This last trip to Provence, I noticed that most of the cafes, restaurants and gas station toilets are all missing their seats. I wonder if there is a toilet seat thief out there. Or do these establishments buy a new toilet and immediately rip off the seat? Is the thought process that if there isn’t a toilet seat, there is less to clean? Or is it that they want to promote a squatting stance so then they don’t have to clean the toilet at all since no one will be touching it? Normally I find it depressing to drive back into Germany but this trip, I was happy to see the return of the toilet seat and self cleaning ones to boot.
We decided to head down to Provence again for Easter this year. It would be our first vacation with a baby so we were looking for an easy trip. We’d done the same route last year so we knew where to stay on the way down and Jim knew his way around Aix-en-Provence.
On Thursday morning we woke up at 5am intending to leave by 6am. Of course everything takes much longer with a baby so we found ourselves walking out the door 4hours later at 9am.
The trip down to our first stop in Chardonnay went well. Sabine slept a lot of the way and other than driving through a freak snow storm, it was uneventful.
We had a nice visit with Nick and Rebecca at Le Chardon and had dinner at their restaurant and then left for Aix early the next morning.
We were a little disappointed that the trees didn’t have leaves on them yet. Last year Easter was later so the landscape was farther along. As we drove, we pointed out every tree that had leaves on it, each hoping that as we got closer to Aix, everything would be in full bloom. I secretly hoped that we just had to cross some imaginary line and spring would be on the other side. Unfortunately that imaginary line is farther south than Aix.
I wanted to stay in the city of Aix for this trip so that I would have something to do when Jim was out riding his bike. We rented an amazing little apartment- http://www.charmappart.com/maisondauphine1a.html, just a few blocks off of the main drag, Cours Mirabou. The apartment was in a renovated building from the 17th century so had high ceilings with a floral appliqué ceiling, marble fireplace and wall to wall windows.
Once we were unpacked, we went out for provisions at Monoprix. Monoprix is a little like Target. I had only shopped there for groceries in the past but this trip I discovered Monoprix has great baby clothes that are very reasonably priced.
After dropping off the groceries, we went to explore Aix a little bit. Sabine was getting tired of the stroller so we stopped for a quick beer in a sunny square to let her stretch her legs.
For dinner we planned to try one of the restaurants that our hostess recommended – Ze Bistro, La Tomate Verte or Joe’s Pizza. We hoped that Sabine would fall asleep in the stroller so we could enjoy a nice dinner, but she didn’t have the same idea. After walking around for 30 minutes, we decided to get pizza from a street vendor and take it back to the apartment.
Aix has a produce market every day but only on Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday does it have a main market with clothes, antiques, soaps, linins, pottery and other specialty Provencal items. I love wandering around markets so that was first on my agenda for Saturday morning. We picked up some cheese and fixings for some mussels Provencal which I planned to make for Sunday night.
After loading up our stroller with goodies, we headed back to the apartment for lunch and so Jim could go out for a ride.
After Jim’s ride, I went out to do a little shopping. The French really know how to dress their kids. Every French town we’ve been to has so many kids’ clothing stores. The challenge is trying to restrain myself and remember that she’ll only be wearing the stuff for a short time.
On Saturday night, we were invited to a friend of Jim’s for dinner. Sophie, her husband Pascal and her two teenage boys, Mathieu and Paul live in a small town just outside of Aix. Sophie speaks English but her husband and boys do not so the evening was a mish mash of Franglish. I was surprised how well I was able to follow the conversations in French. I think I’ve just gotten very good at reading situations after living in a country where I don’t speak the language rather than that I’ve actually learned any French after listening to Jim speak to Sabine.
We had a very French dinner – duck ribs. I can’t say that I’ve ever even heard of people eating duck ribs but they were actually pretty good. We finished the meal with macaroons which are a specialty in Aix. I’ve always thought of macaroons with coconut or almond but these looked like brightly colored mini hamburgers. They have various flavors but my favorites were the chocolate and pistachio. Even the McCafe at a gas station we stopped at on the trip home had them.
Sunday was rainy so we had a lazy morning or as they say in French a Grasse Matinee (literally fat morning). We finally got out the door at about noon and headed to Lourmarin which was recommended to us by both Sophie and our hostess.
