Day Twelve: Provence in Ruins

First of all: the luggage has arrived. My dad managed to communicate directions to the taxi driver in French (go Dad) and the bag was delivered. So yay.

Meanwhile, we visited two sites of ancient ruins, the first of which was Glanum, right down the street from our villa. This is the site of a Gaul settlement from around 700 B.C. that was taken over by the Greeks around the time of Christ, then finally by the Romans around the year 100. This is a fascinating place to visit. Even more so since it was discovered and excavated in 1921. Before that people were just looking at an olive orchard. Check it out now:




The Hellenic influence was significant here. They believed their spring held special powers and worshiped Hercules, among other gods, as a healer:





The Romans worshiped the Imperial family. Here is what is left of their shrine (the sky makes it look like Zeus is about to go ballistic):




The detail on these ruins was amazing:






Here is proof for Marlena that her husband can, in fact, smile for a picture:



Later that day we visited a small town called Lamanon where we hiked up to the Grottes des Cales where people lived in caves about 7000 years ago.

These cliffs were made for carvin'

A small mountain range called Chaîne des Alpilles separates St. Remy de Provence from Les Baux and extends east, presumably to the Alps. These mountains appear in several Van Gogh paintings that were done while he was convalescing in town.

Turns out that they make for good perspiration as well as inspiration as they have been extensively quarried for centuries. The Boys (as we are known) struck out one hot afternoon to explore local ruins and stumbled, unknowningly, into one of these quarries (La Pierre de Glanum).
At first we thought we could come across some ancient dwellings.



But as we explored further, it became clear that it was a huge quarry, dug into mountain.



As we descended into the quarry, it got considerably cooler, to the point where we could see our breath! This must have provided considerable relief to the stone cutters from the "chaude" of southern France.

I began to wonder why these folks had dug caves rather than striping away the mountain, until I saw this, which I can only assume is a lone pillar, left after digging stone from all around it. For scale, those are large olive trees at its base, so it is a good 100 feet tall.

Oh, by the way, the quarry shut down on Christmas, 1726!

Spectacle Taurin

Across the street from our villa is the Arenes Municipales Chomel-Coinon. Last night, the Club Taurin "Lou Glanum" had an event. This event had the same vibe as a community softball game, only it involved young people playing various games with bulls. Zach called this "the best 5 euros we have spent so far on the vacation." Photos and two videos for your enjoyment:

This Woman Hates United Airlines

Carole was originally scheduled on a United flight, however, it was delayed, making it impossible to make her connection to Marseille. She was moved to a Lufthansa flight connecting through Munich. Where her luggage ended up is anybody's guess. Brad was on the phone with various airline personnel from noon to 2 a.m. yesterday trying to figure it out. We believe that it will arrive in Marseille Thursday morning. Here is what we've been told:

It is United's problem.
It is Lufthansa's problem.
It is Marseille's problem.
We can't send a bag across international lines without a passenger.
The bag was left in San Francisco.
The bag is in Frankfort.
The bag is in the air on a flight that hasn't taken off yet.
(All three of the above conditions were stated as occurring simultaneously.)
Do you really need the bag?

It's 11:00 a.m. on Thursday. Still no bag.

Ooh La La!

Day Eleven: St. Remy de Provence Market

The little town where we are staying has an open air market every Wednesday morning. We all traipsed into town, stopped for coffee and croissants, then continued into the square to the most amazing farmer's market I have ever seen. There was an olive and tapenade bar, fois gras, meats, poulets, vegetables and fruits, cheeses, lentils and chickpeas, juices, and flowers. And that's just the food.

For Kaitlin (Marseille)