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.

Barcelona at large

On Passaig De Gracia, our Hotel Royal is to the left of the blue taxi sign (center) a block away from two Gaudi buildings. The  subway station to all the places we visited in  Barcelona is nearby. The weather was beautiful throughout our stay. The hotel had an underground parking lot where we left the Jaguar for three days while we toured  Barcelona on foot or

    by subway.  

A Valencia orange tree on Passeig de Gracia.

Everywhere we walked there were beautiful buildings.

The first sunny morning of our visit to Barcelona; we had arrived after 8 pm the night before after a 5 1/2 hour drive from Uzes, France, and stayed in our four-star hotel room to rest and snack on cheese we had brought with us.  Midway through our vacation, it was time to do the laundry. 

The most convenient, modern laundromat we have ever seen; you put cash into the machine on the left, choose the washer, and it adds its own detergent. Put the clothes into the drier, press the drier number, choose the length of time, and you're good to go. All Leona had to do was move the clothes and fold them.

The Parami Grocery, across the street from the laundromat, had all the dry provisions you would want. While we waited for the clothes to wash and dry, I went in and bought soup mix, chocolate, potato chips, and dried fruit that we brought back with us to Taichung.

A street cafe on Passaig De Gracia, a block from our hotel, where we enjoyed our first meal in Barcelona, tapas.

Leona bought a wallet here. She couldn't believe it
herself that the wallet she chose was pink. 

Gran Via De Les Corts Catalana

Stopping to take a break at Gran Via De Les Corts Catalana where we picked up our three-day Barcelona Pass. The Pass had small discounts for the best attractions and restaurants, and twenty free entries to secondary visitors' spots. The best use of  the Pass was the metro card which we used liberally to get around town. 

Gran Via De Les Corts Catalana

Our second evening in Barcelona, after touring two Gaudi buildings during the day, we took a break at the hotel, and then walked down Passaig De Gracia to find Cafe Rita for dinner. Talk about McCafe, there really is one on them! Alas, we didn't eat there.

Leona was satisfied that the store got it right on the picture window; Happy "Lunar" New Year, not "Chinese" New Year.

One of the many beautiful buildings on Passaig De Gracia
at dusk (above) and at night (below).

The subway system in Barcelona was small by New York
or Paris standards, but it was clean, convenient, and
 took us where we wanted to go.

A toy store on Passaig De Gracia with cute, child-sized entrance.

On our way to the highway, in and out of Barcelona, we spotted this interesting building. It is the Torre Agbar, built in 1994, the tallest building in town (144m), head office of a water company, soon to become a five-star Hyatt hotel. It was designed by celebrated French architect Jean Nouvel.  

Barcelona: Gaudi's Casa Batllo