we had just gotten. My only complaint about the "quaint" country town of Uzes is that parking there was more difficult than finding a spot in Greenwich Village; it seems that many displaced city dwellers had moved to Uzes and its environs for its "quaint-ness." We will cherish our visit with Mimi and Anton forever.

Mimi and Anton have a lovely 18th century stone-wall
 home with a lovely patio out back.