Aix, "like eggs?"

This adventure started out as a mission to get out of the rain. After just three days of sunshine, the rain was out to spoil the rest of our weekend, but Luisa and I weren't having it. The night before, just as we were leaving Brasserie des Arts (a usual stopping point on les soirees Saint Tropez that I am convinced that I am allergic to because every time we go there I am deathly ill for a week) it started to pour. The other girls who were with us opted to go home, but Luisa and I decided to walk around looking for another club. We stopped at Chez Maggy for a bit but the night was just too quiet. I suppose once the weather starts warming up, les Tropeziens get kind of Californian in that they don't go out when it's raining. We ended up standing under a shop overhang for 20 minutes until the rain stopped and headed back to the car.
The next morning, the clouds hadn't cleared and there was no way I was going to spend another weekend walking around in the rain. So while Luisa slept, I looked at the weather in the rest of Southern France. The Rain appeared to fade out around Marseille, but since even then I was running short on money and everyone says the only good thing about Marseille is shopping, that was out.
For ages, people have been raving about Aix-en-Provence. It is a big university town (Christine actually went to school there) and the former home of the artist Cezanne. By the time Luisa woke up, I already had our day planned-- we were going to see the Atelier Cezanne (the artist's studio that has been converted into a museum but remains exactly how he left it when he died in 19__), wander around a bit, grab a bite to eat before returning home. Considering that usually, my plans always never go the way I think they are going to, the day actually went pretty smoothly. We did hit a few speed bumps, like when I realized I was almost out of gas but on Sundays you can only get gas if you have a carte bancaire, and when we did get to Aix and finally decided it was time to eat, almost everything was closed because lunch hours were over, but Luisa and I make a really good team and we worked our way around every obstacle. The gas situation for instance was solved by asking a man to let us use his card to buy gas (I paid him in cash of course). And for our extremely late lunch, we ended up going to this boulangerie (pictured below)  where we each got a calzonne, a muffin, and a coke for 7,90 euro.
I love the confidence and energy that is required of me on these outings because of the pickles we get ourselves into. It's wonderful practice for not only my language skills but also for just dealing with problems that arise in everyday life. If I can get myself out of some of these situations in a foreign language, surely I can handle anything that will come my way once I get back to the states. Anyways, here's some pictures from Aix.  I love and miss you all!

Atelier Cezanne-- pictures weren't allowed inside :(