At Marseille airport, ahead of another work trip, lots of panneaux have sprung up about Aix-en-Provence’s most famous son, Paul Cezanne.

I learnt lots of interesting facts:

• Si Cezanne était un animal il serait un caméléon because he displayed an ability to evolve with the world around him.
• Si Cezanne était une couleur il serait le bleu.
• Si Cezanne était un fruit il serait la pomme – he painted them a lot!

I also learnt that he painted Le Mont Sainte Victoire more than 80 times.

And that he lived in Jas de Bouffan – pres de chez nous – and it means home of the winds in Provençal.

And of course: Si Cezanne était une ville il serait Aix-en-Provence. Mais carrément.

I have just finished reading this book having seen it recommended as one of the 19 best books of 2024 in The Times.

As it is by a French author – a former police officer – I bought my copy in French.

And having just finished it I have to agree, it is nigh-on perfect.

The action surrounds the migrant camp in Calais called the Jungle and the desire of the migrants to reach Youké.

If you are a fan of les polars, then give this one a try. You won’t be disappointed.

Our weekend trip this week was to Moustiers-Sainte-Marie high up in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.

It was about six buses away – my new measurement of distance is how many buzzards I see on the way.

Moustiers is quite simply gorgeous. In the mountains with une cascade running through the village, it is breathtaking.

We had lunch in a small café with a balcony overlooking the river Adou.

It came with a warning.

I also had the best croque-monsieur I have ever eaten. Made with locally-sourced ingredients, it was made with pain perdu. It was worth the trip alone.

Next door was a pottery shop. The shop assistant was very chatty and explained a few bits of local history as well as general French history.

In the village there is a star hanging between the two cliffs on a 225m chain.

It was said to have been placed there by the knight Bozon de Blacas who was held prisoner during the Crusades.

According to legend, he vowed to hang a star over his village if he was able to return.

And the icing on the cake?

We saw a griffon vulture flying around the mountains as we left.

We had two new avian visitors to our garden this weekend.

This female rougequeue noir (black redstart) was joined by the male – but he didn’t hang around long enough for a picture.

We also had a couple of verdiers d’europe (greenfinches) in among the other finches and tits at the feeders.

They threw their considerable weight around.

And of course plenty of les chardonnerets (goldfinch) as well.

While away for work in Prague, I got a push notification from The Economist on the top 50 most walkable cities.

Look who’s in fifth place!

Walkable cities are sometimes called 15-minute cities – which means everything that locals need is within a small radius.

I remember from our time in Lyon that everything was nearby – particularly when we lived in Cours Franklin Roosevelt.

Great shops, restaurants, coffee shops, bookshops etc.

And we certainly walked a lot when we lived there.

Unlike Venelles where our remote location means most journeys start in a car.

Quelqu’un a percuté ce panneau.

Mais c’est sur la droite de la rue.

Peut être c’était quelqu’un, comme un anglais, qui conduisait sur la gauche de la rue.

Mais ce n’était pas moi.

Ou peut être quelqu’un l’a frappé en reculant.

While walking around the 15eme Cath spotted this pâtisserie. The name Yann Couvreur rang a bell with her.

She had seen his creations on social media and his obsession with fox chocolate creations – foxolates if you will.

Apparently he has long had an association with foxes – because:

Car c’est un animal libre, qui parle à tout le monde et qu’on trouve sur toute la surface du globe. Qui plus est, l’animal est malin et élégant, tout comme les créations gourmandes de Yann Couvreur… Et puis, il est roux, comme le chef !

All of this meant we went in and bought some foxchocs. And I’m glad we did because they were delicious.

In the three years we have been in France we realised that we hadn’t been to Paris – except to change trains. So it was time to put that right with a weekend away.

We were staying near Parc André Citroën in the 15eme. Having just been reading up about Gustave Eiffel I was surprised to see his most-famous creation in the park.

On closer inspection it was a very accurate replica made of bamboo canes.

So we sought out the real one before going to see how Notre Dame is looking.

There were big queues to see inside so we made do with a look around outside.

Before we left we checked in on Gustave’s other famous creation.

It was nice to revisit some old haunts and see how the neighbourhood had changed since our last visit.