Bon Anniversaire to Me!

First of all I want to thank all my dear friends and family for the texts, emails, IMs, cards, flowers, and gifts. It was a wonderful birthday knowing that you were all thinking of me.

As of last Friday I've moved into my new place with my two new flatmates and took off the next day to Aix-en-Provence to celebrate my birthday. Provence is a major region in the southeast of France that includes the principle cities of Marseilles, Avignon, and Aix-en-Provence. Provence has a warm dry Mediterranean climate and gets ~300 days of sunshine a year so it's a very popular place to go on holiday. It's also the setting for Peter Mayle's book, A Year in Provence (which later became the movie with Russell Crowe).

I chose to spend my birthday in France again this year because I had such a spectacular birthday celebration last year in Paris (with Maggs of course) and France in general has always just been magical to me. Every time I come to France I can't seem to help but fall in love. My first trip to France I fell in love with the language. On my last trip I fell in love with a boy who had eyes so deep and so blue that I thought I would drown in them but alas he left me in Paris for the shores of Normandy. On this trip I fell in love with a pretty yellow house and a village.

Have you ever said to yourself, "One day I'd like to retire and open a bed and breakfast in the south of France"? Well I got a taste of that this weekend at the Pavillon de la Torse. Some of the Alterans may recall that prior to Mojy, the VP of Technology was Francois. In 2005, Francois and his wife, Marie, retired to Aix-en-Provence and completely remodeled an 18th-century chateau that includes about 1-acre of land bordered by a park. The house is a ~15-minute walk into the heart of Aix-en-Provence but is worlds away from any kind of city life which is exactly what I needed. The main goal of this trip was to get some much needed downtime away from any kind of obligation or concern. I wanted to walk, read, nap, and most importantly, EAT. Also, in all my trips to France I'd never quite made it down to the south before and have been dying to see it. Francois and Marie have definitely created a haven in this little corner of the world and you can tell that they've put the utmost care and love into every detail of the Pavillon de la Torse. They've actually already won an award on TripAdvior as the 2006 Traveller's Choice for Best Inns and B&Bs in Europe. It's also wonderful just to be with the two of them as you can easily see the love and care that they have for each other. It's not easy to get up everyday and work from 6am to 10pm taking care of other people if you're not dedicated and happy with what you're doing. I very much got the sense that they're living their dream in the south of France and loving every moment of being together there.

Being the goal-oriented person that I am (not that anyone would say I'm very "type A"), I got right to work on my objectives as soon as I arrived in Aix-en-Provence. From the airport I went straight to a restaurant in the city center and had a lovely 2-hour lunch that included a sublimely creamy risotto with pancetta and marinated artichokes, a glass of dry crisp white wine, finishing with a strong coffee and tart raspberry clafoutis. I then proceeded to the Pavillon de la Torse. When I checked-in, Francois mentioned that they served aperitif everyday at 6:30pm and that I should come down for a drink and meet the other guests. (By the way, it is a very strange feeling to have an ex-VP carry your bags up 4 flights of stairs.) After a quick nap and a shower, I figured I'd come down for a quick drink and then head off for a delicious birthday dinner. The other guests included 2 older couples traveling together from Tallahassee and another couple from New York celebrating their first anniversary. It turned out that I had dinner reservations at the same restaurant as the foursome from Tallahassee so from that point they basically adopted me. They took me out to a wonderful birthday dinner (not even knowing it was my birthday) where I had the freshest whole sea bass accompanied by simple vegetables and figs with caramel sauce for dessert. I couldn't have asked for better company to celebrate with me. Thanks so much to the fab foursome!

On Sunday I spent most of the day wandering around town as France is a very Catholic country so 99% of the shops are closed on the Sabbath. I first took a tram to get a brief overview of the sites in Aix-en-Provence such as the house of Paul Cezanne, the Musee Granet (fine art museum), and the Eglise de la Madeleine and then walked back to the areas that really looked interesting. As much as I wanted to see all the beautiful fountains, architecture, and paintings I only got a short survey of it all because my nose won out. After seeing a few buildings and landmarks, I ended up following the sights and more so the smells that surrounded me. How can you help it when you're in a place where EVERYONE walks around with a baguette in his/her hand? At one point I followed some guy for 5 blocks because he had this sandwich that looked so delicious I had to know where he got it from. I did finally find my way to le grand marche (farmers market) and went wild. I bought the freshest chevre, brie, tomatoes, saucisson (I LOVE SAUCISSON and this was saucisson heaven!), figs, flowers, etc. to have a grand picnic for my dinner. After all my shopping and sightseeing I stopped by Les Deux Garcon, where Cezanne, Churchill, and Picasso have been known to frequent (I'm not name-dropping or anything) for some sustenance. Here I was keenly reminded that there is nothing better than the simplest food served at the height of its flavor and freshness. All I had was a plate of oysters on the half shell followed by raw vegetables with an anchovies and olive oil paste but they were exquisite. I then headed back to the Pavillon de la Torse to sit by the pool and read my book. That night at aperitif, it turned out that my fab foursome had the same idea as me to picnic at the house so we pooled our spoils together and had a lovely dinner in the warmth of the Provencal summer. They taught me how to eat tomato sandwiches with mayonnaise, salt, and bread like a good southern girl would.

Monday, it turns out, was the 42nd anniversary of a pair from the fab foursome. During breakfast Francois and Marie surprised us with a wonderful bottle of champagne to celebrate their wedding anniversary (mostly) and my birthday. Isn't it nice to have champagne at 9am? I basically spent the rest of my time in town making up for all the things I hadn't eaten the rest of the weekend including croissants, pain au chocolat, glaces (ice cream), macaroons, biscuits and so on. After my glutinous spree I wanted to head back to the Pavillon de la Torse to spend one more afternoon of basking in the sun and reading/napping.

When my taxi arrived, I was truly sad to leave this place of splendor, relaxation, and pleasure but I had to return to reality at some point. I do comprehend better now what people mean when they say that part of the joy of living in London is that Europe is at your doorstep. When else could I have gone to Provence for the weekend?

I'll leave you with two final closing thoughts. My favorite word in French is now (and probably has always been) patisserie. Favorite moment/memory of the entire trip...Sunday morning I walked into a boulangerie and secured 2 fresh baguettes still warm from the oven. Why 2 baguettes, why not 2? I walked into the street with my treasure, opened the bag, and inhaled deeply for as long as I could. Mmmmm...I can still taste them now.

Pictures are on the left-hand navigation.