We arrived in Arles around noon and stopped briefly at the Tourist Office. Then we walked through a drizzle past the town square with roman obelisk in front of the city hall. The 12'th century St. Trophime, site of the crowning of Frederic Barberossa, is on one side of the square. Illustration 1: Arles Mairie Illustration 2: St. Trophime We continued straight to the hotel we had booked, Hotel Musee.
Illustration 3: Hotel du Musee We left our luggage (room not ready) and returned downtown for a big lunch then back to the hotel to claim our room and off to visit some of the sites. We stopped at a couple of Van Goth spots, including one where he painted a bridge, the hospital where he stayed and the house where he lived. Illustration 4: Hospital with poster of Van Goth painting We also saw the Roman outdoor theater and (reconstructed) coliseum, both of which are still used. The coliseum has bull fights, which seems appropriate.
Illustration 5: Arles coluseum Finally, we stopped at the partially reconstructed Roman baths half a block from our hotel. Illustration 6: Roman baths Monday, June 1, 2009 We took the 8:00 bus to the Parc Ornithologique in the Camargue, just a few kilometers north of the port of Les Saintes Maries des la Mer. The Camargue is famous for black cattle and white horses. There are many riding stables, including one just opposite the Parc.
Illustration 7: White horse of the Camargue We spent the entire morning walking around a large pond looking at flamingos and many other water birds. This has to be the densest and most varied collection of birds I have ever seen. The park is well managed and well presented, with lots of blinds and elevated platforms to allow the birds to be observed without being disturbed. Illustration 8: Flamingoes
Illustration 9: Tree of birds Illustration 10: A busy mother
Illustration 11: Red headed duck Illustration 12: Avocet?
Illustration 13: Swan Illustration 14: A strange one About 1:00 we took another bus into Les Saintes Maries de la Mer, where we grabbed a quick lunch and had a 1.5 hour boat ride up the Rhone. Not a lot to see on this trip, mostly horses and cattle on the banks of the Rhone.
Illustration 15: White horses on the Rhone Illustration 16: Black baby bull on the Rhone Boats are moored strangely in the harbor at Les Saintes. There are no finger piers between the boats, I think to save space. Boats are moored side by side (with big fenders), mostly backed in, with the free end held by an anchor. Owners enter their boats over an gangplank on the stern.
Illustration 17: Boats crowded at the docks in Les Saintes While we were in Les Saintes we climbed a tight circular staircase to the roof of a church, walked across the roof and climbed down the matching staircase on the other side. Illustration 18: Church in Les Saintes Then we returned to Arles, again by bus, but this time through a massive traffic jam. We had an hour long dinner at the Van Goth cafe, which is the same location as the one he painted.
Illustration 19: Van Goth cafe in Arles Back in our room we used the internet to reserve a train ride and hotel for Carcassonne in two days. Tuesday, June 2, 2009 We had a large breakfast at our hotel (canned peaches, yogurt, boiled eggs for Idell, bread and lots of coffee for me), then bought a picnic at a grocery store and took the 10:00 bus towards Les Saintes, getting off at the Museum of the Camargue. This museum had a great collection explaining farm life in the Camargue in the last two centuries. Idell and I had a long discussion with the staff about the difference between the Montana lasso and the Camargue trident. Camarguian guardians (cowboys) use a small trident on a long pole to control cattle. The same implement appears at three ends of the local Christian cross. We at our picnic at the Museum, took a short walk around some rice fields, then stopped at the WC before heading back to Arles. I wondered if this is the last of these old style WC's. I haven't seen any others. (Note added later: there are others.)
Illustration 20: Traditional French WC. Men and women use the same facility. We got back to Arles about 2:00, exchanged travelers checks at the post office, then waited a long time for a local bus to the Museum of Antique Arles. This museum has an extensive collection of local Roman remains, mostly stone statues, columns and sarcophagi. There were some beautiful tile floors with elaborate pictures made with tiny pieces of tile. We took the bus back to the bus station, the walked back to the hotel stopping at the grocery store again to buy some dinner (including local sausage) and lunch for the next day. Wednesday, June 3, 2009 We got up early, had another large breakfast at the hotel, and went back to our room where I worked this document for a couple of hours. Then we packed up and left for the train to Carcassonne, planning to stop at a laundromat on the way. Unfortunately the laundromat promised by Lonely Planet has disappeared. We hung out at the train station for a couple of hours, then took the train to Nimes and onto Carcassonne. There are a couple of social issues I wanted to insert somewhere, and this is as good a place as any. The first is not so serious, just an old interest of mine. Motorcycles and motor scooters seem to be more popular in France than in the US, especially in the cities. Despite good wages and low unemployment, the material standard of living in France may still be below the US in some areas like household appliances and transportation. Cars, in particular, are expensive, and many young (and some not so young) people have chosen to travel on two wheels. There's a range of options for two wheels, from 100cc scooters to large BMW motorcycles (which probably cost as much as a small car). I was intrigued by an option that I haven't seen in the US:
the luxury scooter with larger wheels and a larger engine than the traditional Vespa but still retaining the cleaner and more comfortable scooter body. Illustration 21: Super Vespa The second issue is more serious. The urban areas of France are covered with large, elaborate graffiti. Illustration 22: French graffiti I don't know who's doing it, and Bob and Mary didn't know either. Grafitti was everywhere next to the train tracks on the ride from Charles DeGaulle Airport to Paris, and I saw it throughout the small cities in Provence. We even saw graffiti on bas relief sculptures at the Musee des Beaux Arts on the Seine in Paris.