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Published: February 14th 2006
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Amphitheater at Frejus
Still in use today for Spanish bull fights. I seem to be using a lot of alliteration in my entry titles. Sorry if that's not very creative, but puns are tough to come up with.
Anyway, let's get back to business. And the business of today, a Thursday to be precise, was to visit and document the ruins of the Roman theater and Amphitheater at Frejus, a town on the coast south of Nice and Cannes (if I remember correctly). So I got up before dawn and was out the door to the train station by 6h40. The train ride to Marseille was unremarkable except that I accidentally sat in first class, realized my mistake and then had to get out smoothly. So there's my first idiot moment of the day.
The St. Charles train station is your typical big station with lots of tracks. It's actually a glorified train shed with a glass roof. And it's open to the outside. This will be an important element in my story later so remember that.
I found the train to Nice which stops at Frejus easily and climbed aboard. While the train from Aix to Marseille had been very modern looking, these cars were older, but had
Medieval Cloister in Frejus
This was a very peacful spot. big plush seats, so it made up for the 70's feel. We travelled quickly through the region, cruising along past villages and vineyards. We arrived in Frejus on schedule and I hopped off. I wanted to get cracking right away, so I walked from the train station up the hill, and then went down a street to the amphitheater.
This amphitheater is still used today for bull fights and they've put new seating in on one side. The rest of the place is in pretty bad shape. I climbed around there for a good half hour and then went into the centre ville to see the museums and cathedral. I bought the full pass that allowed me to see both the Musee d'Archeologie and Local History, and the theater which is more west of town. I wound my way through the streets (it was a really nice place) and eventually found myself in this nice plaza by the cathedral. I had to buy a ticket for that and joined a tour that had just started. I saw the cloisters connected to the church and the ceiling of it has all these little squares covered in drawing of daily life
in the Middle Ages and fantastic creatures.
After the Cloisters I went next door and visited the basically unremarkable archeology museum. Lots of ceramics. But they did have one room that had this huge mosaic they had uncovered with a panter in the middle. Also, a double headed bust of Hermes that is now the town's icon.
By this time it was 12h30 and all the museums closed for lunch. So I had to find something to do for an hour and a half. I wondered around the town and found that it's not really that big. I ended up where I had begun and ate at the restaurant La Cave Blanche. It was down in a basement and was awesome. Very cosy and I had tons of food for 11,90 euros.
After lunch I walked over to the theater and got there when it opened. It was actually kind of disappointing because they use it today, so there are metal seating over the ruins. It's hard to tell much about the original structure. After this I walked farther out of town and saw the remains of the aqueduct that ran through the town. They were huge
Place de la Liberté
I sat and read here for awhile under that tree on the right. arches that trailed off into the distance.
By this time I really had to go to the bathroom and the French are not renowned for a plethora of public restrooms. Basically I was desperate. So in a stroke of genius I walked back towards the train station and went into the Hotel l'Arena, the nicest hotel in the town. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that hotels have bathrooms. Gaining access is the difficult part. So felling very James Bond-ish, I told the Reception lady that I was interested in prices for April for my parents. Then I asked to tour the facility. She led me down the corridor and I spotted my goal. She left me in the garden/pool area and I looked around a bit to make my cover plausible, then came back in. Bingo! I felt very smart after my ruse worked. I left and thanked her politely and said I'd be in touch. Haha!
So now I had exhausted the wonders of Frejus and I still had 3 hours before my train. I wandered again and found a park. After exploring the path leading back to the aqueduct I settled down on a bench and read "My Antonia" for a while. Then I ate a sandwich in the train station. Actually I ate half the sandwich in the station, but then left and ate outside on a bench because the homeless guy and lady in the station were creeping me out.
I stayed outside on the bench until after the sunset at 17h30 and finally allowed myself to go back in at 18h00. I read some more, until the homeless lady accosted me and said that that was my train outside and I better go. I told her, no my train isn't for another twenty minutes and that one is going in the wrong direction but she insisted. I wanted to punch her because she was so smug, but instead had my ticket composted and then took the underground passage to the other side and sat bundled in the cold until my train came. So there stupid lady!
I slept on the way back the Marseille and here is where the part about the train station being a glorified train shed comes into play. I had an hour layover before the train for Aix. So I had to sit in the cold of this station, with the night wind whipping through this big open space, and read my book and try to stay awake. I was going along fine when this guy comes up to me and starts talking to me. I had no idea what he was saying, so I was like "Je ne parle pas bon francais". He sat down next to me and was asking I assume why I wouldn't talk to him and I just said "Je lis mon livre", "je lis". He left after that. He was one of those greasy french guys who was probably younger than me and had this ridiculous little white band-aid on his top lip. I don't know if he had cut himself shaving or what, but it was the only thing I could look at. I felt bad, but the next time I looked up I saw him talking to some other girl, so then I knew he was just a sleazeball.
This entry is getting really long, and I got home safely, so I will just end with sleazy Band-aid Kid. Which is more than he deserves.
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