sunny Provence

This weekend, as well as Friday, I had the wonderful fortune of taking a trip to Provence. Provence was actually most of what I saw in France the first time around so there were a few places I had been (such as Aix en Provence and Cassis - not to be confused with the fruit) but on this visit we were very much tourists and so we went to quite a few places.

The Place Wilson fountain in all its glory.

The first on our list was Orange which we visited first because it is often called the gateway into Provence. It is perhaps best known for it's ampitheatre which was built in Gallo-Roman times and is one of only three Roman theaters that still has its wall. The ampitheatre was absolutely massive  and I can imagine that seeing anything there would be pretty incredible. Orange actually holds a summer opera festival each year and though there wasn't any opera when we were there, I did spot some postcards with pictures from the festival and it looked quite impressive and memorable. Apart from the huge scale of the ampitheatre Orange and the rest of Provence was quite hot and surprisingly windy. There were several moments as we moved across the steps of the ampitheatre that I felt like I was on a White Mountain ridge on a very windy day.

The seven of us from UNH in Baux-de-Provence. From left to right:
Me, Kendra, Sean, Nick, Amy, Michelle and Kayla.

After the amitheatre we had lunch and then traveled to the town of Baux-de-Provence. On the way to the town our driver mentioned that during our journey we would pass Mont Ventoux which has been (and will be) a legendary climb in the Tour de France. I think that I was probably the only one on the bus to perk up about this but sadly while I was aware we would be passing the mountain didn't quite see which one it was. Baux-de-Provence itself sits on top of a rocky hill with a castle built into the side of it. We didn't visit the castle because admission was quite expensive but we did wander throughout the town which is largely made of stone and is half built of stone and half coming out of the hill. The building of castles and other medieval buildings has always impressed me but to build a castle out of a mountain is something else entirely. Overall the effect was that the village was extremely picturesque and though some flowers were in bloom I can imagine that in a month or two it will be quite breathtaking.

Wind chimes in Baux-de-Provence

From Baux-de-Provence we proceeded to Uzes which was where our hotel was located for both Friday and Saturday night. We didn't actually see anything in Uzes because our hotel was removed from the village but we did enjoy a meal at the restaurant. Staying in Uzes was quite different than our other trips where we stayed at hotels and then went into town and ate dinner in little groups. Due to the fact that we were all together it was quite nice to talk to some other CIEF students and play games with them afterwards without worrying about getting back to the hotel on time.

A shot of a street in Baux-en-Provence

The next day we set out to Arles. Stephane concentrated on the Gallo-Roman history of Arles but I was personally interested on its painter inhabitant: Vincent Van Gogh. After really falling in love with his paintings at the Musée d’Orsay and after reading a fictional book surrounding the last year of his life my curiosity was piqued. Sadly I cannot say I learned anything about his stay in Arles but I can definitely understand how the colors of the buildings in Arles and the many flowers in bloom (including glissine also known as wisteria) was an inspiration for him.

We, strangely enough, had the majority of our time free and so for lunch we found the massive open-air market and bought ourself a little picnic in the park. I must say that having seen a few farmers markets in New England none of them will ever compare to the French markets which seem to go on forever and ever and sell everything from charcuterie, vegetables and spices to straw-hats and cotton clothing. The market in Arles was particularly huge, easily beating Les Halles in Dijon.

The streets of Arles with an out of shot ampitheatre to the right.

After Arles we headed towards la Camargue and the Mediterranean. In Nice I had touched my feet in the same sea but thanks to an actual sandy beach I was able to go in up to my knees. With the sun beating down on our backs and my sunburn-susceptible shoulders (which came out of the weekend with color but not a burn!) it was rather refreshing. Less surprising for those of us from New Hampshire was that the Mediterranean in April was still warmer than (or a similar temperature to) the Atlantic in June or July. Camargue itself is actually a region of Provence, with Arles as its unofficial capital, but we personally visited Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer which I may or may not have visited during my first visit to France four years ago.

Apart from a lovely view of the sea, the town and the region are famous for the horses - the Camargue- which are local to the region. The horses in particular are grey, sturdy and traditionally used for cattle work. From Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer we traveled to Aigues-Mortes (dead waters) which is a medeival city surrounded by walls that still enclose the city today. The walls themselves are six-meters thick and were designed to be impregnable and seeing as how they still stand in excellent condition day, I gather this worked. I am relatively sure that the name of the town comes from the fact that it was at one time a major salt port and therefore near places where many things could not grow because of the salt.

