Trips

Sat., 5/14/22 - St. Paul de’ Vence and Aix en Provence

On the way to St. Paul de’ Vence (20 km from Nice) Laurent went on about all the French artists who lived, worked, died, and/or are buried in this southern part of France and all of the movie and TV stars who stayed in which hotel with which lover or who owned houses in the area. Seurat, Chagall, Renoir, Cezanne - we would be more interested in explanations of their works than where they once had a studio. We were hoping to see some Chagall stained glass, but no.

Our bus dropped us off for a short walk up to the entrance of St. Paul de’ Vence which is a cute hill town full of boutique shops and cafes and lots of people. The town was built by the people who found the pirates along the sea coast too dangerous and destructive and built here where they could defend themselves. The town is all imbedded stone walkways with the pebbles making flower or geometric designs. Laurent led us part way and gave us two hours of free time to wander the rest of town. We looked down at Chagall’s grave with the pebbles placed on his tomb. We walked nearly every street and went out to the pharmacy to buy some cough medicine. I coughed for the lady and she sold me SiropToux (Seche et grasse) or honey and something. It really worked right away.

St. Paul de’ Vence
The town in stone set into the mosaic of the street	Stone mosaic streets (glad it wasn't raining!)
Might be a cat	Door with the 'Hand of Fatima" symbol. The name comes from Mohammed's daughter Fatima. The five fingers represents the 5 pillars of Islam but it is mainly a symbol used for protection and used as defense to ward off the Evil eye.
Really interesting sculptures - look closely	Probably a camera studio?
Street scene	The town is full of artists and their shops/studios and lots of interesting signs
Mickey in France
Pinocchio in a toy store
Water fountain
View of a nice property	Old, interesting door
Pretty street	Cute street vacuum
	After "free time" to stroll around the town, the group met at a local tavern to learn how to play pétanque, which is one of the French versions of boules or bocce. Instructions were vague and the group organization left much to be desired but the group finally figured out enough to play for awhile. The highlight of the afternoon was the beer and drinks afterwards.
Sculpture of petanque balls	The real thing
The object is to get your ball closest to the white target ball (the game is a lot like curling)	Gale making a pitch
Measuring to see who is closest	From St. Paul de’ Vence we drove on to Aix-en-Provence with a lunch break at a highway truck stop with a McDonalds. Marge and I ate a ham and cheese baguette and BBQ potato chips - not very adventurous. After arriving at our hotel in Aix-en-Provence, a local guide appeared to conduct a two-hour tour around the narrow streets (all pedestrian with occasional cars, motor bikes, electric handicap buses, and a sightseeing train). This is a medieval town filled with cafes, boutique shops, and hordes of people. The town was once Roman. The funny name is an elided version of the Latin Aqua Sextius or water of General Sextius. It was part of a Roman province so put together the name became Aix-en-Provence. There is a hot spring and Roman thermal bath ruin at our hotel, the Aquabelle.
Interesting hotel complex that we passed driving toward Aix-en-Provence	View from our hotel window
Site of the Roman hot spring baths	Excavation of the Roman baths
One of the many religious statues found on the corners of buildings throughout Europe	Manhole cover
A wedding was being performed at St. Savior Catholic Church but the group entered anyway. The church is part Roman, the 500 AD baptistry has Roman columns, and the main church is Gothic. The 18th c. organ was blasting away and it was delightful to watch the organist. The old bell tower supposedly chimes every hour - except while we were there at 5 PM. It is located in the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) where they were flying a Ukrainian flag along with the EU, French, and Provence flags. The old granary, with a statue of the goddess of agriculture on the pediment, is now the post office. We walked down Cours Mirabeau and looked at the four fountains - two were covered with moss because of he chemicals in the hard water and then the large Rotunda Fountain and the statue of Cezanne. This town has a large university with 20,000 students and specializes in law, agriculture, and the arts.
Cathedral of Saint Sauveur	Interesting old door
Fancy car!	A market!
Old Granery, now the post office, with a statue of the goddess of agriculture on the pediment	Bell tower in the Place de l'Hotel de Ville
Nice doorway	By the end of the tour, we were exhausted - 16,000 steps today!

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