Blogs from Arles, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Europe - page 7

Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Arles July 3rd 2006

Today we ventured out to Arles. If you’re ever looking for a party at 11:00 on a Monday morning, go to Arles on the day of a bull show. We were planning on touring the Roman Arena and visiting the museum of antiquities; we weren’t expecting packed streets, live bands, wild dancing, horse parades, and live bulls roaming the streets. (For the record, we never saw a live bull, just the triangle-shaped warning signs. We did however stumble into music, dancing, and a horse procession. Festivities were going on all over the place.) We couldn’t tour the Roman Arena, because they were setting up for the bull show. “Bull show”-- that’s what the locals called it. They made clear that it wasn’t a “bull fight” and that we could get tickets and take our three-year-old. No ... read more

In the footsteps of Van Gogh

Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Arles April 29th 2006

John and the motif

warpgirl

Today I had my art history trip to Arles and St. Remy to see some motifs that Vincent Van Gogh painted when he was here, over a century ago. And believe it or not, there's still some stuff here that's basically unchanged. That's France for you. We started out in the middle of nowhere, looking at a footbridge that wasn't the one the Van Gogh painted, because that one's gone, but it's the same type of bridge. That was pretty cool, but we had to sit in the grass with the mistral blowing around us, and I was frankly kinda cold. Things were better when we got into Arles proper, and looked at the old road to Rome that is lined by all these Roman sarcophagi. This was a motif that Van Gogh and Gaugin did ... read more

Arles and St. Remy

Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Arles March 4th 2006

Mausoleum and Arch of Glanum

warpgirl

Today I tagged along with the archeology class to the ruins of the Roman town of Glanum outside of modern-day St. Remy and to Arles, a city west of Aix that has major urban ruins, including an amphitheater, theater and circus. We arrived in St. Remy around 9h30, and looked at the cenotaph and city arch a few hundred feet from the actual ruins of the town of Glanum, while we waited for the place to open. The tower is a cenotaph and not a mausoleum because no one is actually buried there. It commemorates the man that did deeds in service of Rome, thereby allowing the people of Glanum to gain Roman citizenship. The arch is like triumphal arches in other Roman areas, but this one marked the edge of the town and wasn’t really ... read more

Arles

Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Arles June 1st 2003

Bellini

We escaped from Paris, where the heat wave was unbearable, but it wasn't any better in Arles, which I had only heard of because of the print 'Van Gogh in Arles' that hung in the house I grew up in, so we went to the catacombs, which were interesting and didn't photograph well, but we didn't care because they were very cool.... read more

Brief history of France

Although ultimately a victor in World Wars I and II, France suffered extensive losses in its empire, wealth, manpower, and rank as a dominant nation-state. Nevertheless, France today is one of the most modern countries in the world and is a leader am...more history

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