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