As you might expect, media coverage is dominated by the Charlie Hebdo shooting. We have a lot of English news stations on our satellite TV: BBC World Service, Sky News, CNN, Al Jazeera, an English version of France 24, and (sadly) Fox News. Naturally, the library has posted a couple of "Je suis Charlie" signs on the circulation desk. The local family-owned grocery store also had one on his front door for a couple of days. The school had a memorial assembly in memory of the victims.
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| the mairie's tree: decorations are cut plastic bottles |
Rousset (week 26)
As a result of the rallies and in the interest of keeping off the roads in case the police had set up checkpoints and snarled traffic, we chose to stick close to home this week. Wednesday afternoon we took in Rousset, a nearby village described by a local techie as being "The Silicon Valley of France". According to Wikipedia, it hosts two semiconductor companies, which is a lot for a town of 4500 people. There is clearly money there: the renovation projects that seem to be occurring all through the Pays d'Aix seem to be complete in Rousset, and the used car dealer (previously mentioned) has 3 Porsches and a Ferrari sitting on the lot. The church was another interesting site: seemingly alone in town the façade has not been restored; it has two towers, which is unusual, and perhaps uniquely in the area it is not on the highest point in town (that is occupied by a school).
Saint-Marc-Jaumegarde (week 27)
Our weekend trip took us to the Barrage de Bimont, a dam just outside Aix, which has created an artificial lake for use as a reservoir. Yolanda and Craig had seen the dam looking back at Aix from the path to the prieuré on Mont Ste.-Victoire, so we all drove out on Sunday to stroll across it and along the surrounding hiking paths. Unfortunately, the mistral was picking up force through the afternoon and the wind could only be described as "bitter" by the time we left. We were happy to get back to Puyloubier, where we are usually sheltered from the Mistral by lying in the lee of the mountain.
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| two views of the Barrage de Bimont: l is from the parking lot, r is looking down from the trail 2/3 of the way to the prieuré |
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