Weekend in Aix (sorta)

This weekend was a big deal for me, as it was my first weekend fully spent in Aix-en-Provence! Well, kind of. The reason I didn't travel this weekend is that I had a mandatory class trip for my Provence class on Friday. The class is all about Provence, its history, its culture, but it has a specific focus on how Provence has been presented in film. We've watched a lot of films, but the most significant films portraying Provence are those by the 20th century directer Marcel Pagnol. Part of our trip was to go see the town where he lived and where he is buried.

The main purpose of our trip was to go to St. Maximin, a town a half hour from Aix, and the famous cave nearby. Apparently, Mary Magdalene traveled to France and lived for 30 years in solitude in a cave. After she died she was buried, but her relics (aka her bones) were removed and put into the cathedral in St. Maximin. Usually I find that cathedrals are more impressive on the outside than on the inside, but the one in St. Maximin was quite ordinary from the outside. However, the inside was phenomenal. The basilica is huge, and very ornately decorated. There's on of the largest pipe organs I've ever seen, which was eerily playing while we were there. Everything's old and gold encrusted, but the most magnificent thing was a 10 foot tall hardwood winding staircase that must have been 5 feet in diameter but was ornately carved out of a single piece of wood. In the crypt under the main room is what everyone comes to see; the relics of Mary Magdalene. You go up to a display case and staring back at you is a human skull. It may have been one of the creepiest things I've ever seen, but this relic has developed a huge cult following, and people make pilgrimages to St. Maximin to see the skull. At certain times they take it out and parade it around. Weird weird weird. I was definitely ready to get out of there after a few minutes (being a nice Jewish boy in a church and all).

After seeing the relics we drove to the base of a nearby hill and spend 45 minutes hiking up to the famous cave. There wasn't a lot to see inside; it was just a cave that they've put statues and homages to Mary Magdalene in. After a while we headed back down, and headed home. That night I got to enjoy my first night in Aix, and prepared for a big Saturday adventure.

One of the most famous features of Aix is the nearby mountain, Mont St. Victoire. The painter Cezanne, who lived in Aix, painted Mont St. Victoire every day, and he's famous for the paintings. Hiking to the top is something that everyone who spends time in Aix should do, and I'd been meaning to go for a while. Saturday morning two of my friends and I met up at the bus station and got the bus towards St. Victoire. It's a 20 minute bus ride, but we unfortunately got off a stop too early. We started heading through the woods on a path towards the mountain, but as we kept going the path got smaller and smaller. At one point we came to an unbelievably gorgeous lake, and there was an intersection: one way went towards a dam, the other along the lake. It looked like if we walked along the lake we could loop around and get to the mountain. However, as we kept walking, the lake kept extending, and the trail kept getting less defined until we were just pushing through bushes and climbing over rocks. We finally decided to turn back, and when we got to the dam we found that there were lots of people there, that there was a parking lot, and that that was where you start from. Having already wasted an hour and a half, we ate a quick lunch and hurried towards the mountain.

The hike up was pretty intense. Steep, rocky, and treacherous, we hiked up for two and a half hours before finally reaching the summit. Looking back, it was amazing to think we'd hiked as far as we did. There's a 13th century chapel built close to the top, and at the very summit is a huge cross called the "Croix de Provence". The view of the Provence landscape was unbelievable, and it was such a rewarding feeling to have made it to the top.

Something cool that we saw was a group of a dozen people paragliding around the summit of the mountain. I had never seen this before, but it was amazing. Like the name implies, it's a combination between parachuting and hang-gliding. The rider is in a harness underneath the parachute, but the parachute is a specially designed light-weight aerofoil, which allows for lift. The ride starts off by running down a short hill, and is picked up by his chute. Because of the design of the parachute, these guys are actually flying, they're not just in a controlled fall. One guy we saw was in the air for three hours. They control themselves through weight placement and hand controls which are connected to the parachute. It looked like an unbelievable feeling, and it was amazing seeing a dozen of these paragliders soaring along over the mountain. Very cool.

We made it down the mountain in an hour and a half (took us two and a half hours to get up), and had a difficult time finding the bus stop. However, we asked some girls where it was. They didn't know, but were going back to Aix and offered to drive us. In Aix we descended upon a kebab stand, headed home and showered, and then went out for a much deserved night out.

Today I'm taking it easy (imagine that!) getting work done, and trying to make plans for my spring break. I'll be spending a few days in Venice, and then going to Greece for a few days, with stops in Bari and Cagliari. Looking forward to it!