ARLES 7 Sept 2017
We thought we had established the time of buses from Arles to St Remy de Provence (see later!!) which only run until the 24 September, also picked up a set of train time tables at the station. Concluding there really is no great advantage to having a car in this part of the world, with train and bus stations adjacent and central as is true of Arles, Nimes, Avignon, and Aix en Provence and a central bus stop in Saint Remy and Orange .
Time enough for dinner at a favorite Italian restaurant La Comedie near the main bus stops Boulevard Georges Clemenceau in the town centre and the next day in Apsara the local Chinese restaurant (in fact the young owners are Vietnamese). We found our favourite lunchtime restaurant Emilie for lunch, just two tables each for two people on the pavement specialising in Bio food sans gluten plus a few tables inside, rue Jouvene near river off rue de la Republique.
Saturday was the start of the Feria du Riz but we had sufficient time before catching the afternoon train to Nimes to visit the Place de la Republique which was full of white tents promoting the food and lifestyle of the Camargue.
Thus we queued with the crowd, to the very left, for our free taste or Toreau (bull) steak in sauce Camargais.
One of the features of this Feria, was two days of bull fighting in the Arena, including Camargais bull fights where the bulls are not tortured or killed but their heads are merely cheekily decorated by brave fighters.
Not to be confused with the Crowning of the l'Ambrassadrice du Riz as seen last year, and the Corsos (Parades?) over the weekend
NIMES Saturday 9 September
Just arrived by train in Nimes and installed in the Ibis Budget Centre Gare next to the train station, excellent, a faultless choice as last year and very cheap, 50 E and 46 E per night plus 6 E each for a fine buffet breakfast. Undoubtedly the best value of the whole holiday.
That night we had a superb dinner at L'Harmonie restaurant, rue de la Madeleine, one more remembered from the previous year. Joan ate Bar a fish she remembered as having been recommended by Jim, it was clearly so superb that I ordered it the next evening Sunday in the slightly more expensive Italian restaurant near the Arena, and if anything it was even better especially the crunchy skin.
Sunday 10th
On Sunday we revisited Le Jardin de la Fontaine. Anytime we revisit Nimes we will go there.
It is so beautiful on the side of a hill which is climbed forward and back on gently rising semicircular paths.
Joan opted out of the beautiful ascent last year but this time she climbed to the very top, where Mont Pagna marks a key Roman site.
We decided to stay on in Nimes for the morning of Monday hoping to visit museums and especially the new Norman Foster design housing modern art. But as elsewhere absolutely nothing opens on Monday. However we did see the much rubbed nose of the Crocodile
Whilst sitting at an old cafe circa 1800 cafe we saw two young women promoting a Challenge. The task was to complete an obstacle course the difficulty being to carry a small plastic mug of water held between two sticks, with one competitor facing forward the other walking backwards. On completion of the circuit empty the contents were emptied into an empty litre bottle and they had to repeat the circuit until the bottle was full. We saw these two men complete a couple of circuit around the square.
They were followed by a couple of very agile young women. It broke any boredom we felt on this pointless Monday morning. Once upon a time we would attempt such crazy ventures but agility and balance are no longer on our side.
One further nice touch to this progressive city, the bus tickets 1.3 E for the first hour of travel are issued in the form of small renewable plastic cards, and the renewal is less than 1E/hour. Contrast the costly buses in Swansea.
ARLES AGAIN
Monday 11 and 12 September take the intercity train back to Arles to spend two more nights at Hotel Regence. Ate a dinner of Toreau in Place du Forum due to lack of choice on Sunday. But had another excellent meal (Bar fish again) at Les Filles de Seis on Monday.
With great difficulty again found the Van Gogh Centre and the gardens he painted.
We spent the final day with a day ticket to enter any of the themed photograph exhibitions across town. In comparison with very first exhibition last year which was astounding. This year was a disappointment possibly because following advice on choosing our initial venue at the ticket office we first saw several rooms full of small pictures of South America which were of poor photographic quality. They may well have been valuable historical records.
SAINT REMY de PROVENCE
Monday 13 September
We thought we had established the time of buses from Arles to St Remy de Provence (see later!!) which only run until the 24 September, also picked up a set of train time tables at the station. Concluding there really is no great advantage to having a car in this part of the world, with train and bus stations adjacent and central as is true of Arles, Nimes, Avignon, and Aix en Provence and a central bus stop in Saint Remy and Orange .
Time enough for dinner at a favorite Italian restaurant La Comedie near the main bus stops Boulevard Georges Clemenceau in the town centre and the next day in Apsara the local Chinese restaurant (in fact the young owners are Vietnamese). We found our favourite lunchtime restaurant Emilie for lunch, just two tables each for two people on the pavement specialising in Bio food sans gluten plus a few tables inside, rue Jouvene near river off rue de la Republique.
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| More River Tours we had seen previously - for the Feria |
Thus we queued with the crowd, to the very left, for our free taste or Toreau (bull) steak in sauce Camargais.
One of the features of this Feria, was two days of bull fighting in the Arena, including Camargais bull fights where the bulls are not tortured or killed but their heads are merely cheekily decorated by brave fighters.
Not to be confused with the Crowning of the l'Ambrassadrice du Riz as seen last year, and the Corsos (Parades?) over the weekend
NIMES Saturday 9 September
Just arrived by train in Nimes and installed in the Ibis Budget Centre Gare next to the train station, excellent, a faultless choice as last year and very cheap, 50 E and 46 E per night plus 6 E each for a fine buffet breakfast. Undoubtedly the best value of the whole holiday.
That night we had a superb dinner at L'Harmonie restaurant, rue de la Madeleine, one more remembered from the previous year. Joan ate Bar a fish she remembered as having been recommended by Jim, it was clearly so superb that I ordered it the next evening Sunday in the slightly more expensive Italian restaurant near the Arena, and if anything it was even better especially the crunchy skin.
Sunday 10th
On Sunday we revisited Le Jardin de la Fontaine. Anytime we revisit Nimes we will go there.
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| The Road Side Boundary |
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| The Source of the Spring Savior of Nimes |
Joan opted out of the beautiful ascent last year but this time she climbed to the very top, where Mont Pagna marks a key Roman site.
