Arles

After a big city day, we decided to have a more relaxed time in a smaller city, we we motored 30 minutes over to Arles. By 9:30, it was already hot, so we found a shady parking spot and entered through the city walls near the amphitheater. It seats 20,000, and is still in use today. They're in the middle of a huge preservation project and we looked at all the new stonework that has been put in.

We stopped for an ice cream, then continued on to the Saturday market. It was a zoo of people, and I don't know which was better viewing, the food or the people buying it. I wish we were in an apartment so we'd have a reason to sample!

Arles was having a citywide photography show, so I bought a ticket and visited venues while Ira sketched. The first was unimpressive--dogs photoshopped looking at cheesy sunsets--but was held on the second floor of an amazing cloister. It's being renovated, and the carved figures cleaned. It was glorious. Ira was in the main square sketching the church. We visited that church afterward and the porch was sublime Romanesque with curiously narrow and tall side aisles. The nave was gothic. And a bit overdone.

Our next stop was at the clinic where Van Gogh was. Now, it's an arts center and they had an amazing show, all b&w photos. The main theme of the show was series. It started with iconic Blossfeldt pictures of plants. I had never seen so many at one time. The show was huge and had Avedon's "The Family," featuring '70s American politicians. There were two walls of August Sander's Germans.

New to me were some African photographers, including one who took amazing postmodern self portraits dressed up like seventies black icons like Ali and Angela Davis. I wrote down their names and will have to do more research.

I had seen a lot of the stuff in the "Asian wing," including the Ai Wei Wei photos of him dropping the antique case. The surprise was seeing the '70s Japanese photos of people having sex at night in the parks, with voyeurs crouched around watching and sometimes roughing. I had read about these in the Times, and it was grat to see their glorious creepiness in person.

Lunch was magnificent at the Bistrot a Cote, Jean-Luc Rabanel's small place next to his one-star restaurant. He was there the whole time, supervising from the bar. My starter was a celery demodulates, with tuna and a lightly cooked egg and some perfect romaine leaves on top. It was odd, but the egg really put it all together. I had cod to follow and it was crispy and delicate. Ira had wonderful gazpacho served in a pitcher with a straw. He then had the foie gras, which wasn't on the menu and required confirmation from Jean-Luc that it was OK. Apparently it was, as Ira was served hors plan (outside of the common way).

We wandered around a bit more, then headed home for some relaxation.

Dinner was at a nearby brasserie late, and there was quite a rough crowd there. One rough guy who looked like a boxer kept smiling at me, like he was hitting on me... Except he was there with his wife and child. The waiters were all loud and active and demonstrative. The other patrons... Well oiled. It was a fun meal. I had a raw cheeseburger and Ira had the steK tartare. The beef was delicious, the frites were hot and the wine went down easy. It was a down-home kind of farewell to what has been an upscale stay!

On to the Côte d'Azur!