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For Thursday and Friday in Aix, our plan was to do…not much. Thursday we slept in, and worked for a bit online since we had a nice wireless connection available. For the afternoon, we planned a hike to nearby Mont Ste-Victoire. Made famous by Paul Cézanne, the mountain offers splendid views of the area around Aix as well as the nearby Alps.

Danièle Berthoud, our hostess, offered to drop us off at the trailhead and we agreed. The hike took us through green fields of wheat and over a rolling brook before beginning the long, steep, climb. We stopped near the top to eat our picnic lunch and took look at the beautiful countryside. All along the trail herbs were growing:sage, thyme, rosemary, and oregano. As we brushed and stepped over some of the bushes their smells filled the air.

In order to get back to Aix we had to grab a bus, but it was easy and convenient to get back to the Berthoud’s in time for dinner. We enjoyed another wonderful dinner with the family, and stayed in our chairs talking until after 11 PM. We spoke English most of the time so that Erin could understand.

Friday dawned sunny and warm. I took advantage of the wireless again this morning to catch up with emails and work. While I was pounding away on the keyboard, Erin and Danièle went shopping town (for shoes and clothes, but mostly window shopping).

For lunch we landed on a cool sandwich shop near the Berthoud’s house that offers cheap fare and sunny patio tables. We relaxed and enjoyed the weather and the simple but delicious food.

From there we headed to Musée Granet, an art museum housed next to the Church of the Knights of Malta. They had some great sculptures, some Renaissance works by Italians and Dutch painters, and of course a whole floor dedicated to Aix native Paul Cézanne. He was very involved in Impressionism and Post-Impressionism during the late 1800’s, and even Picasso himself called Cézanne his master and teacher.

This summer the city is celebrating the 100th year anniversary of Cézanne’s death with a city-wide art festival. The Musée Granet will house over 100 of his paintings come June, but we missed it by a few weeks!

Dinner Friday night was a special treat for us, since we were invited to share a meal with the exchange students that the Berthoud’s hosted. We headed out of town to a cool country restaurant called La Granière, about a 30 minute drive from Aix towards Nice. The dinner was to celebrate the end of the semester for the students here from Gordon College; this was the same language program that brought me to Aix seven years ago. It was neat to hear stories and share common experiences with the other students. The food was wonderful, and we enjoyed talking both French and English with the others.

Tomorrow, Saturday, we head to Marseilles to catch a train for Spain.