Day Trips from Aix Part 6 - Garden Show

This had to be included in our list of day trips because it is so funny.  We learned about a garden show that was happening in the outskirts of Aix.  The "Journées des Plantes d'Albertas" is an annual garden show that is held on the grounds of a beautiful  8-hectare garden that dates back to the 17th century.  We thought (and when I say "we" I mean the adults in this case) "Well why not? We've got the time.  We like plants." The kids were less enthused about the idea but we had proposed less appealing outings in the past, so they didn't balk too much at the proposal.  So off we went in our car a quick 20 minutes outside of the town.  As we approached the gardens we saw a long line of traffic and realized "woah, this is a big deal".  Indeed over 20 000 people visited over the weekend!

At first it felt funny to be at the garden show as tourists and I think it made us a bit homesick.  We watched people exit with huge carts filled with plants and flowers.  We knew we would not be leaving with anything, but if we were home we would be getting ready to dig in the dirt.  However, as much as the festival was for people to buy their plants and gardening supplies, it is also a chance to walk around beautiful grounds and take in the sights and smells.

I think we were all ready for the grounding force of plants and dirt.  We all love getting our hands dirty at home in the garden and the spring time is usually an invigorating time of seed planting and plant tending.  I believe we were all feeling a bit of the tug towards home and the familiar pleasures that we missed on the road.  Walking among the crowds of people pulling their wagons filled to the brim with plants and trees, I once again appreciated that we could find joy in simple experiences.  Despite the whiffs of homesickness the five of us could meander around and find ways to enjoy ourselves.  The kids were happy to sniff the roses and find the most fragrant.  We listened to musicians playing on the grass. We oohed and awed over plants that we would love to bring back to our own gardens and house.  And we pondered the "art".

   

This man (in following pic) only sold carnivorous plants and we talked to him for over 10 minutes! I can only imagine he may have been disappointed when we told him we were from Canada and could not buy any of his plants.  Or maybe he was happy for the chance to talk as it was't like we had to bust through crowds to get to him.  Perhaps the French prefer more "civilized" plants...

The grounds were lovely as well and we could walk among the bridges, ponds and statues, as well as temporary art displays that were part of the weekend's festival.

The really funny thing about our outing and the memory that makes everyone in the family laugh is that Leo, in his endearingly enthusiastic way, scoured the workshop schedule and circled the workshops he wanted to attend.  The priorities were "tomato tending" and "bonsai".  We timed our visit to coincide when these free workshops were being held and we made our way to the booths listed as the location.  And there was Leo, the curious and enthusiastic gardener, who does not speak French.  Now he has been trying to learn French, and indeed did learn lots during our time in France, but his lessons had not really entered the gardening vocab realm.  So there we were trying to provide real time translation for him while French men spoke in rapid fire about tomatoes and bonsai (not at the same time). Here they are at the bonsai workshop:

Our day at the French Garden show will go down in family lore as the time Dad went to a bonsai workshop, in French.  And took us with him.  It provided lots of good laughs.  Not so much new knowledge due to the lack of comprehension, but good memories.  It was one of the many things we were able to do simply because we had the time.  And that may be one of the biggest gifts of this whole trip.  Taking the time to try new things, to go to funny garden shows, to spend an afternoon wandering a park, to slow down and appreciate the blue sky and being together.  Oh, and to appreciate plants.  They make everything better.