My first excursion into another country came on the puente of the Immaculada, a four-day weekend. I went to visit Manuela who is studying is Aix-en-Provence, not far from Marseilles in southern France. It was the first time I had been on a flight that was not either leaving or returning to my home in the states. It was a little bit of a strange sensation. It really made Sevilla seem even more like my new, albeit temporary home base. It was also, since Japan, the first time I had been somewhere where I am completely incapable of interacting with anyone, having zero language skills. It’s frustrating and makes me want to learn at least basic French. Maybe next year.
I had rented a car through a website called easyterra.com. They gave me a confirmation number. It was a good thing Manuela met me at the airport. Easyterra is not a car-rental company but some sort of middleman company. We had to go from company to company at the airport and eventually got our Twingo from Europcar. It was about 25 euro/day including unlimited kilometers but not petrol. Unfortunately, I forgot my driver’s license so we had to rent it under her name, which cost us a bundle in extra insurance because she is under twenty-five. She is probably the only girl I would trust to drive around Europe in a stick-shift. Of course I had to have a go at it later, I couldn’t miss a chance to dive a tiny French car in France and watch the speedometer go up to 150.
I guess they call Aix a mini Paris because of the high fashion and fine dining and such that is found in such a tiny city. I’ve never been to Paris. Aix was nice though. Fancy and pretty expensive compared to Andalucía. I was introduced to vin chaud a hot wine spiced with cinnamon, clove and lemon and sometimes with brandy, which is sold on the street in the Christmas market. Our dinner was a local specialty of mussels and fries. They were the best mussels I’ve ever had, so tender, not rubbery like mussels often can be. The waitress gave us a complimentary apertif and dessert licor because she knew Manuela. I hadn’t slept, but we went out to IPN, where’s Mauela’s roommate’s Moroccan boyfriend got us to skip the line because he is totally on the scene in Aix. They had Mighty Boosh on mute on the tv. They didn’t have a liquor license, just beer wine and Martini, which is not martini and tastes kind of like franette. Most of the crowd is really drunk international students and everyone dances to basically American music. Girls can earn free drinks by dancing on the pole on the bar. Great.
On Friday we went to Arles to see the amphitheatre. There really wasn’t much else going on there. The amphitheatre was really cool and they had restored one section of it to what it would have looked like 2000 yrs ago. The best part was getting to Arles and not taking the main highway, seeing the countryside and chateaus from the road.
Saturday was the real deal. We drove three hours on the main toll road to Lyon, the second biggest city in France. (It cost about 20 euro each way to use the road.) 8 December is the culmination of their biggest festival Fetes del Lumieres or something close to that, the festival of lights. These are not Christmas lights. Many of the displays are designed and realized by artists and are really cool and different. They are all over the city. The lights are illuminated from 6pm to 1am. That is definitely not enough time to see everything. You can get a free tourist guide to the festival exhibits in English which includes a map of where the pieces are found in the city and suggested walking routes depending on your time and priorities.
The traffic getting into the city was pretty insane, but when you are used to Boston it’s not a big deal. We accidentally did a lap around the main square which was a bad idea. We found parking in a garage for around 10 euro and headed back toward the displays we had passed. The Rhone river divides the city like the Guadalquivir here in Sevilla. There were displays on the banks of both forks of the river and merchants selling vin chaud for 1.50-2.50 euro. There are barges along one of the banks that are actually huge bars that open up later at night. I used the shadiest bathroom I have ever gone to. I didn’t think I would make it back. We tried to enter the main square but it was just too crazy so we headed accross the second branch of the river toward the oldest part of the city. The cathedral on the hill overlooking the city was backlit and looked like a castle. We caught the end of the vigil mass and some sort of ritual burning of stuff with torches and whatnot outside. We ate Chinese food and proceeded to the main square around 1230, which was now pretty deserted. The French do not party like the Spanish. Through the use of French cell phones We were able to meet up with the Aussie I had met in Madrid for a couple glasses of wine at the apartment of one of his French friends. We headed back to Aix around where I slept for an hour and headed back to the airport.
After a couple of days in France I have concluded: French people really do wear berets, but not in such numbers to make it ridiculous. French people are always walking around with baguettes wrapped in a single sheet of paper that doesn’t even cover the bread. The wine is good. France is way more expensive than Spain. French girls are beautiful. French is a crazy language. There is no way you can read French and pronounce it, there are always at least 3 superfluous letters at the end of the word. French people are not jerks, everyone we asked for help was really helpful, you just have to speak basic French.
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