Author: Ella

Random pictures from Arles

Post by Ella Staying in a pedestrian only area in Arles and having a rental car meant finding a place to park added to travel challenge. Our AirBnB host gave us the location of a parking garage that was “secure and monitored “ 24/7. A 15 minute walk to the apartment. Okay, that works.  We…

Post by Ella ❤️La Nuit Arlésienne❤️ (The Arles Night) is the name of our apartment. I guess the hearts were meant to catch your eye so you’d stop scrolling the listings on AirBnB. “Oh, this one must be great, look at those hearts”. Honestly, emojis as part of a name confounds my brain. I guess…

Post by Ella Yesterday, Grubb wanted to soak up the Van Gogh vibe (along with a lot of rain) so after he snapped a dozen or so photos of the closed Le Cafe Van Gogh, we sat down for lunch under an awning at L’Apostrophe right next door.  We both opted for burgers. I went…

Post by Ella The Carmague, a regional park south of Arles is known for its abundance of birds and other wildlife including flamingos and white horses. In Arles, the Rhône splits in two and between the two branches, in the area close to the sea, there are abundant salt marshes. At the Ornithological Park within…

Post by Ella Musée Réattu, housed in a 15th century building, was delightful. We might have skipped it but for the steady rain. This was the first break in our perfect weather streak so not complaining. In fact, torrential downpours and thunderstorms had been forecast but the waterworks never got more intense than a steady…

Post by Ella Did they slither up from below the ancient Roman walls of Arles?

Post by Ella In our corner of Arles, the restaurants open for dinner at 7:30pm. Which is not unusual for a lot of countries. I booked a table at the intriguing Le QG. All the restaurants are small, it was Friday night and even though we’d seen few tourists, I was guessing this area was…

Post by Ella Early risers we were. Got out of the apartment by 9am. Whew hu! It was an easy walk with our luggage to the tram stop. Well, except the tram station for this stop turned out to be underground…down several flights of stairs. Easy 25 minute ride to the airport. We found the…

Post by Ella After we’d visited the monastery this morning and walked the 2 miles down the hill (yeah, okay, we did take the bus UP the hill) into the old city we plopped down at Le Tapenade, a tiny cafe with maybe 6 tables outside and a few more inside.  I did have a…

Post by Ella We visited a monastery this morning. Or more correctly, a Franciscan friary. Grubb is posting about that. But I could imagine a life of quiet service. And I learned the difference between monks and friars. There was a Welsh woman helping in the Monastery Museum. All the placards were in French. Her…

Post by Ella A lazy, languid day with an overtone of sadness. I’ve already talked about that. So now the lazy, languid part. We took the train to Menton. A 36 minute train ride east of Nice. Three stops past Monte Carlo and the last stop before crossing the Italian border. As we stepped off…

Post by Ella I can hardly ignore what happened yesterday. I know things go in cycles but I am sad to have to live through this one. And that my kids and grandkids have to live through it. We have elected, not a Republican of yore, but a man who is of no party but…

Post by Ella Dinner at Le Frog in the Old City of Nice. A few tables on a side street off a side street. I ordered a cocktail called Fresh Frog. A gin & tonic with the addition of kiwi syrup. Lovely and refreshing. Grubb had his usual big bottle of sparkling water. A lot of…

Post by Ella In trying to ignore election news today (we voted before we left), we spent a few hours tucked away in a medieval village situated in the hills east of Nice. For those of you glued to the results and polls as they come in, take a moment to breathe with us on…