Quality time with Natty!
Trip Start
Dec 19, 2010
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16
19
Trip End
Dec 19, 2011
Aix-en-Provence, Provence, France
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Nat lives about 10 minutes from the city in a one beddy apartment, so my bedroom is in the lounge/living area. I feel a bad that that is inconveniencing Nat but we have settled into a little routing together and it is working quite well.
Day One
The first day I was here we headed into the city to meet Hollie (another Australian) one of Nat's team mates for lunch at their regular cafe and then the girls took me on a tour of the city. Aix is really pretty. There are numerous fountains all over town, the main road Cours Mirabeau is lined with plane trees, cafes and shops and has a fountain pretty much on every block. At the southern end of the Cours Mirabeau is a massive and impressive fountain, the Rotande, it looks pretty during the day and stunning and night when it is all lit up.
I have learnt the reason Aix (pronounced ex) has so many fountains around the city (approximately 40) is because the fountains water supply comes from many spings around Aix, which is unusual for this region.
If you venture off the Cours Mirabeau you will find yourself in a maze of small streets full of fashion shops, bakeries, florists, jewellery, coffee shops, pretty much anything you could want. Aix is also a very big university area so there are a lot of students here, a french and international university and of course the usual cathdrals and churches.
After being taken on a tour of the city and wandering the streets havinng a look at some shops we parted ways with Hollie and Nat and I went grocery shopping. I know it sounds strange but I really enjoy grocery shoppinng when I'm away, its fun to look at all the different things they have in the store and Nat was excited because we could buy fresh meat, fruit and veg in a big shop. Again sounds strange but because she lives by herself the past few months, I think anyone who has lived by themselves can testify its hard to shop for one person especially when it comes to fresh fruit and veg cause it just goes off. So we had fun loading up the trolley for the week. Once home and unpacked and had dinner we kicked back with a glass of red.
Day 2
Today I hung out at home in the morning, slept in and just lounged around home (there is going to be a bit of that over the next few weeks and that suits me fine:) ) while Nat was at training. We hung out when she got home and then in the afternoon when Nat had to go back to training she dropped me back in the city and I spent the afternoon wanderinng around again, retracing alot of the steps we took yesterday but at a slower pace, taking some photos and just soaking it all up. I found a great little book shop - one that Nat has been meaning to go and find for ages. Its a little coffee shop/english book store. So I spent some time in there choosing a couple of new books, I created my own walkinng tour of town and took in all the sights, the cathedral, the town hall, the old corn exchange and walked to the edge of town where you can still see a section of old ramparts from years ago. When I had finished sightseeing some shopping, mostly just looking at things but I did buy a few necessities. At the moment window shopping is really all I can do, I can't spend too much as I'm not sure how long it will take me to find work when I hit the UK and also I simply don't have the space in my pack to carry it.... eek!
Nat picked me up when she had finished training and we headed home for another home cooked meal.
Day 3
Nat had a really busy day today with basketball training and coaching clinics so I dropped her off at training in the morning and then took the car for the day and drove to Arles. The drive took about an hour and although a little apprehensive about driving by myself I was totally fine. The only time I had a little bit of a freak out was in a car park of all places haha. I had to go to the city quickly before heading off, I made it there no dramas, found the multi-storey car park we were in the first night, no dramas and headed down and went through the first boom gate and took my ticket to be confronted by a ramp down or another boom gate. I obviously misread the sign for the ramp going down because I thought I couldn't go that way so headed for the second boom gate only it didn't offer me another ticket and there was no where to put my ticket in but there was a keypad, I though uh oh, I'm meant to have a code to get through and shite there is a car right behind me. So I pushed the buttom hoping the person who answered the distress call would be able to understand English, hmmmm not so much - now what? I whacked the car in reverse to try and get the lady who was now waving her arms around in annoyance at me to move back but did she no, instead she got out of the car and walked up to my window and tried to communicate with me, except she only spoke French and I only speak English, we managed and she simply hit a button on the bottom of the box I was talking into and it opened the gate... hahah oops! So finally I managed to park the car and thankfully getting out was much easier, I'll remember next time to go down the ramp!
After I had done what I needed to do in the city I hit the road and headed to Arles, I made it there with ease and parked the car and wandered around town for most of the day. Arles is pretty, probably not as pretty as I thought it was going to be. A medieval town, the streets are interesting. They are very narrow and maze like and the houses that line them side by side look very old. Even so they are pretty, most houses are beige or white with coloured doors and matching shutters on windows. They have old fashioned street lamps and alot of the houses have vines or creepers coverinng a wall and then it travels over the road about 10-12 ft above the ground to the house across the street and continues to grow on that house. Not quite sure how it made it across the street though....
