Our week in Provence: 4/21/2015

4/21/2015:  Spent yesterday afternoon at the Musee Calvet in Avignon – mostly 18th & 19th century French paintings that didn’t do much for me.  S, of course, found a lot to look at.

Passed a Librairie on the way back, and stopped to see if there were any English books – there were maybe 15, of which 5 were copies of Coriolenus.  Bought 2 mysteries (a Reich & a Donna Leon in French.

S found a v. direct route through back streets to our restaurant – le Moutardier du Pape.  (the mustard-man?  mustard store of the Pope?  Googling, I see there’s a French expression “se croire le moutardier du Pape”, that means being v. self involved).  At dinner, I broached the idea of being like Linda & Tom & convoquing family vacations.  Of course, I should say I’m writing this in the courtyard of the Hotel Europe, sipping Chateauneuf du Pape, surrounded by wisteria & yellow ranunculus blooming, with a fountain surrounded by boxwoods behind me.

Today we went to the Pont du Gard in the AM and Baux de Provence in the PM.  Museum at Pont du Gard was vg.  It never occurred to me to wonder how the Romans surveyed.  The Pont du Gard brought water from Uzzes to Nimes – mostly for baths & fountains & other parts of the Roman version of the Good Life.  There was only a 13m difference in altitude to work w.  All we saw was a goma – a pole w/ two sticks at right angles, and 5 lead weights hanging.  Anyway, the museum had a lot about the organization for constructing the aqueduct ad for maintaining it.

Fortunately, we arrived early.  As time went on, there were more and more school groups and (although the kids were well behaved) the museum got noisier and noisier.  It was also, I thought, darker than was optimal for reading the interpretive material.  Steve really liked the museum, and wanted more and more time to peruse.

I was glad to get back outside, with lovely blue sky and relative quiet.  We walked back over the Pont (there’s an 18th century bridge that you walk on).  S hiked up to an observation point above the aqueduct and I walked a bit upstream from the Pont to a quieter observation point.  The structure was so massive & peaceful.

From there, we went to Baux de Provence.  Baux is Provencal for spur.  Up on a v steep hill in the Alpilles.  The village is all gift shops & cafes for visitors to the castle.  Most of the castle is gone, BUT there were seige engines, including France’s largest trebuchet.

At 3:30, they did re-enactments.  They chose a team of women to work the bricoleur (because women often operated it), and then a team of men for the trebuchet.  The reenactors were v. hammy – I couldn’t catch all the French.  But each machine hurled a white beachball down the field, to great applause.  The trebuchet, esp, was v. impressive to see in action, but, unfortunately by then, my camera was out of juice.