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A visit to Aix-de-Pce...
Jun. 22nd, 2011 07:22 pmFiguring out where to go and what to do during our stay is not all that easy, as it is quite easy to get overloaded with information. In this part of the world, every town, village, and (apparently) large rock has a few centuries of active history behind it, as well as someone writing tourist copy about it.
We got under way a bit after 11 am, and took the back roads down to Aix-de-Provence (abbreviated "Aix-de-Pce" on all directional signs), a town about 50 kilometers down the road. It was a pleasant enough trip, and I'm getting used to the rond-points (aka "traffic circles" back home), which appear to be the preferred method of dealing with intersecting roads, and sure beat traffic lights.
It turns out I hadn't downloaded sufficiently detailed MotionX maps for the area, so we twisted and turned once we got to the city, trying to find parking reasonably close to the center. Miraculously, a spot opened up on Ave Victor Hugo just as we were approaching it, and we were also able to take advantage of about 75 minutes of free parking, since parking between noon and 2 pm is free. As our time in Avignon yesterday went all-too-fast, I decided to feed the machine a 2-euro coin for an additional hour of parking, and so got a parking-paid ticket good until 3 pm.
The centre ville has a pretty high concentration of tourists, starting at the fountain at the Place de la Rotonde and the nearby carousel. Curiously, when we walked by the contraption, it was almost deserted of humans, although there were horses in abundance.
Off the Cours Mirabeau, we took a left onto the Rue Clémenceau and pretty much kept on as straight a path as we could until we got to the Place des Martyrs de la Résistance, where quite a number of people were eating what—at least in our case—was bland and tasteless food. The following shot, I think, captures the mood (and I can easily imagine the faces on the wall as being those of previous customers).
It has probably been evident that I keep my eyes peeled for interesting artwork that was placed above everyone's heads many moons ago, and which is all but completely ignored by the people passing by—locals and tourists—as they rush about. Me, I really enjoy the free art display, such as this bas relief on top of the post office building (the dangling leg is brilliant, I think).
Coming back was not as straightforward as getting there, but we eventually returned to home base (even if some of the roads we took were on the narrow-enough-to-make-one-nervous side).
I had wanted to go see an exhibition of falconry, but apparently, the local town fathers told the falconers to leave, whereupon the bird trainers pulled stakes and moved to Château-Thierry (which, si je ne me trompe pas, is wa-a-y up north, northeast of Paris by about 60 miles and a name that shines, along with Belleau Wood, in the history of the US Marines). Better luck next trip, but there's still plenty of things to see in this neck of the woods—the main task is to figure out what's worth one's time.
Cheers...
We got under way a bit after 11 am, and took the back roads down to Aix-de-Provence (abbreviated "Aix-de-Pce" on all directional signs), a town about 50 kilometers down the road. It was a pleasant enough trip, and I'm getting used to the rond-points (aka "traffic circles" back home), which appear to be the preferred method of dealing with intersecting roads, and sure beat traffic lights.
It turns out I hadn't downloaded sufficiently detailed MotionX maps for the area, so we twisted and turned once we got to the city, trying to find parking reasonably close to the center. Miraculously, a spot opened up on Ave Victor Hugo just as we were approaching it, and we were also able to take advantage of about 75 minutes of free parking, since parking between noon and 2 pm is free. As our time in Avignon yesterday went all-too-fast, I decided to feed the machine a 2-euro coin for an additional hour of parking, and so got a parking-paid ticket good until 3 pm.
The centre ville has a pretty high concentration of tourists, starting at the fountain at the Place de la Rotonde and the nearby carousel. Curiously, when we walked by the contraption, it was almost deserted of humans, although there were horses in abundance.
Off the Cours Mirabeau, we took a left onto the Rue Clémenceau and pretty much kept on as straight a path as we could until we got to the Place des Martyrs de la Résistance, where quite a number of people were eating what—at least in our case—was bland and tasteless food. The following shot, I think, captures the mood (and I can easily imagine the faces on the wall as being those of previous customers).
It has probably been evident that I keep my eyes peeled for interesting artwork that was placed above everyone's heads many moons ago, and which is all but completely ignored by the people passing by—locals and tourists—as they rush about. Me, I really enjoy the free art display, such as this bas relief on top of the post office building (the dangling leg is brilliant, I think).
Coming back was not as straightforward as getting there, but we eventually returned to home base (even if some of the roads we took were on the narrow-enough-to-make-one-nervous side).
I had wanted to go see an exhibition of falconry, but apparently, the local town fathers told the falconers to leave, whereupon the bird trainers pulled stakes and moved to Château-Thierry (which, si je ne me trompe pas, is wa-a-y up north, northeast of Paris by about 60 miles and a name that shines, along with Belleau Wood, in the history of the US Marines). Better luck next trip, but there's still plenty of things to see in this neck of the woods—the main task is to figure out what's worth one's time.
Cheers...