Arles was a Roman city at one stage and therefore a few of the major sites are italian for expampe the Ampitheatre and the Roman Theatre. The Ampitheatre measures 136m in lenght and 109m wide. It has 120 arches that date back to the 1st century when it was built. It was capable of seating 20,000 people and was originally built for chariot races and gladiators. Today it is still used but for plays and concerts and believe it or not bull fighting. Unfortunately I could only look at the ampitheatre from the outside as they are restoring it but it was still very impressive.
Not far from the ampitheatre is the Roman theatre, very much like the Greek theatres with the cemet stadium/theatre style steating in a semi circle facing a stage. In this area there was alot of damage statutes etc that you could wander through and have a look. They (who they are I'm not quite sure, I guess the Arles government) will eventually be spending millions on restoring the Roman Theatre as well.
Other sights I saw was the Church of St Tromphime, (I only saw the outside), the town hall, the oblisk and the Alyscamps. The obelisk, stands tall in the middle of a square with the town hall at one end and the Church of St Tromphine adjacent to the town hall. The obelisk was erected in the 3rd century by a Roman emperor but fell and broke in th 6th century. It was found in the 14th century and re-erected in its current location. I still find it hard to believe things have been around that long.
Last by not least I visited the Alyscamps. The Alyscamps is a Roman Necropolis that is a short distance outside of the old walls of Arles. Apparantly back in the day it was common for burial grounds to be place outside the city walls. The Alyscamps became one of the most famous burial grounds of the ancient world. It was used as a burial ground for over 1500 years and people were having bodies shipped from all over Europe to be buried there. There are a few too many stories to write down for you but a couple of short ones are; 1) a Roman civil servent was beheaded for disobeying orders to persecute Christians was buried there which became the focus of a cult. 2) the first bishop of Arles St Trompimus was buried there and supposedly Christ himself attended that burial leaving an imprint on one of the Sarcophagus lids. The burial ground became so popular by the 4th century that they had to stack sarchophagi 3 layers deep! Sadly over the years it has been destroyed mainly by the city councellors giving sarchophagi to distinguished visitors (odd gift don't you think) and locals using funerary stones as building materials (this one I can kind of understand) and then the introduction of the railway and canal has further reduced its, shall I say beauty or attraction? Lets just say it was damaged further as the railway and canal both cut right through it, so sadly what I was seeing was nothing of its former days but it was still interesting enough to wander through.
I made the journey home and hung out for a while before picking Nat up from training and Hollie, Nat and I went out for dinner at a place just outside of town, where I discovered factory outlets that Nat is going to take me back to on Sunday :)
Day 4
Today was 100% lazy! But at least I can say we planned it this way. Nat had 2 trainings again so I decided to spend a day in doing stuff that I needed to do and hang out with Nat in between her sessions and that's exactly what I did. Sweet F.A!!!
Day 5
Today has been a little more productive than yesterday and that's a good thing. I was exhausted after my day of doing nothing! Up earlyish to head to the city, Nat had an appointment and I wandered around and visited my favourite little book shop :) Then we headed to Nat's training and I took myself off to the shops near her gym and had a look around, sat and enjoyed a coffee, checked out some more shops and then headed back to meet Nat and Hollie. We went out to lunch at Mejane. Mejane is a cafe that sponsors the team so the girls eat there quite regularly but its okay because the food is really good. After lunch Nat and I came home to hang out, Nat has gone off to the gym and to shoot around for awhile before we head out to a European handball game tonight. I'm looking forward to it, if its anything like what I've seen on T.V it should be really good.
Day 6
Today I dropped Nat off at training this morning and then hit the road to a place called Roussillon. It took about an hour to get there but that was okay because the drive was really pretty. It went through pretty countryside, vineyards, small villages and climbed up and down mountains.Roussillon is considered one of the prettiest towns in France and is located in one of the biggested ochre deposits in the world. Roussillon is a small town and is surrounded by lush green pine trees, below the town which has been built on top of a hill lies the ochre mines. The village itself is very pretty with medieval streets, funky little houses, most of are a different shade of ochre from yellow to light red and all with brightly coloured doors and shutters of all colours. Some of the houses have actually been built into the hill which is quite unique. Although the town is gorgeous the main attraction to Roussillon is the ochre mines that lie beneath the town. The jagged cliffs and rock formations that dramatically change in colour from yellow to red is a beautiful sight. There is a great view point from the edge of town but futher up the hill you can take a walk through the old quarries and see the colours up close and personal, sadly this walk was closed when I was there.
This afternoon Nicki G drove down from Avignon later afternoon, so we hung out at Nat's for the arvo, had dinner in the city and then watch Nat play basketball. She won and had a played a good game so we thought we would have a couple of drinks to finish off the week.
