Had an excellent weekend. The weather report was fairly dire but it ended up quite nice by kiwi standards. On Saturday morning we went to the local market to look around and do the shopping. The range of foodstuffs available was incredible which is typical for France it seems. The market was seething with people which was a bit alarming for a misanthropic agoraphobe.
Luckily my host Mum prefers to buy her meat and fish from shops instead.
In the afternoon I joined a group from the school on an organized walk in the forest where Paul Cezanne used to paint the mountain Sainte Victoire. Our guide, Stephan, was amazed that anyone turned up. In the South of France, if there’s a threat of rain, everyone hides indoors. There were five of us: four Swedes and me. I gather the weather in Sweden is pretty rough most of the year. In fact, the conditions were very pleasant, a bit cloudy, but still and around 20 degrees. Here is a picture of Stephan showing us how our view compared with one of Cezanne’s finished works.
Cezanne was one of those poor geniuses who weren’t properly appreciated in their lifetime, but his pictures now sell for tens of millions of dollars. It was only a couple of hours after this photo was taken that I nearly fractured poor Stephan’s cheekbone, coming in too vigorously for a farewell kiss on the cheeks after a glass of rose. Terribly embarrassing. I’ve decided I’m going to give up on trying to kiss people as a greeting like a local. Too much room for humiliation. None of the Swedes tried to do it. I’m sure the French won’t be too upset. If they knew the danger they’d be in I’m sure they’d be grateful to me for giving up.
On Sunday my host family and I went for drive to the coast. We had lunch in a tiny family restaurant in the back streets of Cassis. There were plenty of nice looking restaurants with delightful views across the harbour, but I guess they are for tourists only. There was a gentle zephyr in the air, but it was enough to close the scenic drive across the top of the hills. These guys are truly spoiled with their weather.
