Getting our culture on

In Ryan's excitement to finish his last blog post whilst in the pool, he actually forgot to mention some of Monday's activities. After our trip to Avignon it was stinking hot and so when we got home we hopped in the pool. As it was nearly my birthday Australia-time we thought it an opportune time to crack the 40 Euro bottle which we had picked up in Vertes, Champagne the week before, and accompanied this with some brie and duck (canard) pate. I have had worse afternoons.

Beer, champagne, brie and canard pate pool-side in Aix

Kirsty and the gang had another opera performance that night so Ryan and I headed into town for some dinner and found Le Riad, a Moroccan restaurant recommended to us. So some mixed entrees and deliciously tender lamb tagine all accompanied with some rose was enjoyed by all. Have we mentioned - everyone in Aix drinks rose like it's water. I prefer the rose here more than at home too - it's a much paler pink colour. Very refreshing and goes down a little too easily.

Aix cathedral by night

Ryan and I headed back home after dinner, and following some blogging we went to bed at around 1am, and early night for us in Aix, while the musos continued to party on. The next morning I woke up, and it was my birthday! Ryan and I headed into town while the musos slept in. After un cafe we found another market, this one much bigger than the previous day, and to Ryan's delight there was a chicken man roasting poulets with all their juicy goodness dripping down onto potatoes below. We continued to wander around town, which was turning out to be a very hot day, so we moseyed around with a couple of stops in cafes/bars for coffee and/or beer, followed by some pasta for lunch, and people-watched.

Ryan's pasta with ridiculous foie gras portion

That evening Kirsty was playing in a quartet in a nearby town that was part of the Aix-en-Provence festival, so Ryan and I went along to that which we both enjoyed, then high-tailed it back to the house because they were throwing a party! About 50 or so people from the orchestra and opera cast were at our house having a good old time while Chris cooked some delicious meat on the BBQ (his chicken is the best I have had in my life. Fact.)

Partying on with some of our new muso and actor friends

So after partying on into the wee hours as they do, we woke up pretty late the next day and Ryan cooked us all up a big fry-up brunch and had a pretty lazy afternoon pool-side while the musos got ready for another opera performance that night. As my birthday present Kirsty got us 2 tickets to that night's performance! So after a quick dinner in town, we headed to the theatre to watch Written on Skin, a modern opera written by George Benjamin. Being my first opera, it was the best I have ever seen, but seriously both Ryan and I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially
knowing half the musicians and having previously met the stars of the opera!

A couple of smooth musicians

After the performance we met the gang and went to a bar and partied on with the orchestra and singers and actors into the wee hours, yet again. We had a completely amazing time in Aix with Kirsty and made lots of new friends - thanks to Kirsty, Chris, May, Johannes, Sarah, Borag, Eoin, Puig, Christian and many others for such a fun 5 days!