Last market day today. We headed out with a list of some things we want to make sure we procure before we leave. Lavender honey for sure and maybe some pottery or linens as well. Dick has passed by the guy roasting meats and sausages for weeks and has said he wants to get a sausage today. Unfortunately, by the time we circle back to that part of the market, he has sold out of everything.
We headed back to the apartment to cycle the last load of laundry and our host pays us a visit bearing pastries. It’s been a nice place to land for the last month, and Lana informs us she has a person renting for the next year starting in October, good for her.
We have a couple of hours to spare so we do a walk about through the old town including a provision run at Christophe Madeleines and a run through the latest craft beer bar/store near the Palais Justice.
We have dinner at L’Opera, a small space near us, seats maybe 26 people. Our starters are a veal tartare for Dick and a goat cheese with Gazpacho gelatin crust for me. Mains were a grilled Hake for me and a freshly caught Seabream tartare for Dick. We finished with a cheese course for Dick and deconstructed lime tart for me. Very good.
Heading home to finish packing
M.
It’s our last full day in Aix. Bummer as it’s been a great place to hang and ‘imbed’ ourselves in French culture.
We cruised the market for some last-minute pickups. On Saturdays the market is much larger than during the week so it’s fun to check out the different vendors and people-watch. Mary picked up a nick-nac or two and we grabbed a nice little painting of one of the squares we’ve haunted over the last month. On the way through town we passed by the ‘Hotel de Ville’ or Town Hall where weddings are held and get to see a number of brides ‘in the queue’ for their civil ceremony. Quite an event!
Later in the day we finally were able to get into the best beer bar in Aix, ‘Le Biere Paul Jack’. It’s great! The owner of the shop is running the show today and is really helpful selecting local stuff to try. On the way home we stopped to say farewell to the gals at ‘Le Novo’ which has become our ‘local’ while here in Aix. Great servers who have been good fun and really nice to chat with.
Dinner is at another small joint in the old quarter, ‘L’Opera’. Good stuff, again. We were trying to remember if we’d had a bad meal the entire time in France and don’t think so.
D.
