Weekend in Provence!

Hey all you beautiful people! Wanna hear about the best excursion we've had since we've been here? Then sit back, relax, and enjoy the tale of AIFS IN PROVENCE!!

After a three hour bus ride from Cannes, we arrived in Arles. Arles is famous because it has a lot of Roman ruins, and also Van Gogh lived there and painted it extensively. We just learned about it in Art History, so that was exciting and relevant. I am now strongly of the opinion that you should take Art History before you go to Europe. Things are more special and exciting and you just appreciate it all more. Shoutout to Trisha who had just finished AP Art History at Los Altos before Eurotour and was my tour guide and explained why everything was special...I get it now. :) 

"All Night Cafe at Arles," anyone??

The first stop was a "typical Provencal market" which was amazing. We just walked through and drooled over all the food and spices and fake purses and jewelry. I bought a very lovely pendant, and there was some debate as to whether or not it would make sense to buy this goat a lady was selling. (We also ran into another group from AIFS that is studying in Grenoble, who we met up with in Paris and went on the dinner cruise with and tried to go out with and awkwardly failed. One of the girls from their group (who was in a walking boot) drunkenly wandered into A'brielle's room in Paris and fell asleep and they found her there in the morning. This is one of our AIFS in Cannes Classic Tales. So it was cool to seem but but also kind of awkward, is what I'm trying to say.) 

We continued on to the ruins of an ampitheater, which had lots and lots of places to take stupid photos. It of course reminded us of a place where they would go on America's Next Top Model to do a photoshoot and have to portray various goddesses, but of course they would have to be stupid goddesses that Tyra made up, like "the Goddess of Fierceness." Obviously we had to do our own photoshoot. 

A'brielle and I lounging and being goddesses of fierceness.

Following the ampitheater we visited a bullfighting ring (where they don't actually kill bulls anymore, but some places still do, which I didn't realized and is super fucked up) which is a terribly well-preserved Roman coliseum (not THE Coliseum, but one of them). We stayed there for about 10 minutes before managing to get lost in Arles trying to find the All Night Cafe that Van Gogh painted. Obviously we did, eventually (see photo above) but succeeded in making us all late to the next place by come back 20 minutes late. Woooo!! Next stop: the aquaduct.

How sick is this??

It had been very hot and sunny in Arles, to the point where we were lamenting bringing only warm clothes. We drove for about an hour and a half, at which point the weather began to take a turn for the worse. We got to the aquaduct and started walking around. It's huge and really amazing and beautiful, and I hope from the picture you get a sense of how immense and impressive it is. It had at this point begun to rain a little, and the wind picked up, starting a little sandstorm on the path. Not ones to resist an opportunity to look ridiculous, here is a picture of how Karnig and I handled this turn of events.

WORRKKKKK.

It began to rain harder as we explored the aquaduct and the surrounding area, but it was a beautiful walk and the rain smelled so good, with all the trees...here is the view from the bridge across the river:

Following our adventures at the aquaduct, we were shuttled onto the Chateuneuf du Pape, which is an incredibly famous winery, where we had a fancy wine tasting!! Ooh la la. (Apparently people in Paris actually do say "ooh la la" which I had been wondering about since being here. No one wears berets, but everyone does carry around baguettes. Just clearing up some stereotypes here.)

The wine-tasting was a thoroughly entertaining experience. The guy who was leading it and explaining it was a very tall, heavy, and SASSY man, who was hysterical and taught us how to do legitimate wine tasting and how to, you know, actually appreciate wine. I learned to hold it by the stem to keep the wine cool, and how to stare at it to see if it was shiny or not and how to turn the glass to see the "tears" or how much alcohol and sugar is in it. I learned that you are to take the first sniff for 3 seconds, appreciate it, then swirl it around for a while to "open the bouquet" smell it again, and then "smell it with your mouth" where you take a little sip and basically gargle it...and then of course you just drink it. Or spit it out. But we're college students and one does not just spit out wine. Especially really good, expensive wine, which is quite a novelty to us, "Oh wow, it's so smooth, it doesn't burn going down like the 1€ wine from Leader Price!!" Needless to say, everyone really appreciated the experience. The only funny part about it though is where you say what you think it smells like. You can say anything you want, because it's your olfactory senses that determine it, and your sense memory, but there are kind of things you're supposed to smell. However when asked to name more than like 3 things and shout them out (wood? chocolate?), Karnig and I were rather taken with our newfound wine connoisseur noses.

Hmmm yes, quite, scents of chocolate and baby powder and Chanel No.5...

After we finished up at the winery and the winery's little museum, we got on the bus and headed for our final destination of the day: Avignon.

