From Foie Gras to Potty Hole!

---

Today started with a trip to the St. Remy-de-Provence market. It was fantastic. We thought the vats of olive oil, wine, cheese, tapenades, bread, fruits and veg were great at Aix-en-Provence but St. Remy's was beautiful. From what we could see the town was so-so compared to Gordes, Menerbes, Lourmarin and Avignon but perhaps we've just been spoiled by those hill-top villages.

The droves of lookey-loos made our decision to leave at 11am and after pondering if the Pont du Gard, Les Baux-en-Provence or Arles were our best option on our last afternoon in Provence, we chose Arles.

En route to Van Gogh's town, we passed the clinic where he self-committed himself after severing his earlobe following an argument with his then-friend Gaughin. The clinic is still in use today but they have left Van Gogh's room in tact to appease us oogling tourists. It was an amazing, if not creepy, experience. Many of his paintings were brought to life for us b/c he did so many of them during his 2 years there. The olive trees and hay fields he replicated are still there today. And being in St. Remy-de-Provence where he painted so many of his works made visiting the town worthwhile. It was all the more fitting b/c Van Gogh was in Arles prior to his committment in the St. Remy clinic, where we were headed to next.

Let's get right to the point here - Arles is old and dirty. Now everything in France is old and that's really cool but just b/c it's old doesn't mean it has to be icky. To us, Arles was just an uncivilized dirty place but I think my opinion was confirmed over lunch when I went to go to the bathroom in the restaurant we were at. I'll give John credit for suggesting that I might want to wait (as he had already had the pleasure of washing his hands in it) but I, being stubborn, didn't pay attention until I opened the door and saw no toilet. Instead it was a porcelin hole in the ground. Now, call me a princess but I don't care, there was no way I was going to degrade myself and squat over a drain! I walked out of that "hole" (figuratively, literally and all meanings in between!) so fast with a bladder ready to burst by the end of the meal but I didn't care. There are some things I require in this day and age and a proper toilet is one of them! Guess I'm not going to China. On top of this experience, there was an ancient Roman ampitheatre that was incredible to marvel at but the mood for that was also ruined by the the posters all over the walls promoting tonight's bull fight. Some things are historically interesting and some things are historically inhumane - both of these experiences in Arles fall under the latter category.

One thing kinda cool tho was seeing Van Gogh's house, albeit the clinic for crazies was much more interesting.

So anyway, today is our last day in Provence and we learned that Avignon is the capital of the Cotes de Rhones. Guess if we brought the right guidebook we would have known that all along but live and learn along the way. Overall, we've really enjoyed our time in Provence and have certainly seen enough towns/villages to get a good feel of the area. Naturally, we have our favourites - for some we agree with the guidebooks, for others not so much. That's the great thing about Provence tho, each place has its own unique characteristics and history and there is definitely something for everyone. We would absolutely come back to Avignon and recommend the Luberon area to everyone. We've even survived driving with the french on their roadways. It's all true - they drive super fast, super close and there are a million and one roundabouts but despite a couple of wrong turns we managed ok as a driver/navigator team and had more good laughs than tense moments along the way.

Not sure where tonight's meal will take us. It'll be hard to beat the past two dinners we've had but the Festival d'Avigon continues and gets going in hyper-gear in the evening hours so we'll partake in those festivities again tonight.

We have about 6 hours of train travel tomorrow to.......ITALY!!!!!! One more sleep! I've already scoped out the few but available internet cafes (I hestitate to use plural but I believe there's more than one with more than one computer!) so we'll keep you posted on this next leg of the trip. I believe the town we're staying in is smaller than any village we've visited in France so I'm sure it will have it's own unique quirks and pleasures for us to deal with. Can't wait! Italia here we come!!!!!!!!!!

Miss you all!!

---