Oct 7 Avignon

We got into full tourist mode and have even started to take trips to the towns surrounding Avignon. The first town was Villanueva de Avignon. It has an awesome fort, a cool abbey with a stunning garden and another thing that might also have been an abbey but that seems redundant. They were called La Chartreuse de Villeneuve les Avignon, Le Fort de Saint André and l'Abbay Saint André.

The next town was Arles. It has a coliseum, a roman theatre, a roman bath, some crypts (turned out to be the foundations of an old roman structure that had been built over) and countless museums. We saw all the roman stuff and two museums.  

We take too many photos now that Tom is here I can't put them all on the blog because they are mostly boring, but we haven't missed anything yet.

Flea Market.

The fort St André

Tom taking up position as an archer.

The view from Toms position.

Slow getting into position for the self portrait.

The fort wall.

The tower.

Ceiling of fort.

Ceiling detail.

Archers taking break from defending fort.

Reflection of garden in pond.

Pergola at the abbey.

Snail. You can eat those if you like.

Don't eat these.

Yoly had to eat these as a child, she didn't like them. They are called flor de loroco in Spanish.

Prickly pears. You can eat those if they are ripe.

There Ripe! Lets get some but be carfull !!!

Tom wasn't carefully enough.

A less dangerous flower.

What was once a pretty ceiling with frescoes. 

Le Pont d'Avignon.

Cool light.

Yoly is not really skinning a kitten as it would appear, but peeling the prickly pears.

The only part that we could eat were the edges because the pits were like rocks.

That was the end of an action packed day!

Next morning, we are going to Arles on the train.

Pretty building with a mosaic picture.

The pretty street that leads to the coliseum.

Frumpy clothes on a chilly day. These three sisters were flirting with Tom and Al.

Corrida de toros estilo camarguey.

Charley's angels or the New Bond Girl and the Evil Twins. What's with the double back pack donkey?

Coliseum lost the second floor.

The coliseum is still used today.

Original roman writing on walls

Once upon a time this part of Europe was the bottom of the ocean.

Yoly Descending from the tower at the coliseum.

This sing reminded me of last summer when we were in Nova Scotia.

Roman spare parts for the coliseum and antique theatre. They are getting hard to find now days.

Last two columns remained at the antique theatre that once held 10 000 spectators.

Several of the top floors are missing.

Spout of a fountain in Arles

Door in Arles.

Boat on the Rhône river.

Yoly made friends with a cat.

Nice shot showing where the heated air from the fireplace passed through the floor of the Roman baths.

 Turtle in the fountain at the Grand Hotel in Arles

More spare parts, this time under ground in the crypts.

Creepy crypt with pretty girl.