Burgundy Region

Bonjour,

The Burgundy Region is southeast of Paris.  It’s one of France’s distinct and famous wine regions.  The region is not very populated and not particularly a tourist region.  It has many industries but we focused on the wine industry.  Most of the Burgundy grapes are produced in the valleys and slopes west of the Saone River.  Grape varieties, according to our local guide, are planted based on the soil type.  It’s for this reason that the red grapes are grown mostly on the slopes and the white grapes are grown mostly in the valleys.

 Burgundy wines are known for their top quality and small quantities.  Large vineyards that were once owned by Dukes or wealthy families are now mostly divided into many small vineyards.  Most of this was due to the French Revolution and inheritance laws.  Burgundy is known for both red wines and white wines.  The most prominent red variety is Pinot noir which is made into a dry red wine.  The most prominent white grape is Chardonnay.  But there are many other varieties grown in Burgundy such as Gamay and Aligot.

 1.      We drove the national road through the Cote d’Or – the golden hills.  The road is actually through a relatively flat valley and the ‘gold’ in golden hills is for the color of the grape vines in the fall.  You can see that the vineyards are extensive and you can see one of the small villages in the picture.  We passed many small villages in the Cote d’Or.

2.      This view shows the valley where it meets the slopes going up the hills.  If you look at the distant vineyards, you might notice that there are many small vineyards abutting each other, but different vineyards.

3.      The vineyards and wineries are integral parts of the villages and towns in the Burgundy region, which is what I’m trying to show in this photo.

4.      From our bus, we could see dozens of vineyards and each separate small vineyard had one person out working it.  We never saw two people in the same vineyard.  I also noticed that the rows were only about three feet apart but as this photo shows, the vineyard was recently cultivated.  I wondered how they cultivated the vineyard, since the rows are so narrow. 

5.      This is how they cultivate narrow vineyards.  This tractor goes over the row of grapes and cultivates two rows at once.

 QUIZ Question: What is the percent of red grapes and the percent of white grapes grown in Burgundy?  (according to our local guide)

Voila,

Bill  

Macon

Bonjour,

Macon lies on the western bank of the Saone river.  Macon is the southernmost city of the Burgundy Region.  The town was probably first started back around the first century BC.  Macon greatly developed during the Roman times and has had a river crossing over the Saone since the Roman times.  Today, the city is a bit over 20,000 people.

Alphonse de Lamartine is evidently the most famous son.  Lamartine was born here in 1790 and lived until 1869.  The town has a statue of Lamartine and many other things named after him.  He was a writer, poet, and politician.

1.      This is Rue Franche street which our local guide told us was the merchant street for merchants who were approved by the Bishop.  Once again, the church and state were quite cozy.

2.      This building was originally an old convent.  Look at the bottom of the building and you can see a barrel built into the stone wall.  Women who could not afford to feed their babies could turn this barrel to the other side, which was open, put in their baby, and close the barrel back up.  That way, no one knew who had left the baby.  Then they rang a bell to notify the nuns.  Today, this is a retirement home.

3.      This is a wooden building, which was a rarity to see, that was built in the 1500s.  It had lots of interesting wooden carvings on it.

4.      The temperature on this day was mid 70 degrees.  We walked around and enjoyed the spring flowers.  This walkway was along the river.

5.      I did my best to stay out of trouble while in France.  But if I was going to get arrested, I would have preferred these two gendarmes take me into custody.  All police on horseback that we saw in France were women.

Voila,

Bill

Lyon

Bonjour,

Our tour group spent two days in Lyon, but we missed both of those days since we were staying with Karen and Jacques.  We did manage to spend a couple of hours self-touring ourselves around town.  I would have liked to spend more time in Lyon as our short time there was very interesting.  Lyon is in east-central France and a bit less than 300 miles from Paris.  Lyon has a population of about 800,000 but more than two million people live in the metropolitan area.  Historically, Lyon is connected to the production of silk.  It’s a large town and known for its historical and architectural landmarks.  We just got a small glimpse of that. 

