Sunday 10.10.2010



Down Day

John took last Sunday off, but we are all taking today away from touring. We have plenty of chores to be done and we need to get into some sort of routine in our house in Arles for the week.

Speaking of routines, John goes out early in search of the next possible leader in French pastries. There is a little Patisserie a couple streets up from us that has chassons du pomme and plenty of croissants, but we think that the baker has Sunday off and baked these yesterday. They're pretty heavy and don't seem as fresh as we have become accustomed to. No new winners here.


John tackles the computer/Wi-Fi set up in the second floor study, while Mary figures out the washer/dryer and Pat and Mary sort clothes into what appears to be about four loads of wash. With some level of aggravation everything eventually works and we busy ourselves with our assigned tasks. We are missing some towels so John emails our landlord who promises to have someone get everything up to speed before the end of the day.


It's 2:00 before we get in control and take off for lunch and a walk. It has been raining lightly all day so it is umbrellas all around. Since it is Sunday afternoon, once again our choice (not choices) is limited to an Italian pizza and pasta joint about six blocks from the house. The food is cheap, plentiful and delicious so we make pigs of ourselves sharing Mary and Pat's pastas and John's chorizo pizza. We are blown up like puffer fish, and, rain be damned, we are going to take a hike around the old town.


We didn't see much yesterday and plan to do the real tour tomorrow so this is a continuation of our introductory walk. Tucked into the center of the old town is a half -round theater that seats 10,000 and dates from the first century BC. Just around the corner is a Roman Arena that seats 20,000 and was built in the first century AD. Both of these are in heavy restoration mode and the goal is to be able to actually use both of them as entertainment venues in the future. How cool would that be? The price tag is about 107 million euros, but that's a small percentage of the Target Field price. It's probably the electronic scoreboard that costs so much.

We know we won't be hungry for many hours and with limited dining options on Sunday, we opt to pick up some ham, cheese, eggs and a baguette to eat-in later.


We all go back to our chores when we get home, our towels arrive as promised, we each sneak in a little rest period, and we get the results of "Strictly Come Dancing". John whips up some scrambled eggs with the ham and cheese, we chew on the baguette and then we all pack it in.

 

Mary says these posts are getting way too wordy, but the day sort of defines the post. On our lucky day of 10.10.10 we didn't have much of a day and so don't need much of a post.

 

Today's weather: Cloudy with rain all day, low 52, high 64