SOF - South of France

The French are serious about a lot of things but certainly about their vacations. French law mandates a minimum of 5 weeks vacation per year! Most take more depending on their profession. Easter holiday (also considered Spring holiday) is two weeks usually mid/end of April to early May. Not to be left behind, we decided to head south and spend a week in Aix en Provence. It had been several years since my last visit but it was the first time staying in the center of old town.

The photos above were taken from the balcony of the apartment we rented. The photos below are some shots of life in Aix.

As you probably know, Aix is the birth place of Cezanne. I visited two impressive museums on this visit: the Musee Granet and La Collection Planque where there was a special exhibit Italia Discreta with photographs by Bernard Plossu(1945-)and watercolors of Francois Marius Granet (1775-1849). I really enjoyed the exhibit but neglected to take any photographs - oops. I did take three shots of work by Claude Garache (1929-) These oil paintings of figures in red were stunning.

We left Aix one day to have lunch with dear friends who live in Saint Pantaleon, a village in the Luberon at the foot of the Vaucluse mountains. We ate a delicious meal outside on their terrace overlooking the beautiful countryside. Kicking myself for spacing on photo’s. On another day, we did a six mile hike around Saint Victoire - the famous mountain painted numerous times by Cezanne. And finally, we drove to the Mediterranean to explore the fishing town of Cassis. Lucca kept right up with us at all times!