Provence and Van Gogh

When we were in Provence last week, we stayed in the town of Arles (pronounced Arl). I mentioned it was a town with great Roman ruins. It is also the town where Vincent Van Gogh did most of his work, where he found his inspiration, they said. It is also the place where he had the argument with Paul Gaughan and cut off his ear. There were placards around the town of things that he made famous in his paintings. The first picture is of one of his famous paintings . The next pictures are of the present day restaurant. We had a very pleasant meal there.


In his painting, the building is yellow, showing the restaurant in the glow of gaslight. The building wasn't yellow when Van Gogh painted it, it was off white like the rest of the buildings on the square. The owners of the restaurant, renamed it the Van Gogh Restaurant (it was Cafe La Nuit) and painted it yellow to capitalize on his name.


The restaurant is on the Place du Forum, which is the site where the Roman Forum was at an earlier time. The last picture is of the square. Each of the restaurants (I think there were 4) share the space. As the day went on, it was a very lively place to be.

The Romans in France

I didn't realize how far the Roman Empire went. Reading about it in a book in Jr. High School just doesn't give you the awe inspiring images that seeing it in person does. The beginning of this week, Larry and I drove to the Provence region of France. I was expecting to see lots of fields of lavender (which I did not). I didn't think we'd be seeing such great remains of the Roman Empire.

The first pictures are of the Pont du Gard which is an aquaduct bridge that spans a river valley. The information about it says it was built entirely without mortar and was built in the first century AD.

The pictures at the bottom are of the Roman amphitheater in the town of ARLES. We rode the trolley all around the city while listening to a taped recording via headphones. You could choose from 11 different languages. There were also ruins of Constantines bath house and another theater though those were not in as good condition as the colliseum and the Pont du Gard.
We had supper at a brasserie across from the amphitheater. The ruins make for a great backdrop for our salads and wine, don't you think?

The Markets

I think my favorite thing about being immersed in this culture is the markets. French people like to buy their food fresh, so they tend to buy only what they will need for a few days.

In Toulouse, there is a market that I go to that's right off one of the subway stops. Its vendors sell fruit & vegetables and bread Tues. through Sunday mornings. Some of those days, meat and fish vendors join them. In Toulouse, there are several markets including one market that's indoors on the first floor of a parking gare (that's garage in French) that is all meat and fish vendors. You can buy whole fish, and even a whole rabbit ready to roast (I haven't braved that one and I don't think I will). The fruit and vegetable vendors set up around the outside of the garage.

Smaller towns have market days once or twice a week and their markets include other things in addition to food. The pictures posted that are not of food vendors are pictures of the twice weekly market in Arles (Provence). If you look closely you can see them selling clothing as well as fabric and related items. There were even people selling hardware and household type items (even matresses). In Arles, once a month, the market is a flea market.

the French Countryside

This past weekend, we drove about an hour and a half north and slightly west into the countryside of the region, Lot. We stayed at a B&B that was a refurbished barn operated by a couple of Brits (yea - we could communicate with them). It was quite warm and we enjoyed their pool. We explored the area and had several nice meals.

The area was very nice, the sunflowers are in bloom. It could have been northern MN if it wasn't for the hills (foothills of Pyrenees) and the very small roads with all of the round-abouts.

The wine region in the area, Cahor, produces Malbec wines. Peter, (the B&B owner) suggested several winerys and we enjoyed touring and sampling each of them.


The top three pictures are of the area (Lady and I are looking out the window of our room at the B&B) and the bottom two are of our wine tasting expedition.

Preconceptions

I don't know about you, but before arriving in France, I had this idea of what apartments and homes were like here. One of the preconceptions was of their shutters. Now, don't get me wrong, every home has shutters, just not what I'd imagined (like in the opening scene of Beauty and the Beast). As a matter of fact, there is a law in TOULOUSE that doesn't allow you to keep your shades open for more than a 24 hour period. Okay, I have to correct myself. I went back looking for where I found info on the blinds. It my not be law, but it does have to do with insurance. If you leave your blinds open for more than 24 hours and you're burglarized, the insurance company doesn't have to pay.

We live in a newer neighborhood of TOULOUSE and all apartments have what Larry's manager, Randi refers to as "blast shields" right out of a Bond movie. The picture on the top is of a nearby home with shutters (as I'd imagined). The picture on the bottom is of a door of our apartment. The shutter raises and lowers by a control switch near each of the windows/doors. There is also a master switch that raises and lowers them all right by the front door.

Another preconception that I had is of their roads, cars and driving. That idea has not been proved wrong. Their roads are small as are their cars. They drive fast. I'm glad that Larry is happy to drive around here and I don't have to. Public transportation is fine with me.