Song - Vincent by Don McLean
Mr. B and I have breakfast at his favorite patisserie in Avignon.....maybe in all of France - "Festival des Glaces". He loves the food but also the waiters.
This is "fast food" in France - good ingredients and well made!
Our next stop is the TGV station in Avignon to see if we can get a train on Friday to Paris as it seems they will be striking on Saturday which is the day we have tickets. After a lot of waiting it was determined that there was not availability on Friday in any class cabin. So we find out that it just may be possible that our current train might be running on Saturday but we will have to come in again tomorrow to check......
So off to Saint-Remy-de-Provence to see the hospital-asylum where Vincent Van
Gogh stayed and where he painted many of his famous paintings overlooking
the Alpilles.
The ancient olive grove is still there.....
The hospital is now called Vincent Van Gogh Monastery Saint-Paul and is just outside of Saint-Remy. If you go through Saint-Remy on a Wednesday as we did, prepare for a lot of traffic and detours as it is a huge market day in town. I have heard it is exceptional and next trip plan to partake!
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| Me and my friend! |
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| The chapel next to the hospital |
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| The cloisters |
Vincent's bedroom
Above are the tubs that they used for "shock treatment" in the 1800's. They would place the patient in the tub, cover them with the board and then poor ice water inside. Yikes!
The iris, rose & lavender garden in the back.
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| The path back to our car |
It was peaceful, quiet, simple and no crowds.
Right next to the hospital is the ancient Roman site "Glanum". We have been here before and we had several more adventures on this day so I just took a photo from the car.
We were headed to Gordes but stopped for lunch in the old part of Cavaillon - Mr. B says it is famous for it's cantaloupe. I did not know that!
I had a small little salad.........and finally learned the word for a drinking straw - "paille" which sounds like a combination between pie and pay.
And Mr. B enjoyed fish with basil sauce......
This is town of Gordes and there is a little pull out on the road before you arrive so you may take photos and enjoy the view of this amazing cliff-side town. It was a beautiful warm day and we found a little shop to purchase several Provencal tablecloths to bring home.
The shopkeeper was very nice and so appreciative of Mr. B's French. He showed us a walking tour of Gordes which we only did a portion of because it was so steep - duh - the town is on a cliff. Also, we wanted to get over to the Abbaye de Senanque before they closed.
Ten minutes from Gordes is the Abbaye and although the lavender isn't blooming right now (July - Aug.) it is still an amazing place to visit.
It has been a Cistercian Monastery since 1128.
And it still is a working community today. The monks bake bread, plant vegetable gardens, tend to honey bee hives, and grow lavender for a livelihood.
The cloisters
You can take a tour but if you do make sure afterwards you go into the rear chapel during services so you can hear the monks sing. It will bring tears. Be sure to check their website for times, fees and dress codes.
Click HERE to enjoy.
The bight red poppies were just beginning to bloom and it was hard to snap a photo even when Mr. B slowed down for me!
We stumbled across a great place for dinner that had baked potatoes for a side dish which made us feel like celebrating!
Mr. B had their generous portion of steak........
......while I dined on their generous portion of duck!
L'Ardoise has a 14 century wine cellar below the restaurant with a well which Mr. B toured with one of the waitresses.
Luckily he returned to moi!
"Great things are done by a series of
small things brought together."
--Vincent Van Gogh
