The end of summer

Fall is in the air.

We have definitely been filling the freezer with seasonal harvests.  In the last couple of weeks, we have gathered mussels (3 times in one week, following 2 months of closed harvesting), gone crabbing, gathered mushrooms, and 5 salmon were hauled in during the last week.  

And family contributed to the haul.

Where I gathered mussels

Marley and me with Dungeness crabs

Chanterelles

Bori and Rick and coho

Bori and Rick and more coho

Happy fall!

Another week another car

Our Toyota Camry is sooo last week.  Lovely car, but too small to be a long-term member of the family.

Today we completed the transaction to flip it for a roomier Plug-In Hybrid Mazda CX-90.

I'm hoping that we keep this car for more than a week.

Something old, something new

Today, we parted ways with Volvo, after a series of at least 4 Cross Countries, over 25 years, and 9 years with the latest.

Good bye Volvo

And after trying on a bunch of hybrids at 6 or 7 dealerships locally and in Eugene, we moved into a Toyota Camry.

Hello Camry

Hi Ho Silver.  Away!

Exit walking

Arles is a great place to walk around.  Many people walk into town from the train station, pulling their roll-aboard bags or wearing backpacks.  Over the last few years, many of the streets have been torn up and replaced with a type of cobblestones, and electronic pylons have been installed in many roads that provide access inside the old city.  There is definitely less car traffic, which makes walking safer.

This is what the city looks like near the newly-restored gates of the city.  I walked there this afternoon.

Looking out the gates

Looking in from near the gates

The Roman arena peeking out at the end of the road

We head to Paris tomorrow.  Au revoir Arles!

A final art show in Arles

Van Gogh and the Stars is the exhibit that just opened here at the Fondation Vicent Van Gogh.  The centerpiece of this show is the Starry Night painting which was painted by Van Gogh, in 1888, looking out over the Rhone River, just a few meters from where it is currently displayed.  It is on loan from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. Lovely piece.

The works of other artists who connected to the stars in various ways were presented as well.

On the way to Tuonela (1888-1894) by 
Akeseli Gallen-Kallela, the most famous Finnish artist

Meeting the Stars (1982) by 
Frederic Bruly Bouabre, an Ivory Coast artist

Self-portrait (2021) by
Smith, a French artist who had a fragment of a meteorite planted under his skin
in 2017 to be "a child of the stars"

Samedi

Saturday is usually dominated by being the big market day.  But today, once the market cleared out, all kinds of other things were happening.

I was walking through the Place de la République and noticed that lots of people seemed to be quite dressed up.  As the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) and a huge church open onto the Place, we have occasionally seen wedding parties there.

Today, after hearing a cheer, I watched the young bride and groom come out of City Hall and pose for photos.

As I turned around, I discovered a different generation that was all dressed up: older people in Arlesian dress from the 19th century.  Men in top hats and tails and women in their long skirts.

We are leaving soon, and I will definitely miss the eclectic mix of sights on my walks here.

Things are looking up

 Wait, no, I'm looking up.  And this is what I'm seeing.

I hope that things are looking up for you!

Old doors

I'm fascinated by old buildings, their adornments, hardware, doors and shutters.  In my neighborhood, some of the buildings are 2000 years old, others are only 200, although many modifications have been made to modernize the interior spaces.  Some buildings are in need of paint, others are well taken care of.

But today, I visited three doors that exuded evil, in a building next to City Hall.  Behind these doors during WW II, Arlesians were held as they awaited shipment to Nazi death camps. This is what evil looks like.

Another day in the Camargue

We went cycling in the Camargue (from les Stes. Maries de la Mer) again and were delighted to encounter a bird that we had never seen before, the Eurasian spoonbill.  Nearby water gates were open, and a variety of birds seized the opportunity to feed on whatever might be flowing into the ponds.

Spoonbill is in the center

Spoonbill in rear, with bill in water

Spoonbill on left (viewing its bill from the side),
egret on right with shorter bill

Spoonbills feed quite differently from egrets, sweeping their bills from side to side in the water.  This is what I first noticed, as seen above.

In addition, we saw a grey heron, lots of little egrets, and a few avocets.

Grey heron

Little egret

The tallest building in Stes. Maries de la Mer is the church, and we can see it from miles away as we cycle toward the town.  It's an interesting building for several reasons, one of which is that for a small fee, you can climb up to the roof of the building and enjoy the view from up there.  I didn't climb this year, but I have in the past.

The church

Tourists up on the church roof top

And no trip to Stes. Maries de la Mer is complete without running into a promenade of chevals blancs, the white horses native to this area.

O is for obelisk

Or as they say over here: obelisque.  Paris has a giant obelisk in Place de Concorde, Arles has this lovely obelisk in Place de la Republique.

And great attention was paid to the sculpted fountain features and lions that adorn this installation.

Swan fountain feature

Man wearing a skinned lion fountain feature

Lions guarding the corners

Lions are emblematic of Arles, and appropriately adorn the obelisk in front of the Hotel de Ville (City Hall)

Roman aqueduct

This morning, we visited ruins of the nearby two-channel aqueduct that provided water to Arles in Roman times and powered a mill to grind flour.  On the north side of the road, a long stretch of the aqueduct is visible.  As you walk to the south, some parts of the aqueduct have been restored and other parts are pretty broken down, but what remains is still quite impressive.

Aqueduct north of the road

South of the road

Olive grove adjacent to the aqueduct

The channel above the mill

Walking through this channel above the mill, we were greeted by the sound of sheep and goats wearing cowbells in the field below.  It was quite lovely.

In honor of Memorial Day in the US, red poppies from the aqueduct.