Un week-end en Provence - Deuxième journée Aix en Provence et Sainte Remy en Provence

For our second day in Provence we decided that we wanted (I wanted) to see some of the famed Saturday markets.  We left Marseille early, no surprise there, and headed to Aix en Provence, l'Isle sur la Sorgue and St. Remy en Provence.  Our first stop was Aix en Provence.  The city was beautiful and charming, but not small.  We found our way to the Office of Tourism were directed to two of the Saturday markets held in town, one a typical Saturday market, and the other, a flower market.

We were amazed at the dried herbs for sale at this booth.  I wish I would have picked up a few more things at this booth than I did. 

Justin was cruising for chicks on this corner of the market.  You know the girls just love a guy and his puppies.  The dogs are real chick magnets.  

There was just a little too much activity for Sophie to be able to walk in the market.  She is so small that people could step on her.  All the puppies found themselves riding in a sac this morning.

To quote Shakespeare, a funny thing that happened on our way to the market.  You can imagine that just like in St. Louis when I am seen walking with the three puppies, we are bound to draw some attention by the size of our pack!  The markets do draw a little crowd of tourist and while I was wandering ahead I turned around and saw two Asian young ladies asking Mike if they could take a picture with them and Mike holding Bella and Coco.  At first Mike thought they meant for him to take a picture of the two girls, but no, Mike and the puppies where the focal point of this future vacation picture.  A bewildered Mike stood posing for his photo chuckling the whole time.  I only wish I had been on the ball enough to take a picture of the picture!

All three puppies are in the sac, but Bella had snuggled down for a snooze behind Coco.

After some serious shopping in the market where we picked up fresh cerises et fraises et herbs en provence, and a new tablecloth, we headed out to see the antique market of l'Isle sur la Sorgue.  We didn't make any purchases but would be tempted to another antique store in the future.  The antique shops here are really neat.  I was so impressed with the things for sale.  Mike loved an antique desk that would have taken the entire dining room space that we have in the apartment.  It was 6500 euros and I couldn't believe how heavy that thing was.  I loved a HUGE mirror we saw and when I just tried to lift it I couldn't because of the weight of the solid wood frame.  It would never be able to be hung in any home I've ever lived in.  We will have to try and find some antique we want while we are here.

Our final stop of the day was in St. Remy en Provence which is made famous by one of it's most famed artist von Gogh who painted many pictures of the gardens of St. Remy.  The hospital where von Gogh was institutionalized is also a popular site, although not to me.  What lured us to the city were the ancient Roman ruins of Glanum.  To be honest, as the day was heating up and we were growing tired, we only saw a small portion of the ruins.  Maybe on a future trip we will see more.

Doesn't Mike look fantastic!!  He has lost over 30 pounds!  He looks 10 years younger!

We actually decided to eat the cost of our hotel on Saturday night and just head back home.  We were excited about sleeping in our beds and going to church on Sunday.  It was a fantastic weekend!