 1.      I took this photo right next to where our boat docked and while we were waiting for Karen to pick us up.

2.      This shows you some landmarks and some of Lyon’s architectural style. 

3.      Statues and water fountains were very common in France and I really liked the building on the right.

4.      Street musicians were not uncommon but this was the only harp player that we saw on our trip.

5.      This street had a lively and boisterous crowd, especially for a weekday afternoon.

Voila,

Bill

Lunch at the Winery

Bonjour,

Back at the winery, we started with a tasting.  The owner gave us a tasting with five wines.  He served us three of his Roussette de Savoie wines, which are his white wines.  He also served us two of his Mondeuse de Savoie wines which are his red wines.  Each time he gave us a tasting, he opened a new bottle, poured us a taste and then left us the whole bottle.  At least one of his wines that he served us was made in the acacia barrels and we could distinctly taste the difference from the French oak barrels.

 After our tasting, we decided to just stay at the winery and eat lunch.  Why not!  We lost our owner guide but gained the owner’s wife, who hosted and served us lunch.  She too was quite delightful.  We enjoyed a great lunch, along with several more bottles of wine.

 1.      This was our starting courses.  We started with a cold pate.  It was the size of a giant meatloaf.  We cut off slices as we pleased.  In the photo, the wooden salad bowl is at the bottom of the table and just above it is the pate.  I don’t know how many slices I had but it was absolutely delicious.  Salad was lettuce, walnuts, and olive oil.  The salad was simple and very good.  And of course we were served fresh bread.

2.      The sausages were the main course, cooked with white wine, onions, and a secret ingredient.  They look fairly normal but they tasted delicious.  I guess the French are known for their sausage.

3.      We were also served potatoes.  My plate is in the lower left of the photo.  I scooped out of the sausages what I perceived as a secret ingredient and put it on my plate.  QUIZ:  What was the secret sausage ingredient.

4.      This is the owner’s wife who gave us lots of attention during lunch.  Vicky and Jacques are to her right.

5.      This was our dessert: fresh cheese, made that morning by the owner’s brother, sitting in fresh cream.  WOW!

Voila,

Bill

Vineyard Visit

Bonjour,

Jacques asked us if we would like to go and see the vineyard.  I said yes and he asked the owner.  The owner said yes and we went to visit his nearby vineyard.  He has 15 acres of grapes.  He has both reds and whites.  But he probably asked me more questions about our vineyards and he knew all seven of our grape varieties.  We spent over an hour with him visiting his vineyards.  He has traveled around the world visiting vineyards and wineries.  So these are the vineyards of the Maisson of Lupine winery.

 1.      We first drove up the hills on the other side of the main road to get a view of his entire vineyards.  You can see much of his vineyards in this photo, along with his house in the middle of the vineyards.

2.      This is the rest of his vineyards and just to the right of the previous photo.  The vertical rows, he told us, are to capture more sun on the vines.

3.      Now we are in the vineyards.  These vines are 15 years old.  I’m not sure which variety of grape.  This is just above his house.  This vineyard needed drains in the rows to relieve the excess water from all the rain.

4.      Now we are down at the bottom of his vineyards with his house in the background.

5.      The vines in this vineyard are 45 years old.  Again, I don’t know which grape variety.  The rows were no more than three feet apart and all work in the vineyards are done by hand.

6.      This is a close-up from the prior vineyard.  You can see the vine is at bud break and the trunk of the vine is covered with moss.

Voila,

Bill

Breakfast and a winery visit

Bonjour,

Breakfast this morning was simple and delicious.  Jacques and Karen served us four local cheeses, fresh bread, and coffee.  I think I was the first one to dig in and had a slice or two of all four cheeses before we got a word of caution from Jacques.  He said we might not want to eat the crust on the green-brown powdery looking cheese.  He said it’s made with arachnid eggs placed on it.  Arachnids are spiders or the spider family.  I had already eaten the crust or edge of all the cheeses but I’m happy to report that I suffered no ill effects.  The arachnid eggs are evidently placed on the cheese to contribute to the flavor and they give the cheese a distinctive appearance.

