Provence!

Well, you know the year is really coming to a close when Dickinson takes its end of the year trip! We went to the legendary Provence region! We stayed in Arles for 3 nights, and took day trips around the area. When we got there on Thursday, we walked around Arles a little, and then ate dinner as a group ate at the Café de la Nuit, which was immortalized in this Van Gogh painting. Thus, the food is overpriced and not that good. But the atmosphere was nice! Van Gogh stayed in Arles from 1888-1889, and at the hospital there is where he cut off his ear (photo above). Sweet. But he also did something not psycho, which was paint over 250 canvases while in Arles, which is a huge amount.

Friday, we went on a magnificent hike in the Apilles Mountains! The Apilles are like the smallest mountain range ever, but the scenery is absolutely breathtaking, and we were lucky enough to have a gorgeous day! I understand why Provence inspired so many artists to paint, because it really is amazingly beautiful. Our guide during the hike was the cutest ever, and he told us it was his dream to do a “guide exchange” with a hiking guide in the states, because he really wants to visit the US. I was in love. Another cool thing during our hike was that we saw lots of wild thyme, rosemary, and lavender. I sat in some thyme during our picnic. Then after our hike, we visited the Cathedral d’Images, which is an old quarry where they now do expositions of photography and art. We saw a Cezanne exposition, and how they do it is really cool: it’s pitch black inside, and then they project the images in JUMBO size on the walls on the mine, and they are constantly changing. And there is classical music playing, which really helps to create a really cool atmosphere inside. Definitely the coolest museum I’ve ever been to! Then we visited the Baux de Provence, which is a cute little town, but I wasn’t too impressed because there were approximately 8000 other people who were visiting at the same time as us. Too crowded. That night, we were all pretty pooped, so we went out to dinner and then crashed. But I did eat some pistou soup, which is a provincial specialty with veggies and beans and basil and garlic, and I was in love.

Saturday was super fun market day! We had so much fun wandering around in all the stalls and tasting delicious delicacies and buying souvenirs! We bought picnic stuff, and had a delicious lunch of fresh bread, cheese, pesto, tapinade, and strawberries! Then while we were eating in
this park, I got pooped on twice by pigeons while sitting under the same tree. It was gross. Surprisingly, it did not put me off the picnic, and I still enjoyed myself. Then in the afternoon we went to Salon de Provence, which was promised to be some sort of crazy soap capital of the world, and as Michael put it, he thought “they would just be throwing soap at us, because there would be that much.” Unfortunately, we were a little disappointed by a somewhat modern town (earthquake in 1909 destroyed the old part of town), and not a soap shop to be found. No soap shops make Dickinson kids a grumpy bunch. However, we did see pretty houses where former soap makers used to live…if that interests anyone. Saturday night led us to a delicious dinner at Le Criquet, the cutest restaurant maybe ever in the world. And then we went to a sketchy bar that had a bunch of overly excited teens/early 20s in it that jumped around a lot and played with our hair…? It was odd. But entertaining nonetheless.

(fountain in Salon de Provence that was all grown over with moss, but water still comes out of it like it's raining from underneath the little tree part!)

Sunday we took a tour of Arles, which has a lot of roman history, including an arena where they have bull fights! Then we hung around in the intense heat while we waited for the train. Seriously, Provence was HOT. It’s not even summer yet, and we were probably pushing 90 all weekend. And then we got to the train, expecting relief from the heat, but then it turned out to be the hottest train ever known to man. It was an incredibly unbearable 3 hour return to Toulouse. It was gross.

So besides incredible heat (which was not actually a bad thing!) the end of the year trip to Provence was a great success, and a great way to spend some of my last days in France! But if one more bird poops on me…game over France.