We decided to stay on in Nimes for the morning of Monday hoping to visit museums and especially the new Norman Foster design housing modern art. But as elsewhere absolutely nothing opens on Monday. However we did see the much rubbed nose of the Crocodile
Whilst sitting at an old cafe circa 1800 cafe we saw two young women promoting a Challenge. The task was to complete an obstacle course the difficulty being to carry a small plastic mug of water held between two sticks, with one competitor facing forward the other walking backwards. On completion of the circuit empty the contents were emptied into an empty litre bottle and they had to repeat the circuit until the bottle was full. We saw these two men complete a couple of circuit around the square.
One further nice touch to this progressive city, the bus tickets 1.3 E for the first hour of travel are issued in the form of small renewable plastic cards, and the renewal is less than 1E/hour. Contrast the costly buses in Swansea.
ARLES AGAIN
Monday 11 and 12 September take the intercity train back to Arles to spend two more nights at Hotel Regence. Ate a dinner of Toreau in Place du Forum due to lack of choice on Sunday. But had another excellent meal (Bar fish again) at Les Filles de Seis on Monday.
With great difficulty again found the Van Gogh Centre and the gardens he painted.
We spent the final day with a day ticket to enter any of the themed photograph exhibitions across town. In comparison with very first exhibition last year which was astounding. This year was a disappointment possibly because following advice on choosing our initial venue at the ticket office we first saw several rooms full of small pictures of South America which were of poor photographic quality. They may well have been valuable historical records.
SAINT REMY de PROVENCE
Monday 13 September
A day when everything went wrong and everything turned out fantastically well.
I thought I knew how to read a French timetable which appeared to offer numerous Bus 57s every day of the week to go from Arles to St Remy and so we went leisurely to the station for the 12.20 but the bus never arrived. We wondered about waiting for the next bus two hours later thinking we had stupidly missed the bus which displayed only Out of Service.
After half an hour I decided to walk the 30 mins each way to the tourist office. I now know what WE (week ends only) means on the French timetable for bus 57. There they told me the bus we wanted only ran at weekends after the 3 Sept and then only until the 24 Sept, but they found me another Number 54 which ran on a different route from the train station at 5.15 pm.
So a very leisurely lunch whilst we waited being entertained by the antics of women who took it on themselves to dismantle and clean a display cabinet full of bread and cakes. Marvellous photo opportunities which I dare not take for fear of insulting our attractive young waitress who was designated to clean the inside of the cabinet. Imagine her on her behind trying to sit upright and clean with a fixed glass shelf at neck height, even moving her head above and below this shelf led to mirth by us, luckily she too saw the funny side, to say nothing of the leg show. Not every onlooker with a camera was as kind as me.
The 5:15 bus got to St Remy at 5.45 and I went straight to the tourist office and bought tickets for the first three nights of the Jazz festival, finding that the Saturday concert was already fully booked. Armed with a street map identifying Harmony Home where we had booked. We found it OK but with barely sufficient time to walk to the concert. We have a beautiful room in the large home of an artist Pera Mazel who also owns a gallery selling works of several local artists. The woman of our age was wonderful, she immediately offered to take us to the concert by car and then offered to meet us at the end which turned out to be midnight after the concert and a Woody Allen film Manhatten.
She insisted on taking us the following two nights as well and would try to get us returned tickets for the Saturday night concert which is sold out.
The room is fabulous she has three rooms for rent in her own house named after painters the impressionist Morisot being one, our room is called Pera and is full of her own paintings, mainly of young blue eyed young women with one of a cherry tree in blossom. The motto is to treat the place like your home, ie make your own bed!
Phone +33 6 58 15 82 86, harmony_home.com
JAZZ FESTIVAL at SAINT REMY
The excellent first concert featured an octet manly of young (fortyish) instrumentalists led by an older pianist Laurent Courthaliac pianist with gestures clearly marking him as homosexual but a superb pianist who played Bud Powell with just the trio.
A very good concert followed by a superbly amusing the Woody Allen's 'Manhattan', recognised as perhaps his greatest film and dramatically shot in black and white. Although dating from the 70's it seemed particularly relevant to us and brought back our feel of the jokey city on holiday together in 1959 as newly-weds.
14 September
Time at last to stroll around town hence the photo of the Town Hall.
For the first time we investigated the Eglise de Saint-Martin de Saint Remy to find there are regular Organ concerts at the weekend also to see the ongoing restoration of the church to its former glory seeing a couple of paintings being packed to send away and the already complete statues.
Lunch for the second day running for 14 euros at a restaurant Toute une Epoche, in the Place de la Republique. We intend to buy a plate of snacks at the midpoint of tonight's jazz concert.
The second evenings concerts both seemed to concentrate on great hand percussion.The first section the Toucas Trio Vasco consisted of an accordionist who hummed as he played and harmonically clacked his mouth to further extend the wide range of the percussionist from Pontichery in Indian, the third musician being a fine young guitarist. The trio had named themselves after Vasco de Gama and went on his world tour though it wasn't obvious that the music changed to fit!
The second set were an African trio, led by a very tall pianist Omar Sosa who kept time by bouncing on alternate feet, again a range of percussion this time extra harmony being provided from an African double stringed instrument (Kora) unknown to either of us. They started quietly but wound up to an exciting style. Several times they appeared to finish and without going off the stage played one encore after another. Feeling very anxious at keeping our hostess waiting we left at 20 mins past midnight. They called their music Transparent Water a very apt description of falling water.
Altogether a great evening illustrating the great variety of well played music at the St Remy festival.
Friday 15 Sept
More later I wrote in an email home as we have to catch a Bus 57 to Les Beaux. You may not believe but the local tourist office like me thought the bus to Les Baux went on until 24 Sept and stupidly I believed them - but we again waited in vain. Stupid, will I never learn! Will try on Saturday, for it really does run at Week Ends.
Instead we walked out to mental hospital where Van Gogh was during the year he painted so many of his most famous paintings.
Not only is the long trek by road lined with fine all weather copies of his more famous paintings, but they are accompanied by the letters he then wrote to his brother in Holland. The note below accompanying his famous painting of the reaper is particularly moving.
You can visit the cloisters which are themselves beautiful
Plus visit his room with the small steel framed bed still in place.
Outside in the garden there are many large copies of his pictures and on this occasion there was a painting session.
