The Podoll Family: First Days (from Katherine's school blog)

We are having tons of fun in Aix en Provence. I'm seeing and experiencing some very interesting and unique things here that i could see few other places in the world. The buildings are very neat. They're so old, the "new" ones are from the seventeen hundreds and earlier! The streets are so small here, most of them are one way. One of the main streets is so small that it's smaller than some fire roads in the USA. There are fountains at almost every corner with very intricate designs on them such as angels or animals. I also thought that it was very interesting, since in science we're studying water, that all of the gutters in Aix are in the middle of the street. I also found that there are some very old doors around the city which are really neat. Most of them have the doorknobs in the middle of the door. France is really fun and I feel like I'm going to learn a lot just from being here and learning the french culture, and the language.

These are pictures of a couple of the dozens of fountains here in Aix en Provence.

This is one of the main streets in Aix. It is one way, and quite small. The city is small enough that we can walk everywhere, and so there are tons of people on the streets. There is not enough room for everyone on the sidewalks, so a lot of people just walk in the street and move over when a car passes. I like the small streets better than our four-lane highways, because it is quieter and calmer. Everything in France is more relaxed, and i think that there is a very nice environment here because of it.

These are some of the old buildings in Aix. Notice in the last one how the top layer of the building is a different material. This is because one layer was built, and a couple hundred years later they add another layer on top with a different, newer material.