Down in town, which is oriented around the old port (Vieux Port), large squares prevail between the churches, of which there are over a hundred (serious Catholics here). We stopped into one near the port (didn't get the name, sorry) and took in the exquisite appointments.
Mrs. F thought the street sign appropriate. Heh ...
Mrs. F: "The 'Road to Prison'; go stand under the sign." Heh ...
We got done in Marseilles and headed back to Prinsendam to drop our stuff before heading out to Aix en Provence. Aix was the home of the artist Paul Cezanne, as well as a stop on Vincent van Gogh's travels. We caught a glimpse of his house at the edge of town from the bus and there's a statue of him across from the fountain at Aix Centre.
Aix en Provence is a romantic old city of tiny streets, amazing architecture, and little shops. It's also a college town so the old streets thump with the rhythm of youth, yet the old folks still walk the streets with their little dogs (if you're a dog person, Aix is heaven), doing their daily shopping and kibtzing at the tables in the sidewalk bistros.
As you know, the Mrs. and I are planning to retire in France and we loved Provence enough to actually look at real estate.
It was a great trip and another place where we want to spend more time. Shit, with all the places we want to get back to, we're gonna be traveling for a long time.
We're in Monaco as I write this and I'll post on it either later or tomorrow when we get back from Florence, Italy. I will say that we got a pleasant surprise this morning as we pulled up to our mooring.
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