Letters from Provence
Thank goodness the French have come to their senses. Terrorism may grip Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Climate change is forcing Texans to build arks. And we’ll likely all be roasting by July. But in the shadows and on the open sidewalks of Aix-en-Provence, couples once again are locked in those ever-lasting embraces. The ones frozen…
France’s cities and towns are a fascinating mix of old and new, none more so than Marseille, along the walk from the Old Port, through the Panier District, to the spanking new MuCEM, opened for the city’s special year as cultural capitol of Europe in 2013. The panier, one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods, has…
We’ll call him Bernard, this man who touched our lives today. I wouldn’t wish to offend by using his real name. This morning, Luca, one of my Emerson College students, arrived at IS-Aix, our French language school here, without his smart phone. He’d dropped it jogging on the way. He was quick on his feet…
Last week, a former student sent me a tweet asking if I’d be at Emerson College’s graduation. When I told her I was leading a group of students to Aix-en-Provence instead, she offered this sage advice: “Tell your students to have fun — but not too much fun.” And so I did, to start our…
I’ve never much cared for eating out alone, even when I tuck a book under my arm to take with me. But tonight I rather enjoyed it. And I was in no hurry to leave Bistrot des Philosophes, a restaurant Kathy and I never visited during our five months in Aix-in-Provence. Perhaps I took my…
It’s a giddy feeling, almost like looking forward to a college reunion when you’ve heard an old girlfriend is on the list of those coming. More than once during this long and bitter New England winter, I’ve endured by scrolling through our stash of photos of Aix-en-Provence, triggering memories of sunshine; of shades of pastel…
Room 255 saved my sanity yesterday. No, I haven’t been committed to an asylum yet like the tranquil setting in Saint Remy where Vincent Van Gogh spent much of the last year of his tormented life. Boston’s cold, snowy record-breaking winter has been really bad this year, but not that bad. Still, after a Friday…
Jeff Boivin loves the simple things in life: the mountains, slow fermentation, a good cheese, a good wine and a good baguette. His real passion is baking bread. What he’s not passionate about is television; he hasn’t even owned one at home for 15 years, he says. But this coming Wednesday, Boivin promises that he…
My last visit to the doctor cost me $32. My visit this morning — nothing. I called Dr. Marielle Crespo-Mora yesterday afternoon to ask if I should continue to take the antibiotic I started last Wednesday until the pills are gone. My nasal infection is healing, but slowly. “It should be better by now,” she…
Political sentiment across the Continent has converged at a grumpy and small-minded nadir. There is anger about high unemployment. There is pessimism about the future. There is irritation at immigration. There is alienation from the European Union. — Roger Cohen, the International New York Times It is against precisely this backdrop that the citizens of…
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