Thursday in Aix

We went down to Aix for most of the day to go on a walking tour of the city focused on Cezanne's life in Aix but also to see the start of the sixth stage of the Tour de France. It was also market day in Aix so the clothes and cloth vendors took up the entire Cours Mirabeau. The folks running the stalls were often as colorful as their wares. 

Lots of children in attendance. The girl on the right has her Tour de France shopping bag.

 These fireman spent most of the morning outside the pastry shop but nothing seemed to catch fire.

 The city has put a series of bronze markers to help visitors imagine the life of Cezanne in Aix, but there are very few commemorative plaques or indicators of places important in his life within the city.

This is a small wall plaque in the old section of the city. The only statue is a very recent standing figure with painting gear on his back set up on the Place de Rotonde just a few years ago.





Cezanne rented the top two floors of this house, but it is now privately owned with no access.

 The upper studio window.

After the tour, I had just a few minutes to get back down to the Place de la Rotonde to see the start of the Tour de France. It hadn't come to Aix in fifty years and this was the hundredth anniversary, so there was all kinds of fanfare. Here is the link to a video of the riders coming through the rotary just after the start that I shot by standing on top of a barricade.

                                                                   Start of the Tour