A morning of tasting pleasures!

Bonjour family and friends. I seem to vasilate between my blog and Facebook. I have no preference but I’m able to expound on much more through my blog. Facebook is a tad abbreviated but it makes it possible to tell you that I’m alive and well, with a couple of photos thrown in. If I remember, I can Instagram too (Jill would be proud). But, for today, I shall describe some of the tasting pleasures experienced on my tour this morning with our guide, Charlotte. She is from England but has lived here in Aix for ten years. She is very informative which so far I’ve noted it’s a common quality found in guides, but I’m sure they are scrutinized/competitive for such positions. It makes it much more interesting to pass by a building and know it’s history and Aix is full of just that!! 

The tour started with introductions (5 total for most of the tour…one couple from Australia and another from San Francisco area). A little historical background and we were off to our first stop to Patisserie Bechard….it’s very noteworthy having been here for many generations. 

I’m thinking I will be back for a couple bites now and then. Had a chocolate- dabbed fluffy brioche bite that was heavenly!

Tasted the traditional callissons beneath the statue of the count who had them created for his wedding to appease his young wife…she was slightly amused but they never did have an heir but he was the last count/King of Provence before the French took control. I really do listen to the guides and my memory is hanging in there!!

We stopped for macarons! Absolutely incredible macarons at Les Macarons de Caroline. I am definitely wearing out a path from my apartment to here!

From here we proceeded through more of the old section taking note of interesting places along the way…open air markets with tasting jams, chutneys, olives, incredible cloves of marinated garlic, strawberries coming into season (a couple of more weeks and they will be sinfully sweet!)…are you getting the idea that even though it’s such a plethora of tastes…it was heavenly! 

So, from here we proceeded to the Andre Savelli-La Fromagerie…..now, this place is incredible with all kinds of cheese….hard and soft but primarily goat or sheep because cows don’t have the grassy fields from which to graze around here…it’s too hilly (once again I am listening to the guide…gold star pour moi). Went to a flat where they often have cooking classes and there we had our taste of the delicious cheeses. All were tasty and different…one was covered in edible ash…an old tradition of storing the cheese during the aging process. That was sooo good! 

So, that is my morning….

I later went out to the second Granet Museum and was surrounded by many Picasso paintings. I shall have to say, this French lifestyle I’m adopting is making for tired feet. More about those museums later. It’s time to retire. Bon nuit!