Paris and Provence, Day 8: Cézanne, Calissons, and Dinner at Home
After breakfast from the leftovers—potatoes, eggs, and fruit—we went to Musée Granet. The main museum had mostly Renaissance-era art, some Picassos, and a few Cézannes. I liked the extension better: late-19th- and early-20th-century works in an old church. Its layout reminded me of the Musée d’Orsay.
I got mango-and-lemon ice cream on the walk home; next time I’ll stick with lemon. A festival on the main drag was celebrating calissons, Aix’s almond candies, with bands, displays, and free little cookies. The military even came out to secure the sweets.
I took on the apartment kitchen again and think I won, despite banging my head on the low doorway while retrieving potatoes from the toaster oven. We ate foie gras de canard, roast rib eye, tomato and lettuce salad with garlic vinaigrette, roast fingerling potatoes, green beans, candied carrots, and mustard sauce. It was our first day in France without a single restaurant, bistro, or brasserie meal.
We also visited Saint-Pierre Cemetery to find Cézanne’s grave. The aisle markers weren’t particularly logical, but we found it on the right side of Allée 6, fourteen graves in, across from a distinctive grave marked François Labiński. From the grave we could see Mont Sainte-Victoire, a mountain Cézanne painted again and again.
Part of our August–September 2019 trip through Provence and Paris. Trip summary.
From the Notebook
