In Van Gogh's footsteps

Trip Start Apr 30, 2008
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Trip End May 20, 2008


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Flag of France  , Provence,
Thursday, May 15, 2008

Took advantage of the hotel breakfast buffet which was cheaper and had a bigger selection of food then the standard croissant and jam that I saw the day before. And it was the same price! We checked out of the hotel and caught a train to Marseilles and once again had a scenic train ride along the Mediterranean. French trains are so much cleaner than the Italian ones, but not as nice as the German ones (in my opinion anyway). The train was late arriving in Marseilles, but luckily the connecting one to Arles was late as well. We caught the train just in time as we had to make a mad dash through the station to make it!

We found our hotel in Arles very easily. The old town area isn't big, so it is easy to find your way around. Our hotel is very old, the owner told us that it was built in the 1100's! He has restored it himself and runs it with his family. The hotel used to be the cloisters of the church that is beside it. We toured the church (St Trophene) which was very beautiful and gothic looking. I love the way the old churches smell like. Very musty and full of incense. Arles used to be colonized by the Romans before the turn of the century. In the middle of the old town is the Roman Arena which looks like a smaller scale Roman Coliseum. It is still used to this day for bull fights. We toured around it, but it wasn't as cool as I thought it would be inside. I would have rathered save my money and taken my pictures from the outside and saved the 15 dollars that it cost for the two of us. We did take pictures of the Classical Theater from the outside. There was a lot of construction going on and didn't want to spend 20 dollars on pictures that have machinery spoiling it.

We walked around some more and decided to splurge on a great meal. We stopped in at a restaurant that no one spoke English and we just pointed at items on the menu of what ordered. I still to this day have no idea what we ate, but I can tell you that it was amazing! It was probably bull testicles or something, but ignorance is bliss! The wine was incredible as well. I will remember this as one of the best meals I have ever had though! The meal did cost us an arm and a leg and cost around 150 dollars, but if we had the same meal back home I am sure it would have cost more. The bottle of wine itself would have probably cost that much!
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