Aix and Blast Furnace

11/2/2013 - Marseille, France

I spent the morning in Aix-en-Provence and the evening in Marseille. In Aix, I ate at a cafe where Paul Cezanne and Emile Zola used to hang out. From there, I walked through the old town: down the Cours Mirabeau and into the Vieil Aix. I stopped in a couple artsy shops along the way. Pretty nice, but expensive.

After returning to Marseille, I visited a cultural center called La Friche La Belle de Mai in an industrial part of the city. The complex has been converted from factories into a skate-boarding park, a huge rooftop public art space, smaller art studios, music and film halls, and more. It was a nice surprise; didn't know what I would find in Marseille.

Pictured: The "blast furnace" sculpture in La Friche's panorama