Rick Attig

St. Remy-de-Provence, Thursday, March 25, 7 p.m. — We have arrived at a charming stone farmhouse/hotel in the small town of St. Remy, near the picturesque Alpilles mountains. We had an amazing day of touring Roman ruins, most spectacularly the Pont du Gard, a 2,000-year-old aquaduct that brought water 31 miles down to the Roman town of Nimes. It was truly lovely, amazingly intact, the aquaduct still visible at the top of the structure. We walked across the bridge on the old pedestrian span and enjoyed the views up and down the river. Despite threatening clouds, we managed the trip without getting wet.

Next we drove to Nimes, home to the serge de Nimes, of Levi-Strauss fame (de-nimes, denim, get it, cool eh?), which caused Rick much stress trying to navigate the narrow roads, but was a great walkable city once we got parked. We had a nice lunch on top of the museum, then saw the “near-perfect-Roman-temple” Maison Carree (on which Thomas Jefferson based the Virginia statehouse) but it was wrapped in construction scaffolding, so a bit disappointing. We walked through the winding, pedestrian-only shopping streets of the central city to the Arena, a truly impressive stadium built at the same time as the Coliseum at Rome in about 100 A.D. It seated thousands of spectators to watch wild animals fight, prisoners put to death by animals and, most famously, gladiator fights. Will was transfixed by the stories of the gladiators. The arena is still used in the spring for bullfighting.

We then drove a short drive to St. Remy. Tomorrow, we plan to visit the amazing Roman ruins at Glanum a mile down the road and then tour some small towns in the mountains. We also got Gramma Go a gift, because things haven’t been easy with Zeus. Go Gramma Go, Go! We’ll be home a tout a l’heure.

Our first full day in Provence began with crepes in Avignon, featured pizza in Orange and, after a day of touring Roman ruins, ended with beef, foie gras and cheesecake back in Avignon. As Will chortled near the end of the last meal, “Mom is fattening up in Provence!”

The day featured only one hiccup, a stubborn Hertz clerk who refused to rent us our minivan unless the name on the credit card matched the name on my driver’s license. Since we had only brought Courtenay’s credit card this morning with my driver’s license, her insistence required a 20-minute round trip cab ride back to the hotel to fetch my credit card. Once we were in the van and underway, we drove through a soulless stretch of highway between Avignon and Orange that reminded us of some of the worst stretches of Oregon roads–Columbia Boulevard in Portland, Lancaster in Salem, the 100 miserable miles from Lincoln City south….

However, Orange and its ancient theatre were worth suffering that drive. The theatre, which dates back to the time of Christ, has a remarkably well preserved stage. It’s still in use, seating around 10,000 people. Will ran through the tunnels and up and down the steps, while Mitchell and Alex posed for pictures in their Trailblazers T-shirts, hoping one day to be featured on the TrailBlazers TV highlights featuring Blazers’ fans traveling around the world.

After leaving the ancient theatre, we hurried through a small museum and then wandered over to a central plaza, where the kids had pizza while Courtenay and I had large salads. From there, we drove through Orange to the Arc de Triomphe that sits in the middle of a roundabout on the edge of the city. Erected in 21 BC, the decorative friezes and carvings of battle scenes, enslaved Gauls and naval equipment celebrate Roman supremacy on land and sea.

After leaving Orange, we drove to the second great Roman town in the region, Vaison-la-Romaine, a city of about 5,000 on the east bank of the Ouveze River. Vaison includes terrific fields of Roman ruins, including one pond surrounded by broken marble columns that especially caught Courtenay’s fancy. There’s another fine restored theatre in Vaison, a bit smaller than the one in Orange, seating about 6,000 people. The ruins and the theater were great, but Vaison is topped off by a towering Cite Medievale, a medieval stronghold overlooking the city. After some trouble driving up to the cliffs, and navigating the narrow streets and pathways, some marked by “Warning Cliff” signs, we emerged at the ruined chateau, and looked down, way down, at Vaison and the Ouveze River.

Tired, and somewhat grumpy as a group, we made our way back to Avignon, a little rest and another big meal. We’re ready for tomorrow, which includes the stunning Pont du Gard aquaduct, the vibrant city of Nimes and our country home for the next two nights, St Remy de-Provence. More later.