Back in town a casual read of a poster in the Place de la Republique street informed us that had it been the festival and had the start been announced by a bombe then the Bulls would have been running the streets as in Pamplona. But clearly that did not apply to the Jazz 'festival' or we would be at risk by being in the place of the encieros, the avridados and the bandidos which are I assume Spanish words for bullfighters. The same also happens so we were told by a lady in Nimes station waiting room who still regularly corresponded with foreign friends in Esperanto - very much pushed in our school days but the first mention of it we have heard in years.
15 September
The third nights jazz was the most disappointing so far, the first session was led by the same alto saxophonist Dmitry Baevsky as in the first nights octet, beautifully played but not exciting enough though with another superb old pianist. The second session was a quintet led by another old pianist Rene Urtreger, a French legend we gathered, with a saxophonist who played have the numbers including one by Charlie Parker on flute and a superb young trumpeter.
We had told Pera's husband not to meet us as we were quite prepared to walk home after the concert. It took only 25 minutes without problem, perhaps 10 minutes less than last year to a different hotel. Also the main road had pavements and was well lit as compared to the previous dark and narrow country lane.
They announced that this morning there would be free jazz concert in the square. It was superb with ten musicians on a variety of instruments from cello, alto sax, small accordion, clarinet, trombone, trumpet, keyboard, drums, a child's winding musical box, Swanee whistle, crackly plastic, recitation, electronic wind instrument at times sounding like gentle trumpet. The overall whole sound being of birds in the forest and featured a conductor with a wide range of gestures to supervise the music. We asked one of the conductors afterwards who said the technique originated from America and was known a Sound Painting. It held an audience of photographers, including me, spellbound for 90 minutes.
We talked again to the Australian couple from Perth over breakfast at Harmony Home, just quality bread with selection of jams, fresh fruit juice and good coffee. Pera Mazel, not to be confused with our French granddaughter Hazel, joined in with her French to explain that tonight she would again drive us to the concert and that one of her friends Jean Paul had added us to the list of reserves for tonight's concert and that we should enquire at the entrance to see if two had been made available to M. Brian, my name for tonight. In any case there will be the usual free jazz concert outside, with drinks and superb plates of meats, cheese etc prepared by the festival supporters.
We have just had lunch at the same popular Toute une Epoque restaurant in Place Rebublique, previously plat du jour plus desert for 14 euros, but slightly more expensive with a two special choices for weekends so Joan had had Gambas with sauce Americaine and rice, and I had Souris d'Agneau which turned out to be a fine lamb shank, she finished with a desert of cafe gourmand rather bigger than weekday lunches, the total being 61.70 euros, good value again.
Saturday 16 September.
Around midday a free concert in the Place Favier got plenty of attention from photographers. We thought it was their attempt at Free Jazz, though later one of the two conductors explained that it was called Music Painting and was very common in the States. It was an incredible mix of instruments (conventional, the twirling of musical boxes, singing and particularly recitation. The mood, volume and feel of sound directed with instructive arm gestures by a conductor.
Pera insisted in taking us an hour early to the concert so that she could introduce us to those responsible for extra tickets. They said we were just 10th on the reserve list and would almost certainly have been allocated seats, though the actual sale would start when the precise number of spare seats would be known. When she left and we bought one of the plates of cold meats and cheese etc from volunteers whilst listening to the usual free jazz concert outside the Apilium Hall. Happily we were soon in conversation largely in French with a couple who were on their first visit to the festival, though without attending the concert itself. It was clearly a social event for locals.
The less said about the concert by BB Bridgewaters attractive young daughter China Moses the better - though it had the most enthusiastic reception of the whole festival as she worked very hard to involve the audience in her games, refrains and clapping. Very loud and not at all musical. Great fun for the majority, which must mean we are jazz snobs! We opted to sit in one of the five extra rows of seating just in front of the stage, would have been better of further back in the permanent seats.
Sunday 17 September
This time there was a WE bus to Les Baux and we caught it. What a fantastic place. Why had we not discovered it previously? The aluminium ore Bauxite was discovered here hence its name, so the village is not beau for beautiful which it most certainly is. Very popular at weekends for cyclists, car drivers and those arriving by bus like us. The beautiful old village was crowned at its height by a medieval walled village encompassed by a citadel.
What we didn't know until returning to Harmony Home was of the nearby attraction Carrieres de Lumieres in a large cave in part by the same artist Arcimboldo as these statues together with Bosch and Brueghel.
We had one of the very best lunches at the La Reine Jeanne (well almost Joan) towards the exit. I had my very first taste of the Provence speciality Aioli, fish served with a large dish of highly garlic thick creamy sauce. Joan had the other Plat du Jour, Faux Filet de Boeuf which was also excellent.
After lunch we rather fortuitously located the Musee Yves Brayer where we knew there was a magnificent collection of the photographs of Henri Cartier-Bresson (to see which we had in fact come to Les Baux). Luckily finding much other art of interest plus the citadel!
As we were about to exit via the car park we read this notice concerning the discovery Bauxite in 1821in this commune.
That evening for the first time we went to the Chai d'Oeuvre 21, at the start of Boulevard Victor Hugo, which sold wine by the glass of varying price along with a platter of cold meats and cheeses. An excellent way to end our exceptionally good five days in Saint Remy.
AVIGNON 18 - 21 Sept
Ibis Avignon Centre Gare our last hotel booked from home at 80E/night before leaving home for two nights but with no vacancy for a further two nights. Last year 2016 we never had a problem with room availability, this year I booked this far ahead because there were frequent availability problems. On explaining this to a receptionist he explained that they had suffered badly from the threat of terrorism, last year they operated at 80% capacity whereas usually it was 99% in the height of summer and barely less in September.
Deciding to stay we transferred for two further nights to the Ibis Budget, cheaper 59E/night and a third cheaper for a comprehensive breakfast buffet. For that we had a large ground floor room we think one built for disabled residents. Contrast the smallest ever standard rooms in the more expensive Ibis. Above all the Ibis Budget had a really friendly atmosphere and the receptionist was charming throughout.
Would book the cheaper option next time, there is only 15 minute walk between them around the city walls of little consequence once one has picked up copies of the LER and the Trans Vaucluse bus timetables. Any slight disadvantage is made up for by being adjacent to the Rhone.
First stop was to visit the Palais des Papes something we couldn't find time for last year. It is a massive structure, impressive when viewed from the outside.
