Provence travel log 2006-12-24

I gave myself an early Christmas present and slept in this morning. Most of the others rose early for a trip to the special weekend market three villages away. I awoke around 10:45am, just in time to catch this group returning with a large haul of wines, cheeses, olives, and fruit. Everyone feasted as noon sunlight slanted in from the south.

Feeling criminally lazy for sleeping so long, I did all the dishes, and then after some lounging and talking it was time to make the drive to Aix en Provence, the nearest “big” city. The main attraction there was the Christmas market, and this was of course our last day to see it. Expert navigation by Dad and Nathan saw us safely into Aix. The market was busy and well-lit, and Aix was exactly the kind of provincial counterpoint to Paris that I was hoping for.

Some Aix pictures:

We stopped throughout the afternoon for crepes, cathedrals, and plenty of photo ops. The only hitch was a scarceness of open dinner places, not surprising on Christmas Eve. We finally broke down and gave heavy business to a man running a food stall in the Christmas market. We dug into sandwiches and crepes of all kinds, always accompanied with lots and lots of French fries. (French fries are one of those things that you’d think weren’t really French. But you’d be wrong. French fries are everywhere here. The sad thing is, I weaned myself off them years ago in the states! I’m having trouble reacquiring the taste.)

After dinner, we fled from the rapidly dropping temperature and drove back home to Alleins. We opened some wine, put on Christmas carols, lit the fire, played games, and wished each other Merry Christmas at least five times each. A great way to end our Christmas Eve.