We have been staying in Aix-en-Provence for 4 nights now but i will say we've only been here for 2 days. Today we did a day trip to Marseille. We went with a friend we met here in Aix and he showed us around and got us around on all the right busses and metro. It's kinda crazy trusting someone you just met, but he has been very nice and we trust him completely.
I have really enjoyed Aix. Thank you to Aunt Rickie and the swedish girls from Amsterdam for recommending it. The town is really old and is kind of based around water. They have natural hot springs and have set up fountains all over town. One of the oldest ones, runs through the large city center square. It is fed by a natural hot spring and therefore all this moss has been growing all over it for hundreds of years now. you can't even see the fountain, it's just moss with water coming out of it. I went out tonight looking for some last minute post cards (no luck) and the fountain had steam coming out of it. I tried to take a picture but the light was low and my camera couldn't handle it.
The city streets here are very old in the center city and very confusing. But they are filled with shops, boutiques, and restaurants. Also, since there are a lot of student here, there is more of a night life. So restaurants are open later and there are a lot of people on the street. One night we went to a jazz club and a french band played a whole lot of crazy covers. Below is their crazy set list,
First set:
Radio Head (Fake Plastic Trees)
Eagle Eye Cherry ( Save Tonight)
Aretha Franklin (Chain of Fools)
Beatles (Ticket to Ride) / Them (GLORIA)
spanish reggea/ french reggae/ Sunny and Cher ( I got you babe)/ Shaggy (Bombastic)/ Bob Marley (Stir it up)/ Shaggy/ Sunny and Cher
Second Set:
some french rock
Rage Against The Machine (Killing in the Name)
Blur (Song 5)
Nirvana (Rape Me)
White Stripes ( Seven Nation Army)
Pretty crazy, n' est pas?
As far as Marseille goes, the best part was reaching the ocean again. We did some walking and saw some parts of the city, but took a bus out of town and walked to a nearby area just as sunset approached. I found a place to sit and took some notes as i watched the sun dip below the horizon. The most surprising thing was how green the sky became and how long it stayed that way. The white sea birds became black against the bright back drop of sunset and the light from the island light house finally became visible and I became much colder. But it was incredible to sit out there until it got dark and cold and i loved every moment of it.
love,
grace