But inside there is nothing but bare walls with this single exception
Only the Height and the Solidity are exceptional.
19 Sept Our first ever walk south to north on the west side of the river and Joan is inspired by the daily exercise class we have just witnessed, but she claims she was pointing out the height of the tree.
Over the free ferry for ideal for riverside walks
Down the long slope to the Palais des Papes
Drinking wine whilst resting and listening to the superb bell like tone of this trumpeter sitting outside the old School of Music, who on receiving his second tip tells me he has been playing this way for forty years.
21 Sept celebrated our last night with the most exceptionally original cooking of our trip in Le Gout du Jour 20 rue Saint-Etienne. Though I was originally disappointed at the small size of the starter made of a couple of small tomatoes on a small bed of soft tomato jelly. In retrospect it was very tasty so was the whole meal. Joan says the owner was delighted to see I had left cash for my meal - it must be hard for young originals to finance their operations.
ORANGE 22- 24 Sept
Two small hotels are located on the south of the old city very close to the famous Roman Theatre L'Herbier d'Orange shown here, our Hotel Saint Florent at 55E/night down the rue du Mazeau shown to the right. Just across the narrow street was Le Forum a fine small restaurant where we ate for two nights with a three course menu at 35E each plus wine. They closed on Sunday otherwise it would have been all three dinners. That last night we shared another platter of cold meats and cheese, the last customers that evening of the Instant Gourmand
CARPENTRAS day trip
ORANGE AGAIN
A Whole Room devoted to the work of Albert Belleroche whose son denoted 500 of their works to the Museum of ORANGE
AIX en PROVENCE 25- 29 Sept
Express bus Avignon to Aix for 19E each by the Lines Express Regional (LER) line very convenient location at each end.
I had studied Google maps and located the apartment we had rented for the five nights ending our holiday and the easy walk to the impressive boulevard of east end of Cours Mirabeau I was at a loss to find the street name. I phoned the contact number and spoke to his wife who promised her husband would phone back but leaving the phone with Joan went on a further recky of the maze of small streets.
Those working in the centre of a city have no idea of the names of small streets but finally I persuaded a young girl in an estate agents office to use her computer to get a map the result of which was 'take the first street to the left'.
Joan had been helped with 'my' return call by the kind French lady who shared her street bench, she promised a meeting in 30 minutes with the owner.
Strangely the street was very short and simply the left side continuation of the boulevard, The end of the boulevard was named reasonably enough Cours Mirabeau, but just yards further the other side correctly named was 6 rue Tournefort (our contacts were Veronique and Boris +33 6 49 77 00 38).
The owner grabbed our cases in either hand and rapidly marched up the circular staircase of the old four story town house. On entering our first impressions were of delight with this huge photograph on the wall of the lounge. Giving way to surprise at the huge TV behind Joan, and the extent of the electronic gadgetry including an Apple Mac computer and High Fi, then a large bedroom with a wide comfortable bed, finally side by side a long thin kitchen and a similar shape of washroom/toilet.
Throughout our time here I continued to puzzle about the style owner was he an architect with an interest in individual interior design and re-adaption of room space.
In the end she did well enough though she was always nervous and it was my daily morning task to get the lovely bread from the bakers directly opposite.
27th Sept We went to the Hotel de Caumont to see an exceptional impressive collection of the paintings of Sisley but his time in Wales was only recorded by a painting of The Beach at Penarth but unfortunately not the Donkey Rock on Caswell beach.
We lunched at the next table for two at a small restaurant ???? around the upper end of rue des Tanneurs with Jean-Pierre Hubert and his wife. We had a great discussion he being keen to try his good English but encouraging me to try out my faltering French, most of which his wife understood. She gave us a strong recommendation to Marseille - there is plenty more to see in the south of France.
Not only that but we were both enthusiastic engineers and he had worked for years on the Concord supersonic aircraft which was a hugely ambitious Anglo- French Project. He gleefully disagreed when I ventured to say the first flight was the British plane in Bristol in fact Toulouse and France won by a single day. However the crash which effectively sealed its fate in 2000 was in Paris, though the fleets were not finally retired in 2003.
He expressed regret about the De Havilland Comet which was in service in 1952 and looked a world beater until three crashes in 1953 and 1954. It was the world's first jet powered airliner and potentially a major breakthrough for the British aeronautical industry. He told us it had failed due to metal failure in the wings which mechanism (fatigue?) was not understood at the time which resulted from building the engines into the wings. In consequence later aircraft had their engines slung underneath their wings.
I now read courtesy of the BBC in greater detail that :-
Without doubt a technical triumph but unfortunately not commercially viable as the industry turned to the much larger Boeing and Douglas jumbo planes. Though BA claimed to have made a £20m profit on Concorde!!! We remembered the sonic boom as they passed close to our house on route to the USA.
Within a few days of our return home the BBC ran an hour long history of this project which ran from the 1950's, just after the moon landing, into the 21st century. No doubt this program was triggered by the opening of a new £19m museum at Filton Airport its home in Bristol where the last Concorde is now on display.
Jean-Pierre Hubert now offers lectures as Conferencier on space travel 'l'Histoire de la Conquete Spatiale'.
28th Sept Explored the streets to the north side of Cours Mirabeau
around the Place de Cardeur which was nothing but restaurants
Evcellent lunch of starter and swordfish in peaceful Place des 3 trois Ormeaux, in restaurant of same name, 22E each including deserts. Good enough to repeat the next day.
Archaeological evacuation on discovery of Roman remains during redevelopment in front of Town Hall. The site will be sealed for posterity and buried once again. The lovely doors with statures n below are in the same square
29th September for the last day we decided to investigate the more impressive richer area to the south of Cours Mirabeau
Cours Mirabeau, with Joan noting the wonderful light of evening.
Picked up this recipe for ratatouille from the book of large photos of Aix. In order of adding/cooking, olive oil, 3 onions, large green pepper, 3 aubergines, 4 courgettes, 5 tomatoes, later 4 cloves garlic, lots of parsley plus thyme.
30th EasyJet flight home
We were nearly two hours late as Easyjet had apparently had to get a replacement airplane from Bristol to London. The replacement plane was in fact larger so there were several rows of empty seats in the rear.
