Off to Aigues Mortes (dead waters) a town built in the 12C by Louis IX (Saint Louis) because he needed a Mediterranean port from which to go on crusade. He left from here for the 7th Crusade – got as far as being imprisoned in Egypt – and the 8th – died of dysentery in Tunis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aigues-Mortes The town was incredibly busy when we got … Continue reading Aigues Mortes

Arrived here yesterday morning and will be here until I go back to England on Monday. The train left an hour late (something to do with no power at Bordeaux station where it started its route). I spent Friday afternoon with my friend Anne who used to live in London but moved back to France in 2020. We had lunch and went to the Musee … Continue reading Montpellier

27 people live in the Cité, most of them retired and have inherited houses that have belonged to their families for generations. There is a house for sale. Quite small, needs doing up, no garden. €2million. Do NOT visit in August. It was 42 degrees this year and you couldn’t move for tourists. They do do jousting between the two sets of walls though. There … Continue reading Some extra things about Carcassonne

Owing to the train delays yesterday, I’ve only been able to spend one day here. I feel another visit may be on the cards. The mediaeval bit of Carcassonne – is actually divided into two bits. There is the spectacular bit on the hill which is in all the photos and the Bastide, founded in the 12C, which is on the other side of the … Continue reading Carcassonne

This will be a shortish post as I have spent most of the day on trains and in stations. This morning I wandered around some of the shopping streets of Avignon – not quite as chi chi as Aix but still full of lovely things, darlings. Concentrates the mind, taking a small suitcase. So, off I went to the station again to catch a train … Continue reading Avignon to Carcassonne

Taxi to the TGV station, TGV to Avignon TGV station, train to Avignon Centre station followed by a 20 minute walk. The streets in the old town surrounding the Palais des Papes are tiny and very confusing to anyone who wasn’t born and brought up here. I am staying in a lovely old town house which styles itself ‘Chambres d’hotes’. A B and B I … Continue reading Avignon

This will be a short one. Most people from the choir have gone home, some of them expensively as there was supposed to be a plane strike today – so they made alternative arrangements – which didn’t materialise. I have packed, breakfasted etc and then went to see the cathedral (no service on a Monday morning I hoped) and the Musee des Tapisseries housed in … Continue reading Last day in Aix

We have done two concerts in Aix, one on Saturday evening in a church in town and one on Sunday afternoon in the church of an old Cistercian monastery. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvacane_Abbey The concert (half us and half our hosts, Opus 13) went very well. We had an audience and even the conductor thought we were ok. Having finished the buffet (and the following ‘soiree cabaret’) at … Continue reading Singing in Aix

Saturday – market day. The Main Street – Cours Mirabeau – was end to end market stalls selling clothes, bags, shoes, tablecloths etc. Quite a lot of which one would have actually had in the house! The Cours Mirabeau was apparently laid out in the 18C to improve the road from Arles into Italy as it passed the town. This fountain was built to enable … Continue reading Aix en Provence Day 2

Finally got to the Aix en Provence TGV station at 8.30 yesterday evening. As it’s a long way from the town and, although there is a bus, I was too tired to find it, I took an expensive taxi ride in a Tesla, no less, at way more than the speed limit all the way to the hotel. The bloke behind me in the queue … Continue reading Aix en Provence Day 1