Moderate temperatures in the mid 20s made our visit to Aix very pleasant.
Aix-en-Provence is a large university city with close to 150,000 inhabitants which was founded in 123 BC by Sextius Calvinus ( that's just for you Sam.)
The Cours Mirabeau is a beautiful plane tree lined boulevard which essentially divides the old town in the north with the newer section to the south and west and is also home to a diversity of businesses ranging from restaurants to Longchamps ( no Marlene we didn't buy anything there.)
Luckily for us it had a great stationery shop and we were able to buy supplies for our Aussie flag – more on that later…
We had lunch and spent a couple of hours wandering the streets which were congested with tourists and locals alike but picturesque all the same.
We also managed to track down a new carry on bag to house the newly acquired pottery – I'll admit, it may have been cheaper to freight it back – but we'll always have that bag now won't we?
We also saw a bride having final touch ups from maman before entering the town hall…
……..As well as the most gorgeous tutu!
Eventually the feet got weary, we managed to find Pablo and negotiated our way out and home to begin (substitute) flag making.
Despite not having an eraser, ( I hadn't realise how crucial that would be when I tried to draw Skippy) I was reasonably happy with the result and it also got me out of cooking dinner so win win really.
Tomorrow, it goes on show!
Given that the roads into and out of Cavaillon were to be closed from 1200, we decided to go early, scout out a spot on the route and have lunch in the town centre. An unexpected bonus was the Super U was open until 1230 ( it's Bastille Day so a public holiday ) and we bought enough packets of balloons to ensure a reasonable number of green and yellow to augment our Aussie presence.
Lunch was superb at David and Louisa (two Cavaillon restaurants have delivered now) and had the added bonus of the most entertaining 'toilette' that we've seen so far.
Russell's rabbit 'roll' was moist and tender and he was most impressed, I had the burger which was equally good and we regretted having to pass on desserts as the 'caravan' was due at 1.10.
The caravan precedes the tour and consists of lots of colourful and innovative floats that represent products that support the tour. It is immensely popular as small samples are thrown out to the crowds by the usually young and good looking promotion people as they go past playing loud music and dancing on the floats. We were not quite as successful as the last time we attended Le Tour, this time we had to compete with a very zealous young lad that Russell almost had to rugby tackle for a keyring! Rest assured tour lovers, a little (cheap) piece of the tour is coming your way.
About 90 minutes after the caravan, the breakaway group arrived, followed about 12 minutes later by the peloton and the crowd cheered “Allez, Allez, Allez!” as cameras clicked continuously.
We flew (or held ) the Aussie flag which admittedly didn't seem to help that much, and we'd only lost three balloons by the time the peloton came past.
All in all it was a great atmosphere and definitely worth the effort.
Cycling fans you'll have to take my word for it – that's Richie Porte on the outside of number 68 🙂
Too soon it was all over and the crowd dissipated rapidly. A French couple were intrigued with our 'Aussieness' and eventually with limited language skills on both sides said they wanted to take a picture of our sign as a souvenir. We agreed wholeheartedly and combined their French flag for our own souvenir.
Traffic was slow to leave Cavaillon but we were home in time to finish the washing and begin the packing up process, both of us feeling our time in Provence had been too short as always.
Tomorrow, the long drive to the Dordogne region.
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