We made a stop in Arles, saw the smaller Roman arena and had lunch there, on the way to the Abbaye de Sainte Croix Hotel in Salon de Provence.
The hotel is a converted XIIth century abbey, located on one of the foothills of the Alpilles, which provided an incredible view of the surrounding area, from their outdoor restaurant. I am currently reading 'Pillars of the Earth' which is an excellent book whose main character happens to be a 12th century monk. I learned from the book that monks had no personal possessions and no money of their own but they lived more like lords than peasants. They had good food, warm cloths and fine stone buildings...and apparently sometimes a really nice pool, as well as excellent bar and room service. Also as a monk you need to take three vows ...poverty, celibacy and obedience. It's good for us that this Abbaye was not enforcing any of those for us that weekend...except for maybe a taste of poverty when we checked out.That first night there we took a ride into the small town of Salon de Provence for dinner. We found a really nice spot there at the 'La Salle à Manger'. The daughter of the owner spoke English and came to our table to read the entire menu to us, without our asking. It was nice though. She gave us her impression of some of the dishes and explained some of the subtleties of the ingredients, spices and/or cooking methods being used. Some of the French folks around us were starved for attention and I could see them watching her incredulously while she read the menu to us verbatim. Her catering to us was totally the opposite of almost every story you hear about how Americans are treated in restaurants in France. When it was time for dessert she brought the menu which listed 40 desserts!!...we told her she didn't need to read all 40. We were all very satisfied with everything there and would recommend it highly.
Afterward we took a stroll and wandered upon an outdoor festival that we ended up staying at for hours, dancing to AC/DC and the Rolling Stones, among other rock covers.
It was totally unexpected but it was exactly what we were all looking for as it turned out. The band's lead singer was trying to act/dress like Angus Young of AC/DC but with a kilt?? His singing was at times horrendous and hilarious but his attitude seemed great and everyone there seemed to like him. Also, I thought he looked a lot like our friend Steve Nelson...the thought of that being Steve up there made it extra special for me. It was definitely veird.The next day we took a trip to Saint Remy to see the église Saint-Martin there (is it old ?....ah-yeah!!) and Nostradamus's childhood home...I KNEW we would see that there.
From there we drove farther north through some incredibly beautiful country. It is said that St. Remy is where Van Gogh painted Starry Night. This painting is seen everywhere it seems and I hope to have it somewhere in our house at home someday as well.We drove through Avignon without stopping at the Pope's Palace but instead continued right to the Pope's wine region, Châteauneuf-du-Pape. They are known for some incredibly great wine...it's the Pope's wine for gosh darn...he used to live there between 1330 to 1370 before moving to Rome. We both bought a couple bottles there and then found a deserted road right next to the Rhone river to stop and try some. We drank one of the Château La Nerthe bottles and then another cheaper bottle we had brought with. This lead to all kinds of à côté de Rhone related activities...see du Rhone, rock du Rhone, sing du Rhone, skip du Rhone, pee du Rhone and the crowd pleaser John Wayne du Rhone..."so yer one of them Frenchies huh". Finally Marv decided to 'climb du Rhone' when he climbed up an abandoned, fenced off, private property type, ancient castle tower, while I stayed back with the girls...and felt like one. Of course I could say I needed to stay with my illegally parked stick-shift car that the girls couldn't move...but in reality I didn't want to get all shi*ty, sweaty, dirty and possibly scratch up my man purse. We didn't think he would get in there and up there...but never underestimate Marv. Notice his hand waving from the small murder hole in the photo on the left, as we tracked his progress up the tower. He did get a little dirty and cut up but he was not to be denied. It was really very impressive. We're just real happy he didn't kill himself goin up there.
We had a lot of fun that day. After having dinner in the small town of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, we drove back through the starry night and stayed up until the small hours, in Marv & Terry's patio area off of their suite...great spot.The following day we went to Nimes.
There we saw the ancient and amazing Pont de Gard, built in 50 AD by the Romans, of course, to bring water from a spring to the city of Nimes. It looks like it must have been a lot of work for back then...like "what are you crazy?"
From there we drove into the town of Nimes and visited a larger, more impressive Roman arena there, which is considered the best preserved Roman amphitheater. It could hold 24,000 blood thirsty spectators. There were many stops within the arena with information boards in French and English. It focused on the life of the gladiator, as opposed to a similarly impressive story told inside the Colosseum in Rome, that focused mostly on the building itself and the history of Rome. We found out there were different types of gladiators, depending on what their armor and what their weapons were.
There was the Provocator, the Thrace, the Hoplomaque, the Mirmillion, the Secutor, the Arbelas, the minimally armed but quick and scrappy, Retiaire and finally everyone's favorite, the small and equally as scrappy, Randiator...shown getting ready for a big match. The message we seemed to come away with in the end, was that the sport of gladiator fighting was at first somewhat civilized and noble but as time went on, they ruined the sport, until it became shamelessly brutal by around 300 AD....kinda like what they've done with the commercialization of the NFL in the last 30 years but different.Marv and Terry took the fast train (TGV) from Nimes back to Paris, for their flight the next morning. It was sad to see them go...time flies so fast but it was a really fun weekend and we are so glad they were able to vacation in France and visit us.
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