5th June

We slept well but Eric has woken with the grippe (a cold).  We walked back to the old centre as today is flower and fresh produce market day, hoping to find a chemist open along the way.  The stalls at the market were laden with fabulous looking produce and although we are travelling again today we couldn’t resist a bag of both figs and pistachios before wandering back to the hotel to collect our bags and then head to the station in plenty of time for the train to Aix en Provence.   We left Nice in more heavy rain and enjoyed the beautiful smooth ride on the TGV (very fast train) passing by coast, vineyards and mountains.  Only one small hiccough was when at Cannes we were questioned about the seats we were occupying.  I thought I had been very clever to find the carriage with seats 41 and 42 but it turns out we should have noted that the carriage number was supposed to be 7 not 15 (every carriage has seats 41 and 42).  At the next station we alighted with all our bags and had to run/hobble along the platform to find the correct one before it took off again.  The station at Aix is a 15 min bus trip out of town and then we found a taxi, as it is drizzling,  to take us to our apartment doorstep.  How delightful it is! Our hosts Christina and Edouard met us there and showed us how everything works, explained where to find the baker, butcher and supermarket (all just in our street) and suggested what we should see and do in the next week.  We made a quick visit to the shops before 6pm closing (being Sunday) and then made ourselves at home in our cosy new home.  Eric is so excited to find the kitchen has a vegetable peeler and sharp knives.