 After breakfast, we drove to the nearby village of Frangy.  Jacques knew that we were interested in visiting a winery and he knew there was a small local winery in Frangy.  Jacques went into the winery, met the owner, and told him that he had friends visiting who would be very interested in seeing the winery operation and tasting some wine.  That was all it took and we were in for a real treat – which took us through lunch.

 1.      Here was the breakfast table.  Bread and cheese were being sliced.  The cheese on the right was the arachnid cheese.  All four cheeses were purchased locally, as was the bread.

2.      You can see the owner taking us into his winery.

3.      In addition to his stainless steel tanks, he also uses some fiberglass tanks to ferment his wines.

4.      Now we are in the barrel room.  In addition to his French oak barrels, he uses some acacia barrels.  The owner is 82 years young and treated us like old friends.

Voila,

Bill

A Homemade French Dinner

Bonjour,

Dinner with Karen and Jacques was a real highlight for us.  We started at 6:00pm and didn’t finish until 11:40pm…and we loved every minute of it.  Most of the meal was homemade including many of the drinks.  All the food and drinks were delicious.  But mostly, it was a long leisurely meal with fun people talking about everything from our food and drinks to the French Resistance during World War II.  We covered it all solving almost all of the world’s problems and had a great time doing it.

 1.      Jacques started the evening off by popping the cork on a bottle of champagne.  He mentioned that it was a dry champagne.  I would never complain but I’m not a fan of dry champagne.  But Jacques said that since it was dry, he was going to fix it up a bit.  I had no idea what that meant.  Jacques first poured a small portion of Crème de Violet in our glasses and then filled them with the champagne.  The crème de violet countered the dryness and, voila, I’m now ready for dry champagne.  Jacques noted our enthusiasm and opened a second bottle.  And this was one thing that I loved about the French.  They weren’t “purists” about these things.  Three times on our trip, including in restaurants, someone mixed in something for a drink (wine or champagne) that we normally don’t drink mixed with other things.  To go along with our champagne, Jacques and Karen served us three kinds of cold-smoked fish that Jacques had caught and smoked, homemade sausages, local cheese, and cheese scones. 

2.      Somewhere between hors d’oeuvres and dinner, we played a game of Pétanque.  It is similar to Bocce where the goal is to throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet or jack, while standing inside a circle with both feet on the ground. The game is normally played on hard dirt or gravel.  We played on Jacques driveway…in fading light and with plenty to drink.  I don’t know why all the arguing in this photo, I still had one shot…and after that shot, there was nothing left to argue about.

3.      Dinner was fondue made with four different cheeses and mushrooms that Jacques had gathered in the woods.  We dipped in fresh bread on our skewers as you can see Karen doing in the photo.  An interesting note about wild mushrooms in France: you can take them to your local pharmacist who will identify them for you as edible or poisonous.  That seems like an excellent idea. 

4.      Drinking accompanied every stage of the evening including a few stages where that was mostly what we were doing, along with talking.  We started with champagne, then wines, and eventually unlabeled wines, followed by brandies, then essences such as cherry, apricot, and pear – all from his garden, then some 21 year-old Santa Domingo rum, and finally, a series of Scottish malt whiskeys from Karen’s family.  I’m not sure when in the evening that it was that I took this photo, but you get the idea.  It was a night to remember.

5.      Dessert came next and it was also very delicious.  Jacques apologized that the ice cream was not homemade, but it was very good.  We had caramel salt and myrtle and vanilla ice cream.  Excellent.  At some point (11:40), Jacques said it was time to collect the glasses.  It sounded like a good idea and I was sure that it was time.  But I was a little embarrassed when I started to shove my glasses across the table to Jacques.  Personally, I could have just used one glass for the whole evening – and it would have been less embarrassing.  But it was the end to one great evening in our lives.  

Voila,

Bill

Lake Annecy

Bonjour,

Lake Annecy is about eight miles southeast of Vaulx and Jacques house.  This lake is the smallest of three lakes in the area with Lake Bourget being bigger and Lake Geneva the biggest.  Lake Annecy reminded me of our Lake Tahoe.  The water is extremely clear.  Jacques told us that you can drink the water straight out of the lake; it’s that clean.  And while Lake Annecy might be the smallest of the three lakes in the area, it is still quite large.  We spent the whole afternoon around the lake area. 