Avignon's City Hall

Our hotel in Avignon had these wonderfully huge rooms, which we were quite taken with. However we only had a few minutes to change and get back downstairs for dinner, because we were going out to a restaurant!! Hooray!! AIFS sometimes takes us out to this big fancy 3-course meals, and this was no exception of wonderfulness. It's just exciting to get to eat cuisine when you've been eating chicken paninis at the College every night.

I don't think we had enough wine.

Later that night, after we had digested and appropriately spent time in the room listening to music loudly and getting ready aka laying on the giant beds, Jenn, Karnig, A'brielle, Kylie, Hailie, and myself made an attempt to go out. We found a club online that was close, and around 11:45 we made our way down to the lobby to leave. The concierge stopped us however, and informed us that he was about to lock the doors, and they would be locked until 7AM. "But we can just ring the bell and you'll let us in, right?" we asked, and he was like, "No, I'm leaving. You won't be able to get back in if you don't come back in the next 20 minutes." Our initial moment of disappointment of having our evening plans ruined was quickly replaced by panic and concern...people from our group were already out! And they didn't know! And they wouldn't be able to get back in until 7AM and they'd have to sleep on the stoop or something! So we asked the guy if we could run and try to find people to tell them, and he said sure. We went to the bar next door and no one was there, and in despair we called Aude, who is one of our RD's, whom I have told you stories about. Sandrine is the brains and Aude is the brawn of the operation, she's younger, and she is wonderful and badass and chain-smokes and has this great gravelly voice and accent. Kylie called Aude, and explained our predicament. When Kylie hung up, she started laughing informed us that Aude was going to call down and "speak with" that man. Fast forward 10 minutes, Aude calls Kylie back and just says, "He is a very stupid man. You will be able to come back in. Whenever you want to. And if you can't, you will call me, and I will speak with him. I told him I would tell his boss and Sandrine was very angry at him...he will let you in." What I wouldn't have given to see that conversation go down. 

We ended up not going to the club because it cost 10 euros and no one was there. You know what you can spend 10 euros on instead? KEBABS. Once we came back, we were in fact let in, and we smiled at the guy as we came back in a manner of smiling that's like flipping someone off.  HOPE YOU HAVE FUN GETTING FIRED, BITCH. His boss had told Sandrine when we checked in that we'd be able to come and go 24/7 and it wasn't a problem so long as we were quiet. Aude told us later he was stupid and mean and selfish and trying to scare us, and Aude Does Not Take That Shit. We lament that when we get back to America we won't be able to call Aude and have her bitch out whoever's giving us trouble. My impression of her voice is getting very good, "Kahhrneeeg, quel homme!!" Aude is also probably the only teacher figure that will ever offer your friend a cigarette and light it for them. So much love.

 

In the morning we walked over to the Palais des Papes, which is the former Pope Palace (I guess there also used to be two popes and this is where one of them lived? I don't know. I'm sorry this isn't more historically accurate. FORGIVE ME.)

We went on a tour that basically descended into us exploring on our own the vast medievalness that is the Palais des Papes. It contained lots of frescos and some paintings, and many statues of dead cardinals. But mostly it was huge and open with lots of white stone.

The kind of statues one finds within the Palais des Papes.

After we concluded our visit at the Palais, we left Avignon for "les Baux de Provence" which is a medieval village, stopping however, to see the "Carrieres de lumieres."

It used to be a quarry, but now it's just amazingness.

I cannot really explain to you the nature of the "Carrieres de lumieres," other than that it's probably one of the coolest places/things you'll ever see in your entire life. What it is technically is images projected on the walls of this quarry-cave set to music, but it is truly an experience. We were all grumbling before we went but after leaving it was easily everyone's favorite part. You can't really explain it, other than pure...wow.

This picture doesn't even nearly sort-of do it justice,
but other people took better ones which I will find.

The village of les Baux de Provence is situated in an unbelievably gorgeous area, as everything is all limestone and little trees.

The village itself is up on a hill, with ruins of a castle on top and many little shops and restaurants along the way. They have trebuchets, and apparently sort of a Ren Faire thing at certain times of year. The view is absolutely breathtaking too.

You can kind of see the catapult off to the right.

The stunning view from the top of the hills.

On the way back down we stopped for crepes and paninis and ice cream (I doubt anyone left the village without having at least two of any given one.) and touristy shopping before rushing to meet the bus and begin our 3 hour journey home. Kylie, Jenn, and I made a friend though.

We named her Carmel Freckles.

Provence was just a blast, and being in the countryside was just the calm and relaxing and beautiful thing everyone here has seemed to be needing as of late. Everything I could have hoped for and more. Much love. <3