ASIDES
1) JOURNEY Thursday 7 September
Set off from home around 01:30 by car headed for Bristol Airport armed for the first time with Terry's Sat Nav. It did us proud following the diversion from the M4 into Newport because of road works and helped give a great deal of assurance when following the same minor roads bypassing south of the city of Bristol. It would probably have allowed us to follow the shorter route following the M5 Guardano minor junction south but we gave up and returned to the route we had followed the previous year. Great following tricky routes but still prefer a map for simple routes, though as Ed demonstrated wonderful for finding your way along one way city streets as he demonstrated in Tours.
EasyJet plane a little delayed whilst computer problem fixed, but arriving early morning is ideal. The external layout of Marseille Airport at Vitrolles has been changed for the better. Last year was perhaps soon after the opening of Terminal 2, they are merely a five minute walk apart but now all the bus platforms are resited to share between them, rather than being unknown to passengers of that terminal. Amongst those are a big choice of buses to Marseille and Cote Azur and throughout Provence, but key to us is the free shuttle (navette) every 12 minutes to the Vitrolles railway station. There we caught the next train to Arles less than an hour later leaving to Arles, such trains follow two different routes one to Nimes and Montpelier the other to north to Avignon and Lyons. The next one left for Arles and Nimes etc. The weather was brilliant for us sunny and warm enough but with a cooling breeze, the next day was the first, and only rain in a holiday of 23 days that is until the return flight took off.
We had only been able to book a single night at our usual hotel in Arles, the Acasias we decided to stay a further night at the nearby Hotel Regence far less convenient especially for Joan being no lift it involved three flights of stairs. The attraction of both being proximity to the railway/bus station and the wide footpath along the river Rhone.
2) HEALTH WORRIES
Time perhaps to reveal by email to our family, the many reasons why we so very nearly pulled out of this trip at the very last minute, having already having to cancel a May/June visit.
'Firstly for the first time ever I had decided to bring a folding walking stick knowing I was having problems walking, earlier in June with acute pain in groin. Luckily as days war on it got better and is now absolutely fine.
Secondly as Judy knows I had a small but deep operation on my chest to remove a non invasive form of skin cancer (Basal Cell Carcinoma). It failed to heal properly which perhaps resulting from pressure from the seat belt on the long drive to meet up with Terry McVeigh the very day after the operation. Joan was very worried over its failure to heal though the nurse, also expressing concern, had armed her with many wound repair kits, only a few of which we could carry limited by the size of our carry on board cases. That wound is now on the mend.
Thirdly exactly a week before we left I had a new crown fitted and the gaps between my teeth were cleaned by the dentist without problem I unexpectedly had huge toothache less than 48 hours later, coincidencaql? I waited a couple of days hoping it would settle and then returned to the dentist who identified the problem by Xray as related to severe decay of a molar from Xray but she had not time to remove the tooth. So we left home the very next day expecting to have to see a dentist in France, not so easy with our now pre-booked itinerary of moving town every few days, and to make problems worse starting on a Saturday.
This (14 Sept) is my first day completely without toothache, so that too turned out well. Actually there was a kick in the tail as I suffered badly the very last night 29 September after eating a very nice Milles Fleur with lovely crisp icing top. Luckily I was OK again the next morning and have now cancelled my appointment to have the molar extracted.
Fortune follows the brave! I may also have saved a valuable molar for a little time longer.'
I thought I knew how to read a French timetable which appeared to offer numerous Bus 57s every day of the week to go from Arles to St Remy and so we went leisurely to the station for the 12.20 but the bus never arrived. We wondered about waiting for the next bus two hours later thinking we had stupidly missed the bus which displayed only Out of Service.
After half an hour I decided to walk the 30 mins each way to the tourist office. I now know what WE (week ends only) means on the French timetable for bus 57. There they told me the bus we wanted only ran at weekends after the 3 Sept and then only until the 24 Sept, but they found me another Number 54 which ran on a different route from the train station at 5.15 pm.
So a very leisurely lunch whilst we waited being entertained by the antics of women who took it on themselves to dismantle and clean a display cabinet full of bread and cakes. Marvellous photo opportunities which I dare not take for fear of insulting our attractive young waitress who was designated to clean the inside of the cabinet. Imagine her on her behind trying to sit upright and clean with a fixed glass shelf at neck height, even moving her head above and below this shelf led to mirth by us, luckily she too saw the funny side, to say nothing of the leg show. Not every onlooker with a camera was as kind as me.
The 5:15 bus got to St Remy at 5.45 and I went straight to the tourist office and bought tickets for the first three nights of the Jazz festival, finding that the Saturday concert was already fully booked. Armed with a street map identifying Harmony Home where we had booked. We found it OK but with barely sufficient time to walk to the concert. We have a beautiful room in the large home of an artist Pera Mazel who also owns a gallery selling works of several local artists. The woman of our age was wonderful, she immediately offered to take us to the concert by car and then offered to meet us at the end which turned out to be midnight after the concert and a Woody Allen film Manhatten.
She insisted on taking us the following two nights as well and would try to get us returned tickets for the Saturday night concert which is sold out.
The room is fabulous she has three rooms for rent in her own house named after painters the impressionist Morisot being one, our room is called Pera and is full of her own paintings, mainly of young blue eyed young women with one of a cherry tree in blossom. The motto is to treat the place like your home, ie make your own bed!
Phone +33 6 58 15 82 86, harmony_home.com
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| I was intrigued by the washroom decorations |
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| Bathroom reflected in the wardrobe mirror |
The excellent first concert featured an octet manly of young (fortyish) instrumentalists led by an older pianist Laurent Courthaliac pianist with gestures clearly marking him as homosexual but a superb pianist who played Bud Powell with just the trio.
A very good concert followed by a superbly amusing the Woody Allen's 'Manhattan', recognised as perhaps his greatest film and dramatically shot in black and white. Although dating from the 70's it seemed particularly relevant to us and brought back our feel of the jokey city on holiday together in 1959 as newly-weds.
14 September
Time at last to stroll around town hence the photo of the Town Hall.
Lunch for the second day running for 14 euros at a restaurant Toute une Epoche, in the Place de la Republique. We intend to buy a plate of snacks at the midpoint of tonight's jazz concert.
