The Good Life

Today the sun rose hot, intense, and very mediterranean, very provencal. The difference between Provence and my experience in other parts of France was startling. After my usual breakfast Valerie and I headed out to one of her favourite haunts, a bar and restaurant just outside Aix en Provence. I had a tea, she had a coffee. It was lovely under the leafy shade and I marvelled at my life right now.

Aix was pretty much as I expected. I have a photo of a part of Aix as wallpaper on my desktop computer at home. Incredibly I found myself staring at the same building for real, so too a small shop that I have a photo of at home. Both were photos from the internet, now I have my own version. They are not flashy, but the experience was weird, seeing them for real.

Aix is beautiful, completely different from Brittany, Paris or even Marseille. The people are dressed better, there's a lot of attention to detail, the shops present their wares exquisitely, there are fountains, tidy though old buildings, quality and a great lifestyle.

Lunch, a salad of course, was delicious.It's amazing what a few large raisins, dried apricotss, warm deep-fried goats cheese, basil and olive oil with balsamic vinegar can do to a green salad with tomatoes. I was impressed with the matching olive oil and vinegar spray dispensers- what a great way to deliver just the right amount of flavour.

Other shops of note were a chocolaterie, a sweet shop where sweets became undies or bunches of flowers, biscuits I've never seen before, the clothes and perfumes, shoes and bags, beautiful homewares and restaurants.

We met up with Valerie's daughter Fanny who had just finished a history exam for her baccalaureat and headed home in the early evening for a pasta dinner.

Tomorow we will attend a birthday party at Valerie and Frederic's parents house.