Saturday- only halfway through another weekend, and there is already so much to talk about. Over the past few days, we have done a number of activities, such as visiting the Granet Museum and returning to Marseille to see the Marseille soap factory.
Out of all of the different art exhibitions and museums that we have seen over the past few weeks, the Granet Museum was far and away my favorite. It houses paintings by some of the most famous artists in history, including Picasso, Dali, Matisse, and Cézanne. I cannot claim to know much about art, but getting to see such well-known and revered paintings up close was striking.
Saturday, we returned to Marseille, the cultural capital of Europe for 2013. Instead of hiking this time, though, we took a tour of the Marseille soap factory and viewed a modern art exhibit. The factory that we toured is one of the last remaining producers of traditional Marseille soap (a broad term used to describe soap made from olive oil). Marseille appears to be a place where historic establishments such as factories, bakeries, and churches are very well-preserved and even still functioning hundreds of years after their creation. The modern art exhibit was interesting, but in my opinion, paled in comparison to the great works in the Granet Museum. Overall, the day trip to Marseille was a refreshing change of pace from our typical living in Aix.
Now I am looking forward to our trip to Avignon on Sunday to see what more is left to be discovered in the beautiful South of France.
-Brandon