France Days 4 and 5

Day 4

Ben and I spent the morning in Arles. We took the rental car and drove the 20 something km to the town and decided to find the office of tourism to get ourselves some maps. We accidentally passed it and made the first turn we could so that we could turn around....big mistake. Immediately we found ourselves headed into a maze of narrow roads flanked with pedestrians (locals and tourists alike, paying no attention to the few cars that dared to venture into this area). The maze appeared to be endless and with each turn we made we seemed to get ourselves deeper and deeper into it. In the end we (at least 15 minutes of high stress) we broke through to the Rhone river and found a parking spot, still deep in the labyrinth but with no intentions of attempting to escape without finding a map first. Despite another interesting beginning to our day we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Arles, wandering the old streets and admiring the many colorful doors and windows and imagining what it would be like to live somewhere like that. We found a nice place to eat panini (the staple of our diet in France) and cool off a bit before attempting the maze again (took us only 2 min with the map!).

After a nice morning in Arles we went back to the farm to meet up with Guillaume and headed off to another beach near Marseille. This beach was a rocky one and was absolutely beautiful. We stopped to swim and bask in the sun behind a jetty where the water was pretty calm (a popular place). We stayed until the sun went behind the arches of the bridge towering above the water and then headed back to Arles to meet up with Guillaume's family for an authentic French meal at a nice restaurant. Ben even tried fois gras and liked it (I tried it too but I'm not as inclined to endorse it as he is). It was a great day with some true relaxation and adventure.

Day 5

Three words: exhausting, beautiful, and impressive. Today we rented kayaks and paddled our way around trees, rocks, and a massive Roman aqueduct. I was baffled by the fact that these aqueducts were used to transport water from city to city, it was difficult to imagine 30 miles of above ground water running through the relatively small section of the structure rising above us. By the end of our trek we had sore arms (nothing yet compared to our rear ends though), burnt legs, and hungry stomachs. We went for another panini (of course) and raced (again of course) back to Arles to return the rental car before the deadline. At this point we got to tour the olive and apple orchards that Guillaume and Andre own. They have a total of 100 hectares (or 400 acres) of apple, olive, and wheat fields. We got to pick an apple right off the tree to eat right then...mmmm. Guillaume's grandparents live right next door so we popped in to meet them and do a little olive oil tasting (an interesting process consisting of smelling twice, sucking through the teeth, swishing around, either spitting or swallowing, and then breathing deeply in through the mouth and out the nose). We ate another late meal and headed off to our last night in Provence. A wonderful place made for relaxation and exploration, just as we had hoped.

Pictures will soon be added to the France posts.