After lunch, weaving through the smaller streets of Aix's old centre, a box in a window display caught my eye. The owner of the atelier,
Sylvianne Bertolucci, abandonned her dressmaker's manneqin and invited us in to visit her creations, costumes fabricated for the Venise Carnavale. She works downstairs in an old vaulted
sous-sol that she brought back to life herself.
Her website:
http://www.defilenreves.fr
Sylvianne Bertolucci with a costume she created over four months.
Our destination for the afternoon was a small museum with a private collection of faience and other objets. When we arrived at the door, there was the inevitable paper sign tacked up: Museum closed. Ring for the library. Instructions on the little brass plates next to the doors said 1 ring for the museum, 2 rings for the library, so I rang twice. We heard a heavy key turning, and the heavy doors opened and a woman looked out. The library was only made available to researchers and she had not idea when the museum would next be open, which could be next year, or the year after that.
We retreated to the Cours Mirabeau where we bought a bar of dark chocolate as consolation.
Robert on rue 4 septembre, of our close encounter with the museum
Reine, at the Monoprix on the Cours Mirabeau...generous and helpful and a fan of Montreal which she visited and admires for (what else?) its poutine...among other things.
Parking is always dicey in Aix.
Another day, another mountain...only this time we went up on foot, through a gorgeous forest, up to the site of many pilgrimages, the grotto where Mary Magdalena lived as hermit for the last 30 years of her life. The Benedictines have built a chapel there, hold daily mass, though most visitors are walkers, like us, heading to the top of the massif for the view.
From the chapel one has a clear view to the Ste. Victoire
View from the top of the massif.
After lunch, weaving through the smaller streets of Aix's old centre, a box in a window display caught my eye. The owner of the atelier, Sylvianne Bertolucci, abandonned her dressmaker's manneqin and invited us in to visit her creations, costumes fabricated for the Venise Carnavale. She works downstairs in an old vaulted sous-sol that she brought back to life herself. Her website: http://www.defilenreves.fr
Sylvianne Bertolucci with a costume she created over four months.
Our destination for the afternoon was a small museum with a private collection of faience and other objets. When we arrived at the door, there was the inevitable paper sign tacked up: Museum closed. Ring for the library. Instructions on the little brass plates next to the doors said 1 ring for the museum, 2 rings for the library, so I rang twice. We heard a heavy key turning, and the heavy doors opened and a woman looked out. The library was only made available to researchers and she had not idea when the museum would next be open, which could be next year, or the year after that.
Parking is always dicey in Aix.
No sooner arrived than we took off for the Vaucluse and our annual visit chez Habib and Ruth. The mistral was blowing, which meant windy days in Rians but as we travelled west we felt the full power of this chilly wind that blows down the Rhone Valley...and it was a particularly fierce mistral, so complained the provencales. 
Just below the bare stony top is a relay station and a welcome cup of coffee. Half the cyclists were fortifying themselves for the cold ride down, the other half still had the last steep montée to do.
Picnic on the northern flank of the Mont Ventoux. We weren't exactly fighting the crowds for a good spot! But we had a perfect view of the top of the mountain.
Back down in the valley, a vineyard. First greening.
