A final year abroad day trip - this time to Arles with Kitty!
After two surprisingly on-time buses, I made it to Arles to meet up with a friend also on her year abroad in Provence. Having visited before, she was my personal tour guide although that didn't stop us getting lost at every corner and walking in circles pretty much all day long - best way to see a city in my opinion!
We started at the amphitheatre, obviously, and after finally finding the steps up to where everyone else seemed to be enjoying the view, we surveyed the city, catching a glimpse of Frank Gehry's Luma building on the horizon - a modern art gallery all my colleagues at work had been raving about.
(Below - old & new)
We then took a look at the garden of Van Gogh's hospital - easy to see how he was inspired..
..before stumbling across the Fondation Vincent Van Gogh which happened to be hosting more than the usual number of his paintings - only six but each one, stunning!
We hit the streets again, marvelling at houses as we searched for somewhere to eat. With many of the restaurants closed and our step count rapidly rising, we dived into two empty chairs outside a cafe and both ordered a Croque Monsieur - never has a toastie tasted better!
Then it was back to the bus stop for me and the station for Kitty. A magical day off and wonderful way to end my short but sweet stint in The Hexagon!
I'm actually writing this from Vienna after leaving France a few days ago. Having tactically left a few suitcases here back in June, I'm nominally on a recovery mission but in reality, I'm soaking up the last few days of the year abroad in the place where it all began. It'll be 11 months, almost to the day, when I finally leave for the UK tomorrow that I flew out to Austria (with just one suitcase so who knows how on earth I've ended up with six for tomorrow - the 'tortoise' in 'tortoise travelling' has never been more fitting)!
Perhaps I'll write a more conclusory post in the future but for now I'm in denial that Wien will be 1235 kilometres away for at least the next few months so I'll end with a photo instead - one which sums up the magic of this city and this year.