The apply named Place de Vincent Van Gogh in Arles.

From Aigues-Mortes we traveled to Nimes one of the largest cities in Provence and also filled with Gallo-Roman remains including its ampitheatre, the Maison de Carée (a Roman temple) and the Jardins de la Fontaine which were built around roman ruins. Interestingly the symbol of Nimes is a crocodile linked with a palm tree. I still prefer the Dijonaise chouette (owl). Nimes was mostly a town for our dinner. We ended up being slightly in a rush and didn't end up savoring our meal as much as I (and the others) would have liked but it was still good and the warm night air was an excellent treat.

The next and final day we started with a trip to Pont du Gard, a huge aqueduct bridge which was constructed to bring water to Nimes. Like building castles into mountains, the construction of bridges is something I find mind boggling particularly when arches are involved. Pont du Gard was, before this visit to Provence, my primary thought when it came to the south of France simply because it is so iconic but now I think it's been replaced with the beautifully colored buildings, the tiled roofs and of course the heat.

For some strange reason an unfurled French flag is a somewhat rare site in
France. I think this may be due to regional pride being stronger than
national pride.

Our last visit in Provence was to Avignon. The city is quite well known for the famous Pont d'Avignon, for its theater festival in the summer and also for the period in history where it was the home of the papacy. My personal knowledge of religion and history begins with the Protestant Revolution so I won't get too into detail about how Avignon connects with the history of the Catholic Church but at one point in the 14th century Pope Clement V moved the papacy to Avignon. The popes stayed in Avignon until 1377 when they returned to the Vatican. At this same time there was also a schism in the papacy and there were as a result two popes, one in Italy and one in France. It's slightly confusing and not a subject I'm terribly interested in but because of this Avignon has a rich history and a huge Palais des Popes as well as many beautiful houses constructed for Bishops.

Pont du Gard

We had a guided tour of the Palais des Popes and then afterwards we had time to ourselves. Sunday felt very hot though I don't think it was any warmer than Friday or Saturday. Nevertheless I think we were all tired from either the heat or staying up late the night before and were quite exhausted by the time we left the city and started our 6 hour bus ride (including stops) back to Dijon.

All in all Provence was a real treat and I'm still in disbelief that in less than a week I'll be back in the Mediterranean this time in Italy!

Students playing in the river before Pont du Gard

an obligatory history lesson and the countryside

This past week was a welcome break from traveling. As wonderful as it is to travel to various places around France (and in two weeks I'll be traveling around Europe) it was nice to have a week and a weekend without too much fuss. Due to the fact that my host parents were gone last week, this week I ate with them three times (the first was normal, the second was to make up for being gone and the third was the meal I didn't get last week). The first meal, which was on Tuesday, was dominated by many subjects but most notably by talking about France during World War II.

The Place Wilson fountain on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

This strangely enough fit in quite well with the History class I had this week wherein we covered WWII and France directly after WWII. We didn't have nearly enough time to talk about it and due to the nature of the class we focused on the politics of France during these periods. I found the entire two hours fascinating but it felt like quite a unique experience to be in a class that essentially talked about the decline and end of the French Empire which essentially began in June of 1940 when the French signed the Armistice with Germany and then set up Vichy France: an anti-semitic, anti-democratic, anti-parliamentarian government that collaborated with the Third Reich and was led by Marechal (Marshall) Philippe Petain. The Vichy government is till this day very controversial in France mostly because opinion is split between:

• Those who argue that the government was illegitimate and established by foreign traitors, which up until the presidency of Jacques Chirac (1995-2007) was the official point of view of the French government. This point of view acknowledges the criminal behavior of the government but denies any responsibility of the French State.
• Those that regretfully acknowledge the responsibility of the French State for its crimes. 

Given the crimes of Vichy France it seems pretty wondrous that the French Republic ended up occupying a zone of Germany, joining NATO (OTAN in French) and becoming a permanent member of the Security Council. All of this would have been impossible were it not for General (and in 1958 President) Charles de Gaulle. De Gaulle managed to escape to Britain and famously gave a radio advice on June 18th (four days before the Armistice was signed) urging the French people to continue fighting Nazi Germany. This failed but he was able to form les Forces Francais Libre (FFL; Free French Forces). For the first few years of the war de Gaulle was mostly the sole force working as a voice of Free France (an essentially illegal government). He and President Franklin D. Roosevelt quite famously shared mutual animosity for one another and de Gaulle's stubbornness constantly put him at odds with both FDR and Churchill. This is a fact that was not touched upon in this particular History class but other History classes and many documents can attest to the truth of it.

