Aix-en-Provence

The Cours Mirabeau, a wide thoroughfare
with fountains and double rows of plane trees.

Here we were in Aix-de-Provence. Now this was the place. The energy was palpable. The streets glowed, the sun was bright, there was a youthful vigour, people were shopping and smiling and strolling the promenade. Aix-en-Provence, with a population of 142,000 — 40,000 of which are students from four universities — is pulsating with vibrant energy. With a captivating mix of history — 2,000 years of it — the city, in the Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur region, is divided by the Cours Mirarbeau, a 440-metre-long and 42-metre-wide pedestrian thoroughfare, with fetching plane trees, public squares, fountains and elegant outdoor cafés full of people sitting and sipping and chatting the days away. 

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Hands down my favourite thing about France (besides the food and wine, obv.) were the windows, doors and shutters. In China it was the roofs, here I couldn't get enough of the fantastic French facades. 

The trees — I had never seen trees like this and I was quite taken by them. There weren't many leaves but no matter, it was the forked branches that jutted like the Bob Fosse jazz hands that I found so enchanting. Plane trees — quintessentially Provence. 

Constructed in 1648 and adorned with mythical figures, the Tribunal de Commerce
is reportedly the oldest building of the Cours Mirarbeau in Aix.

Aix-en-Provence is a storybook city. The cobblestone, the fountains, the narrow streets,
the breathtaking architecture. So many stories must fill the air.