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Last Updated: 03. Mai 2000
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France
The Provence Region
Verdon Canyon
Aix en Provence
Arles
Pont du Gard
Avignone
The Provence Region
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This is the region where artists love to live. A number of recent famous modern artists including Cezanne, Van Gogh, and Picasso settled in this region. After visiting this area, I understand why these artists choose to live here. I am impressed with the quality of the light, atmosphere, and the colorful appearance of the landscape. It's a colorful feast for the eyes - with muted orange and deep rust red soil, various shades of green and blue-green vegetation, with the apricot and cream color buildings and the light brilliant ultramarine or muted sea-green color of the shutters.
Fabric patterns also have a particular color palette with a combination of brilliant gold, light brilliant ultramarine, muted orange or sea green. So, of course, we purchase some place mats and a cotton jumper for Erika. I only wish that I could have found an interesting cotton skirt or jumper for myself.
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Verdon Canyon
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The tourist information calls this canyon the "Grand Canyon of Europe". If we did not go to the Grand Canyon about 8 years ago, then we might agree with them but the Verdon Canyon is not as impressive as the Grand Canyon. The Verdon Canyon is deep and colorful and has a magnificent emerald-colored river running through it but the Grand Canyon is much more vast and spectacular. But since we were staying less than 40 minutes from the Verdon Canyon, we took a drive through its magnificent structure.
Moustiers-Ste-Marie is situated near the banks of a tumbling mountain stream at the foot of a huge gash in the towering limestone cliffs. Across the break in the cliffs and silhouetted against the sky, a chain supports a gilded star. According tradition, this was first placed there by a crusader knight, who had sworn to do it when released from weary years of imprisonment.
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Aix en Provence
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Cezanne's Atelier is located in Aix en Provence - and it is exactly the way it appears in the photographs. The museum guides suggested a driving tour to see Montagne Sainte Victorie, a major inspiration for Cezanne. So, guess where we went next? Montagne Saint Victorie is very close to Aix en Provence. Driving around this mountain was a stunning sight - much more spectacular than going to Verdon Canyon. We could picture the locations of various paintings by Cezanne. The soil is rich red clay with many shades of red, rust, and orange. The vegetation has many shades of green and the limestone on the mountain has many shades of white, tan, yellow and gold.
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Arles
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Our first impression of Arles started with a man singing with a magnificent voice in the Place de la Republique. The echo made his voice even more impressive. Surely, this is a great city for artists. We were also fortunate to see a small room of Picasso drawings in the Museé Réattu. These portrait drawings showed how Picasso was able to capture a person's expression and personality. As I see more Picasso drawings and paintings, I am more impressed with his ability to express the feelings or thoughts of his subjects.
This is a city for seeing Roman ruins as well as an ancient history museum that focuses on Roman history. We saw the theatre and the arena. Both of these spaces are still used today. The theatre is still used for performances and the arena is used for bullfights in the late spring and summer. During the winter, the local cats enjoy living and playing in the sunlight of the arena. We saw many cats playing chase or just lying in the sun.
The ancient history museum explains the construction of the Theatre Antique and the Roman Arena, as well the Roman influence in this area. There were many maps of France showing the roads that were built by the Romans as well as the waterways that were used for trade. An important waterway went from Arles to Lyon to Trier (very close to where we are living in Germany) and then to Cologne. It is surprising to see the vastness of Roman influence throughout Europe.
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Pont du Gard
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Seeing the Roman ruins in this area would not be complete, unless we stopped to see the aqueducts at Pont du Gard. These aqueducts have 3 layers, so they are quite impressive. There is an 18th-century bridge next to the aqueducts, so it's possible to walk next to the aqueduct as well as on the lowest layer of arches for the aqueduct. The architects for building the bridge maintained the aesthetics of the aqueduct design by designing the arches for the 18th-century bridge to follow the arches from the aqueduct.
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Avignone
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In Avignon, we only visited the Parc de Rochers des Doms and Pont St. Benezet. Parc de Rochers des Doms is located above the Papal Palace. There is a panoramic view over Avignon, The Rhone, and the countryside. We had a very good view of Pont St. Benezet. This bridge is famous because of an old nursery rhyme:
Desormais sans bac ni bateau
Desormais sans bac ni bateau
Ason aise on peut passer l'eau.
Messieurs les abbes font comm'ca
Et puis encore comm'ca
Comme faisant prechi-precha.
Puis s'arretant a l'unisson
Puis s'arretant a l'unisson
Ohacun salve a sa facon.
Les militaires font comm'ca
Et puis encore comm'ca
Leur main et leur font se haussa.
Les beaux messieurs font comm'ca
Et puis encore comm'ca
Leur chapeau passa, repassa.
Les bons paysans font comm'ca
Et puis encore comm'ca
En arriere leur pied glissa.
Les belles dames font comm'ca
Et puis encore comm'ca
Leur robe en tourte s'affaissa.
Le pont etant bien etrenne.
Le pont etant bien etrenne.
Chez soi chacun est retourne.
Also, there is a picture in the story of "Madeline and the Gypsies" by Ludwig Bemelmans that shows the bridge. Erika was delighted to walk around the gardens because she found a couple of playgrounds and a pond with playful ducks. She had a great time using the merry-go-round.
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Die Fotogalerie von der Frankreich
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See you all later.
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