Jacques told us that this area is a huge sports and recreation area.  He mentioned hiking, biking, mountaineering, water skiing, snow skiing, snowboarding, ski-jumping, parasailing, and more.  Jacques said that he started his children mountaineering or rock climbing at age two.

 1.      We started out with lunch.  We ate at the L’Oasis restaurant which is right on the bank of Lake Annecy.  If you look at the lake between Jacques and Karen, you can see a water ski jump.  Lunch included appetizers of whitebait, prosciutto, bread, cheese, ham, and pickles.  We drank a local white wine.  Lunch was local lake-caught fish with salad, vegetables, and fries.  Needless to say, we weren’t suffering.

2.      Next we went for a hike.  The Rhone-Alps region has lots of small villages but is mostly lightly populated.  Towns and agriculture and recreation and tourism all seem to be very intertwined.

3.      Our hike was to Cascade d’Angon, which is the Angon waterfall.  In this photo, you can see Vicky and Debra hiking through a gap in the limestone on our way up to the falls.  If you look to the lower left of the photo, you might be able to notice that its very steep and a long way down.

4.      Angon Falls was something like 200 feet and since it had rained recently, it was somewhat robust.  Jacques and Vicky were getting up close with the falls.

5.      We started watching the parasailers from below as they landed in a meadow.  Eventually, we drove up the mountain and watched some of them taking off.  You can see Lake Annecy in the background.

Voila,

Bill

Jacques self-sufficiency

Bonjour,

Jacques is, I think, a vocational teacher.  I would love to spend a year with him learning all about the things he knows and does just around his house.  I don’t know the exact level of his self-sufficiency, but I was quite impressed by his home, garden, basement, and lifestyle.  He hunts, fishes, gathers, grows, makes, cures, cans, dries, and has, for me, an enviable lifestyle.  I will give a few examples of his work around his house.

 1.      This is his greenhouse where he grows vegetables all winter.  In the photo, he has tomatoes, peppers, chard, potatoes, some other items, and strawberries in the pipe up on the left side.

2.      He had a tub of lettuce growing in the back corner of his greenhouse.  All the lettuce is growing in water, or hydroponically, and was growing with great abundance.

3.      His fishpond is down in his lower yard by his garage.  Karen is showing it to us.  He raises trout and at least one other fish in his concrete tank.

4.      Now we’re down in the basement where he has homemade deer and wild boar sausages hanging.  He also has a plethora of various wines, brandies, essences, whiskeys, and aperitifs.

5.      These are wild boar hams hanging and curing in the sacks and loads of canned goods from his garden on the shelves.

Voila,

Bill

Jacques House

Bonjour,

We arrived at Lyon, but then promptly left our tour group for two days.  Our friends, Debra and Gary Lang, came with us to France.  Debra has a friend in France that she has known for something like 16 years, but had never met in person.  Her friend, Karen, picked us up at our boat in Lyon and drove us northeast up into the foothills of the Rhone-Alps region.  She drove us to her friend Jacques’ house which was near Vaulx.  But Jacques doesn’t live in town; he lives on the edge of this area in farming country.  For our part, we were delighted to be invited along and it was the best part of the trip.  Most of the trip felt like we were visiting France.  These two days felt more like we were living in France.    

 Jacques lives in or near Vaulx, between Sillingy and Rumilly, and near Lake Annecy.  His family has lived in this area since 1740 but not in his house.  From here, it is only about a forty minute drive to Geneva, Switzerland and the Italian border is also very close. 

 1.      This is Jacques house.  The group, from left to right is Jacques, our friends Gary and Debra Lang, Karen, and Vicky.

2.      From Jacques backyard, this is the view looking northeasterly.

3.      This view is also from his backyard, looking more southeasterly.

4.      This view is easterly and between the two prior views.  If you follow the mountains from right to left, the last mountain on the left is Mont Blanc, or White Mountain.

