After a late-night last night, we both sleep in a little this morning. Our neighbors across the way are getting new patio doors on their 4th floor apartment (read 5th floor) and it is amusing to watch the process of the workers hoisting the windows up by hand over the balcony to install. We enjoy a leisurely breakfast and extra coffee on the balcony while being entertained.
The local rooster is also a lively addition as he crows every 2 minutes, at what I am not sure. But you could set your watch by him.
We have a lunch reservation at Da Vito. Full disclosure, this is the third time we’ve eaten here. They have the best real deal Italian style pizza I have ever had. We eat here once a week. If you don’t make a reservation, if you can get in, you must sit in the ‘cave’, with a reservation you can a least get the main floor. What it takes to actually sit at one of the three tables outside, I doubt we will find out.
We have the same waiter as the last two times and that’s good as he is the only one that speaks any English. He recognizes us by now. Today we shared the antipasto plate and the ‘Rocco’ pizza. It is unusual in France to share plates, but they are used to us by now and are happy to accommodate. We also have a really nice bottle of red wine from the Luberon. Even though we don’t need it, we must try the homemade cannoli trio, yum.
On the way back, we wander through the old town past additional fountains to admire to the Musee du Pavillon de Vendome. It’s an interesting building from the outside with some nice formal gardens. Rumor has it that it was built by a gentleman for his mistress. We had heard that there wasn’t much to look at inside, so we skip the admission and just enjoy the gardens and the shade with the plane trees.
If I haven’t mentioned it yet, it has been very warm here since we’ve arrived. Today was in the high 80’s again. The wind is supposed to arrive on Monday and bring some cooler temperatures, we’ll see.
M.
Things are pretty quiet in the mornings in our neighborhood – except for the local rooster. Seems odd to hear his crowing in the middle of a city. He starts early and finishes late. Mary is right on target – you could set your watch by this guy.
We’re getting pretty good at finding our way through the old town now & especially to what has become our favorite food joint, Da Vito. It’s quite a famous trattoria having their first shop open in Marseilles in 1946. The Aix restaurant has a nice menu with a lot of Italian selections, but we can’t get past the pizza. Last time in we saw a fellow patron eating the ‘Rocco’ version that looked pretty good so that’s our choice for today. Italian style with tomato, spicy sausage, grilled peppers & caramelized onions – awesome!
We ordered a cannoli desert to share. Our waiter (nice young man) wouldn’t give us a fork, insisting it was a ‘local custom’ to eat cannoli with fingers only.
A short diversion on the way home are the gardens at the Pavillon de Vendome. The building is very cool looking from the outside and the formal gardens on the grounds quite nice. There are some benches in the shade that make a nice spot to relax, cool off, and admire the plantings.
D.