The afternoon sun streaming into my host family's apartment. 

After the Allied invasion of North Africa in 1942, the FFL dramatically increased and became largely made up of soldiers from the French colonies. These Free French Forces were then able to help with the invasion of Italy and then southern France and when Paris was liberated in 1944, de Gaulle drove near the front of the liberating forces.

Overall the history class was quite fascinating and I surprisingly learned a lot that I hadn't before. All of the history classes in which WWII is discussed rarely touch on France other than stating how in a month France was defeated and that the Vichy government was set up. I'm not sure of this is because I usually learn European history from an American or British standpoint or because after the Armistice France's role in relation to other nations was quite marginal but it was great to get the other point of view particularly when the two sides of French politics were so vastly different. 

This incredibly detailed work of art was made entirely of grains of sand
by Buddhist monks at the Buddhist temple in Burgundy.

On a subject completely unrelated to France in WWII, this weekend was completely beautiful. On Saturday there was not a single cloud in the sky and the temperature was between 70 and 80 degrees. In a word, it was incredible and I found it very odd to be receiving news of snow in New Hampshire because with such summery weather out it was weird to imagine winter still gripping NH even though I've experienced such weather many times before. Saturday ended up being a great day of relaxation and I mostly walked around town, sat in the park and read and later on had ice cream with Kendra and Michelle. 

Sunday my host father took the Swiss and I on what was basically a trip to the country side. I say basically because we made quite a few stops on the way there and back. The first was to Autun which was founded during the Gall-Roman period. Today the city still has several of the original doors, a large portion of the original ramparts and the remains of the amphitheater which was in its time one of the largest in Western Europe. In addition to stopping and seeing these particular ruins we also stopped at the town center, the Cathedral, a very ancient Pyramid that looks over the city and the ruins of a Roman temple just outside of the city.

After Autun we went to my host father's house in the countryside where we had lunch. I have to say that the French countryside is pretty picturesque and it was interesting to note that instead of rock walls dividing property, the French utilize hedges. I suppose this makes an enormous amount of sense seeing as how unlike New England (and notably New Hampshire) the French fields were not littered with an incredible amount of granite rocks. Though I'm sure the French were able to grow food much more simply without having to constantly remove rocks, there's something quite wonderful about a good rock wall.

Not too far from my host father's house was an actual Buddhist temple. Burgundy is probably one of the last places in Europe where I would think "this would be a good place for a Buddhist temple" but that didn't stop whoever built that temple from building it. Having never been to one before I didn't quite know what to expect but the temple seemed to me to be an incredible mix of color and peace. From the intricate wood carving and painting, to the peacock just walking around or to the prayer flags on massive poles or in the trees, the temple was certainly unexpected but it was also beautiful.

Prayer flags at the Buddhist temple. Prayer flags which traditionally
come in sets of 5 (one for each element) promote peace, compassion,
strength and wisdom and do not carry prayers or messages to the
gods, instead sending good-will and compassion into all of space.
They are often seen in the Himalayas.

Following the temple we preceded to the house of my host father's parents. As my host father said, the house was almost a museum in side with an array of spears, bayonets, guns, pistols and knives adorning the wall. We didn't stay inside too long because my host father's mother is quite ill but we did walk down to his brother's farm (where there were some adorable looking lambs, none of which were named 'Purple'). Further down the road from the farm were several man-made ponds with little houses built on stilts in the water. The houses (each of which sits in its own individual pond) can be rented out for about a weekend for those seeking some solitude in the French countryside.

Following this we finally headed home though not before briefly stopping at Chateauneuf which at 18h45 (6:45 PM) was closed. Given that Sunday was cloudy and a little rainy and also that we (or at least I) were tired from the day we didn't stay long but I would definitely love to come back as the village and the castle (a chateau fort) were both picturesque and authentic.

An old door in a wall at Chateauneuf.

To finish off the day I opened up the jar of peanut butter my parents sent me (thank you!) and made myself a very delicious PB&J that I'm afraid the French, not really understand just how amazing peanut butter is, wouldn't really appreciate.