5.      I took this photo of Mont Blanc from our bedroom window and zoomed in.  Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in the Alps at 15,780 feet.  It is near the Italian border and was the site of the first winter Olympics in 1924.

Voila,

Bill

M S Provence

Bonjour,

These are just some odds and ends photos typical of our time on board our river boat, the M S Provence.

 1.      These are nuclear power plants.  France has 58 nuclear power plants.  It seemed like France was very interested in being “green” and organic food products and all that, so all the nuclear power was a bit of a surprise.  Of course, they did have a couple of wind-generators right next to the nuclear plants. 

2.      Vicky was enjoying coffee one morning on our deck outside our room.  We got to enjoy good weather and smooth water most of our trip.

3.      We passed through lots of locks along the river.  Sometimes we passed several in a short time.

4.      This was one of our shipboard discoveries.  The cook gave us a crepe making lesson.  Then she let us try.  By this time, the cook had gone back to the kitchen and our waitress was standing in and helping out.  Vicky did a great job and flipped her crepe in the air like a pro.

5.      This is the finished product from Vicky’s crepe lesson.  Vicky needed a “taster”, so naturally, I volunteered.  It was delicious.

Voila,

Bill

Shipboard Food

Bonjour,

Our cook aboard our boat was from Hungary.  She did a very good job of cooking and many of her dishes were definitely French dishes.  Here are a few of them.

1.      This is escargot.  They came in a nice six-pack dish and were very good.

2.      This was lamb chops with fresh bread over a ragout.

3.      A garden salad with stacks of bread and cheese on top.

4.      Cheese blintzes and fries.

5.      A berry crepe which we were served for breakfast.

Voila,

Bill

Tournon-sur-Rhone

Bonjour,

Tournon-sur-Rhone is a small village on the Rhone river.  However, it is only on one side of the river.  Tain l’Hermitage is the town across the river, which is a modern town.  This email is really for both villages.

 1.      This is Tain l’Hermitage and the hills above the village.  Grape vines cover the hillside including every little rise and valley.  There is no terracing and the vine rows go up and down the hills.

2.      This photo is in Tournon-sur-Rhone.  Some of the village is old but much of it is new as well. 

3.      A fellow named Marc Seguin was a local engineer who evidently, according to our local guide, had a girl living on each side of the river and so felt a strong need for a bridge.  He designed and built the world’s first suspension bridge.  The bridge is still in good working order and you can see it here.

4.      This is a close-up of the world first suspension bridge with Tournon-sur-Rhone and some of its vineyards in the background.

5.      This is Tournon-sur-Rhone at sundown.  The feudal castle is the main feature that you see and it is now a museum.

Voila,

Bill

Viviers

Bonjour,

Viviers is a small walled city on the Rhone River in south-central France.  There’s been a town here dating back to at least the third century.  The town sits a bit back from the river and was built on rock and mostly with stone.  Viviers became a ‘bishopric’ during Roman times.  The Bishop lived atop the hill and the church dominated life in Viviers.  Our guide said that Viviers was once a wealthy city with a population of 30,000 in medieval times.  Today the population is about 4,000 people and most townspeople work in either the local stone quarry or the cement plant.

 1.      This is Viviers as seen from the bank of the Rhone River.  You can see sections of the city wall and the cathedral at the high point of the city.  Agriculture abounded in this area, though our guide said it was not the main industry in Viviers.

2.      Saint Vincent Cathedral, completed in the 12th century, is the oldest cathedral in France that is still in use as a church.  We went inside and listened to an organ recital which was impressive for its sound.

3.      Walking around the walled city, it was easy to imagine life here many centuries ago.  Gary, Debra, and Vicky were poking into every nook and cranny as we walked the town.

4.      Our guide said Viviers has a rich architectural heritage with Roman, medieval, and Renaissance period architecture.  She pointed out most of the differences in doors and windows.

