Here is some information from two French teachers who have moved from the classroom approach in favour of walking around Aix, visiting the markets, having lunch together, and all the time having French conversations—with notes of new vocabulary being emailed to you later.   Destination Francais classes are geared toward children …

The Bastide Rose is the beautiful honey-coloured home of Poppy Salinger who was married to JFK’s press secretary, journalist and writer Pierre Salinger. It stands by the translucent river Sorgue and is the setting for an annual sculpture show. This year, its theme is Amour, in harmony with the MP2018 …

To add to my previous post, which concentrated on the opening weekend for the Picasso-Picabia exhibition at the Musée Granet, there will be a weekly guided tour of the exhibition in English on Fridays at 15:00 hrs (entry fee + 4 euros). French tours will take place Tuesday through Sunday …

The town is at a perfect storm of roadworks right now, according to La Provence, (le chantier est a pleine puisssance) but they say that things should start to improve from here on. Work on the 7.2km Aixpress bus-route is taking place along its full length, the restructuring and pedestrianisation of …

The Hotel de Caumont has been open for 5 years now as an arts centre, and this current exhibition,’ Nicolas de Stael in Provence’ has to be the best I have seen here. It focuses on the short time this interesting painter spent in Provence, July 1953-June 1854, when he discovered the …

I wonder if you have visited Anticafé Aix yet? Founded two years ago, its principle is that customers pay per hour. Your 5 euros per hour gets you as much coffee or tea as you like, plus there are breakfast cereals, bread to toast with jam, or later in the …

The Foundation Carmignac opened to the public on June 1st. This display of modern art is in a vast (1500 sqm) gallery inside a Provencal villa on the beautiful island of Porquerolles. Financier Edouard Carmignac has put the collection together. It includes works from the American Pop Art School, including …

The Paul Cézanne statue at the Rotonde in Aix is the work of Dutch sculptor Gabriël Sterk who not only produced it but also organized its funding: when I interviewed him at the time, he explained that he had recently moved to the town and couldn’t understand why there was …

The wonderfully creative Arlésien designer Christian Lacroix has been given free rein to choose items from the museums of Avignon for ‘Mirabilis’, the summer show. And ‘marvellous’ it surely will be: visitors can see 350 to 400 works, documents and collections, from prehistory to ethnic collections to modern art, in unusual groupings …

Marseille is the oldest town in France, so when you walk along by the Vieux Port, you are following in the footsteps of Greek fishermen, shopkeepers, sailors and traders who established their colony in 600 BC.  They, and the Romans who arrived later have left traces that emerge so often …