Can't leave the alps without drinking out of a boot (or 6)
View of Lyon - Long day of walking with packs
Aub is turning into quite the wildlife photographer
Van Gogh's Starry Night
Same view but we call ours Cloudy Day
Packed Roman Bullfighting Arena - Opening Ceremonies
The first bull
The bulls are not the only losers - horses gets the nasty end of the horns a lot
Hey from southern France,
Starting to get the hang of this keyboard; just in time to head to spain and probably a new keyboard to learn.
Southern France has been brief but great. Yesterday we arrived in Arles and dropped our bags at our hotel (first private room in weeks). Headed to the nearby town of Nimes for a festival. Not sure what the festival was for or what was going on but it was a lot of fun. There were streetperformers everywhere and tons of good grub. We endulged just a bit. Aub had a double hotdog with fries and mayo stacked on top. Probably wasn't the best time for greasy fair food as our stomaches were still uneasy about the bullfight we witnessed. We watched the fights in a huge, well preserved Roman arena with about 8K other local fanatics. By the way, this was no tourist bus type of festival. We are sure we were the only people around that spoke english. Back to the bullfight, we did not know what we were getting ourselves into. According to our guidebook the goal to local bullfights was to snag a ribbon tied between the bulls horns & nothing dies. The fights we witnessed were the real deal. Six bulls went down between all types of hoopla and fan fare. The lady in front of us cried through most of it. The crowd was ferousciously intense. Much like a playoff game in the states. It seemed they had a say in how the bullfight progressed. Very interesting to witness but will probably not attend again.
A note on Roman arenas: 2000 year old sport arenas are scattered all across europe. These guys really knew how to build a place. I think Seattle fans would be much more likely to fund a new arena if they knew it would still be generating revenue 2k years down the road.
Today was spent wandering around arles. Very historical town beginning with arles being a major roman town. Vincent Van Gogh moved in to town and painted his masterpieces including starry night. Unfortunately this is also where he cut off his ear and moved to an insane asylum. Arles is also very scarred from significant allied bombing during WWII. Tomorrow we are headed to Tossa de Mar just north of Barcelona. Found out about this place from Travis & Sarah's friend in Chamberlain basin. Plan on staying at least three nights for relaxing/sunning/swimming before heading to bustling Barcelona.
3 comments:
sometimes I can click on pics and get the full sized pic and others I can't, are you doing something different or just the site you're using
Hazen... you're makin' me thristy! Again - looks like an absolutely beautiful time. You guys are SO lucky you got the chance to make this trip.
Miss Ya!
J
P.S. Nicky wants to say HI to both of you!!
Hey You Guys,
The photos are fantastic, hope you're saving them to make a scrap book when you return. Sounds like the bullfighting was a little overwhelming?! It's mindboggling to think of a building that is 2K+ years old, when our country is measured in the hundreds of years.
Dad and I visited the Morton and Mineral cemetaries yesterday. Stopped and chatted with Cousin Dick Dunlap at his store. He has done a bit of research on the Jesse James side of the family. I told him we'd have to get together when you return.
We are off to the Veteran's Day memorial at the Veteran's Museum.
My passport is in process, maybe we can meet up if I do end up going to Taiwan this summer.
Keep on seeing it all and take care of each other.
Love you both,
Mom
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