by Nicole Bravo
After our Italian adventures, we were ready to spend a few days taking it slow in the South of France. We rented a room on the outskirts of Aix-en-Provence (thank you Airbnb!), a sprawling home owned by an older French couple. The home belonged to artists and as such had a lot of character, and was located in the countryside surrounded by beautiful trees. Compelled by the beauty of the landscape, we asked our host if we could venture beyond her large property and walk around. She pointed west of the home toward the lovely Mont Sainte-Victoire and told us we could find trails that way; however, the house behind them probably wouldn't appreciate our wandering around. She explained, "He gets tired of tourists always trying to find his house since Cézanne used to live there." It took everything I had to not spit out what I was eating at the moment. Cézanne... is their neighbor. Well, Cézanne's house, and if we were transported back in time to the late 1800s, we would be able to venture over and have a chat with neighbor Cézanne. Are you kidding me? It was another of the scores of moments during our trip where I had to pinch myself to verify that what I was experiencing was in fact real.
After our Italian adventures, we were ready to spend a few days taking it slow in the South of France. We rented a room on the outskirts of Aix-en-Provence (thank you Airbnb!), a sprawling home owned by an older French couple. The home belonged to artists and as such had a lot of character, and was located in the countryside surrounded by beautiful trees. Compelled by the beauty of the landscape, we asked our host if we could venture beyond her large property and walk around. She pointed west of the home toward the lovely Mont Sainte-Victoire and told us we could find trails that way; however, the house behind them probably wouldn't appreciate our wandering around. She explained, "He gets tired of tourists always trying to find his house since Cézanne used to live there." It took everything I had to not spit out what I was eating at the moment. Cézanne... is their neighbor. Well, Cézanne's house, and if we were transported back in time to the late 1800s, we would be able to venture over and have a chat with neighbor Cézanne. Are you kidding me? It was another of the scores of moments during our trip where I had to pinch myself to verify that what I was experiencing was in fact real.
We took things slow in the South, sharing meals on the patio, jumping on a large trampoline like kids, and taking afternoon swims during thunderstorms. We delighted in the surrounding panoramas which were wonderfully picturesque, and later found that Cézanne must have truly loved them as well. This evidenced by the fact that a museum we visited filled with many of his paintings included the same views we had of the landscape and Mont Sainte-Victoire.
