I know I have mentioned parking before but when driving in France or probably anywhere unfamiliar, it is really important to know your end destination and how to get in and out of the parking point. Well, we drove into Aix and breezed into an absolutely brilliant park right in the middle of the city. Brilliant! Thank you, Google. We took some photos. Parking Rotonde space 3056 and off we went to discover the city. 

The markets were on….Oh… they are on everyday! John discovered Bechard…(I am a philistine…I have no idea ..and why would I be interested in callisons. I think almond essence would be one of the very rare flavours that I really don’t like.) We went mad and bought stuff. No..I went mad!! The linen clothing is so inexpensive!! The downside to having a car- you forget. You will eventually have to carry this ‘stuff’.

As I stepped carelessly over ancient remnants of a remarkable Roman civilisation firmly established in Aix, I stumbled (literally) across a group of Canadians doing a tasting tour as an excursion on their cruise. Their ship was in Marseille. I was a sticky-beak and when the guide asked me if I was part of the tour. ‘No. I’m just curious! Are you doing a culinary tour?’ ‘Yes’, and you are not…she intimated. However, one of the couples ignored her and insisted I try the tapenade and then the marinaded garlic. OMG… I rushed off and bought a container. I love garlic!

Aix is so photogenic! The wonderful thing is the number of trees. It made the place like wandering in a garden. John posed with Paul Cezanne. I posed with the fountain – La Rotonde. We were having a great time.

 Then we made our big mistake. 

Parking La Rotonde is big. We found ‘a’ pay station and decided since we knew exactly which floor and which parking space, it would be a sinch. This was not the ascenseur we used to arrive. That lift was just down the street. We descended into the underground labyrinth that was ‘Parking La Rotonde’. I had taken a photo. We were on level -3 place 036! How did these numbers work? Frustration gave way to   common sense, and after many minutes..we ascended to the pedestrian level, walked the hundred and fifty metres to the original ascenseur and found our car immediately. I believe we were not the first to get lost in the ‘La Rotonde’ labyrinth as even thirty minutes after paying for our ticket, the bar lifted as we ascended from Persephone’s world.