Although Vichy has been on our “must visit” list for years, I was reluctant to go because of the city’s connection to Nazi Germany. French Marshal Philippe Pétain, leading an autocratic government during World War II, dismantled the democratic institutions of the French Third Republic and consolidated power by creating a cult of personality around himself. His government, based in Vichy, collaborated with Hitler’s regime by imposing a police state controlled by censorship and propaganda. Luckily that ended 80 years ago, leaving behind a city where the painful memories of that era remain, but the beautiful Belle Époque architecture endures.

Both of us were convinced that we’d already visited Aix-en-Provence, most likely on a quick visit to the area years ago. We’d been on a sleepless overnight flight from NY to Paris, a speedy train south, and still under the influence of jetlag early the next morning, a rail trip out into the countryside of Provence. As always, we took lots of photos but it was only upon returning to the US while reviewing our vacation pictures did we realize that we’d been to Arles and Avignon but not to that third “A” town, Aix. To remedy that, we scheduled a return stay in Marseille as home base with a bonus boat ride to the National Park of the Calanques.