Provence

  Provence, Provence, France
Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Sadly our trip to the coast came to an end this morning, as we made our way up through Provence, and finally into Burgundy. A side note about driving in France. I wish we had known this from the beginning, but there are a million round abouts in this country. They are everywhere. You can drive 500 meters and come up to another one of these damn things. In any case, when you come up to a roundabout, there are signs that direct you to various cities. So although having an atlas of the area is good, the signs really guide you from town to town. Not only that, trying to navigate by street names is almost impossible because the street names are almost never posted, or are small ass signs on buildings. Not very helpful. Anyway, onto our trip:

Paul Cezanne

Provence is very beautiful, with many Roman-inspired buildings. We started off in Aix-en-Provence, known for Paul Cezanne. According to Samantha Brown, you head down the main road, and just get lost in the side streets filled with stores and cafes. We did just that, and got lost. But fortunately we were able to make our way back to the parking lot. By the way, another side note, parking is very easy in these towns. There is a giant 'P' sign that leads you to centrally located parking lots, and it's not too expensive to park either.

Place du Forum

We then made our way to Arles, which was one of the towns that I most wanted to visit. It is where Vincent van Gogh painted many of his famous paintings, including Cafe Terrace at Night (which is my personal favorite). The Place du Forum is where that painting comes from. The Rhone River also passes through Arles - it was very windy along the river. Rome had made Arles the capital of Provence, so this town has many romanesque buildings, such as a coliseum, amphitheatre, etc.

Windy in Avignon too

A quick half hour drive, and we were in Avignon, known for their Palais des Papes. Neens and I had visited this spot back on our Europe tour, but again, this time around, we spent more time exploring the city. It is unique because it is walled all around the perimeter. We did a quick tram tour, and learned about all the Popes, etc.

Finally arrived in Beaune, and will be here for 2 nights. Tomorrow is wine tasting at Louis Jadot, etc. Merci!