Aix-en-Provence was the final stop on our whirlwind weekend. We arrived just before nightfall and checked into the hotel. Malou actually left to have dinner with an old friend, so Kat and I wandered outside at about 8pm to find dinner. However, we found a huge celebration instead. Just feet from our hotel door was the main square of Aix, and it was packed with people! Suddenly, I see a giant blown-up dragon floating above the crowd, which made Kat and I even more curious. When we get to the heart of the crowd, we see that the celebration happened to be Aix's Carnival, and we just joined in. Passing people saw us newcomers and started throwing fistfuls of confetti at us, which just made me laugh.
I think Aix's Carnival was by far the best of the three that I've seen. It was really strange though--especially with the giant floating creatures (which included an enormous whale, three evil-looking fish that might've been piranhas, a purple octopus, and a green creature that we guessed was a lobster). But everyone in the crowd was having fun, and confetti was thrown in all directions at strangers, and it was such a beautiful night.
After the crowds dispersed at the end of Carnival, the streets were blanketed in a colorful sheet of confetti, and we saw children scooping it off the road to throw at others. Kat and I quickly followed their example and soon engaged in a furious confetti-war for a while before calling a truce and searching for dinner along the main street.
Sunday in Aix-en-Provence was much more tame. Malou took us all around the city, and we wandered for a while. Since it was a Sunday, pretty much everything was closed, because France just shuts down on Sundays. However, the open air market was still there in the morning, and we passed numerous mom-and-pop stalls of honey, lavender, olives, fruits and vegetables just off the vine, fresh cheeses, and fish packed in ice. We talked with some of the vendors, and I actually heard the Provence accent! What I loved most about the market was that people come here to do their grocery shopping like it's a casual thing, but we don't really have markets like this where I come from.
After the markets, we ate lunch outside, where I tried Pastis (the light-green-colored anise-flavored liquor that is really strong)... far from my favorite alcohol. Afterwards, we went to a little park for a while--nothing too exciting--before leaving for the train station. I think Aix was the prettiest of the four towns/cities that we visited, but there wasn't too much to visit or do there besides the luck we had with Carnival on Saturday night.
So that wraps up my weekend to the South of France! Next post will be about my Easter break in Italy.
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