Day 7
Wow, we didn't quite expect last night to end up the way it did, we were coming home to have a few quiet drinks at home but ended up going to a hip hop/rap party down the street that Nat's team mate Lauren invited us to. It was so close we could walk there and back, however I think Nat and I got a little excited and drank more than we anticipated. We had a little bit of a crazy night and came home with a few war wounds from being silly. Therefore, there is not much to report for today except that after our efforts last night Nat and I felt terrible today and spent the day in bed watching t.v shows on Nat's laptop. We ventured out for Macca's for brunch and then out again that night for pizza and I can say that neither made us feel better actually quite the opposite. Can't say I'll be eating either for a very long time, if ever (well takeaway pizza that is).
Day 8
Thankfully today we woke up feeling better than we were yesterday, we picked up Hollie from her place and went to the city to have a girls day considering it was Valentines Day and none of us were feeling it. Tonight Nat, Hollie, Lauren and I had a 'romantic' dinner at an all you can eat Chinese restaurant near Nat and Laurens place.
Day 9
Another day with not a lot to report; I had a big sleep in and Nat had a double training day so once I finally dragged myself out of bed I just hung out at home and did some research for my next big adventure to Spain and Croatia later in the year. We had a home cooked meal and early night.
Day 10
This morning I dropped Nat off at training and then came home to hang out and do a few things before heading back to the gym to pick Nat and Hollie up and we headed to the city for lunch before heading to the factory outlets where I bought myself some trackies from Nike and hoodie from Billabong - both much needed articles of clothing to add to my very small wardrobe. I didn't realise how much I valued my trackies, actually my Dad could probably tell you as he is always on my case for my 'elephant dacks' when I wear them round the house back home. Anyway after our very successful shopping expedition we drove to Marseille to find the Starbucks there as the three of us were craving a Starbucks coffee. We had a few issue's finding the place but after a couple of takes we managed to make it there and thoroughly enjoyed our coffees so it was worth the trip. Once back in Aix we dropped off Hollie and then did the usual grocery shop and home for dinner and our t.v shows.
Day 11
I had planned a day trip for today, heading to a fishing town called Cassis. I dropped Nat at trainning this morning as per our usual routine and then hit the road heading south to the coast of France. It has been raining the past few days, this morning was overcast at home but thankfully wasn't raining. Sadly this did not hold out for me and the further south I drove the heavier it rained. The drive was a little frustrating, I got caught in traffic travelling through Marseille, who would have thought it would be bumper to bumper standstill traffic at 10.30am on a weekday, why aren't all these people at work? To add to my frustration I am terrible with traffic, I have lived in Canberra the whole time I have had a license and have never worked in the city so I don't cope with traffic jams very well, actually not at all. I eventually made my way to free flowing traffic and made it to Cassis but my medeocre day didn't stop there. Cassis is a small town, with narrow roads that lead down to the port, from what I could see there was very little parking available and most of it was on the side of the road and taken. I saw a small car park to the left and followed a car into it, it had no entry signs up which I only noticed as I had pulled into it but after a quick look around I figured it was because it was residential. I parked the car and sat for a moment listening to the rain hammering down on the car wondering if I really wanted to get out, then decided after another look at my surroundings I should probably move the car. I reversed and headed for the exit only to realise that thick metal poles had risen from the groun to block the entry/exit so obviously this was definitely somewhere I wasn't meant to be. Now the question was how was I meant to get the car out. I ran a few options through my mind and sadly none of them seemed feasible so in the end I got out of the car and stood in the rain and hoped that someone who had access would come into the car park so I could drive out after them the same way I had gotten in. The only catch, who knew how long I would have to wait. As luck would have it not long at all, about 2 minutes later (after I was mildy starting to panic) a delivery driver came along and couldn't get in, his method was to honk is horn continuously until someone came out on their balcony and made the poles retract, I quickly ran to my car and jumped in and reversed out just in time for the poles to appear in front of me again, dammit! Now what? Again, luckily the same woman that let the delivery guy in had cottoned on to the fact I was in there by mistake and stuck and she waved to me and motioned to keep going and the next thing you know, the poles retracted again and I could exit. I gave her a friendly wave, gave a sigh of relief and drove out! I am not having much luck with French car parks!
I did a few laps of town trying to find somewhere to park so I could at least have a quick look around town but the only parks I could find where quite far away and as the rain was not easing at all I decided I would eat my lunch and if it wasn't any better I would simply drive home. Walking around in the pouring rain is not much fun and the fantastic views and beautiful white cliff islands in the ocean I was hoping to see was not going to be an option with the grey skies and fog that had rolled in due to the weather. So I gave up and drove home to spend the afternoon relaxing at home and reading my book.
