L_Oustaloun Les Baux

... well deserved wash. It took some scrubbing to get 5 weeks worth of dirt off him but he sparkled once we were done :)
Another longish drive got us to Arles where the plan was to stay for 2 nights as it was home to van Gogh and lots of Roman ruins. We got a good park on the Rhone River just outside the city walls but the city itself made us feel a little uneasy and something was not quite right. The place was ...

... over 1.5 million tourists each year as it is the source of a natural spring. It's wierd seeing a fast flowing river and then walking 50 metres "upstream" and there only being a trickle.. and then a bit further and no water... nothing but a big cliff straight up!

The town itself is nestled in a valley and is particularly pretty at dusk when rocks take on the colours of the sunset ...

... didn’t even really resist. They knew the status to being ’Roman’ and that it would bring them instant infrastructure, roads, money, etc.

But enough of all this Roman talk - we’re in France after all! Italy will come when we set sail tomorrow night. For now we’re dining on our last few snipits of cheese, provincial bread and aioli sauce.

... add details, and as Vincent so skillfully did: show movement and texture with brush strokes. As I photographer, I must only capture what is there. Although I can make some minute adjustments, it’s reality. So many times I wish a tree would just move to the left, the shadow would fall differently, or that a person would get out of the way! In the few ...

... the wind to walk across the bridge in the evening to Avignon for dinner. This morning we went on a wine tour (I know, but it is too hard to resist) around the Cotes du Rhone with Phillipe, a very competant and helpful local guide. We ended up at Chateauneuf du Pape drinking wonderful reds which has been a wine hightlight of the trip - the village has the most amazing view of Provence ...

... mine a variety of glaces including licorice, topped with finely shaved licorice. The waiter explained when we were ordering that the chef considered cooking to be an art, and in the manner of a painter, he arranged the food as though it was on a palette. Hence the name of the restaurant.

Narbonne
Our friend Susan Flintoff had recommended a restaurant in Narbonne, called Le Petit Comptoir that she and Brett had enjoyed last year ...

... 358 28;中的Bouillabaisse马 ;赛鱼汤，শ 3;觉真是一ō 24;般，没什 040;特别，不 9321;，像没吃&# 20160;么一样。< br>晚上吃了 968;个西瓜。
趣 ...

... 30340;&# 39184;厅吃了顿& #22823;餐，回屋 休息了一会 ;儿，4点左Ö 91;我们就出 457;前往Avignon，% 027;里正是Theater Festival（戏剧节 ;）的时候ᦁ 2;街上到处ų 17 ...

... the 2,000 year-old theater. It was breathtaking climbing the steep stone stairs to find a seat high up to appreciate the gorgeous sunset, the grandiose masonry and Roman architecture of this 9,000-10,000 seat theater, the clear acoustics, and the overwhelming anachronistic experience of witnessing a modern musical staged in this venue of two millennia.

Tomorrow would begin the bike ride across the enchanting landscape of Provence....

... the day when it got too hot to be out in the fields. The amazing things about bories is that they are made entirely out of stone, no mortar to hold them together, and yet, there is still a village of about 13 of these dwellings still standing today. The thing about getting there is that, like every other road in Europe, it is made for only one car but two vehicles will still try to pass at one time. So we are just flying through these curves and PRofessor was driving the van and ...