A Beautiful Sunday

Early mornings here are nice and chilly, and I decided to go to church on sunday morning. I thought I'd make it in time for the 9 o'clock mass, but there was this big crowd outside the church.

So I thought it was over. I decided to go in anyways. Silence. Just a few people sitting there, with the candles burning at the altar and the mandatory stained glass window in front. Then they started singing the hymns. Couldn't make out the words (it was French), but it made me decide that I'd go to church every Sunday. Why? They were singing in such a heavenly voice, it would put all the pop singers to shame. It was like I was on a different planet altogether. I'll probably try and get in a recording next time. But for now these pictures i took after the mass was over should do.


The church, Eglise Saint-Jean-de-Malte is a 13th century construction, with additions done in the 17th century and recently restored. It has an organ, which is also used for concerts.

When I came out, the crowd was still there. I realised that the crowd had collected there for entry into the Musée Granet. This is a museum that is currently housing the exhibition of Cezanne paintings. The most famous son of Aix is being honoured in the year of his death centenary. Ironically only eight paintings of his are in Aix. This exhibition lasts till the 17th of September.

Further down the road I saw a long queue. Their aim: the ticket window selling entry to the Musee Granet. It must have been around 400m long, and I am not kidding.


In the middle of the road there is this weird fountain which has soapy water, couldn't figure out why, though I did dip my hands in it.


I came across the railway station (Gare). Cute little clock on top.


There is this pedestrian signal outside which is manually operated. If you want to cross the road and you want the traffic to stop just press the button.


The red light goes up for the traffic just to allow you to cross.

Further exploration caused me to get lost. Then I realised that I had a map in my pocket and found my way back home. Then, in the evening, I thought I'd visit the Parc Jourdan to write this blog, and Bhavya decided to read a book. I wrote 5 lines and she read one page. There she is pretending to read.

This is a collage of some of the Parc activities.


That it for Sunday then.