Aix-En-Provence

Last Friday a friend and I went to the opera. Carmen was playing and we had heard that they sold any empty seats for 5 euros fifteen minutes before the show.

Luckily for us the show wasn't sold out and we scored some awesome seats on the balcony for roughly 6.50 dollars. It was my first time at the opera and I loved every minute of it. I loved that there was a tiny screen hanging over the stage that displayed French subtitles, as the actors were speaking/singing a mixture of French and Italian. I understand a lot more thanks to the subtitles; though there were still some things that got lost in translation. Once I was so busy trying to read the subtitles that I missed the death of a character.

The next morning we woke up early and boarded a train for Aix-En-Provence, a French city a couple hours away from St. Etienne. Since we had class on Monday we weren't able to spend much time in this beautiful city. However, we had plenty of time to wander around the historic city center and people watch.

I believe there was a fountain at almost every single intersection.

Like any French city worth its salt, Aix was full of beautiful old cathedrals. The previous pope either visited this cathedral or this cathedral just really loved the previous pope...the signs and plaques weren't that clear.

One thing I love about France is that this is the city; this is where people live, work, eat, shop-- it isn't some museum or 'historic' sight. These beautiful old buildings are just another part of life.

We were searching for a quiet spot to eat our dinner when we ran into a wedding that was just finishing in a gorgeous cathedral. I loved the classic Bug.

The wedding was in this cathedral-- I tried my best not to gawk. This photo, by the way, was taken with my iPhone. I'm still impressed with its panoramic abilities.

Speaking of gorgeous cathedrals and iPhone photos, here's another cathedral we stumbled upon Sunday morning. Aix has this really cool market on Sunday mornings-- one side of their main street is covered in tents of local artisans and there's another market by Hotel de Ville full of fresh produce.

I was craving some tea Saturday night so I drug my friends to this cute tea shop I spotted-- the tea was delicious and it was a good place to relax and people watch.

 

I took, and edited, this photo on my iPhone-- I'm going to post a tutorial (eventually) on my favorite methods of photo editing on my phone. I liked taking photos on my phone because it's easily accessible. Also, I don't feel like a tourist, as much, when I use my phone as opposed to my huge camera. 

I wish we had had more time to spent exploring the city and making use of their museums. There's also a beautiful mountain not far outside the city-- we saw it when we arrived at the train station-- but we weren't sure how to get there without a car.

The main fountain at night :)

Sunday afternoon we said goodbye to Aix and hoped on a train back to St. Etienne where we finished out last week of classes before holidays.

And the holidays have arrived! We have an entire week off-- I've been enjoying the extra sleep. This Tuesday, however, I'm getting up far earlier than the sun to make my flight to Dublin.

Who needs sleep when you have Dublin and your best friend? I won't be bringing my computer to Dublin so I won't be able to post much while in Ireland. I'll try to post small updates from my phone so stay tuned!

Thanks for reading :)