Arles & Avignon

Saturday started with a walk through Arles, led by a local guide. While there are several Roman ruins that have been restored and are in use today (an amphitheatre used for bullfighting [no-kill style] and a theatre), this city is primarily famous as the home in the late 1880s of Vincent van Gogh, and the city in which he painted many of his most famous works. Each of the locations where he painted has an historical marker and a small reproduction of what he painted there. Many of the sites that we visited look the same today.

Van Gogh led a pretty sad life, eventually ending it with his suicide at age 37. He only sold one work during his lifetime. The stories as to how his ear was cut off are varied (one version is that he did it himself, one is that it was cut off accidentally while fencing…no one knows for sure), but all agree that he wrapped it in a handkerchief and gave it to a prostitute. (One that he knew, in the biblical sense.)

Our tour finished at a large open-air market, with plenty of shopping for items you never knew you needed. I bought a carved hollow wooden frog that makes a croaking sound – cute but totally useless) and Rita bought some lavender packets. (Provence is famous for herbs and spices.)

We were back on the boat for lunch, and set sail north on the Rhône River for Avignon, passing through our first lock. We also had our obligatory evacuation drill while going through the lock, and performed admirably. We arrived at Avignon around 4:30 p.m., with a marvelous view of the old walled city and the famous bridge (“Sur le pont d’Avignon…”). The bridge was constructed early in the 12th century, destroyed in 1226 during a Crusade, rebuilt, and then damaged by the river over the years. In 1660, it was decided not to keep the bridge in repair, and today just 4 of the original 22 arches survive.

We had a brief walking tour of the old city, stopping at a sidewalk café for some refreshment before returning to the ship. There we were able to witness a cute tradition, at least in this part of France. When you are engaged, and before you get married, you get dressed up in a costume (we saw a man in a bunny suit pushing a baby buggy and a woman in a chicken suit) and go on a scavenger hunt, with a lot of friends and a list of items you need to obtain. And we thought our young adults were crazy! Dinner was provided on the ship, followed by bingo. (In France, it is called Lotto, and played slightly differently.)

The entire day, we experienced very strong winds from the north, which are called Mistral winds. We were told that they were good winds, as they brought good weather. All we could tell was that we couldn’t wear hats unless they were firmly attached!