So We Broke Into A Mental Hospital...

This is my journal entry from January 23, the day we toured Avignon, Les Baux, and St. Remy:


Today we (Jess and I) had a tour of the Avignon region. What a day for it. It started out raining, and when we arrived at the train station from Paris, there was no one to pick us up for our bus tour. Turns out there are 2 train stations, and we were supposed to know the difference? False. In the car, an 8-passenger can, were the two of us and a couple from Taiwan. Not too bad, except that the most interaction we had with the couple came when the man offered up some sort of honey-candy (bleh.).

First off was visiting the Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct built in the year 50 A.D.. 50! Impressive. It was beautiful, as I love Roman architecture, and the fog/mist of the day created a great backdrop for our pictures. In these pictures, we learned that we could actually take our coats off and not have the same picture as every other we've taken. Postcards? Check.

After that, we went to this little pedestrian town called Les Baux. So cute and quaint, but empty. Seriously, where are all the people? There were only a few shops open, but one of them was this cookie/candy shop. Basically heaven. The owner let us try an olive with chocolate in it/chocolate covered olive (?) for free. Surprisingly delicious. We also each bought 4 or 5 cookies, a little overpriced, but so good. I overdid my blood-sugar limit a little with those cookies plus the sugary drink I had had earlier at the train station. It seemed like a good idea at the time. We also went to a little shop with homemade soaps from the region-smell so good. Lots of lavender used as it is the Provence region. The area is also known for its olives and olive oil. The whole town was really cute, some remnants of an old castle, and the land is owned by the Grimaldi family, the royal family from Monaco. Lots of pics of empty alleys that are typical small town European. Cute. Quaint. Foggy/misty.

Our last stop on the tour was to some more Roman monuments and the mental hospital Vincent Van Gogh stayed at in Saint Remy for a year. The Roman monuments were such: an archway and a mausoleum. Nice pics, but nothing too special compared to everything else we see daily in Paris, etc (I know, I'm spoiled). A walk down the lane was to the mental hospital thought, with reproductions of some of Van Gogh's work lining the path. Emphasis on reproduction. Like from my printer. The sun decided to make a last effort at this point, thought, and provided a nice opportunity for a picture over some mountains in the distance through the mist. Since it's January, the original (aka: tourist) section of the hospital is closed, so we were just supposed to see is from down the lane, through gate. Try again. A walk up to the gate provided a look through, and I realized that a door on the side was not as locked as it perhaps should have been. Curiosity got the better of us (and our cameras), and a few seconds later we were enjoying taking pictures of the place Van Gogh actually stayed. Of course, then a worker came to lock up, and our tour guide realized we were inside- basically, we walk quickly back out the door, only mildly ashamed (if that).

Side note: That night, after traveling to Marseille, we had a delicious meal. Marseille is a port town, and so the seafood is amazing. What it is really known for is the Bouillabaisse, or fish soup, and our creepy hotel receptionist told us that "if you don't eat it, you don't come to Marseille." Oops. Guess I never actually went then. It's because they also told us that good bouillabaisse cost about 25-30 euro per person, and I am a broke college student. Sorry about that. We did try the seafood though. Jess and I wandered around the restaurant area of the Vieux Port and found a cute place to eat, where we ordered a ham and cheese pizza and spaghetti with prawns. These were full-size, head-attached, delicious shrimp. Basically, yum!

The following 2 nights in Marseille, we had McDonald's. Also amazing, but for different reasons. I've now eaten McD's 3 times since I've been in France, which is oh, about 3 times more than in the past 10 years. It's just SO GOOD (and cheap)!

Also: That cute cookie and candy shop in Les Baux was not family-owned like we thought. Nope, it's actually a chain store, which we've now also seen in Marseille and Aix. Fantastic.