After a very scenic train ride across the Spanish-French border yesterday, we have made our way to Aix-en-Provence!
The train was... how should I put it... very
retro. Lots of browns and tans, 1960's decor, heavy striped curtains on the windows, but the seats reclined much further than plane seats so we were comfortable. We almost didn't want to sleep though, we were afraid of missing some of the beautiful landscape we rode through - castles, French marshlands, ancient villages, cliffs leading to the dark aqua sea, and acres upon acres of vineyards with rolling hilly backdrops. We befriended a little 18-month-old Australian girl, Ava, and her parents (I have no idea how they were travelling with such a young child, but she was surprisingly well-behaved!)
Picking up the rental car in Montpellier was a little bit of an adventure. GPS wasn't available, so we mapped out our route to Aix-en-Provence and we actually got here with very little
problems! The countryside along the way is gorgeous... lots of the classic ochre-colored homes with bright blue shutters, surrounded by farmland.
Aix is different than I pictured it to be, it's much busier with lots of foot traffic and tons of chic little boutiques. The university here dates from 1409, so it has a huge student population and they don't seem to be very respectful of the history of the place (think beer cans strewn all over the street, cigarette butts, etc.), but I love the little winding alleyways and the beautiful old fountains. You can just walk for hours around here and find all kinds of cool stuff... last night Roberto and I found a little shop that sold only "macarons", little cakes with cream in the middle in all kinds of funky flavors.
He got a chocolate caramel and a pistachio, and I got a peach-champagne and a blueberry-violet. Delicious! Only in a place like Aix, very funky and walkable, could a shop like this survive. I love it.
We ate dinner at a highly recommended (by Lonely Planet) little restaurant with only about 8 tables called Le Petit Verdot. Everyone in there was French, and thank goodness we stopped by early to make a reservation for when the place opened for dinner at 7. While we were eating, at least 4 tables got turned away because they didn't have reservations! We had the most fantastic fois gras with orange gelatin and baby arugula, and Roberto got sliced "canard" (duck). I got braised lamb. We had a fantastic bottle of Bordeaux that went perfectly with the meal.
I think most restaurants here are like Le Petit Verdot in that you have to make a reservation before they open for dinner or you don't get in... at least the ones that are worth it. Tonight we're hoping to go to a little bistro called Charlotte, another that's highly recommended by our book.
We woke up early this morning to drive along the Cote d'Azur to our last stop in France, Nice. What a gorgeous trip! We traveled through St. Tropez, St. Raphael, St. Maxime, and Cannes, which is in the midst of its world-famous film festival right now. The traffic was so congested that it took over an hour to get 1 km through town, but I thought it was worth it! We saw the red carpet where the stars walk, lots of self-important people with badges strutting around, and the paparazzi camped outside the glitziest hotels. 
At one point we heard screaming and everyone outside the Martinez Hotel started snapping pictures furiously, but we couldn't see who they were taking pictures of. We couldn't park the car, so Roberto just drove inch by inch while I jumped out here and there to take photos. Some I took from the car's window. It was neat!
clean, walkable, and fun. We had an amazing Italian dinner at Pasta Basta in the Old City, then walked along Promenade des Anglais for a little sightseeing. Tomorrow morning we're headed to Monaco, then back to nice for a little more sightseeing and shopping!
