(178): Road Trip!

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(178) is Saturday, 3 July 2010.

Today, CEA had an excursion by car to Aix-en-Provence and Cassis. Here's the itinerary; I really hope this link works. Anyway, it was a pretty simple, fun day, so the pictures will probably tell you more than my dry (though mercifully brief) narrative.

Aix (as its abbreviation goes) is actually a little university town two hours away from Antibes. Funny story: I spent a few days there five years ago with my folks on our spring break trip to France.* But this time, I went to the market where I bought delicious fresh strawberries (it's that time of year and I was afraid I wouldn't get them this time around). I also browsed the shops and really lucked out on a nondescript bakery for lunch, where I had a tasty ham and olive pizza and an exceptional pain au chocolat.**

We then piled back into the car and drove to Cassis, a lovely little port town. I wandered and snapped some pictures of the waterfront before we met up again to get on a boat tour of the coast. This is worth doing because: there are lots of little inlets with hidden beaches, tucked away amid very impressive (high) cliffs. We're talking 5+ stories. And people were diving from some of these heights into the water.

So, after the boat trip, we got back in the car and stopped by a French vineyard (my first one, believe it or not) for a tiny little wine tasting before winding our way back to Antibes.

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Footnotes

* Now, that wasn't really very funny, was it. No. "Funny story" is one of those things that I notice people say about markedly un-funny statements. Or, just, that I say about un-funny statements.

** This is typical French bakery ("boulangerie") fare: pastry roll with chocolate inside... This is why I studied in France, dont'cha know.