Mathematicians
Appreciate a painter's
Nature uniquely.
Nary a rumble came from the train tracks all night. We slept soundly, aside from the wind waking us up at midnight sharp (the witching hour!) by collapsing one side of our tent. That was a sort of rude thing for it to do, but fortunately our stalwart tent popped right back up and we dreamed away the rest of the night, lulled to sleep by the raging breeze.
Our breakfast sandwiches woke us up, and we continued along our verdant route to Aix-en-Provence. A few cyclists dotted the road, but mainly it was empty entirely. Sunday mornings in France, you know. We did happen across a beautiful reservoir up in the mountains, ringed by some houses that appeared to belong to summer camps.
It was a long downhill into Aix, and we appreciated it. We arrived there and were totally disoriented. We managed to find a local market for clothes and spices, a separate one for flowers, and, after we finally found a supermarket to get ingredients for dinner, a market for fruits, vegetables, and bread. We picked up some feta pastries, anyway. We eat a lot.
One of my friends, Carmen, studied in Aix-en-Provence for school some time ago. I asked her recently what a few cool things to do in the area might be, and she recommended three: an archaeological site north of town, calanques between Marseilles and Cassis (probably we will head that way tomorrow), and a route that the painter Cézanne walked to feel inspired. We spent enough time lost that we could only do the first or the third one, so we decided to explore our inner painter.
The route was lovely! From our campsite, it wound up and down hills and past châteaux and windmills and fields and trees. At the end is "Cézanne's Windmill," where we stopped in to see a painting exhibition by some local artists. It was quite nice.
Nicer, though, was the field just outside of Le Tholonet (the town at the end of the route) was absurdly lovely in the fading light of day. We stopped there to have a picnic and enjoy the sights. We talked about everything and nothing and painting and math and enjoyed our pasta e fagioli (the two of us consumed an astonishing 8 servings thereof). Now we are settled into our campsite, freshly showered and with clean dishes and clothes. It's nice to feel civilised for once. :)