Aix en Provence

Aix at first attempt: That means searching, getting your bearings, finding the Office du Tourisme... It actually looks quite nice here, but we come across something we have already encountered many times on our travels: the old town is not just the old town, but almost always also the shopping mile. And because most of the shops today belong to chains, these shopping miles, no matter which city, always look the same. That's just the way it is, and because shopping is one of many people's favorite pastimes, that's probably fine. In addition to the shops, there are also numerous street cafés waiting for guests, but they are hardly any different from those anywhere else. Fortunately, there is also art. But let's be honest: how do the art temples differ from those elsewhere?

After the somewhat special special exhibition "Jean Daret" with numerous colorfully restored allegories of saints and a few Cézannes in the Musée Granet, we come across the Jean Planque collection in the Granet XXe. And this visit is the highlight of the day. What the Swiss painter and collector Jean Planque has brought together in terms of top-class works is truly extraordinary. In the restored Chapelle des Pénitents blancs from the 13th century, the Fondation Jean et Suzanne Planque is presenting 130 masterpieces by Picasso, Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, Gaugin, Braque, Dubuffet, de Staël and somewhat lesser-known artists. Once again, we didn't know what to expect. And we were rewarded with great impressions.