Arles

Monday: Vichy

Posted on by Susan

We drove four hours northwest to Vichy today, a step toward Paris where our car is due back in a week. The massive strikes throughout France leave our exit plans somewhat questionable.

Regardless, we stopped in the town of Vienne, France for a long lunch and then drove on to Vichy – about three hours from Paris. We will spend a few days here and see how things go. The city is busy and nicely lit up for Christmas. We walked around a bit but since it is Monday most stores are closed. We will check them out tomorrow.

photos: Vichy’s entrance to a paet of the city; Vienne, where we stopped for lunch; interesting Julius Caesar chocolate heads being sold in a bakery in Arles this morning.

Saturday: Arles

Posted on by Susan

Saturday is market day in Arles and the amount of vendors selling everything imaginable is huge. There are baked goods, paella, chicken turning on a rotisserie, and many kinds of fish. Clothing, books, and household supplies are all there, and so are fruits and vegetables. I walked straight down the street for a half hour and still saw more sellers.

I bought a French language Little House on the Prairie and another book that the kind bookseller proudly found for me – a book in English. Not that I needed any more reading material.

We had apple pastries and coffee at the market, then headed to the Arles Archaelogical Museum, where a Roman barge from 50 A.D. was excavated from the Rhone River about 15 years ago. It was hard to believe the boat was found in such great shape although it required three solid years of intense work to preserve and reassemble it.

There was a small Christmas parade through the streets later in the evening, with a horse, bagpipes, Santa, and a snowman who encouraged ne to pose with him and his bear friend.


photos: at the Christmas parade; the Arles-Rhone 3 barge; spices for sale at the market

Friday: Arles

Posted on by Susan

We began to explore the city today, and with sunny skies and temperatures in the high 50s, it was a very good day to walk around.

We found a coffee shop near where we are staying and as luck would have it, croissants had just come out of the oven. One of those, plus cappuccino, was the perfect start to Friday.

We walked to Museum Reattu, with art from the 1700s to present day. It had quite a few Picasso sketches and two of his paintings. Most of the more contemporary art was not my favorite: a circle cut in half, an overexposed man’s face, colored rectangles hanging from the ceiling like a middle school art room. But the museum is housed in a very old convent and the building was a treat to walk around.

Next we went to the old Roman amphitheater – actually the ruins of the theater. It is still used for bullfights in April and May, and since it is still generally in its original condition, it was a wonder to see. There were some feral cats sleeping on the stone bleachers, one was walking around and as big as a fox. So I didn’t walk around the entire amphitheater.

photos: a perfect start to the day; gathered paper with glue = not my idea of art; the ancient amphitheater

Wednesday: Colmar, France

Posted on by Susan

We left Strasbourg this morning and drove to Colmar, about an hour away. Colmar is where Frederic Bartholdi was born – the Statue of Liberty sculptor – and the town celebrates him with a museum and his name on some buildings and businesses. Since the museum wasn’topen until later in the afternoon, our plan was to visit the Unterlinden Art Museum there, but there was also a holiday market.

The museum was interesting, but the market was excellent. We got a few gifts and some hot cider in their Calmor Christmas mug.

We had lunch in a restaurant near the museum and walked around the city center, checking out the holiday decorations. It was very cold out, so we left and headed south toward Arles, where we will spend a few days. It is seven hours away, so we won’t get there today.


photos: a Statue of Liberty replica in the center of a roundabout. It was very foggy; at the Unterlinden museum; the entrance to the holiday market