Our Last Day in France

On our last day in France we decided to go and see the roman ruins in a little place called Arles. Back in the day when the Romans ruled the world they built a Colosseum in Arles and it still stands today. It is still used now for bull fights. I was shocked to walk in and see numbers painted on this ancient rock. Troy and I decided that if this were in the US we would have built a building around it and no one would be allowed to walk on it for fear it would erode even more. It was so neat to be able to see some Roman history and french history all melted into one. We walked up to the top of the (mini) Colosseum and looked over the city. It was a beautiful way to end our trip. A neat little side note is that Vincent Van Gogh spent a lot of time here in Arles because he loved the look of the city. The famous painting called "The Night Cafe" was of a cafe in Arles.

Me in front of the ruins of the Amphitheater just down from the Colosseum. They just finished the long process of uncovering the ruins.

The people built their homes and eventually the town right on top of it. They still hold concerts here! I can't believe how little it seems like they care about these places. But I guess if you have it you might as well use it, right?

This really was an amazing trip and I want to say thank you one more time to my mom and my sister for making it possible for me to go. And that I finally got to see why Troy being gone so much can actually be worth it. :-]

Le Chateau De La Barben

Day 3: This was one of my favorite days which would surprise even me when you hear what we did. One of the people at the office Troy was working at told him that there was a medieval festival that the Chateau de la Barben and that we should check it out. Knights and jousting and sword fighting are Troy's, with out a doubt, favorite things in this world (that doesn't involve a ball). So he jumped at the chance to see something like this. So we went. When we got close to where we thought it was we notices that people were starting to park off to the side of the road and debated parking but talked our selves out of it. a few more miles down the road we noticed a sign that said that you could park for free. We again talked our selves out of it. Another couple of miles down the road we see another free parking lot and give in. This is where we parkedOnly in France!! In the middle of a field in the middle of France we parked our little rental car! So we started to walk. We walked almost 2 miles passing another 5 free parking lots on our way. We were really glad we talked our selves out of parking off on the side of the road. After walking for a while we saw this.Is that amazing. This is the Chatau De La Barben. It was amazing. Built on this hidden hill side it was amazing. We were standing right next to it and couldn't see it. But as you can tell from this view it was obviously built high on a hill.

On the grounds around the castle they had reenactors doing sword fighting.And Jousting
The reason though that this was my favorite day was because I got to see my sweetheart with one of the biggest smile on his face. I rarely get to see him smile like that. He was like a kid at disneyland. He loved every minute of it. We took this picture on our way out so that I could always remember him with his castle. I would do this day again every week if I could.

Palais des Papes and Our most. . . Interesting Dinner.

Continuing on our second day, after we left the Picasso exhibit we drove into Avignon to visit the Palais des Papes. Which translated into English means the Palace of the Popes. This became the residence of the Popes in 1309, and it is definitely ornate as the popes tend to be. They had some rooms that still had the old wall paper/paintings on it. The building was enormous and so beautiful. It was built by many popes during many time periods so it has so many rooms that have different styles and staircases that lead to no where. It was so fun.

This is a picture of the window that the Pope would greet the crowd in the courtyard below before mass.

This is a picture of the other side of the courtyard. We weren't allowed to take pictures in a lot of the rooms but I hope that these (especially the next one) will portray the grandeur of this place.

This is the Grand Chapel. It was the neatest room. So big. They used to have curtains and gold and all sorts of elaborate decorations. They would hold mass here. There is a grand staircase leading into the was just beautiful. It really was a grand place.

This is me on the roof of the palace looking through the wall at the chapel with another statue of Mary on the top. As you can see by the hair it was still windy and I was still holding down my skirt!Here is Troy looking through the same hole in the opposite direction. I don't know if you can see it but there is a castle in the background. Only in France!!
Here is the view without Troy in it. I think you can see the castle better in this one.

This is a picture we took of us just so that I would have one of the two of us together. I loved being able to be with my sweetheart with no interruptions. It was nice to have long conversations and dinner that I got to eat while it was still hot.

And speaking of dinner. . .

That night we ate at a place called Tapas. Which is some kind of food like little side dishes that you get a bunch of and share with everyone at that table. We picked this restaurant because it had been a while since we could order in English and they had an English menu. So I ordered what with the description sounded to me to be a salad. Yeah it sooooo was not. It was some bowl full of tomatoes and some other chopped something or others that was sooo not good. It was the only time we ordered in English and were surprised when the food came to the table!

