days 39-45: marseille, arles, aix-en-provence, france
august 12-18, 2023
it’s my first time in france, and i’m lucky to travel here with someone who can speak the language. we met kevin and tilly in marseille - tilly studied abroad in aix-en-provence. it’s a welcomed change to be on the coast and for marcus and me to be around people besides each other.
to get around for the first few hours by ourselves, i learned a few french words to bookend the english parts while interacting with people at stores and restaurants. and it seems that if i smile and try, we both attempt to figure out what the other person needs.
coming to europe in the summer has given me a view into holiday leisure and, in france, cool nonchalance. in smoking at the beach, riding a bicycle, walking on a red light, hanging at the cafes. these are all things i do or have seen other people do, but it’s hard not to notice the spirit behind these basic actions between being in a new country and coming in with a simplistic perception that everything is somehow better out here. it seems like it is. i’m an outsider, so i’m observing a lot.
like in portugal and spain, i’m eating breads and pastries, except here, there are boulangeries that serve baguette sandwiches with ham, salmon, pate, and sometimes vegetables. and i’ve tried moules frites for the first time, which i now want to have more frequently back in san francisco and eventually learn how to make. for me and probably many others, food is an easy connecting point. and really, the food in many places is better than i’ve had it in the states.
so far, we’ve spent 3 full days in marseille, 1 day in arles, and will be in aix for 2 days. while in marseille, we walked around the town and old port, to the beaches, and drove out to cassis and into the calanques to hang out by the water. in arles, we stayed at the time machine of a hotel called les cabanettes, which was originally built in 1967 and renovated to retain the style. very pleasant. we walked around the town in arles and visited the LUMA - an incredibly spacious and diverse contemporary museum that is free to enter. artists to remember for the future: theaster gates, carrie may weems. we also saw greater flamingos, grey herons, and coypus at the ornithological park in ponte de gau.
now in aix, we get some downtime. it’s a landlocked city - one of the most expensive in france - and the center is very walkable and quaint. our aix airbnb is eccentric, like a museum filled with various furniture pieces and decor that could double as art pieces. i don’t know the words for the style or era, but mostly a mix of asian and european. the ceiling banisters are hand painted with flowers, and what looks like baguettes and olives. the space was restored in the early 2000s. when i first walked in, i couldn’t believe places like this still exist and are accessible to live in.
i think i can stop calling bigger/popular european cities cosmopolitan - i now think it’s just characteristic. in my untrained eye, these places are more classy and tasteful than places i’ve traveled to before, which does not include much of europe.