The second evenings concerts both seemed to concentrate on great hand percussion.The first section the Toucas Trio Vasco consisted of an accordionist who hummed as he played and harmonically clacked his mouth to further extend the wide range of the percussionist from Pontichery in Indian, the third musician being a fine young guitarist. The trio had named themselves after Vasco de Gama and went on his world tour though it wasn't obvious that the music changed to fit!
The second set were an African trio, led by a very tall pianist Omar Sosa who kept time by bouncing on alternate feet, again a range of percussion this time extra harmony being provided from an African double stringed instrument (Kora) unknown to either of us. They started quietly but wound up to an exciting style. Several times they appeared to finish and without going off the stage played one encore after another. Feeling very anxious at keeping our hostess waiting we left at 20 mins past midnight. They called their music Transparent Water a very apt description of falling water.
Altogether a great evening illustrating the great variety of well played music at the St Remy festival.
Friday 15 Sept
More later I wrote in an email home as we have to catch a Bus 57 to Les Beaux. You may not believe but the local tourist office like me thought the bus to Les Baux went on until 24 Sept and stupidly I believed them - but we again waited in vain. Stupid, will I never learn! Will try on Saturday, for it really does run at Week Ends.
Instead we walked out to mental hospital where Van Gogh was during the year he painted so many of his most famous paintings.
Not only is the long trek by road lined with fine all weather copies of his more famous paintings, but they are accompanied by the letters he then wrote to his brother in Holland. The note below accompanying his famous painting of the reaper is particularly moving.
You can visit the cloisters which are themselves beautiful
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| The Hospital Gardens as seen by Van Gogh |
Outside in the garden there are many large copies of his pictures and on this occasion there was a painting session.
Back in town a casual read of a poster in the Place de la Republique street informed us that had it been the festival and had the start been announced by a bombe then the Bulls would have been running the streets as in Pamplona. But clearly that did not apply to the Jazz 'festival' or we would be at risk by being in the place of the encieros, the avridados and the bandidos which are I assume Spanish words for bullfighters. The same also happens so we were told by a lady in Nimes station waiting room who still regularly corresponded with foreign friends in Esperanto - very much pushed in our school days but the first mention of it we have heard in years.
15 September
The third nights jazz was the most disappointing so far, the first session was led by the same alto saxophonist Dmitry Baevsky as in the first nights octet, beautifully played but not exciting enough though with another superb old pianist. The second session was a quintet led by another old pianist Rene Urtreger, a French legend we gathered, with a saxophonist who played have the numbers including one by Charlie Parker on flute and a superb young trumpeter.
We had told Pera's husband not to meet us as we were quite prepared to walk home after the concert. It took only 25 minutes without problem, perhaps 10 minutes less than last year to a different hotel. Also the main road had pavements and was well lit as compared to the previous dark and narrow country lane.
They announced that this morning there would be free jazz concert in the square. It was superb with ten musicians on a variety of instruments from cello, alto sax, small accordion, clarinet, trombone, trumpet, keyboard, drums, a child's winding musical box, Swanee whistle, crackly plastic, recitation, electronic wind instrument at times sounding like gentle trumpet. The overall whole sound being of birds in the forest and featured a conductor with a wide range of gestures to supervise the music. We asked one of the conductors afterwards who said the technique originated from America and was known a Sound Painting. It held an audience of photographers, including me, spellbound for 90 minutes.
We talked again to the Australian couple from Perth over breakfast at Harmony Home, just quality bread with selection of jams, fresh fruit juice and good coffee. Pera Mazel, not to be confused with our French granddaughter Hazel, joined in with her French to explain that tonight she would again drive us to the concert and that one of her friends Jean Paul had added us to the list of reserves for tonight's concert and that we should enquire at the entrance to see if two had been made available to M. Brian, my name for tonight. In any case there will be the usual free jazz concert outside, with drinks and superb plates of meats, cheese etc prepared by the festival supporters.
We have just had lunch at the same popular Toute une Epoque restaurant in Place Rebublique, previously plat du jour plus desert for 14 euros, but slightly more expensive with a two special choices for weekends so Joan had had Gambas with sauce Americaine and rice, and I had Souris d'Agneau which turned out to be a fine lamb shank, she finished with a desert of cafe gourmand rather bigger than weekday lunches, the total being 61.70 euros, good value again.
Saturday 16 September.
Around midday a free concert in the Place Favier got plenty of attention from photographers. We thought it was their attempt at Free Jazz, though later one of the two conductors explained that it was called Music Painting and was very common in the States. It was an incredible mix of instruments (conventional, the twirling of musical boxes, singing and particularly recitation. The mood, volume and feel of sound directed with instructive arm gestures by a conductor.
Pera insisted in taking us an hour early to the concert so that she could introduce us to those responsible for extra tickets. They said we were just 10th on the reserve list and would almost certainly have been allocated seats, though the actual sale would start when the precise number of spare seats would be known. When she left and we bought one of the plates of cold meats and cheese etc from volunteers whilst listening to the usual free jazz concert outside the Apilium Hall. Happily we were soon in conversation largely in French with a couple who were on their first visit to the festival, though without attending the concert itself. It was clearly a social event for locals.
The less said about the concert by BB Bridgewaters attractive young daughter China Moses the better - though it had the most enthusiastic reception of the whole festival as she worked very hard to involve the audience in her games, refrains and clapping. Very loud and not at all musical. Great fun for the majority, which must mean we are jazz snobs! We opted to sit in one of the five extra rows of seating just in front of the stage, would have been better of further back in the permanent seats.
Sunday 17 September
This time there was a WE bus to Les Baux and we caught it. What a fantastic place. Why had we not discovered it previously? The aluminium ore Bauxite was discovered here hence its name, so the village is not beau for beautiful which it most certainly is. Very popular at weekends for cyclists, car drivers and those arriving by bus like us. The beautiful old village was crowned at its height by a medieval walled village encompassed by a citadel.
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| LES BAUX from car park at entrance to village |
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| Winter and Spring, from display of All Four Seasons |
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| WINTER |
We had one of the very best lunches at the La Reine Jeanne (well almost Joan) towards the exit. I had my very first taste of the Provence speciality Aioli, fish served with a large dish of highly garlic thick creamy sauce. Joan had the other Plat du Jour, Faux Filet de Boeuf which was also excellent.
As we were about to exit via the car park we read this notice concerning the discovery Bauxite in 1821in this commune.
