As a place to stroll down narrow, centuries-old streets or to shop for field-fresh food in near-daily markets, the city of Aix-en-Provence is without peer in Provence. Its dozen theaters show first-run films from around the world. And music fills its churches, its sparkling performance center and, often, its main street, Cours Mirabeau. But when…
I confess. There have been times in the last week that I’ve craved life in the slow lane. This morning, after breakfast with my host family, after two hours planning a seminar, after lunch with my students, after a seminar in the park and after a visit to Aix’s cathedral, I arrived there. By myself. …
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…
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…
As Valentine’s Day approached last year, Kathy and I window-shopped in Aix-en-Provence, admiring the variety of heart collages, shoe arrangements and other creative if sometimes funky displays in the city’s abundant shop windows. Oh, by Aix standards, Valentine’s fell in the midst of what had been a rather nasty stretch of weather. Lots of rain,…
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