Provence...in Detail: Aix-en-Provence

Aix was more of a big city than we thought. It reminded us of Paris, but miniature. Lots of shopping and cafe culture. We wandered all through town, took a little train ride (my kids find these EVERYWHERE), and most importantly I found a Gap! I stocked up a bit on my favorites, but still the prices there when compared to the US makes me ill. I so cannot wait to shop this summer in the US!!! I will personally do what I can for Michigan's economy. But, I digress...

Aix is known for it's hundreds of fountains and for being the home of Paul Cezanne. He painted hundreds of pieces here and of Mount St. Victoire in the distance. One of the many fountains of Aix.

On the Cours Mirabeau, said to be one of the most beautiful shopping streets in the world. I can only imagine how beautiful it is when these trees are in bloom and form a canopy over the street.

The largest fountain in Aix at the entrance to the Cours Mirabeau

We left Aix to see what else was around, but unfortunately the areas surrounding Aix were just commercial areas and highways. The kids wanted ice cream because they'd gone at least 1/2 a day without treats of some kind, so Jason found a fast food place that had milkshakes. We figured we could manage ordering milkshakes in French since on the menu it said "milkshake" and all we had to say was how many and the flavor. Jason ordered "duex vanille milkshakes, un fraise milkshake, and un banane milkshake". I thought he did fine, but apparently the workers couldn't understand. He repeated himself at least four times, each time getting louder, but with a worse accent. Finally, the one worker calls another one over who tries to understand him, again with no luck. Then the guy says, "You speak English?" and Jason accidentally answers "Ja" (German for yes) just to confuse things even more! I was crying laughing and we couldn't stop laughing long enough to even order in English. Finally, we calmed down and got our 1€ milkshakes. At least it was a bargain!

The other excitement that night was the kids helping Jason build a fire. It was like they were scouts earning their firemaking badge. For the rest of the week, when we needed them out of our hair, we sent them to the backyard to collect sticks and pine needles. They were thrilled.