That evening for the first time we went to the Chai d'Oeuvre 21, at the start of Boulevard Victor Hugo, which sold wine by the glass of varying price along with a platter of cold meats and cheeses. An excellent way to end our exceptionally good five days in Saint Remy.
AVIGNON 18 - 21 Sept
Ibis Avignon Centre Gare our last hotel booked from home at 80E/night before leaving home for two nights but with no vacancy for a further two nights. Last year 2016 we never had a problem with room availability, this year I booked this far ahead because there were frequent availability problems. On explaining this to a receptionist he explained that they had suffered badly from the threat of terrorism, last year they operated at 80% capacity whereas usually it was 99% in the height of summer and barely less in September.
Deciding to stay we transferred for two further nights to the Ibis Budget, cheaper 59E/night and a third cheaper for a comprehensive breakfast buffet. For that we had a large ground floor room we think one built for disabled residents. Contrast the smallest ever standard rooms in the more expensive Ibis. Above all the Ibis Budget had a really friendly atmosphere and the receptionist was charming throughout.
Would book the cheaper option next time, there is only 15 minute walk between them around the city walls of little consequence once one has picked up copies of the LER and the Trans Vaucluse bus timetables. Any slight disadvantage is made up for by being adjacent to the Rhone.
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| There's something in the air when even geriatrics reminisce. |
First stop was to visit the Palais des Papes something we couldn't find time for last year. It is a massive structure, impressive when viewed from the outside.
But inside there is nothing but bare walls with this single exception
Only the Height and the Solidity are exceptional.
19 Sept Our first ever walk south to north on the west side of the river and Joan is inspired by the daily exercise class we have just witnessed, but she claims she was pointing out the height of the tree.
Over the free ferry for ideal for riverside walks
Up the steps on the opposite bank for this view of Avignon's
Finally to the wonderful gardens of Rocher des Doms, the high point of the old town.
Down the long slope to the Palais des Papes
Drinking wine whilst resting and listening to the superb bell like tone of this trumpeter sitting outside the old School of Music, who on receiving his second tip tells me he has been playing this way for forty years.
21 Sept celebrated our last night with the most exceptionally original cooking of our trip in Le Gout du Jour 20 rue Saint-Etienne. Though I was originally disappointed at the small size of the starter made of a couple of small tomatoes on a small bed of soft tomato jelly. In retrospect it was very tasty so was the whole meal. Joan says the owner was delighted to see I had left cash for my meal - it must be hard for young originals to finance their operations.
ORANGE 22- 24 Sept
Two small hotels are located on the south of the old city very close to the famous Roman Theatre L'Herbier d'Orange shown here, our Hotel Saint Florent at 55E/night down the rue du Mazeau shown to the right. Just across the narrow street was Le Forum a fine small restaurant where we ate for two nights with a three course menu at 35E each plus wine. They closed on Sunday otherwise it would have been all three dinners. That last night we shared another platter of cold meats and cheese, the last customers that evening of the Instant Gourmand
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| ANTIQUE ROMAN THEATRE |
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| SUMMIT of the COLLINE overlooking the town and theatre |
CARPENTRAS day trip
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| CARPENTRAS Hotel de Ville |
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| JOAN has always fancied a MORGAN |
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| A Stone Throw from our hotel in Orange |
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| The OLD TOWN of ORANGE |
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| ARC de TRIUMPHE, ORANGE |
ONE WHOLE ROOM DEVOTED TO the WORK of FRANK BRANGWYN
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| SHADES of BRANGWYN HALL SWANSEA, in fact precursor to his work for the ROCKEFELLER CENTRE |
A Whole Room devoted to the work of Albert Belleroche whose son denoted 500 of their works to the Museum of ORANGE
AIX en PROVENCE 25- 29 Sept
Express bus Avignon to Aix for 19E each by the Lines Express Regional (LER) line very convenient location at each end.
I had studied Google maps and located the apartment we had rented for the five nights ending our holiday and the easy walk to the impressive boulevard of east end of Cours Mirabeau I was at a loss to find the street name. I phoned the contact number and spoke to his wife who promised her husband would phone back but leaving the phone with Joan went on a further recky of the maze of small streets.
Those working in the centre of a city have no idea of the names of small streets but finally I persuaded a young girl in an estate agents office to use her computer to get a map the result of which was 'take the first street to the left'.
Joan had been helped with 'my' return call by the kind French lady who shared her street bench, she promised a meeting in 30 minutes with the owner.
Strangely the street was very short and simply the left side continuation of the boulevard, The end of the boulevard was named reasonably enough Cours Mirabeau, but just yards further the other side correctly named was 6 rue Tournefort (our contacts were Veronique and Boris +33 6 49 77 00 38).
The owner grabbed our cases in either hand and rapidly marched up the circular staircase of the old four story town house. On entering our first impressions were of delight with this huge photograph on the wall of the lounge. Giving way to surprise at the huge TV behind Joan, and the extent of the electronic gadgetry including an Apple Mac computer and High Fi, then a large bedroom with a wide comfortable bed, finally side by side a long thin kitchen and a similar shape of washroom/toilet.
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| A VERY LARGE PHOTOGRAPH ON THE WALL |
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| JOAN WITH HER BACK TO THE TV and electriconics |
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| FORTY FIVE STEPS |
Next morning Joan in particular wondered how she was going to deal with these Forty Five Steps, not the 49 Steps of John Buchan.
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| THE BAKERY OPPOSITE |
In the end she did well enough though she was always nervous and it was my daily morning task to get the lovely bread from the bakers directly opposite.
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| EASTERN END of COURS MIRABEAU |
The eastern end of Cours Mirebeau is the narrow continuation you can sense, our street is the short narrow continuation behind Joan.
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| EASTERN END of COURS MIRABEAU |
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| WEST END of MIRABEAU, MORNING MARKET |
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| TEXTILES |
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| MUSHROOMS |
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| Fountains at the west end of Cours Mirabeau |
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| Small Electric Buses with 3 different routes around the Old City |
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| Leading up from west end of Cours Mirabeau |
We lunched at the next table for two at a small restaurant ???? around the upper end of rue des Tanneurs with Jean-Pierre Hubert and his wife. We had a great discussion he being keen to try his good English but encouraging me to try out my faltering French, most of which his wife understood. She gave us a strong recommendation to Marseille - there is plenty more to see in the south of France.
