We’re in Arles now, where I have been assigned a room with one of my least favorite bathrooms ever. Should anyone want to speak with me while I’m…busy…feel free to knock on my street-accessible window as I am merely inches from you!
Photo credit to Tammy, who will take fun photos like this one below, but also loyally asks no questions when I ask her to photograph me on the toilet:)
Here are my final thoughts on Aix-en-Provence:
One of the hazards of “traveling” with me is that you are limited to the topics that I can grasp and – as this trip hits the 40-day mark – I feel like I’m learning less and less. I had this goal of sharing my knowledge of Cezanne – known to be the father of modern art because he messed with color, shape, and perspective – but I’m fairly certain you’re going to come away lacking info.
We spent a week in Aix – birthplace and treasured painting grounds of Paul Cezanne – so that we could really soak up the atmosphere and information. It is distressing that as I sit here to instruct you, I have no information to share. Looking back at the very limited notes I wrote, I see this: Cezanne did not like to paint corn. But when I look that fact up on the Internet, there’s nothing. I can see he’s famous for still life paintings like this:
And it’s true that I can’t find a Cezanne painting with corn during a (not really) exhaustive search. So perhaps we can close our comprehensive French/Spanish art studies of the past 1000 years confident in our conclusion that it seems like Paul Cezanne might not have painted any corn.
Here is the bathroom storage shelf in Road Scholar’s Aix lecture hall. I was happy for the chance to learn some wine storage/hostessing skills as I used the bathroom.
I feel like the lecture hall people should meet with my Arles hotel designers and – working together – they could design a bathroom where you can serve wine right from the convenience of your toilet via a walk-up window:
Food observation: I’m resorting to pizza more and more frequently. Both meals today were margarita pizza. Lunch: (15 euros)
Dinner: (10 euros)
I didn’t eat here (lacking two things for me: no pizza and no food service available in the bathroom) but this is the Regal Tacos and Asian Delicacies restaurant, offering neither tacos nor Asian food. Note French fries labeled as tacos.
Alert: Actual travel information coming!
This is the village of Loumarin – about 20 miles from Aix, where our Road Scholar bus stopped for a bit.
We got to spend a few hours there. It’s a charming place with a fantastic vegetarian sandwich shop (feta cheese, cucumber, pumpkin seeds, and pea hummus):
And lots of great views:
But okay – now we’re in Arles – and I’ve fallen in love once again – although this is the first time in France as my “type” seems to be Spain. Arles is spectacular. Arles has a population of about 52,000 (much smaller than Aix at 150,000). Here’s an aerial view of the city:
You can see Arles’ magical amphitheater in that picture. It’s from 90 AD and sits just right in the middle of town. Our hotel looks right at it and some people on our tour have views of this from their room (note: not me.) Here is the amphitheater:
Here is the view from my room:
There is also this alarming thing under my chair, which I am afraid to touch, but I think it is some kind of rat poison: (any art historians who can identify, please chime in).
But back to the amphitheater. It held about 20,000 people and our guide described it as vomitorium architecture – designed with lots of passageways under the seats to allow for fast exits.
The amphitheater is a Roman building – right here in Arles. Why? Because Julius Caesar made Arles a Roman colony in 46 BC. It was on the busy trade route between Spain and Italy.
The Romans also built this smaller theatre in 30 BC:
When Rome fell in the 5th century, the massive amphitheater was turned into a fortress and people built houses there, making a tiny town. It held over 200 houses and looked something like the drawing below. In the 1820s the entire town was demolished and the amphitheater was put back into public use:
Arles is mostly just beautiful – it feels very Italian right here in France. Here are a million pictures so you can see what I am seeing:
In addition to all of this, Van Gogh spent 15 months here, starting in 1888 – and he painted over 300 pictures during his stay. The city has posted copies of some of his paintings right in the squares/restaurants he chose to memorialize and it makes for great strolling.
This is the garden at the Hotel Dieu – a hospital where Van Gogh was treated after he cut off his ear. (We had lunch here and this was the only picture I’ve got so – using my technological savvy, I’ve scratched out an innocent tour member to protect her privacy).
Here’s Cafe Terrace at Night with a modern re-creation of the actual cafe: (legal note: cafe currently closed as the owners were convicted of tax evasion)
In the midst of all of this Roman architecture, Arles also has a new Frank Gehry building called the Luma Foundation, finished in 2021. It’s a classic Frank Gehry stainless steel masterpiece:
Enough gushing. Let’s get back to my continuing French hotel room training – learning how to get along in France is another travel skill I value. Just moments ago, I noticed that someone came in here while I was out today and hung this blue shirt in my closet. It’s definitely not mine.
I think the citizens of Arles are trying to make sure I understand my place: I can visit their city, but need to share my closet, host rats, and be willing to chat with tourists from the comfort of my toilet.
Travels with Valerie 