Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Tuesday, March 12,  2024

This morning, we decided to go to Arles. We walked to the end of Rue Joseph Vernet (our street) to the train station. It’s located just outside the Old Town Wall. We found our train and got on. It’s about a 20 minute ride to Arles. 

The town is centuries old. Arles is distinctly Roman. Ancient ruins are scattered across the city, but the highlight is Les Arènes. The perfectly preserved amphitheater still seats thousands of visitors every summer. It’s  where they hold the city’s notorious bullfighting event. They do not kill the bull!





The other major influence in Arles is Van Gogh. While his yellow house was sadly destroyed in World War II, there’s still plenty of opportunities to follow in his footsteps. There is a Van Gogh walk. They point out 7 places where he painted some of his masterpieces. He painted 900 paintings in 10 years. He only sold 1 in his lifetime. Sadly his work only came into light well after his death. The whole cutting off of his ear story has some controversy as well. It is thought that during an evening of drinking with his friend Paul Gauguin (An excellent swordsman,) Gauguin cut off just a bit of Van Gogh’s earlobe. In order to not involve the police, Van Gogh said he did it himself. Now that’s a loyal friend!

We walked around Arles, saw ancient buildings and had a quick lunch in an outdoor cafe in a sunny plaza. 








We even found a place with Susie’s maiden name.

Back on the train to Avignon. 


We went back to our house. Read, wrote the blog and relaxed. 





Tonight we had a reservation at O’ Papilles. Mike, Lisa and Julie had their best meal in Avignon there when they visited last April. They spoke of a green risotto that was out of this world! We were looking forward to trying it. Unfortunately the menu has changed since then, so we were unable to try it! It is a small restaurant and only 1 chef. 







We were right in front of the window and were able to watch him prepare our food. Our waitress was very sweet and spoke English very well. Jeff had shaved scallops with citrus as an appetizer. He and Steve had shells stuffed with seafood of mussels, shrimp and crab. Susie and I had steak. 




Dessert was delicious. Jeff had a citrus cheesecake and Steve, Susie and I had a chocolate lava cake. Yummy!

Home, off to bed. We have an early train to Paris in the morning! Bonne nuit!💕



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