france: friday 091809

Saturday, February 6, 2010

We had breakfast at the hotel in Palavas – see what I mean about it being sheik? 🙂

France_day_ten2

Then, we headed out to Nimes, one of the great cities of ancient roman architecture. Unfortunately for us, there was a festival about to begin. The Maison Caree looked under construction, not to mention a stage with full lighting and sound systems was being set up against its side. We looked then for the Arena, but it is very difficult to navigate sometimes in cities (ok, maybe all the time?). We did find it, but the festival was literally just getting started – booths lined up the main road and we could not find any parking. We did try, but the longer we searched, the more crazy it became to drive.

France_day_ten4

France_day_ten3 France_day_ten5 France_day_ten6

We were undaunted though, as we decided to continue driving on to Arles, another gem of the romans. And whats along the way? Oh, just a giant aqueduct: the Pont du Gard. Amazing! If you look close, you can see people along the bridge – yes it is *that* big. Again, the notion of being a “visitor” rather than a “tourist” really struck me. People are so respectful, and its a shared moment, to walk across such a massive work of engineering. Not a rush to be first, not crowded, not selfish. Simply awe inspiring.

France_day_ten7 France_day_ten9 France_day_ten10 France_day_ten11 France_day_ten8

On the way to Arles, we passed through Avignon. Its always kinda cool to finally meet the cities you hear about. If we had more time, it would have been a stop. But dark clouds were coming in, and we had to see an ampitheatre first hand, dangit! So although it did completely *torrentially* downpour on us at Arles, our curiousity was satisfied.

France_day_ten15

France_day_ten14 France_day_ten13

The arena is under renovation, and should be finished this year. It will look amazing. Arles has other cool places to see too, but by the time we found them all, they were closed. It was still fun though, following the map (sodden with rain, as were our persons) and finding all the sites. Kinda like a treasure hunt:) Here is a pic of the theatre:

France_day_ten16

Back in Palavas, there was the most interesting conversation I had in french, and the most understood conversation at that. So although the man was clearly drunk (i guess it slowed his speech enough, and he often repeated himself, so thats why i understood 99% of it?), he was so sweet to help us find a place to eat. We were looking for pasta, and ended up at a pizza joint but neither of us were disappointed. Thank you Bob;)

France_day_ten17

Other things i noticed of south of France: No one honks their horn really…until you reach, oh, about Avignon. Then its pretty bad. And the roundies out there are pretty gosh darn scary for one such as myself. Thank goodness boy drove!

 

See more posts related to:

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Looking for more cases of the Crafties?
Update

Update

Just a summary of random things that’s been keeping me from posting.

read more
Stitch Club: Kaur

Stitch Club: Kaur

Saima Kaur led a TextileArtist.org’s Stitch Club designed to make us smile by stitching brightly bold and whimsical figures, and I was inspired by ancient South African rock art.

read more
Stitch Club: Edwards

Stitch Club: Edwards

Priscilla Edwards led a TextileArtist.org’s Stitch Club where we learned to make a wire frame and use batik wax to form a sculpture. For whatever reason, I decided I’d make a sailboat!

read more
A new era

A new era

My craft room has two new additions, Toby and Ollie.

read more
Hexie Dreams + Template

Hexie Dreams + Template

My Hexie Dreams quilt, which was carefully fussy cut and hand pieced by me, then hand quilted by my gramma, is finally finished after three+ years of work (and avoidance). The proof is in the stitching – persistence pays off!

read more
Stitch Club: Dias

Stitch Club: Dias

Cassandra Dias lead a TextileArtist.org’s Stitch Club workshop on embroidered landscapes, and I was inspired to recreate a honeymoon photo of France’s Pont Du Gard.

read more
Hello 2024!

Hello 2024!

For the start of 2024, I’ve been playing with drawing, paint, and watercolor pencils to get a feel for the media.

read more
Ida Andersen Lang’s Tutorial

Ida Andersen Lang’s Tutorial

I followed a water color pencil tutorial by Ida Andersen Lang to work through some techniques to set me up for a successful Mixed Media 2024 journey.

read more
Stitch Club: Boschert

Stitch Club: Boschert

Deborah Boschert lead a TextileArtist.org’s Stitch Club on creating a mixed media art quilt. I based mine upon a visit to a new town and restaurant.

read more
Finds and Things

Finds and Things

A random post about some art supplies, vintage finds, and an AI-generated experiment for future crafts.

read more
Stitch Club: Stone 3

Stitch Club: Stone 3

Sue Stone’s third workshop with TextileArtist.org’s Stitch Club prompted us to use text in our piece, so I recorded a trip to Shawnee National Forest.

read more
Stitch Club: Stone 2

Stitch Club: Stone 2

Sue Stone led a TextileArtist.org’s Stitch Club in her well-known portrait style, and I was inspired to capture a man in a hat in four variations.

read more
Hexie Dreams 19

Hexie Dreams 19

My hand sewn fussy-cut EPP Hexie Dreams quilt is all ready to go to my gramma for hand quilting. Check out a few of my embellished hexies, and come back in the future for the finished product!

read more