Doesn't have an aqueduct.
Doesn't have a Roman theatre.
Doesn't have a cliff-face panorama.
Doesn't have a major river.
Doesn't have hewn stone buildings.
Doesn't have a dominating cathedral.
All I'm saying is this glass is only half full!
I speak of the town of Aix-en-Provence... it claims Provence in its name... but that is where similarities end. This town has attributes appealing to a much more modern clientele. If you are into painting and yearn to feast your eyes on cubism... surrealism... and any other 'ism' you can think of... Aix-en-Provence is the place for you. This is the home of Cezanne... the city claims he was the giant on whose shoulders Vincent Van Gough stood to reach such perfection. This may well be... but Cezanne's other claim to fame is that he painted a mountain (50 klms out of town) 180 times... with his first attempts, you can definitely see a mountain... by the time he finished, art lovers were pointing to any curved line on his paintings, saying "Look... the mountain... nice... real nice." Picasso loved the place... and arranged to be buried just out of town. Joye and I listened intently to our audio guide... but gave up when we were given a 5-minute lecture about some painter discovering the horizon... a horizontal straight line that this fellow included in all of his subsequent paintings. They could have saved themselves a lot of bother by simply asking Captain Cook or Galileo... those two knew a thing or two about horizons.
We are finding the French nationals very likeable people... extra willing to help... always looking to have fun with translation problems... always showing exquisite manners. You want generalisations??? The Greeks like to make you laugh... the Italians are loveable... the French are mature. But the earnest Austrians still get top billing from me!
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