Last Night in Arles
Arles is very nice. In fact, Provence is very nice, from what little we have seen of it. It is lush and green and full of old Roman ruins and other wonderful sights. I wish we had more time to see it. We will definitely have to come back again soon! And, yes, next time we will get a car and see the country side more. sigh. Next time!
Last night we stayed out late and took a bunch of night pictures in Arles. They look really great, on our tiny little lcd screens. The highlight for me was capturing the famous cafe from the Van Gogh painting from roughly the same place he did. This capped off a great day of following the carefully recreated places where Van Gogh did many of his famous works. It is a bit contrived, but it was fun and we ate it up.
Today we did manage to get to Avignon! It is just as nice as the guide book says. I wish we could have spent more time there. But, we did manage to touch the major highlights. Old Avignon is a beautiful medieval walled city. The wall is nearly complete around the entire old area (several miles of wall!) and has nice towers about every 100ft or so. But, probably the highlight of Avignon is the Palace of the Popes, which is a huge fortress that housed the pope during the age of 'French Popes' (can't remember dates, but I think it was 14th century --will check...) The only downside to our trip was that it rain! I mean it poured! We tried hiding in a cafe for lunch during one terrible downpour, but we still got soaked. It is such a change from dry dry Spain. But, I guess we had better get use to it: the forecast for Paris is even cooler with more rain. Oh well. At least Paris has some of the worlds great art museums!
Speaking of Paris, getting a hotel was a bit more of a challenge. Sorry Lynda, didn't get a chance to try Hotel Muguet, but thanks for the tip! I forgot to write down the name of the place we did finally get, but it is just across the river from the Eiffel Tower. Also we booked a TGV (highspeed train nearly 200mph!!!) from Avignon to Paris for tomorrow morning. We can hardly wait!!! It is truly one of the wonders of the world and the one place that both Jenn and have been before and wanted to see again.
So, tomorrow morning it is a bus from Arles to Avignon (oddly enough the train from Arles does not go to the TGV station in Avignon -- only the bus does), then the TGV to Paris! Wish us luck! Hopefully it won't be like the trip from Barcelona...
Btw, I think I already said we decided to skip Nice. Even with the highspeed trains it was going to take too long to get from Nice to Paris. So, we will save that adventure for another trip when we can spend more time there and see more of the surrounding country. Next time!
Next stop: Paris!!!
Last night we stayed out late and took a bunch of night pictures in Arles. They look really great, on our tiny little lcd screens. The highlight for me was capturing the famous cafe from the Van Gogh painting from roughly the same place he did. This capped off a great day of following the carefully recreated places where Van Gogh did many of his famous works. It is a bit contrived, but it was fun and we ate it up.
Today we did manage to get to Avignon! It is just as nice as the guide book says. I wish we could have spent more time there. But, we did manage to touch the major highlights. Old Avignon is a beautiful medieval walled city. The wall is nearly complete around the entire old area (several miles of wall!) and has nice towers about every 100ft or so. But, probably the highlight of Avignon is the Palace of the Popes, which is a huge fortress that housed the pope during the age of 'French Popes' (can't remember dates, but I think it was 14th century --will check...) The only downside to our trip was that it rain! I mean it poured! We tried hiding in a cafe for lunch during one terrible downpour, but we still got soaked. It is such a change from dry dry Spain. But, I guess we had better get use to it: the forecast for Paris is even cooler with more rain. Oh well. At least Paris has some of the worlds great art museums!
Speaking of Paris, getting a hotel was a bit more of a challenge. Sorry Lynda, didn't get a chance to try Hotel Muguet, but thanks for the tip! I forgot to write down the name of the place we did finally get, but it is just across the river from the Eiffel Tower. Also we booked a TGV (highspeed train nearly 200mph!!!) from Avignon to Paris for tomorrow morning. We can hardly wait!!! It is truly one of the wonders of the world and the one place that both Jenn and have been before and wanted to see again.
So, tomorrow morning it is a bus from Arles to Avignon (oddly enough the train from Arles does not go to the TGV station in Avignon -- only the bus does), then the TGV to Paris! Wish us luck! Hopefully it won't be like the trip from Barcelona...
Btw, I think I already said we decided to skip Nice. Even with the highspeed trains it was going to take too long to get from Nice to Paris. So, we will save that adventure for another trip when we can spend more time there and see more of the surrounding country. Next time!
Next stop: Paris!!!
posted by Greg | 11:22 AM
2 Comments:
Fantastique ! Je suis excité pour vous tous les deux. Ayez un bon temps chez le Louve ! Ne suez pas trop en montant la tour.
Alright, I don't want you two to think we're not checking up on you. Damn it sounds like you're having fun! Of course we're also having fun working long hours, endless home improvement and wedding planning...sigh....
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