Day 12
After it raining all day yesterday I was really hoping for a sunny day today, actually I take that back, I would be happy as long as it wasn't raining, that's all I was asking for. Thankfully I got my wish and one better I woke up to beautiful clear blue skies and sunshine. It was the usual routine for Nat and myself, toast and tea, some chit chat a game of family feud and then we would hit the road and I'd drop Nat at training and keep going. The drive took me just over an hour and was not as boring as sitting on a highway the whole time but not as interesting as some of the others I have taken. Thankfully no car park incidents today though :)
The town I was heading to is called Les Baux-de-Provence, it is a town that has been built on a rocky outcrop up in the hills, it overlooks beautiful countryside and has over 22 heritage listed sites, which is quite something considering the village is quite small. Perched at the very top of the village is the chateau or castle. Unfortunately there are only a few sections of the chateau that remain however enough for you to get a good idea of the grandeur it would have had in its day. I picked up an audio guide when I bought my ticket and was taken back in time to when the chateau was full operational and explored the many sites that remain over the 7 hectares of land. I climbed the steps of the main entrance of the castle, stood in the chapel, climbed to the top of the walls and saw the wonderful views below of vineyards, olive groves, the sea off in the distance and the rolling hills that surround the village. The local tourism has put illustrations around the sites that show what things would have looked like if it was still in its original form or scene from local village life, they were interesting to look at and helped your personal imagination. They have also built life size siege machines to demonstrate the medieval tactics of attacking fortresses, castles and such likes back in the day. One interesting thing I learned was the huge catapults were very hard to operated and slow and could only be operated every few hours.
The town below is very pretty as well. The 360 degree view from the edge of town is beautiful. The streets are all cobblestoned, so an automatic winner in my books and all the stores and houses were all built out of the same material a grey stone and were small and cute.
I wandered around the streets of town, visited the church, the museums, admired the houses and small stores and cafes that were there and then headed back to the for the drive home.
Saturday – game day and this one was an important game. If Nat's team wins tonight they will be guaranteed to stay in Division one for next season and that is extremely important. If the other team loses they will be relegated to Division 2 for next season so it was a very important game for both teams and was going to be tough.
Nat had shoot around this morning so I dropped her off and went and ran a few errands, then we headed into the city and wandered around, visited Nat’s new favourite bakery. We have discovered these buns, they look like a finger bun but nicer bread than we get back home and they were stuffed with a sweet crushed almond mixture and had icing on top. They are soooo good! After our mid morning snack we wandered some more and then grabbed lunch and headed home to get ready for Nicki G’s arrival. The three of us hung out in the arvo just relaxing before Nat’s game and then all headed down. The game was touch and Nat’s team made it harder for themselves letting a big lead get away from them in the third quarter but thankfully they came away with the win and we were all happy little campers.
After the game Nicki G and I went to dinner with Nat and the team and then out for a few drinks. We hit up the pub next door to the restaurant, which is apparently one of their regular pubs and drank sex toy cocktails before heading to a night club for a bit of a dance.
Nicki G headed back to Avignon this morning and after a bit of net surfing Nat discovered the final of the Marseille Tennis open was on and there was tickets available. We had 2 hours to get there before the match started and decided we should do it. We rushed about getting ready, I quickly looked up directions on the internet, we jumped in the car and were on our way. Sadly it didn’t work out quite as we wanted it, we couldn’t find the stadium despite the directions. There was road works going on everywhere in town didn’t help us, we were so close but just couldn’t do it. You would think being a sports centre that held bit events it would be pretty easy to spot, we thought so too but alas it wasn’t out day. So after a few U-turns, getting out of the car and searching by foot a few times when we thought we were in the right spots and a few wrong turns we gave up and headed to Starbucks instead for some lunch and coffee. This arvo we hung out at home, cooked up all the fresh vegetables we had in the fridge and had a feast and watched Gossip Girl (Nat has gotten me hooked) before crashing for the night.
My last day in Aix! Where has the time gone I ask? I really don’t want to leave, don’t get me wrong I’m looking forward to seeing Sue and Phil and Copenhagen but I’ve really settled in here in Aix, Nat and I have created and settled into a daily routine and overall its just been great to hang out with Nat. Also we have had some very poor timing, due to the win on the weekend Nat was given 4 days off and if I had been here that little bit longer we could have gone somewhere together… sadly not much we can do about that now.
I spent the morning packing up all my stuff and trying to shove it all in my pack, I have somehow accumulated extra stuff whilst being in Aix and things aren’t fitting quite as well…. Let’s just hope I’m not over weight for the plane.
Natty dropped me off at the train station and I’m back to being a lone traveller, I’m currently sitting on the train travelling back to Paris in order to catch my flight to Copenhagen. I will arrive tonight at 11pm and will be met by Sue and Phil (Felicia’s good mates), who I will be staying with for a week before heading to Bristol.
Sorry this entry has been so long but that’s what happens when I don’t post for 2 weeks. Hope all is well back home with everyone. Remember I always love hearing from people even if it’s mundane day to day stuff.