5.      This is looking at the town outside the wall and down toward the river from atop the hill near the cathedral.

Voila,

Bill

Palace of the Popes

Bonjour,

Pope Clement V moved the Papacy from Rome to Avignon in 1309.  Seven popes resided in Avignon from 1309 to 1377.  It was also mentioned that two anti-popes resided in Avignon but I was unclear on how that worked, since the Papacy was at least theoretically moved back to Rome in 1377.

The Palace of the Popes was built between 1335 and 1364.  It’s a Gothic building with some walls 17 to 18 feet thick.  It’s an imposing fortress between the city wall and the palace itself.  The town and the palace look much more like a warlord’s stronghold than a papal palace.  The palace was built on a grand scale and was very luxurious and opulent.  We visited the greeting room, dining room, kitchen, bedroom, office, court room courtyard, and more.  The pope’s who lived here were clearly not suffering.

The palace remained part of the Papacy until the French Revolution, when it reverted to France.  It was later used as a military barracks, a prison, and today is a museum.  It suffered from neglect for many years and is only recently being appreciated and had restorations begin, but it has a long way to go.  Still, it was interesting place to visit.

 1.      This is but a tiny portion of the exterior of the pope’s palace.  This is where we entered the palace.  Again, you can see that it much more resembles a warlord’s stronghold.

2.      This is an interior courtyard.  I mostly include this to give a sense of scale to the palace, which is a huge place.

3.      This is the dining hall.  The scale of this dining room was enormous.  The kitchen was next door and it was also fascinating to see.  During the Pope's days, all the walls were painted (mostly red) and the ceiling was blue in this room.

4.      This is the pope’s reception hall, where he would receive visitors.  I don’t know how many visitors came at a time but this was another enormous room.

5.      We only saw a couple of places, in darkened corners of rooms, where the paintings from the pope’s time here were still visible.  I am including this just to give you an idea that the walls were not bare stone during the Pope's reign here.

Voila,

Bill

Avignon

Bonjour,

Avignon is on the left bank of the Rhone River in southern France.  The town site has been occupied since the Neolithic period.  This was one of the two days on this trip that it was raining.  But the rain didn’t keep us from seeing everything that we wanted to see.  The highlights of Avignon were probably the Palace of the Popes and the Avignon Bridge. 

 1.      This is a view of Avignon from the river.  You can see that the Palace of the Popes dominates the city skyline.  You will also notice the old city wall around the old city.

2.      This view gives you a better idea of just how large the medieval city wall is that surrounds Avignon.  The city wall was built by the Popes that occupied Avignon.

3.      This is the Avignon city hall, or Hotel de Ville.  It is a very ornate building, located in Clock Square, the city’s main square.  You can see the clock tower in the background.

4.      The Opera House is also an old and ornate building and also located in Clock Square.

5.      This is the Bridge of Avignon, famous in the song, “On the Bridge of Avignon”.  Vicky’s mom painted this bridge when she visited Avignon.  And yes, more correctly, this is what’s left of the Bridge of Avignon.

Voila,

Bill

Bull for Lunch

Bonjour,

Part of our visit to the bull farm included lunch.  They have turned several large old breeding barns into very nice entertainment halls.  I don’t know how much of their business today is entertaining guests and visitors but I would think it is substantial because they did such a good job of it.

 Lunch was all home grown and homemade.  It included a salad of lettuce, olives, and olive oil.  Then we had toast and tapenades, perhaps four tapenades.  The main course was bull meat and red rice.  We also had three wines, a white, a red, and a rose.  

 1.      What you see here is about half the room.  This was set up for our lunch.

2.      The son and current head of operations showed us his saddle collection that he has collected from all over the world.

3.      This was the family table as they ate lunch with us.  Vicky had a prolonged conversation with them.  I liked their cowboy duds.

4.      This is the bull meat and red rice.  Not a great photo but the bull meat was very good and very flavorful and not tough at all…and that’s no bull.

