Photo tour of Aix

So you guys asked to see pictures of the city I was in... I didn't take very many pictures my first few days because I didn't want to stick out as a tourist or american. However, today I decided to walk around the city, try and see if I could find the important places and take some pictures for you...

(By the way, these pictures are also on facebook with the same captions so that is probably easier for you who are facebook friends with me)

This is the yard of the house. Notice all the snow? yea thats what people are absolutely freaking out over.

This is the house I'm staying in :) There arn't too many actual houses in Aix. Most of them are right on the road with no room between them. The house I'm staying in has two levels. On the first level is a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. The second level has at least 3 bedrooms and a bathroom. The third level is kind of like a small apartment. Thats where all the other girls who are living here stay. There are three bedrooms, a bathroom and a small kitchen/living area. The couple who owns the house is really nice! I eat 6 dinners a week with them and she prepares me breakfasts as well. She is such a good cook! She prepares such a wide variety of things too! We've had fish, shrimp, chicken, soup, and so many other things.

This is the sign pointing to the house...

This is the driveway-type-thing I walk down to get to the road.

And looking the other way...

The opening you see there is the entrance to the driveway. So the house is behind those buildings.

This is the road I live on. I'm getting pretty good at saying it too :)

This is one of the main fountains which is only a couple of blocks (french blocks thus much smaller than american blocks) from my house. It used to be the center of the really rich potion of town. Then these single houses were turned into "les hotels particulaires" or houses that the owners rented out to wealthy visiting families. I got to go in one of them because I have a friend living with a family down the road from this fountain. It was absolutely gorgeous with high spacious ceilings, beautiful paintings, and just such an amazingly pretty architecture. The square itself is called "la place des quatre dauphins" or the place of the 4 dolphins (due to the fountain)
Here is one of the dolphins up close. Its kinda pretty with the icicles!

Down the street from the place of the 4 dolphins theres a large church. I remember our tour guide told us a little about it but I dont remember exactly what he said. The house I went in is right here...
Looking the other way down the street... isn't it just so french?
the church again...
At a candy shop down the street there is a mosaic above one of the windows. It shows a woman walking from a carriage to the fountain of the 4 dolphins. I thought it was really cool...
And here is the candy shop window. They make some of the candy, calissons, that Aix is known for.
Back when Provence was its own country and not a part of France as a whole Aix was the capital. Because of that there are a lot of old governmental and religious central buildings. This is a statue of the Roi Rene, the last king of Provence. The statue is at one end of the "cours mirabeau" (the "state street" or main street of Aix with a lot of shops, restaurants and banks).

On almost all of the corners of major streets there is a statue of some saint (usually the virgin Mary holding baby Jesus)

This is fountain in Aix that is from the natural springs beneath and dates back to the time of the Romans. Just like in Bath, England Aix has underground springs that were used by the Romans. Aix actually means water in the old language of the region and a lot of the statues and city architecture centers around that theme of water. Its in the center of the cours Mirabeau at a round about.
This is on the cours Mirabeau as well. Its upstairs from a restaurant down on the street and I thought they were so cute!
This is looking down the cours Mirabeau. The trees were planted by American soldiers during one of the world wars...

This is another one of the fountains on the cours Mirabeau. I love how this one looks with the icicles! Every one (even the locals) were around it taking pictures of it!

This is one of the chain convenience stores which is on the cours Mirabeau. In the basement it has a grocery store, the second level has cosmetics and womens clothing and the third floor has mens clothing and housing things. Its very convenient and some of the things aren't too expensive (although they do sell 120 euro purses there...)

A carousel at the end of the cours Mirabeau. I thought maybe there wouldn't be very many people outside today as most of the shops are closed and it was so cold but quite a few people were out just walking especially with their kids.
One of the statues at the end of the cours Mirabeau. I believe it is dedicated to science and math.
This is the main fountain of the city called the rotond. The three statues at the top all represent something. The one facing the camera reprresents justice and faces the courthouse. The other two face Marseille and Avignon but I dont remember what they symbolize.
SALES!!! For the entire month of January there are huge sales everywhere! Of course everything is still really expensive but 30-75% off is much better than full price! Ive profited a bit from the sales... after they are over though I doubt I will buy much.
This is one of the smaller streets off the cours Mirabeau and one of the many many fountains throughout the city. Aix is called the city of a thousand fountains... and I think thats about accurate!
One of the open areas...
The Hotel de Ville (city hall) and the clock tower...
A statue at the top of the building. The two statued represent the different components of water. The way the tour guide explained it was that the statue on the left is an older man, very predictable and calm. The statue on the right is a younger woman, very unpredictable and with a lot of energy and passion.
A closer look at the clock tower. It tells the time, date, month and season.
It displays the season by what statue is visible. This one is winter because he is wearing a heavy coat. The tour guide said its kind of a city-wide mystery how the statues change but he thinks someone goes up and changes them manually.
This is the building where I will be taking some of my classes. Its the school for international students in Aix. I'll be going there tomorrow to start my intensive French course which for the next two weeks will be for nearly the whole day each day then once a week once regular courses start.
All the roads in this part of the city are marked in both French in Provencial (the ancient language of Provence) No one really speaks it fluently anymore but they keep the signs around to remember.
A church very near the school. There are three very distinguishable parts. The part farthest to the right is from the Roman era and the other two farther to the left are from later periods.
The newest portion of the church

The american bar in Aix which is really close to the schools and the rest of the "night life district" This is where I'll be watching the super bowl.

Then I walked back to the cours Mirabeau and tried to find the school again... and I proceeded to get completely and utterly lost. It is so hard to navigate those winding streets! Its not possible to get completly lost however because if you continue to walk in one direction you will find a busier road and you can follow that around to the cours Mirabeau. This is one church I found along the way that I thought was pretty.
And another building I found when I was lost...
I finally found my way back to the cours Mirabeau and tried to find the schools again... this is on the way there. It used to be a really nice hotel (it still might be im not sure...) They are doing a restoration here and you can see the stark contrast between the left and the right.
I ended up finding the school that time, walked back to the cours Mirabeau, ran into a girl from the program and we walked to the school together this time (I have it down now!) As we walked up we saw a huge crowd. It turned out we had stumbled on "the march of the three kings" The people were singing christmas carrols, were all dressed up and there were three camels! It was pretty cool!

It was so cute, there was a little dog right in front of us and the camel found it very interesting for some reason so it kept on trying to smell it. The dog got so scared!

We were hungry so we went into a fast food place on the cours Mirabeau called Quick and there was a pidgin in the restaurant... they are everywhere!

I'll probably put up more pictures when I take them. There were a few other places I wanted to take pictures of but didn't get the chance today. I feel like I'm beginning to get the hang of the city. I guess I just need to walk around as much as I can to figure out where things are in relation to each other. It really isn't that large of a city... just extremely confusing!

Well... I might be going to Wohoo tonight to watch the packer game if people go otherwise I'll watch the play by play on ESPN.com. GO PACK!!!