Monday, December 29, 2008

Day 2 & 3 in Aix!

Sunday morning we woke up and headed to Dom & Hil's place for egg casserole and croissants. Yum. (That's when I wrote the first post.)

Kelly, Jorie & Hil went to the market and bought fresh veggies for dinner later and baguettes and cheese and fruit for a picnic lunch. During that time the boys (Steve, Kevin & David) cleaned the bfast dishes at the apartment while Dom and I (Wendy) walked to get the car.

We then hopped in the car and headed to Cassis, a small town on the Mediterranean Sea. Pictured here is our trust steed, the Kia van from Dom's church we drove everywhere.


We parked at a rest stop and hiked the cliffs of the Calanques (or mountain inlets). The views were breathtaking.






Also during this time, most people enjoyed touching the water for the first time. Pictured below is Kelly, who got a little wet doing so! :)


We kept hiking a little further, finally stopping for a picnic lunch on the top of a cliff...absolutely amazing.




After we hiked back, we drove down into the town and enjoyed some gelatto. Yum Yum. (The lemon meringue flavor that David and I shared was seriously to die for.)


We then walked down the pier and enjoyed taking photos along the Mediterranean.



On the drive home, we stopped off at Alinea, a store similar to Ikea, just to look around and enjoy the ideas France has to offer.

For dinner, we came back and took the fresh veggies from the a.m. and added some rice and chicken to make a stir fry. A number of us cut them up to help, but Hilary and David did most of the cooking. (Stir fry is one of David's specialties! :))

Monday morning (which is today), we ate pastries in the car as we headed out to visit some more wineries. The purpose was to be able to buy some wine in "bulk" that we could bottle later at the apartment. We ended up at two wineries, and the second one was a great experience. Even though I was the only one who didn't wine taste, I enjoyed taking tons of photos and fell in love with the rustic feel of the tasting room and wine cave!



Back in Aix, we walked around and toured the city and took a ton of pictures. Below are a few, including two from a rooftop from the apartment Dom used to live in.






We also visited the French church where Dom and Hilary's church holds their English church service.


The guys headed back to the apartment at that point to walk the dog and relax with some X-box. The ladies did a little (successful) shopping and then spent some girl time chatting over tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and hookah (for Hilary).

Tonight, we're about to bottle the wine bought in bulk earlier before heading out for a later dinner!

Hope you've enjoyed the latest update... we may not have internet in Paris, which we leave for tomorrow after lunch, but we'll see!

3 comments:

jdc said...

From Kelly's Aunt Jude in Memphis This is wonderful! I so love every minute of it and hope that you all continue to have so much fun. Thank you all for sharing with us! Hugs and happiness to you all! Love, AJ

Smitty said...

Hi Y'all,

Since it's a few minutes after 5 PM here, and I was told you are 7 hours ahead of us...

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

New Year's Eve in France...WOW!!!

Love Ya,

Lois & Smitty

Chris and Mae said...

Wendy,

Thank you for for keeping us updated on your adventures and for posting so many pictures. It looks like you are all having an amazing time! Enjoy the rest of your trip, and happy New Year!

love,
Mae