Beginning the Journey

I left Phoenix at 7:40 on Friday evening and arrived in Marseille at 6:10 on Saturday. There is a anine hour time difference. The flight to London was 9.5 hours. Then a quick change of terminals an flights plus a 2 hour flight to Marseille. I had arranged for a taxi to pick me up at the Marseille airport and drive me to Aix. All went very smoothly and I was at the Adagio Aix-en-Provence Aparthel by 7:30 or so.

The hotel is well located near the center of the old town and within walking distance of lots of restaurants, shopping, outdoor markets, and services. Althought it was early evening, I unpacked and then walked into the center of town. I'm always amazed at the number of people roaming the steets, sitting at cafes, and window shopping in touristy places. Although the shops were closed by now, there were scores of people out. I found a ZARA store right away (one of my shopping destinations). It was interesting that Apple has a huge store right across from the main rotunda Place De Gaul.  Its at least 5-6 times the size of the one in Tucson with all glass front facing the city's main fountain

I am sharing a studio apartment with Eliabeth Ripp from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The room is small but efficient. As with many European hotels, there is a place near the door for you to insert your room key; that turns on the electricity. There is plenty of closet space, a nice little kitchen, and (hooray) a bathtub with shower. AHI gifted us with a welcome package---two bottles of wine, pasta, sauce, salt and pepper, rice, chocolate, cookies, tea bag, and trail mix. Why do you suppose we got two bottles of wine and only one teabag??????? Hmmmm. No problem. I brought teabags and Starbucks Via with me.

Not sure how much cooking will get done in this small kitchen, but it has everything we need.

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