Aix was a bust.

There are things to see and do in Aix, but not a lot. The plan was to pick up a rental car, drive for an hour, arriving in Aix around 10. We could see some things, then drive to our hotel in Arles. This would let us stay 3 nights in Arles and spend less effort packing and unpacking. The city centers in Europe are old and are not designed for cars. We decided to use a park-and-ride lot outside Aix and take the bus into town. These were reasonable ideas, and nothing went wildly wrong. But we arrived at the Aix visitor center at 12:30.

We still had some time. We still had a list of things to see. The first was Cezanne’s studio, a 25 minute walk. We decided to take the # 5 bus. We’re sitting on the bus, with my phone navigation on so we know where to get off. Half way through the trip, I saw the bus was going the wrong way. We got off the bus and started walking. A few minutes later, the bus passed us — it was did some strange loop-de-loop. We should have stayed on the bus. No matter, we walked to the studio and paid the entry fee. We saw an old building with a bunch of old stuff. We were given a laminated sheet with very little information. If we walked 15 minutes up the hill, we could see an overview of Aix and some reproductions of Cezanne’s paintings. It was time to cut our losses. We took the #5 bus through the loop-de-loop and back to the visitor center.

There were two more things on the list. Both were 10 or 15 minute walks. Both were in different directions. We were getting a little bummed. Maybe a better plan would be to have a crepe and a coffee, and move on to Arles. My Grand Manier flambe crepe was really good, but not very wise. It set me up for some low blood sugar later on in the day.

Back at the car, I was trying to convince the GPS to route us to 5 Voltaire Avenue in Arles. In the US, the GPS would let us set the state. In France, it did not let us set the provence. After a lot of fiddling, I got the route set up, and we were off on a 1-hour ride to — well — not Arles. We drove into the city center. Went on a very wild ride through very narrow streets that nobody bothered to mark as one-way. When two cars meet going in different directions, one of them has to back up. We arrive at 5 Voltaire Avenue to see a woman working in an office with the door open to catch the breeze. We were astonished to see her. She was astonished to see us. We don’t speak French. She doesn’t speak English. After some pointing and gesturing, she showed us our error. I set the GPS for Arles city center. When we in Arles, I pulled off at a Burger King to set the GPS to 5 Voltaire Avenue. Even the Burger King has good coffee in France.

The GPS announced that I wouldn’t be able to drive there — the streets were blocked for car traffic. A quick call to the hotel told us where to park. We arrived at the hotel and learned the only free place to park was at the railroad station a short walk away. Unfortunately, a lot of people want to park for free in Arles. The lot was packed. Cars were parked on sidewalks and in spaces reserved for buses. Just cruising the lot, we had to back up, and others had to back up for us, multiple times. We could pay park on the street or in a city lot. The meters don’t announce the cost. Somebody told us it cost 50 euro to park overnight (about $70). One meets a lot of delightful, interesting people while trying to solve life’s little problems in a foreign country. Fortunately we had encountered so many delays that commuters were starting to come home. We got a legal parking space and moved into our room. The dinner was mediocre, but very well appreciated. And everything looks better with a little red wine.