Not only that but we were both enthusiastic engineers and he had worked for years on the Concord supersonic aircraft which was a hugely ambitious Anglo- French Project. He gleefully disagreed when I ventured to say the first flight was the British plane in Bristol in fact Toulouse and France won by a single day. However the crash which effectively sealed its fate in 2000 was in Paris, though the fleets were not finally retired in 2003.
He expressed regret about the De Havilland Comet which was in service in 1952 and looked a world beater until three crashes in 1953 and 1954. It was the world's first jet powered airliner and potentially a major breakthrough for the British aeronautical industry. He told us it had failed due to metal failure in the wings which mechanism (fatigue?) was not understood at the time which resulted from building the engines into the wings. In consequence later aircraft had their engines slung underneath their wings.
I now read courtesy of the BBC in greater detail that :-
... 'Cracks had developed in the fuselages of the ill-fated Comets, around doors and window apertures as the aircraft were subject to repeated pressurisation cycles - where the fuselage is pressurised for passenger comfort at the start of each flight and depressurised when the engines shut down - and as the particular form of riveted construction couldn’t contain the stretching forces at work on the aircraft’s stressed hull. The Comets had blown apart at the seams.
Improved construction techniques, the fitting of rounded rather than square windows (these, too, caused cracks) and other improvements ensured that later Comets were safe. Indeed, the final development of the jet – the air-reconnaissance Nimrod – was in service with the RAF until June 2011, more than 60 years after the maiden flight of the Comet 1 in 1949.'
Without doubt a technical triumph but unfortunately not commercially viable as the industry turned to the much larger Boeing and Douglas jumbo planes. Though BA claimed to have made a £20m profit on Concorde!!! We remembered the sonic boom as they passed close to our house on route to the USA.
Within a few days of our return home the BBC ran an hour long history of this project which ran from the 1950's, just after the moon landing, into the 21st century. No doubt this program was triggered by the opening of a new £19m museum at Filton Airport its home in Bristol where the last Concorde is now on display.
Jean-Pierre Hubert now offers lectures as Conferencier on space travel 'l'Histoire de la Conquete Spatiale'.
28th Sept Explored the streets to the north side of Cours Mirabeau
around the Place de Cardeur which was nothing but restaurants
Evcellent lunch of starter and swordfish in peaceful Place des 3 trois Ormeaux, in restaurant of same name, 22E each including deserts. Good enough to repeat the next day.
29th September for the last day we decided to investigate the more impressive richer area to the south of Cours Mirabeau
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| AUTUMN COLOURS of CHESTNUTS? |
Picked up this recipe for ratatouille from the book of large photos of Aix. In order of adding/cooking, olive oil, 3 onions, large green pepper, 3 aubergines, 4 courgettes, 5 tomatoes, later 4 cloves garlic, lots of parsley plus thyme.
30th EasyJet flight home
We were nearly two hours late as Easyjet had apparently had to get a replacement airplane from Bristol to London. The replacement plane was in fact larger so there were several rows of empty seats in the rear.
ASIDES
1) JOURNEY Thursday 7 September
Set off from home around 01:30 by car headed for Bristol Airport armed for the first time with Terry's Sat Nav. It did us proud following the diversion from the M4 into Newport because of road works and helped give a great deal of assurance when following the same minor roads bypassing south of the city of Bristol. It would probably have allowed us to follow the shorter route following the M5 Guardano minor junction south but we gave up and returned to the route we had followed the previous year. Great following tricky routes but still prefer a map for simple routes, though as Ed demonstrated wonderful for finding your way along one way city streets as he demonstrated in Tours.
EasyJet plane a little delayed whilst computer problem fixed, but arriving early morning is ideal. The external layout of Marseille Airport at Vitrolles has been changed for the better. Last year was perhaps soon after the opening of Terminal 2, they are merely a five minute walk apart but now all the bus platforms are resited to share between them, rather than being unknown to passengers of that terminal. Amongst those are a big choice of buses to Marseille and Cote Azur and throughout Provence, but key to us is the free shuttle (navette) every 12 minutes to the Vitrolles railway station. There we caught the next train to Arles less than an hour later leaving to Arles, such trains follow two different routes one to Nimes and Montpelier the other to north to Avignon and Lyons. The next one left for Arles and Nimes etc. The weather was brilliant for us sunny and warm enough but with a cooling breeze, the next day was the first, and only rain in a holiday of 23 days that is until the return flight took off.
We had only been able to book a single night at our usual hotel in Arles, the Acasias we decided to stay a further night at the nearby Hotel Regence far less convenient especially for Joan being no lift it involved three flights of stairs. The attraction of both being proximity to the railway/bus station and the wide footpath along the river Rhone.
Time perhaps to reveal by email to our family, the many reasons why we so very nearly pulled out of this trip at the very last minute, having already having to cancel a May/June visit.
'Firstly for the first time ever I had decided to bring a folding walking stick knowing I was having problems walking, earlier in June with acute pain in groin. Luckily as days war on it got better and is now absolutely fine.
Secondly as Judy knows I had a small but deep operation on my chest to remove a non invasive form of skin cancer (Basal Cell Carcinoma). It failed to heal properly which perhaps resulting from pressure from the seat belt on the long drive to meet up with Terry McVeigh the very day after the operation. Joan was very worried over its failure to heal though the nurse, also expressing concern, had armed her with many wound repair kits, only a few of which we could carry limited by the size of our carry on board cases. That wound is now on the mend.
Thirdly exactly a week before we left I had a new crown fitted and the gaps between my teeth were cleaned by the dentist without problem I unexpectedly had huge toothache less than 48 hours later, coincidencaql? I waited a couple of days hoping it would settle and then returned to the dentist who identified the problem by Xray as related to severe decay of a molar from Xray but she had not time to remove the tooth. So we left home the very next day expecting to have to see a dentist in France, not so easy with our now pre-booked itinerary of moving town every few days, and to make problems worse starting on a Saturday.
This (14 Sept) is my first day completely without toothache, so that too turned out well. Actually there was a kick in the tail as I suffered badly the very last night 29 September after eating a very nice Milles Fleur with lovely crisp icing top. Luckily I was OK again the next morning and have now cancelled my appointment to have the molar extracted.
Fortune follows the brave! I may also have saved a valuable molar for a little time longer.'
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