FranceSpainEnglandIceland2015: Arles

After a leisurely morning we drove over to Arles, where we started our journey with lunch. We began by visiting the Place de la Republique which contains the obelisk originally housed in the old Roman circus. The obelisk is guarded by four gentle lions, the symbol of the city. Next, we walked to the ancient Roman amphitheater, somewhat diminished after centuries of being scavenged for stone, but still capable of holding an audience of 3000 people. From here, we visited the arena which is now used for bull games (bull-friendly versions of the Spanish bull fights, also featured there). Climbing to a tower on the coliseum, we were presented with a low-flying bird's eye view of the surrounding area. After hypothesizing about which, if any, of the surrounding towns were Les Baux, we left the arena, got some ice-cream, and ventured over to the cafe featured in Vincent Van Gogh's painting, Cafe at Night. Returning to the Place de la Republique, we went inside St. Trophime, now open after the siesta hour, and witnessed the stony grandeur of Romanesque architecture. Housed inside the venerable structure were some ancient tapestries and a whole collection of saintly relics, most notable being the skull of St. Anthony of the desert, eternally resting in a very fancy case whose porous exterior afforded us an incomplete picture of the skull within. We ended our sightseeing in the Jardin d'Ete, where we couldn't find the easel supposed to be there featuring another Van Gogh work. After stopping by the grocery store, we found our way back to our dwelling place where we had the opportunity to try a tandem bicycle. We ended the day with aperitifs with the host family. What we thought was going to be happy hour turned into a full meal followed by dessert. Thus ended the day. (NS)