Because I didn't eat very much I made Troy take me for dessert. This is a crepe with Carmel and vanilla ice cream and Carmel and chocolate sauce, and obviously some whipped cream. It was sooo yummy. I love the french crepes especially when they make them like this!

Day 2nd Day: Les Baux de Provence and Cathedrale D'Images

Our day 2 started with a visit to Les Baux which is a ruined castle and city which they have found traces of habitation that dates back to 6000 BC. It runs along the side of this mountain you can kind of see the picture of what it would have looked like by Troy. I hope that the pictures capture how neat it was. We walked up to the flag you can see in the distance.It sits up high in the Alpilles mountains and was a defensive stronghold used for many wars in ancient french history. It has a very long and colorful history if you want to read it you can look it up on the wikipedia website. (That way I don't have to go on and on and bore those of you that just couldn't care less)

In this picture you can see the remnants of a window of the castle. I am always amazed at what lasts through the years even when everything around it crumbles. You can even see the small detail work around the window!!They have now put a bunch of shops and restaurants in the village beneath the castle. I could have spent Troy's entire life's earnings in all the shops we went into in France but I had fantastic self control, his name was Troy. Anyway you walk through the village until you reach the castle at the top. When I say it is at the top of the mountain I am serious. As you can see from the pictures you can see the valley for miles. It was an amazing view. They grow grapes and olives which they are famous for below this castle. It was a really neat place to be but it was the windiest place.

This is me standing in front of what would have been the home of a family that lived in the castle which they literally built into the mountain. You can kind of see the roof that curved over the house and a little bit of the wall that separated the rooms.I as you can see decided to wear a skirt that day. As I have already said it was extremely windy . . . . I am sure you can gather how well my day went. I spent the entire day trying to keep my skirt from being up above my waste. I didn't always succeed.

At the castle sight they have old catapults which they demonstrate for everybody. I didn't get any pictures of this. I don't really know why probably because I was so irritated about the skirt.

They also demonstrated hand to hand combat which Troy thought was super cool even if we couldn't understand anything they were saying.This is Troy standing in front of the church in the village that has stood through it all. It was really neat to see the ruins and history there and think about all the people and Kings and Queens that walked the same path that I walked. It was soooo neat.

After we had had as much of the wind as we could stand we walked down to a place they call Cathedrale d'Images. I don't even know how to put into words how um um um (see I told you no words) "unique" "interesting" I am sure I uttered the word strange at some point. There is a quarry in the mountain that inside they have put the works of Picasso to music. The walls are gigantic and so the images are therefore gigantic. The pictures were on every wall and on the floor in every corner and even the ceiling. It was dark and the colors and light made it look like you were almost inside the paintings. Some of his work is kind of odd so sometimes it was a little um um um psychedelic is the best word I can come up with. This is about the best picture I could get. It was something that I will never truly understand or forget.

Vieux Port and La Notre Dame De La Garde

Ok to continue with our 1st day adventure after we came back from seeing the Chateau D'If we went on a tour of Marseille which stopped at the Notre Dame De La Garde which is a basilica in Marseille France. It is located on the highest point in all of Marseille and there for you can see it from everywhere. It was built between 1853 and 1864. It was built to watch over the sailors. It is incredibly ornate and beautiful inside. I didn't understand most of the symbols and things inside but I did understand it's beauty. On top of the building is an enormous statue of Mary and Jesus. It was the biggest gold statue I have ever seen.

This is a picture of the statue on top of the building. I hope you can tell how enormous it is

These are some pictures of the inside of the building. It was stunning

This is a picture of the ceiling. I was so taken with it I had a hard time looking at anything else.

These pictures are of Vieux Port, from the stairs of the Notre Dame with Troy and Me standing on the stairs. It is just stunning. I was amazed at the history that was staring back at me. Also that you can have a building that has been around for hundreds of years that has an electronics store in the bottom level. The differences in the building and what it housed were striking.

These are some of the buildings that are around Vieux Port which I thought were so neat and I so wish we had buildings that looked like that here in the USA

This is a picture of Nouvelle Cathédrale de la Major. I don't know much about it because we couldn't go inside but I do know that it was the biggest church in Marseille and it was very ornate even on the outside. I wish I could have seen the inside. The little speck in front is me and Troy.

While walking around Marseille to see all of these fantastic places I was struck with how beautiful this city was. Even the clothes hanging out on the lines added color that I sometimes think that our cities lack. The people were overall extremely nice and patient with me and my broken french. I loved the time we spent here.