Aix marks the spot

[Ed’s note: there has been input about the lack of blog yesterday.  It was started at 11 PM but interrupted and today…we were away before it got worked on.  So, here it is, followed by another “shortly”}

Today we spent the day in Aix-en-Provence (because there must be another “X” in France, right?), which was a 90+ ride from our resort. 

Since yesterday might have been the world’s worst food day (😢) I will reverse our course and start with dinner, which was in Old Town Mougins (EH pronounces it like you mow and are gone), which we were told is straight uphill from us about a mile.  It was.

It’s a lovely village on the top of the hill, all on a couple circles around the edge. It was cute — as have other villages been — with some pretty lights.  This pic will have to stand.

The first place we stopped didn’t serve dinner (!!!) although they had all kinds of “plats” on the menu “until 1600”.  But not anything now (1900).  Makes sense, right?

We got the cheese board, which turned out to be the best cheese board we have ever seen. !!!!

Then we walked around the village to a place that actually served dinner.  

Here’s the food porn:

K had the duck…

KG had the quail (I’m tortured by people eating the poor little things!)

I had the canneloni.   EH had traditional French beef stew.  

Made up for the night before. 
 

The day started with a trip to Aix, pronounced we-don’t-know, with point 1 being the cathedral.  Here’s a quick shot:

There’s a baptismal font from the 5th c. that they built the church around.  

There was a beggar sitting at the door.  KG said that was pretty good marketing — in front of the church, hitting people up for charity. 

Then we walked down the their museum.  But the Cezanne floor was closed (there seems to be an international exhibition somewhere with a lot of his paintings), so it wasn’t the deal it could have been.

But we tried to lose K!

It’s a classic story:  we all went into the first gallery and the kids and I went around the two rooms and waited in the hall.  K didn’t come.  And doesn’t come.  (she’s typically the one who reads everything and is last).  And doesn’t come.  We discussed that there were only 4 paintings in the room where we left her; “how long can you look at those 4?” We waited.  I finally went to see what she was doing and she wasn’t there!!!!

Turned out there was a back exit into another room and then down some back steps into the lower gallery.

I went through the WHOLE building and nothing…(I thought the other two were way too relaxed about this)!!! 

I came back and found EH standing at the bottom of the stairs and said “I haven’t seen her” and KG comes around the corner and says “I could hear you two clear down that gallery.”  😂  

K appears at the top of the stairs and says “You guys left me!” I laughed and said “you left us”…seems she went down one floor, then thought she’d lost us and went back up to where we were.  I had seen the whole place; they had to go fill in the missing spots. 

Then off on adventure 109.  K’s bucket list for the trip was to go to a real French (as opposed to a fake French) winery.  KG found a place on the way home.

OMG.  I missed the turn into the place (not my first missed turn of the week).  Came back, wound around on a300 degree right hand turn and up the hillside on a “gravel” road with a steep fall off to the right.  Through ruts and everything.  At the top there was a house and a sign that said parking.  Two dogs greeted us friendily but there was no sign of anyone.  No other signs.  We wondered around the house, looking for a likely door, and, after we had done things we might have been arrested for, a guy about my age came out and shook my hand and said some stuff in French.  Then a younger guy showed up and spoke English.  He took us down some stone steps, past some geese that hooted outrageously, and down into a small building with a small door to a bar, where Matthieu (sp?) gave us a little talk and some good wine. 

But the best part is the goats.  

The place was called Trois Skippies, or something like that.  We bought a bottle.  Then a chunk of “fresh cheese” (from a goat, if you didn’t get that) - none of which can come home. 

And that was the day (with dinner). 

Oh, yeah, we came back and finally dug out a deck of cards and played euchre.  KG and EH vs their parents.  Parents won both games, 10-9, despite renegging twice 😂. The cards KG had were from Lisbon last year but it turned out the score cards (6’s and 4’s) had no spots on them.  So K tore up four pieces of paper and attempted to recreate the score cards — though we couldn’t tell what they were! KG said she “did a Picasso on the symbols.” 😂. I was told I couldn’t take a picture of them and share. 😂

That was today…