Provence

This past weekend, I got to spend a couple of days in Provence. For those of you who don't know, Provence is located in the Southeastern tip of France. It's known for its distinctive landscape and historical landmarks for the most part. It touches the Mediterranean Sea, but unfortunately we didn't get to see the coastal areas.  Take a little look at this nifty little map I've provided for you. France is roughly the same size as Texas, so you can see that Provence is quite a trip from Paris. On the TGV(that's the high-speed train), it was between three and four hours each way.  In a car, it would have taken a little less than twice that time. Our trip centered around three main events: Avignon, best known as the Pope's home during the Great Schism during the 11th century (more on that later); then Arles, known both as Vincent Van Gogh's home and for its historical landmarks (particularly from Roman and Medieval times; and the small town of Uzès, near the Pont du Gard. 

 My first look at the distinctive landscape of Provence. If you look closely, you can see a beautiful house sitting in the middle of all those hills, towards the left side of the frame. That's the house my friend Spencer and I are going to buy. She and I basically decided we're going to live on the French countryside. Paris is great to visit, but we miss the quiet of a small town. What you can't really see in this photo is the shape of the mountains and hills. They're rocky and almost weird-looking. It's the sort of landscape that isn't beautiful in the conventional way. In my mind, I sort of compare it to the beauty of New Mexico, Arizona, and southern Colorado. They don't look anything alike; that's not what I'm saying at all. It's just the sort of beauty that not everyone really appreciates.

 This is a church in Uzès. What I really loved about it was the  way they combined the old with the new in this building. The original cathedral was destroyed in the 1100s, later replaced by a second cathedral that was destroyed during the Religious Wars in the 1500s. This cathedral was built in the 1600s, but sustained significant damage during the French Revolution and was renovated in the 1800s. The tower is the only part of the cathedral to survive all of the wars and destruction, remaining a part of the cathedral in every incarnation. I really liked this church because it's one of the few I've seen in Europe that is relatively untouched by the Gothic influence. You can see the  classically arched windows (as opposed to the flame-shaped windows in the Gothic style), the absence of gargoyles and just all-around less sculpture on the façade. Also there aren't any flying buttresses or the high ceilings and stuff that you see in other European churches.

 Here we have my truly awesome friends. On the right is Spencer, one of the only other students in the program from a Women's college. We've both been so busy this semester that we haven't gotten to see each other much, so it was really nice to get to spend some time together. On my left is Ellen, who is equally cool. I actually get to see a lot of her during the week because she lives very close to me and we often run into each other on the Metro. She's also in my grammar class, so we see a lot of each other. It was still nice to get to just hang out sort of on vacation. This is still in Uzès; I loved this little town because it had all these cute little narrow allies, a really nice little market where I got to buy some gifts for you people back in the States, and Spencer and I found this really fabulous little bistro for lunch. The Maître'd didn't make any attempt to speak English with us. It was fabulous! The food was also amazing. I wrote it down in my little book so I can remember it for next time.

 

This tree is a thousand years old. Seriously. I think that's all that needs to be said.

So this is the Pont du Gard. Basically, it's one of the earliest forms of water distribution, from back when Provence was part of the Roman Empire. This bridge is only a small part of the system that carried water from a spring in Uzès to the Roman city Nemausus (modern-day Nîmes), more than 30 miles away. Because the area is so mountainous, most of the aquaduct is underground. This portion had to be above-ground to get the water across this river. The water actually travelled by a canal at the very top of the structure. All of the arches in that particular pattern serve an engineering purpose (which I'm not science-savvy enough to know). Really the important thing to know is that the Romans were geniuses, coming up with a water distribution system during the first century A.D. Seriously smart cookies, those guys.

Remember earlier when I was talking about the distinctive landscape of Provence? This is what I was talking about. There are these really rocky, craggy mountains that grow in really distinctive shapes. Some of the formations remind me of the crystal formations in Superman's cave (I'm talking the classic Christopher Reeves; haven't seen any of the new versions). They sort of develop in a tiered fashion, only it's actual stone, not icy crystals in Antarctica.

I'm not sure if it's really captured in this picture, but the color of the water in this river that flowed under the Pont du Gard was really really vivid. Bright turquoise and really beautiful. I've never really seen anything like it except for in movies or photos. It looked like the water you see in the ads for cruises or resort hotels. It just really didn't seem real.

This is the bridge that this Van Gogh painting was based on, located in Arles, which was where Van Gogh lived most of his life. Not too terribly exciting, but still really interesting to see.

We stayed in a pretty nice hotel in Arles. Spencer and I got a room with two other girls. It had a staircase and basically an entire upstairs apartment. There were two bathrooms, one single bed and two double beds. It was almost ridiculous how huge it was for the four of us.









The Roman Amphitheater in Arles. They actually still use it for real sporting events. It's pretty big, and has an oval-shaped arena, well suited for most sports.

 These are the cloisters from a church we saw in Arles. The church itself wasn't what really interested me. It was the way you could see how the building had developed through the years. Look at these arches. On the right, you have the classic Roman arches, just a plain even semi-circle. But the other wing of arches on the left are clearly Gothic, a little narrower with the pointed crests. You can just tell that this building has a story.

This is the city of Avignon. It is a walled city, mainly because it used to be the home of the Pope.

 Le Palais des Papes: The Popes' palace, home to the Pope during the Great Schism during the 14th century. For those of you who aren't up on your medieval European history: The Great Schism was when the Eastern and Western Catholic churches split, becoming what is now known as Eastern Orthodox Catholicism and Roman Catholicism respectively. At the height of the Schism, the Roman Papal states in Italy were practically at war with each other, so the church decided to move to Avignon, where the Pope remained until the end of the 14th century. The interesting thing about this story is you get a pretty different version of events, depending on who you talk to. The French tend to be very proud that Avignon was the seat of the Church, but gloss over the fact that it was only about a century (a very short time in European history). Some French still hold some animosity towards Rome about the pressure it exerted on the Pope to move back to Rome in the late 1300s. The last two Popes to be elected in Avignon, Clement VII and Benedict XIII were not recognized by Rome. In France, they are referred to as true Popes, persecuted by Rome. In other circles, they are referred to as "Antipopes".

 This is the main dining area. Really big, beautiful room. What I loved about it was the way it worked during the Papal Conclave. Six papal conclaves were held in the palace. The conclave rooms are right next to this great dining hall. When the cardinals are in conclave, they are locked in the room until they can make a decision. In order for them to have access to food during the conclave, they would knock out the wall separating the dining hall from the conclave. If you look closely at the picture, you can see the outline of the archway where they would knock down the wall. They would do this every time, then build it back up when the new Pope had been chosen and they could leave.

 This is the chimney from the kitchen. The kitchen was surprisingly small, but had such a high chimney because they cooked so much food, it needed a lot of room for the smoke and vapors and all to escape. On the right is basically the Pope's version of a collection plate. It's a hole in the floor of the palace where those who wanted to give to the church could leave their monetary offering. Today most of the funds left here by visitors to the palace go towards the upkeep of the palace and museum.

Well that's all I have tonight. Basically all you need to know is that it was fabulous, I loved it, and if ever the opportunity arises, I will move there in a heartbeat.

À bientôt!