Saturday, August 11, 2007

Lagniappe
(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagniappe, I love wikipedia)


Here are some pics of our trip to southern France in July. We went there for Natalie and Jerome's wedding who despite meeting and currently living in Dallas, are both French and decided to have their wedding in his home town. Sara and Chono hopped the pond from Big-D for the ocasion and met us in Barcelona from where we drove for Anselm's first hard-core road trip. It was tough, but he pulled through nicely. The same cannot be said however for Sara and Chono's luggage which never arrived, but more on that in another post.

Saint Andeol de Vals is a cute little mountain village of around 500 inhabitants. It is in the Ardeche Department in the Rhone-Alps region near Lyon and despite its proximity to one of France's top three cities, its remoteness has left it with a rustic otherworldly beauty that seems almost anachronistic at times.



The view over the valley from Jerome's mom's place in Saint Andeol de Vals



Tiny alleys are the norm in this small village



Typical street scene in a very peaceful place


Along the way to Saint Andeol we stopped off for overnight stays at Nimes and Avignon. Nimes is known mostly for being France's stronghold for tauromachy, or the cultural ritual of bullfighting. It also is home to the world's best preserved Roman Arena. Although the Coliseum predates it by a few years (less then ten I think) the one in Nimes is not only much better preserved, its still in use! The city's bullfights are held there during the annual "Feria" and while we were there, preparations were underway for a theatre and concert series.



Chono, Steph and Sara in front of the Arena



Inside the Arena

On our way to Avignon we stopped off at the Pont du Gard, an impressively well preserved Roman aqueduct (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_du_gard).


The aqueduct carried water for some 50 km to Nimes


A nice spot under the shade trees by the riverside at the Pont du Gard

As for Avignon, the main claim to fame of this wonderful walled city is that it was that it was home to the Papacy for almost 100 years during the years of turmoil in Rome during the 14th century. The Pope's palace is a rather ostentatious display of papal power that borders on the obscene. This impression was supported by the audiotour which described the feast for the coronation of one of the popes. It detailed the inventory of supplies purveyed for the occasion and went along the lines of: 400 head of cattle, 16,000 eggs, 840 pigs, 500 sheep, 4,000 chickens, and so on and so forth. Like I said, obscene.
Today Avignon is also known to be a cultural hub. Our stay happened to coincide with the annual theatre festival. There were literally hundreds of productions that ranged from small one-man shows to large-scale plays and operas. The streets were choked with the actors handing out fliers for their show. Pretty Cool.


Family vacation portrait before the Pope's Palace


Marauding band of actors in Avignon



Pope's Palace



Pope's Palace, Like I said: Ostentatious


Fliers and posters for theatrical productions in Avignon

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