LA VIE AIXOISE

Taking a break in Cassis, photo credit Erica Curtis

I suppose a sign that I'm settling down is that posts will start to be about life, rather than adjusting to a new place or visiting new places, though the latter will not cease any time soon,  There have been little trips, but no yelling animals and only one rental car mishap to report. Life is settled,  and I've been lucky enough to be distracted by all kinds of socializing, which has been great.

Back in January, I held my first dinner party that was made up of people who I knew, had only met and in one instance, someone I had never met. We sat around my big table and talked until late in the evening. I had the opportunity to sit next to a young Tunisian woman who told me that the person who cooks is not allowed to clean up, which I confess to thinking is nice and I will endeavor to keep to it when I'm dining at someone's house. In what I understand is true Tunisian fashion, when she arrived, she literally rolled up her sleeves and said "OK, put me to work", not in that way that I confess I have said when half of me is offering to help in some minor way and half is just being polite.  Although I had forgotten the advice I've given to myself recently to cook less when entertaining, all parts of it were great fun, from buying everything at the market, cooking for a crew, having them in my house and enjoying the conversation. I felt so lucky to have already met such nice people.

First dinner party; Megda, (Tunisian), Julia and Parker (Australian), Marianne (French) Marianne's mother (German), Carole (French) and Farouk (Tunisian)

A few weeks ago, I met Erica and her big smile with French lipstick at the bus station, though I had to leave her downtown for a bit  with a brown bag that contained a large cracker and a chèvre crotin while I had a work meeting. We met up after at a cafe on the main drag, Cours Mirabeau, and did the thing you do with scarves and a "petit verre", catching up, making plans, watching people. It was great to have her here in Aix, we talked about how many places we've been together and tried to remember the first, which was likely a paddle tournament in Newport, RI.

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Faux Frenchies

Erica of hollow legs is not uninterested in food, so we spent some time at the markets, cooking and generally observing all the good shops that support her interest. She joined me in my survey of the best pain au chocolat, no conclusions reached yet, but I can certainly point you in some meaningful directions.  We did some hiking in the hills nearby and one day rented a car to visit Cassis. It happened to be market day, and cheeky, I took the bait when the cheese vendor asked me if I'd like to try his flight of cheeses. Of course he starts with the least flavorful (and least expensive) and works his way up to truffle infused, I liked the third and while not in the market for any cheese on a day we were going to go to Les Calanques, got sucked in. I talked him down from the the full piece he suggested (see below), but apparently not that much as he told me I owed him 17€. When I complained about the price to Erica, she pointed out the 6 foot sign that announced his and the cheeses Corsican origin. I suppose someone has to pay for his Mediterranean crossing.

​Les Calanques are inlets between Marseille and Cassis, both on the coast, that are bright blue water, a color that doesn't seem natural, way down below high cliffs. It's possible to begin walking them just outside of Cassis, so we took a little gander on a blowy and grey day.

Tomme de Chevre was what I bought, he tried to sell me that whole piece. Would probably buy it again as it was pretty deelish.

Blood oranges I didn't buy

Erica at Les Calanques

Water in Les Calanques
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​It worries me that one of Erica's last memories of the South of France will be her time at the Budget counter, watching me argue with the woman who works there about why I wasn't going to leave (it took more than an hour and repeated arguments) until she credited me the 388€ I had been charged for the most absurd "scratch". As this was my second time around the block with Budget/Avis, I advise you to take a photograph of every blemish. My guess is they prey on those of us who waive coverage.
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Idiocy

And then it was my shaggy girl I was meeting at 11pm on a dark street outside the center of the city, things hanging off her backpack, hair going here and there, stickers on her hands, which were holding a blood orange, and merriment in her voice. It hadn't been that long but oh how delicious it was to lie in our beds (ok, for her it was a couch) and have a chat before going to sleep. This may sound biased but I really do have the best daughter.

After Christmas/New Years, all the shops here, and there are many, have sales, with signs saying SOLDE in the windows and pretty displays. But this past weekend, it was a town wide Braderie, which is a whole different thing, with each store emptying out most of their old content and putting it on the sidewalk, prices reduced dramatically. So while neither Nat nor I are shoppers, we dove in and did a lot of hanger moving and tilting heads to the side trying to make a go of something or other. It was only after a few hours that we realized these were not the kind of shops we would ever find anything. Oh well. In the end, Nat got a few things at the regular market and I a belt at a Vintage store.

We spent one night in Marseille at a hotel that had been newly built a bit outside of the well travelled routes, but lucky for us, overlooking the working harbor where all the big ships were. On Sunday morning, I woke up and stood at the window for an hour watching the ship from Corsica come in, as well as two of those monster floating apartments that are called cruise ships, then countless fishing boats. This led me to think about taking the ferry to Corsica or Tunis, but turns out it's over 300€ one way!

Marseille has many North Africans, and we found ourself at a Tunisian restaurant around sundown during Ramadan, lucky to get a table as we saw others turned away.

​Always hard to say goodbye to this one, but I'll see her soon.

Nat in Le Panier, Marseille, after an evening beer with Bob Marley in the background 

​My social groups in Aix continue to be nice places to drop in when there's time.  A particular one I've been in enjoying is the mostly American ladies who meet for coffee once a week at Belle Epoque, one of the big cafés on the main drag.  The other week, a German woman named Manuela sat next to me and we got to talking about all the work she's doing supporting Syrian and Ukrainian refugees, who are currently living in her house. I''m not sure how we got on the subject of Marrakesh, but she mentioned that she spends a few months there every winter, having made good friends after going there on her own some years ago.  I had been mulling over how I was going to spend four nights that I'm kicked out of my place, was leaning towards Nice, but when she told me this story, I asked her more logistical questions. By the end of the day, she had given me links to a series of places for me to stay, had introduced me to a Brazilian photographer who lives there and has offered to take me around, and added me to a What's App group called Marrakesh Female English Lounge. She has been unbelievable, offering advice, making sure I'm staying in the right part of the Medina, etc. So, tomorrow, I'm breaking my promise to never fly Ryan Air again, and hopping over the Mediterranean to spend a long weekend in Marrakesh. Stay tuned.
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The Belle Epoque coffee ladies are all so welcoming