Dateline France, 22 December 1990 Report 29 I have two more reports to write up, and am going to try to get them done before the year is out. This report covers our trip to southern France, the last major excursion before we took off. We headed down on the TGV to visit Avignon and Arles, using Sarah's Carte Kiwi, which lets up to four adults traveling with her pay half price. (I was thinking she could maybe get to see a lot of France by offering to travel along with business people, to give them reduced rates.) These cities are in the region of Provence, in an area called the Carmargue. (Avignon is kind of at the northern edge of the area, Arles is more in the middle of it.) The area is known for its Mistral winds and for the production of lavendar and lavandin (the latter a variation on lavendar that has a higher yield but not quite so refined a fragrance--it is what is usually used in soaps and candles). Olives are a big thing, too; we saw a wonderful variety of them in the markets. We also welcomed the sunny weather-- temperatures had been cool around Paris. We stayed most of the time in Avignon. It was the weeks right before the theater festival, so signs were going up 4 and 5 high on the lamposts for the coming productions, and there was a big stage set up in the palace courtyard. In the 12th century, the Papacy moved to Avignon because of civil wars in Italy. Avignon was then part of the county of Provence, but was surrounded by the Comtat Venaissin, which had been governed by the church since 1274, when Philip III gave it to Gregory X. The Comtat Venaissin did not become part of France again until 1791 (though not through lack of trying on the part of French kings). There were 7 popes here between 1309 and 1378. Then came the Great Schism, where there were simultaneous Italian and French popes, until 1417. The two French popes during this time are now refered to as anti-popes, because their side eventually lost out, I guess. The papal palace here was built by Benedict XII and Clement VI. Benedict used a very spare style, while the part Clement added is more ornate. Avignon itself was turned over to Clement VI by the countess of Provence in 1348 or so. The old part of Avignon still has nearly complete ramparts. That part slopes up to a rocky bluff overlooking the river below. The bluff is called the Rocher des Domes, and there is a lovely park atop it. From there you have a great view of the famous bridge of the nursery rhyme (Sur le pont d'Avignon, on y danse, on y danse...). (Well, famous among French children, at least.) The bridge is called the bridge of St. Benezet. After walking through the park, we visited the church of Notre Dame des Doms, which had a wonderfully decorated cupola inside. It sits right next to the papal palace. From their we went on a little train ride around town (it ran on rubber wheels, and was narrow enough to get down some of the pedestrian lanes). That gave us a good overview, and let the kids rest their legs. Our first night at our hotel was less than wonderful. We had a choice of closing the shutters and baking, or leaving them open and listening to the noise of the carousers on the main street below. Kaye did a little investigating and got us a much nicer two-room arrangement in another hotel, with a view of church bell-tower through the skylight. The next day we went to the Lapidary Museum, which has local and foreign statuary dating back to Egyptian times. There was also an exhibit on the history of fabric going on, with some of the oldest samples of woven fabric in existence. We ate nearly all our meals outside there. For one lunch we had a waiter from India. In talking about him, it turns out he knew where Oregon was, and had lived in Eugene (my home town). I was a little skeptical at first, but he described a little grocery he co-owned near campus, and he knew all the street names. After lunch we took a tour of the Palais de Papes. Much of the interior is not in great shape, as it was used for barracks and prisons after the French revolution. In some of the big halls, you can see traces of where they were once divided into multiple floors. Many of the frescos were damaged by the soldiers trying to chip away interesting bits to sell. Also, a section of the palace burned down in 1413. Still, there are a number of rooms in which ceiling frescos by Matteo Giovannetti are well preserved. Near the popes palace is the Petit Palais, which has an extensive collection of "primitive" and mediaeval art. I took Sarah around, and we got into a conversation with one of the guards. I had a little bit of a hard time understanding, because of his accent. (Matin comes out something like "matang", for instance.) Nevertheless, we had a long chat in France about the world cup, which was being played at the time. He gave Sarah some gum, and pointed out some interesting parts of pictures to her, such as the knees of a knight that looked like faces of tigers. From the Petit Palais we went down to dance on the bridge with Sarah. There is a little chapel, for St. Nicolas, on the bridge. The bridge originally had 22 spans, of which only 4 remain. The dancing in the song is thought to have occurred *under* the bridge, at the other side, where there was an inn. Had a exceptional dinner that night, featuring eggplant cakes in provencal tomato sauce. The next morning we caught a train to Arles, famous for its Roman arena. The arena is still used for bullfights and concerts. In the middle ages it was turned into a fortress, with four watchtowers erected atop the walls, of which three remain, including one you can climb up to. At that time there were shops and houses under the arcades and inside. From there we went to see the remains of a Roman theatre. It was excavated in the 19th century, restored somewhat, and is still used for plays. We stopped to let the kids play in a park where Van Gogh painted. Luke was particularly interested, as his class in school had been studying Van Gogh. From there we went to the cloister next to the churc of St. Trophime. The cloister is known for its pillars carved as figures. Arles also had one of the little trains that ran around the streets, and we took a ride on that. Sarah wanted to ride in the last car, so we could wave at the traffic we were blocking behind us. We didn't get to see all the Roman remnants, but we did visit the Roman baths. It was remarkable not only for the architecture, but for the places where you could fall 8 or 10 feet without a guardrail. The French seem not as fanatic as Americans about protecting people from their own stupidity or carelessness. One of the most interesting places was the museum of Arletan customs (although the kids thought the most interesting part was the workman replacing ceramic floor tiles in one of the room, which, I guess, is an Arletan custom in its own way). We saw thorns for eating snails, traditional costumes with butterfly hats, pictures of the Roman theatre site before excavation, and lots of pins and knick-knacks featuring cigales (cicadas). I guess it's the city insect or something. The museum had been founded by the poet Mistral, with the proceeds from his Nobel prize in literature. Mistral helped champion the revival of the Provencal language. There were two Romance languages that evolved from Latin in France, the Langue d'oil in the north and the Langue d'oc in the south. The names come from the respective words for "yes", `oil' (which has two dots over the i) and `oc'. Occitanian came to be called Provencal, and was the language of the troubadours as well as the official language of the papal courts at Avignon, and, along with Latin, was an administrative language in the middle ages. The last stop in Arles was the Reattu museum, housed in a former Grand Priory of the Knights of Malta. (Those guys were all over.) Reattu was a contemporary of David, who also did large canvases. As did David, Reattu began with small sketches of the entire scene, then did full-size studies of the major figures. There was one large unfinished canvas on display, as well. Heading back to the train, we walked along some of the old ramparts that remain. In the evening, back in Avignon, Kaye drug us out to the main square in front of the papal palace, to see some mimes. The best one used members of the audience to augment his act. First the kids, in a version of Simon Says, then the adults, acting out a scene from a movie. Please note that there is no one outside my family who can verify that I danced in a tutu in the main square of Avignon--I suggest you treat it as a defamatory rumor. The last morning in Avignon we visited the market, where we saw olives of all kinds, as well as cheese in olive oil. The olive vendors all sold dried fish as well, possibly because they made tapenade, a spread of black olives, dried anchovies and capers. Lots of garlic for sale, too. We also bought fagosa bread in a variety of flavors: olive, anchovy and onion. Our train ride back took us past fields of sunflowers, to a rainy day in Paris.