 Voila,

Bill

Bull Farm

Bonjour,

We visited Les Marquises, a guardian’s (cowboy’s) bull farm that’s called Manade Laurent.  This family started raising bulls in 1944.  The bulls are used for French Bullfighting.  These folks called the ‘bull games’ but that doesn’t show up on my internet searches.  French bullfighting does show up.  They stressed the point that in their games or fights, the bull does not get injured or killed.  They told us that it’s the players that usually get hurt.  Bulls still get killed in the Spanish bull fights.  But in France, the bulls have ribbons placed between their shoulders or on their back and the players must grab these off the bull to get points, with the player getting the most points winning.

 They have a herd of 500 animals with about 130 cows.  The bulls are used for games, breeding, and food.  We went out to the pastures with them and watched them herd the bulls around a bit, which is what they do on the bull farm.  They ride Camargue horses which is an ancient breed of horse indigenous to the Camargue area of southern France.  These horses live wild for centuries in the Camargue wetlands and marshes.  They are the traditional mounts of guardians or Camargue cowboys who use them to herd the black Camargue bulls.

 1.      The family riding out to the pasture.  To the left behind them is a barn and their house is farther back.  The Grande patron is in the lower right and his wife to the left.

2.      You can see them herding the bulls around the pasture.

3.      Grandma looks pretty good out riding the herd….much like Vicky.

4.      They ride Camargue horses and here is the next generation of their horses.

5.      Here’s Vicky with the Grande patrons.  The sticks are used to herd the bulls.

 Voila,

Bill

Vincent Van Gogh in Arles

Bonjour,

Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch post-impressionist painter.  Van Gogh lived in Arles from early 1888 through early 1890.  While living in Arles, Van Gogh painted over 300 paintings.  The most interesting thing that we learned from our local Arles guide was that Vincent Van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime.  That would lead me to the conclusion that he was truly an artist.  He obviously wasn’t painting for the money.

 I have never had a great appreciation for the arts and artists.  College classes didn’t inspire me much regarding the arts.  But I did obtain some appreciation from living next door to the Fallico family here on Mt Eden Road in Saratoga.  They were a true artistic family.  At any rate, I found some real inspiration to learn that Van Gogh had only sold one painting during his life.  I really found it fascinating to go around Arles and see the scenes that he painted, along with the painting.  The city of Arles makes quite a deal of Van Gogh and his paintings and I really enjoyed it. 

 1.      Our boat pulled up to the dock in Arles on the Rhone River.  Vicky liked this view and so took this photo.  It’s old town Arles reflected in the Rhone River.

2.      The next morning, we got off the boat, walked up to the road and saw this replica of a painting by Van Gogh done at this same location.  I think it’s called “Starry Night, Arles” and was painted in 1888.

3.      This Van Gogh was in town and is called “Café Terrace at Night”.  It was painted in September, 1888.

4.      This is the Café Terrace today, during the day.

5.      This is “The Courtyard of the Hospital at Arles”, painted in 1889.  Van Gogh spent time in this hospital.  He painted it from the upper floor.

6.      This is the same hospital today, from the ground floor.  We weren’t allowed to go upstairs.

 Voila,

Bill

Arles

Bonjour,

The city of Arles has been occupied since somewhere back around 800 BC.  Several different groups occupied Arles until the Romans arrived in 123 BC.  The Romans made Arles an important city and it had peak Roman influence in the 4th and 5th centuries.  The Romans built a major aqueduct here that ran their water mills.  To this day, there are still many structures built by the Romans and some of them are still in use.  One interesting note from our local guide was that all the stone in Arles buildings comes from the same large quarry.

1.      This is the Roman Amphitheater.  The amphitheater holds 21,000 people.  Back when it was built, all the people in town could attend its events.  Gladiator fights were held here in the 1st century.  French Bullfighting and other events are still held here today in the amphitheater.  

2.      In this photo, I just want to show how the amphitheater fits in with the rest of the town, both then and now.  You can see it at the end of this street. 

3.      This is the Roman Antique Theater.  The Romans held plays here and plays are still performed here today. 

4.      This is the Place de la Republique.  It’s a city square with an ancient obelisk and old churches and buildings.

5.      I wouldn’t want anyone to think that all we saw in Arles was old Roman structures…

 Voila,

Bill