April 20, 2019 In the Footsteps of Cézanne: Aix-en-Provence

Judy's must-see list includes following the footsteps of Cézanne who spent his life in Aix.

Judy and Janis next to Cézanne statue in Charles de Gaulle plaza. Market stalls are behind them

The drive was just over an hour, and getting through the modern city to the "centre ville" took a bit of crashing around and driving in circles (literally, at times at round-abouts). Once in the city center, parking was both easy and convenient in an underground lot that exited onto "Les Allées d'Aix", a spacious pedestrian street surrounded by shops and buildings. This street is clearly redone in modern times as the buildings and width of the street are all modern.

Judy in front of Aix Les Allées sign (flowers are fake)

The streets of Aix are buzzing with people and there's a market on the Place de Gaulle behind it.

Monumental fountain on Place C. de Gaulle (Fontaine de la Rotunde)

This is a lively town, thanks, in part, to its large university with many international students.

Everyone's out on this lovely Saturday morning

We left the Tourist Office armed with a map of the town with a walking tour and a map specific to following the steps of Cézanne.

We now know more about Cézanne's life than is probably necessary, having found every house he lived in, his father's house, his school, his wife's house, his mother's house, his friends' houses, the house where he died - you get the picture.

We followed  these "nails" (what they were called in our English guide pamphlet

Judy standing in front of the house where Cézanne died

We never saw a painting and at the end of the day when we tried to find his "atelier" (studio) it was by appointment only (duh, that's what the info from the Tourist Office said). And  we never did find the views of the St. Victoire (mountain) that feature in many of his paintings. We'll have to go back some day.

We also got a general map of the town that featured a walking tour of the old town. We saw a couple of these where they intersected with the Cézanne walk, but there are more to be discovered. Needless to say, there's lots to do in Aix and we should try to make it back here again before leaving. So many places, so little time.

In spite of not finding many "big monuments", wandering the back streets of Aix was a joy. There are many manor houses in this town as it has always been a rather well-to-do town, known for its educated citizenry who supported the arts and sciences. At one time it was home to lots of lawyers (go figure) and they could afford lovely homes.

Clark at the entrance to a lawyers manor house - it now houses offices of several lawyers - some things never change

Still private homes, you can only guess from the street what the rooms behind their beautiful doors and windows must be like. So all I can show is some of the doors I found beautiful or intriguing.

We ate our lunch on the square in front of the Chapel des Oblates, a Catholic missionary order where those who have joined the order profess vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, but do not live in convents or monasteries. Rather they provide services in multiple roles to churches and missions of the Catholic church around the world. Originally a Carmelite convent, it was, of course, taken over by the state in the Revolution in 1789. Purchased shortly after that by Eugène Mazenod, who envisioned his church becoming a training center for priests and brothers with the purpose of reviving faith after the Revolution. Its work continues today from this international home of the Oblates.

Chapelle des Oblats

Besides doors, we crossed many churches and fountains. I simply couldn't resist taking photos of these.

4 Dolphins fountain

Good King René fountain

This boar spits water

This two year old is doing what all 2-year olds do - play in the water

the scene isn't so cool - just a street with houses and a fountain in a square in front

but I really liked this piper playing pipes and drums at the same time.

We found another mossy fountain and learned that the water here was coming from thermal (hot) springs, causing the growth of the moss. This made us wonder if the other mossy fountains we found were also warm water. St. Didier did have some connection to thermal springs according to signs we read. Hmmm...Next time I see a mossy fountain, I'll have to put my hands in to test the water.

The mossy fountain (supposedly because of thermal waters) on Rue Mirabeau. It's real name is Fontaine d'eau chaude (warm water fountain)

Churches are plentiful in this town. These are some that we saw:

Église St. Jean de Malte

Chapelle de la Visitation, Rue Mignet

Cathedral of Saint-Sauveur

Cloister of the Cathedral Saint-Sauveur

Some of the fun things we saw today:

A city bus - these small buses make small routes around the city. They carry only a few passengers and make only small loops through a small part of the downtown.

A house that takes advantage of every square inch of outside space for plants.

We wondered how you would water these plants. The windows would open into the room. Shutters can be closed, so maybe that's how it would work. We weren't sure. But that's a lot of plants!

A postman's "vehicle" - We kept running into this postman as we wandered the back streets in search of Cézanne. I finally got up the courage to ask if I could take a photo to show my US friends. He agreed, but declined to be in the picture. This is how mail is delivered in cities. The postman has an electronic card that lets him buzz himself into courtyards where mailboxes are located. He was not wearing a uniform of any sort. Although we've seen other postmen/women who were wearing PO logo gear.

The way mail is delivered in the center of Aix (and lots of other small towns we've visited.)

We ran into this amusing bell hanging on a wall outside a church. Also on the wall was a clock and a sundial. None of these seemed to have the correct time, alas.

This bell is struck by the hammer in the hand of this worker.

This doesn't come so much under the heading of amusing find. The bell tower of the Hotel de Ville (City Offices) has 2 plaques in it, reminding us of WWII. The first tells of Resistance fighters arriving the 20th of August, 1944, and chasing out the hated Vichy government, restoring control to the Liberation committee. The second sign remembers the Liberation of Aix on August 21, 1944, by the US 3rd Infantry Division and honors them for their part in the liberation of Aix.

Hôtel de Ville and it's clock tower

Clock tower on the Hôtel de Ville

Sign inside the passage way under the bell tower

One last non-amusing image. On the outside of a news kiosk in one of the squares, we saw this large poster advertising the latest issue of the weekly news magazine (kind of like Newsweek or Time) called La Point. We decided to buy a copy, but the news vendor suggested a bi-weekly journal called Le Pélerin (the Pilgrim) which devoted it's entire issue to Notre Dame as opposed to La Point's one story of many news stories for the week. So we took his suggestion. Not a pleasant souvenir, but an important one.

Headlines this week are the fire in Notre Dame de Paris

It was a long day - we didn't get back till 6:30 pm. So dinner was a quick aperos and pasta meal. We all hit the hay rather early.