Carnet de Voyage #2: Place des Cardeurs

A few weeks ago, my friend (and now future roommate!) Hayley and I took a walk around Aix. We had no destination, but we did have our giant, tourist DSLR cameras. It was cold but sunny, and we dawdled just enough to catch the best of the afternoon light.

One of the places we wandered was Place des Cardeurs, which was the first place I knew I loved Aix. I had just ended my 33-hour, exhausting voyage from D.C. and somehow found the energy to go exploring. I had no idea where I was going – as evidenced by the fact that I got lost for an hour trying to find Cours Mirabeau. I stumbled upon Place des Cardeurs, which was mostly empty at 5 p.m., and felt butterflies.

I started this page in my carnet based on one of the restaurants at Place des Cardeurs, le Brasserie Le Bidule. As assistants, we don’t usually eat out very often (unless it is a kebab because we are all over those), just because it’s so expensive. One night, after a particularly grueling day of bureaucracy and various expat hurdles, Hayley and I decided to splurge on dinner.

When you’ve only eaten at about three restaurants in a city, you remember them and their delicious, so worth it, warm goat cheese salads. That, and how necessary the wine and chocolate lava cake is after fighting with a bank all day. ♦