Aix-n-Provence and the bad times
THE FRENCH MISCONNECTION
Let me tell you some things on why I almost hated my French experience.
I had a contract with a private company (can’t say any details, since there is an NDA) and that led me to live in France for almost two months.
But let me take it from the start.
TASTELESS WATERS
It was September of 2022 when me and my sweet wife landed in Marseille. The plan was to spend the next five days mainly in Aix-en-Provence and possibly do some shorts trips from there.
We arrived at Aix-en-Provence and the first impression was very nice. The city looked very beautiful and the sun was shining. We drank our first wines in a cozy bar and met some young people who were really helpful and funny.
Little did we know.
Our first disappointment came from the room. We had a hard time finding it, when searching to book back in Greece, because everything was so damned expensive. This one was no cheap either, but it was affordable; and awful. We still think to this day that this was by far the worst room we ever stayed together, in any place of the world. More than that, the stuff was rude and clearly unhappy with their job. Also, it was the first time we witnessed the myth getting real:
(Many of the) French people know how to speak English, but they choose not to.
I think it was our last night in Aix-en-Provence that the man in the front desk started to yell at us in French and I told him “in english please, we do not speak french”. It seems that he thought we did not have a key for the room (?!?) and he was clearly angry shouting behind us at the stair. So, with my patience getting lost, I showed him the key with the number of the room and because he was still shouting, I couldn't stand it and cursed him in english and only then did he let us go, since he clearly understood what I said!
Also, if I really want to be honest with you, I also had a fight with a bakery owner, also in Aix-en-Provence…
I am not that kind of man, I rarely lose my temper when travelling, but I cannot tolerate rudeness and especially the one that comes from nowhere, more so if someone is rude to my wife.
Let me explain and judge for yourself.
We had a walk and we spotted a nice bakery, so we went inside to buy something for breakfast. There was no sign explaining what was inside of every tasty delicacy in front of us, so I said “Bonjour” and then asked in English “what is this?”. The employee started to explain in French, I again said the phrase I used the most in this trip (“in English please, we do not speak French”) and she replied again in French!! There was another man behind the desk, who seemed like the owner and they started talking between them -in French of course- and they were mocking us for sure. I didn’t respond and then my sweet wife asked nicely the woman once again about some delicacy. Then the man replied loudly and very rudely and that's when I started cursing in Greek as we stormed out of the bakery.
In all, the trip to France was so bad, that we laughed at it very much, while there. We love each other very much, so we enjoyed the fact that we had the privilege of being abroad together and that was more than enough.
Aix-en-Provence is beautiful, and yes, we saw a periodical exhibition with paintings by Picasso, Braque, Klee and Monet, we visited Cezanne’s atelier and his garden, we even visited Avignon, we ate some good food and drank fine wine, but in the end there were so many obstacles to enjoy our time, that we don’t think of it as a successful trip.
Marseille on the other hand, was really interesting and we only been there for half a day. We thought that it would have been really better if we stayed in Marseille and did a trip half a day to Aix-en-Provence.
Anyway, no more words, enjoy some of the photos I took and a short video.
“The French complain of everything, and always.”
Remember: Every trip is worth it and if you are in good company, it will be memorable - no matter what.
If you want to have some fun and also watch me experiment with ICM technique, while in Cezanne’s garden, you can watch this 3-minute video from my YouTube channel.
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