PROVENCE, FRANCE

Sunday, October 3, 2010:  Arles

Checking with Rick

We got up, had breakfast (pretty decent breakfast here at Le Mas des Carassins), and drove to the town of Arles (pronounced Arl).  Nice town with lots of Roman Ruins.  Whenever I am in Europe, it always amazes me how old everything is.  It is so cool.  I love it.   We take a walk around town suggested by Rick Steves.  His guidebooks are very good in terms of describing things and suggesting walks (by him…or in this case, his workerbee who essentially wrote the book), but I find him quite opinionated.  However, I buy a bazillion guide books before we go somewhere, and most of the time while traveling, his books are my go to books.  They come out in the fall, and I will say that there were a few things that were closed (or changed names) since his 2010 Provence and the French Riviera came out last year.  I refer to him as “my buddy Rick,” as in “my buddy, Rick, says…”

Anyway,  we walked around town a bit, and found the St. Trophime Church.  The area above and around the church door is full of sculptured symbolism, starting with Jesus surrounded by the four evangelists (Matt, Mark, Luke & Jack...er John), and the 12 apostles below him.

I really like the chain gang on the way to hell.  Bummer for them.

Then we we saw the Theatre.  It is still in use today as evidenced by the stage and lighting and sound equipment.  Very cool.  I’d love to see a concert or play there! 

 

On the bleachers...

We walked around the Theatre, got lost, and had to jump down an old wall...

 Of course, this is the star of my show:

After this we had lunch outside the Roman Arena.  Turns out that you can’t get the plat du jour after about 1:15, and you must be done lunch by 2ish.  If not, no lunch.  So no plat for us but we did have wine (1/2 bottle of Rose) with lunch.  I’m wondering if this is going to be a habit? 

Then we went to the Roman Arena which is in much better condition than the Coliseum in Rome.  Smaller, though.  

I love Europe and its old buildings and cool squares!

 These were actual windows (and doors) used by people who moved into the arena and built houses in the middle ages up until the early 1800s.

Then we hopped in the car and drove about 20 minutes to the Pont du Gard, a huge Roman bridge/aqueduct.  I find it amazing how much engineering went into this feat.  Not just the building of the actual bridge, but the fact that they had to figure out the perfect slope for the aqueduct…too steep and the rushing water would erode the stone pipe carrying the water, not enough and the water would go stagnant, in addition to figuring out the best path for the water to take (turns out the best path for the source at Uzes was also the longest).   I’m convinced that these people were a lot smarter than we are now, considering all of the tools we have available to us now and that they were starting with no knowledge. 

 
There were a lot of people picnicking, and a lot of people with dogs.  I miss my Peekaboo and of course my kids.   It’s also a lot chillier here than I was expecting.  I was still (mostly) wearing shorts at home.  Temps in the low 70s, but with the wind, it is a bit nip.  Guess no swimming on this trip...but...no swimming under the bridge...if it had been warmer, I would have tested that...

 Gorgeous!

Drove back to St. Remy and had dinner at a place my buddy Rick suggested.  Except it was no longer called whatever it was in the book.  I thought dinner was better than the night before, but Michael loved his lamb stew the night before more.  Of course, there was another bottle of vino…

 Yummy!!!