Victory over the Marseille Highways!

Today I had to get out of Marseille.  There are so many tourists here, the traffic is horrible, there is no parking anywhere.  Also, it's hot, hot, HOT here and sticky; the final days of summer are so brutal.  It's as if the days are showing you how yucky they can be, so you begin to crave the cool fall weather even more so.  Maybe nature built into us a defense system for the changing seasons.  Just as we begin to hate one, another one is rapidly on its' way!  Well, isn't She smart?

So, I apprehensively took to the highway and headed to Aix en Provence. (I'm still a little freaked about driving on the road here.)  I love Aix.  I don't know it very well, but today it was my mission to do just that.  I managed just fine on the highway and it actually was a fun little roadtrip.  I jammed out the Be Good Tanyas and was just really appreciating the freedom of the little Blue Truck.  

Aix is so, so, tres, cool.  I know in the above paragraph I already mentioned that I love Aix, but I love Aix.  I kinda wished we lived there, instead of Marseille, but I'd miss my friends and living by the water.  So, a 20 minute drive to get to a place I love isn't so bad.  I had my camera and a book to read, but no map of the centre ville.  I figured that I could find my way to the outdoor food markets I had been to with Yann.  I was thinking it would be no problem, because I would recognize my way around the town using landmarks I'd remembered in photos we took while there; a beautiful village square, a moss covered fountain, an ancient church.  Well, after 30 minutes of walking around in a maze of cobble stone streets I realized that I did in fact have no clue where I was going.  Now, I was so lost I wasn't sure I could even find the tourist office.  This was a good lesson for me in humility:  "I am a tourist in Aix.", I thought, so I should go like every other smart tourist to the tourist office and get a damn map.  Well, after I did all that and figured out where I was supposed to be, I realized that the markets were just closing.  Ahhh.  

So, I went there anyways as the vendors were packing up and snapped the shots you will find below.  They have the outdoor market every Tuesday, Thursday,and Saturday from 8-1pm.  Now I know the days and the closing times, so I will never again screw that up!  My day was certainly now wasted however, as long as you consider sitting around eating and sipping coffee all day not a waste of a day.  Well, if you do, it was a beautiful waste of a day.  Wish you were there...

Pictures follow...

The famous Savon de Marseille; this soap is time tested; I think the French have been using the same soap for hundreds of years, but now they have new  trendy scents like mint, patchouli, and green tea.  Back in the day I think you could only choose between one of two scents: plain or lavender.  

The joys of charcuterie: let us count the many ways we are thankful for it...saussion is an amazing kind of French hard salami.  It is usually made from pork, but when my dad was visiting Yann bought a stick of it and my dad LOVED it.  When we looked at the label to see what kind it was, curiously, there was pictured a donkey...We'll never know for sure...

Ok, these are amazing and I had to put them on here.  I'd never seen these gadgets and if I knew where to hunt some mushrooms, I'd so get one.  See?  There is a cane for steading yourself as you walk through the woodlands with your fatty, truffle-finding pig.  He digs around in the dirt and finds the goods, and you store them in the convenient little basket on your cane.  Does anyone in France still actually use one of these contraptions and if so, can I be your best friend?

There are cafes galore in Aix.  I swear, as you walk down the streets you really become convinced that all these people do is eat and drink.  The city seems to be functioning, but meanwhile every employee is on a three hour lunch break with a crafe of rosee and five of their best friends. Who is running the banks and the grocery stores, stray cats? Besides actual 'eateries' there are countless coffee and tea shops, patisseries, boulangeries, bars, and epiceries, which sells food accessories, like olive oils, sea salts, and fancy vinegars.  These French people live to eat...

This is my caffine kick in the apres-midi;

I wasn't amped up sufficiently for the 

haul back to the city, so this helped.

I devoured a nice apricot croissant stuffed with pastry cream as soon as I got to Aix en P.  I was starving and hey, when the is a bakery on every corner, how can you turn a blind eye??