Aix En Provence - Visiting Emilie

Aix was full of a different kind of old, the people were different, the buildings again different, and the temperature was very different! At the train station I couldn’t stop grinning, I finally saw Emilie! It has been 2 years and it was just like yesterday that we were roomies. It was so nice to see a familiar face and the greeting wasn’t an awkward head bumping French greeting of kisses on each cheek it was a big Australian hug! Memories and moments and people were poured out as I filled in Emilie on home and updated her on everyone’s lives. It was really nice having this common bond.

The apartment they live in is one room. So for dinner we put the oven on the windowsill and drank beers and wine whilst listening to the gypsy music on the street just below. The weather sat around 30 degrees, so very nice!

Market stalls were full of meat, cheese, lavenderand wine, all the French specialties.

On the weekend, Emilie, Guilham, four other French friends and I ventured to Gorges de Verdon, and had an amazing weekend of swimming, walking, dancing, deserting, and soaking up lots of yummy French sun! The 20km walk we did was so varied, from cave walking in the pitch blackness of the cool earth and rocks, to walking the in the sun on the edge of cliffs and up ladders, and swimming in the gorges, which were icy cold, blue and full of fish. It was lovely.

I made a day trip when we returned from our camping adventure to the city Marseille one of the bigger French cities on the Mediterranean. It was very dirty, busy place, and had a bit of a cultural variant. It was very interesting. I loved the church, Notre Dame, which means lady that watches over the city. The outside looked like the palaces from the cartoons of Aladdin, and the inside was full of gold, blues, and pictures of boats out at sea. It seemed different to some of the other churches I have visited, and it had a quietness to it, which gave me some time to breathe in and escape the bustle. I feel ready to settle down after one week of travel I am already exhausted; to much site seeing is draining.

I enjoyed the arty cultural element of Aix, and it had a young student population which influenced is laid back feel. I ate many yummy chocolate croissants, listened to Bob Marley playing from someones window and got sticky with sweat from the weather. It was great! If I were to come to France again I would definitely come back here.