Sunday 20th September - Coffee, Pack up and Leave Arles It was very windy this morning and as we walked the streets of Arles we commented that it was almost jersey weather but somewhat thought that this was a bit over the top as Christchurch had a temperature of just 7 deg. We got on the road and due to a suggestion of Marie and Jean we were heading for Montpellier via the coast road and the stop off point was to be Algues Mortes for lunch. The total j...

Sunday 20th September - Musee Reattu We ran out of time to go and see this art gallery yesterday so decided to go before heading out of town. Jacques Reattu was a painter born and bred in Arles and did have some asperations to becoming a diplomat in Rome but Napolean put paid to that by waring with Italy so Reattu came home and started painting. The Musee was bequeathed to the city of Arles and his paintings were to be displayed for all to see. The buildi...

Sunday 20th September - La Vagabonde, Arles We had our breakfast and Marie fussed about us and gave us another lovely experience in her wonderful dining room. The stud height is about 4.5 - 5.0m with large beams holding up the floor above and all the little decorative pieces that enhance the whole place - it's wonderful. Marie and Jean were very good to us and helped us with parking and things to see and do and places to eat. Jean came in the car to find ...

Saturday 19th September - Van Gogh Museum We went for a bit of a walk down these narrow lanes to the Van Gogh Museum. This is a very new building having been inaugurated in 2014. Two other artists also had an exhibition on but we were not keen on what they had to offer so proceeded to the Van Gogh Influences and Innovations. Van Gogh moved to Arles in 1888 and he expressed himself with a huge number of drawings that he did with reeds that he cut and shape...

Saturday 19th September - Lunch We finally found a place to have lunch at a table where the people at the next table were not smoking. The number of women that smoke is appalling. We had a long baggette with ham and a Croque Madame and frittes and deux beers. We had an animated conversation with the couple at the next door table who came to Arles for the day from Avignon. They couldn't speak much English and we couldn't speak much French - it was great an...