Thu Oct 15 - Van Gogh & the Romans

A chilly day here in Provence. The crazy Mistral winds have caused a 10 degree decline in temperature, so instead of 22 degrees we now have 12 degrees and very high winds - doesn't stop us, we just need to add more layers of clothing. This morning we visited St. Paul de Mausole, a psychiatric hospital just outside St. Remy where Vincent Van Gogh spent 12 months in 1889-90. The left photo shows the outside of the hospital and a picture below shows his hospital room. While at the hospital he painted over 150 paintings, including Starry Night - a view of St. Remy from his window - all around the hospital you can see many of the views that inspired so many of his works.

Here I am in the cloisters at the hospital. A very peaceful place now but not so in the late 19th c when hundreds of patients were subjected to many unorthodox treatments for mental illness - many of which you can read about here.

Behind the hospital is the Mas de la Pyramide in what used to be a Roman quarry. The top of the granite structure , which is called the Pyramide, (in the photo to the left) used to be level ground - it sits now in olive tree orchard. A farmer who lives in the house by the pyramide gave us a very interesting tour of the area. He spoke no English but we were able to basically understand him and even managed to ask a few questions of him. His family has lived in the house below for over 400 years. He keeps his cars and farm equipment in a cave that the Romans carved out over 2000 years ago - see photo below. All very fascinating.

After our tour we headed to Les Baux de Provence, a village literally built in to the side of a mountain. The winds were so strong we didn't last long and headed on to Arles.

Here is the Roman Arena that sits in the middle of the old city section of Arles. It is still used for events, as you can see from the constructed seating. When you sit inside you can envision the games and gladiator fights that took place here 2000 years ago in front of 20,000 spectators.

Inside the Arena.

We put the camera on a 10 second timer and took our own picture here - proof that we are actually on this trip together!

Also, in Arles, a Roman amphitheatre.

This structure sits just inside the wall of the old city in Arles - not sure what it means or who created it, but it is beautiful.

Here is a photo of one of the many charming buildings in old Arles. After all this touring around today, we walked into St. Remy from the hotel and found a great restaurant, Le Jardin de Frederic where we had a delicious dinner of lamb rack and a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape, Vieux Telegraphe - a favourite of Carl's and very reasonably priced.That's all for now. A bientot!