Loumarin was a little town in the Luberon region. It was only about 45 minutes from Aix. When we arrived it was about 1:00 and a few of the shops were open even though it was a Sunday. We needed to eat lunch and due to a bathroom emergency we chose the first place we saw for lunch. It was your standard café lunch. Jim got lamb and I got a salad. The French really know how to take the “healthy” out of a salad. This salad was loaded with fatty lardons (similar to bacon) and Roquefort cheese and then doused in dressing.
I’m not exactly sure why this little town was supposed to be so special. There really wasn’t a lot to see there. By the time we were done with lunch all of the little boutiques were closed except one. We walked up to the castle which wasn’t all that attractive from the outside. After taking a look at the stairs required to get inside we decided against going inside with the stroller and headed back to the car to go back to Aix.
The weather started to clear up so Jim went out for a ride while I wandered around the town to take pictures while the sun was out. Along the way I stumbled across an artisan market where I made a number of acquisitions, namely candlesticks.
Ever since our trip to Scotland, I have been obsessed with candlesticks. We visited a restaurant there called The Dog which had a bar covered with all different types of candlesticks. It had a really nice eclectic look to it which I’ve tried to copy with little success to date. For some reason I can’t quite master an eclectic or random look. I always want to make everything perfectly symmetrical or completely even. I think the technical medical diagnosis is Matchy-matchyosis.
While living in Europe, I thought I should collect some antiques and thought candlesticks would be a great start since they are easy to transport while traveling. I realized, however, that most antique candlesticks are made of silver. Silver sounds nice until you think about the hours required to polish the stuff. That seemed like far too much work for something decorative. Plus after checking out a few antique shops, I realized how pricey they are. So my solution has been to collect new candlesticks that are made to look old – going the shabby chic route or is it just the shabby cheap route?
Anyway, I found a few candlesticks at the market and was feeling a little passive aggressive about the fact that Jim was out riding his bike so I snatched them up. I considered it some good retail therapy.
High from my shopping buzz, I returned home to make some amazing mussels with tons of garlic, shallots, white wine, tomatoes and basil. They were the biggest mussels I’ve ever eaten and the sauce was so good that we ate it like soup after the mussels were all gone. It was by far the best meal that we had on our trip.
On Monday, Jim had planned to do a long ride while I went shopping with Sabine. Unfortunately, all the stores were closed for Easter Monday. The Monday after Easter is a holiday in Europe so you always have a 4 day weekend for Easter. Since we don’t have that day off in the U.S., I completely forgot that it was a holiday. I ended up going for a coffee on Cours Mirabou and people watched for a little bit.
After Jim’s ride, we went to Le Pain Quotidien for lunch and met Sophie, her friend Sylvie, and Mathieu for a coffee and soaked up some sun. Unfortunately, because it was so hot I took off my coat and then proceeded to leave it behind when we got up to go. A trip just wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t manage to lose something. Thankfully it was a ratty old Target trench coat instead of a camera this time.
The next morning I wanted to hit the big market again to pick up a shirt I had seen on Saturday but didn’t buy so I shopped while Jim watched Sabine and packed up.
We were going to just have lunch in the apartment but the cleaning lady had already come. We didn’t want to make a mess so we decided to stop in Bonnieux for lunch.
Bonnieux was another little town in the Luberon region and was on the way to Chardonnay. The town was built into a hill so the walkways were generally stairs. Since Sabine was sleeping we decided to just grab lunch at the first place we saw. We got pizzas and a salad and enjoyed the view of the valley on the terrace.
On the way out of town we stopped at the Cave de Bonnieux and tasted some wine. Our car was pretty tightly packed so we only bought a few bottles of wine.
We ended our trip with another stay at Le Chardon in Chardonnay. We wanted to try to eat at Relais d’Oznay after our fabulous meal there last year. I was especially excited about it since I had to abstain from wine and soft cheeses the last time around. Unfortunately, they were closed on Tuesday nights so we had dinner again at Nick and Rebecca’s. It was probably a blessing in disguise. I don’t think babies pair well with Michelin starred restaurants.
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