Day 9: Portraits of Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence is a beautiful French town outside of Marseille. This morning we took a 40-minute train ride from Marseille to Aix.
The market in Aix was wonderful, but completely overpriced. I loved the rows of old books, faded maps, postcards, and antiques.
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Aix is known for its fountains, but I’ll remember it for its books.
Aside from the market, Erica and I found an adorable bookstore down one of the streets, called Book in Bar. We walked in and saw rows and rows of English books. I’ve visited several bookstores in France, but this was the first time I saw English books for sale. The entire first floor was (surprisingly!) dedicated to English books in every genre.
Upstairs was dedicated to other languages, such as Spanish, Arabic, French, etc. These languages were painted on the stairs.
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Book in Bar impressed me and is easily my favorite French bookstore so far. I want to ride the train 40 minutes again just to sit and read there, surrounded by books, the smell of coffee, and the beauty of France.
A few hours later, Shelby, Rachel, and I set out on a Pinterest-inspired hunt for a library. After walking for 12 minutes, we found it tucked away far from the touristy area.
If you look closely at the first picture, you can see me standing next to the ‘le’ in the title of Le Petit Prince (love that book).
During our time in Aix, we bought 2 to 5 euro pancakes at the underground Crepes-a-GoGo. For less than 6 euros, I ordered a honey and almond crepe and a lemon and coconut shavings crepe. These crepes are absolutely worth another train ride.
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While Erica and I were “wandering,” we found one of the majestic churches. We pushed open the door and stepped inside. There was some sort of service happening, so we only stayed 3 seconds, long enough to hear the singing of the congregation. Their voices echoed and re-echoed through the building.
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Other adventures in Aix included fries at Five Guys, gelato at Amorino, and market-surfing. One of the vendors and I were able to have a full conversation in Spanish. I didn’t realize how much I missed it.
After Aix, we went back to Marseille and then biked to the beach. It must have been a popular bike-to-the-beach day, because all the bike racks were empty near our hotel and the ones near the beach were almost completely full.
The beach was extremely crowded, but the sea water was cold, almost icy. Julia and I floated for a while. Floating kept us from freezing. The waves would push us back toward the shore, but most of the waves are gentle, not even violent enough for the tips to turn white.
After swimming and attempting a game of “tag” in the ocean (too much cardio), I split off from the group and biked at the park across from the beach. From the park, you can see the sea in the distance.
Today was a day of many pictures and many adventures. But still, my favorite moment was walking into a hidden bookstore in Aix-en-Provence.
