I am going to begin this post with an image of Anna and the two soon-to-be Grandmothers. The image was made on the 9th, just a few days before Alexander’s arrival.
Since you have already seen Alexander’s first few days, I’ll skip to his first trip (Arles). If you haven’t seen his first few days, here’s that post http://jimanna.com/2010/06/announcing-alexander-james
Although tough to discern from this image, it’s the top of the Roman Amphitheater in Arles, known as Arènes d’Arles in French. The yellow, lichen covered stone are the top of the arches of the amphitheater.
This is the commanding view looking out over the city toward the Rhône River.
Another view of the arches that is a little easier to discern.
Other side.
A second city/river view. This is near where Van Gogh painted several of his famous works in 1888 such as, “Starry Night Over the Rhone” and “Café Terrace at Night,” but more on that café later.
You can see how withered the rock is. Of course, that’s not surprising since it was built in the first century of the current era, just a few years after the Colosseum in Rome was built (around 80 C.E.). It was initially used for chariot races, and gladiatorial fights. After the fall of the empire, it was converted into a walled fortress for a couple hundred homes. It remained that way until the early 19th century, when it was returned to it’s original state. Then, it was (and still is) used for bull fights, concerts and other large events.
As you can tell, it’s a large forum and can hold up to 20,000 people. A bull fight here apparently made a large impact on our painter, Van Gogh. After presumably seeing a bull fight, he re-created the scene in his painting, Les Arènes. This was just before he cut his ear off. Some speculate he used the example of a matador cutting the bull’s ear off as an example. I’m not so sure…
Pretty pink flowers with the tricoleur in the background.
Pieces of columns from the partially collapsed Roman Theater in Arles … just down the road. Although these columns aren’t, the theater is still in use today.
Here is what it looks like today. Talk about a historic venue!
France is known for it’s random acts of romanticism and Arles is no exception. This couple seemed to spontaneously stop, kiss, then carry on as if nothing happened. Delightful!
The Arles city hall, complete with fallic, I mean historic, obelisk. It was erected by Constantine II, who was also born in Arles, in the 4th century.
This is the courtyard of the former hospital in Arles … and another site of a couple Van Gogh paintings.
A random street in Arles.
This is the Van Gogh Café … guess what happened here? Yep, still another famous painting.
So, that concluded our time in Arles. You may ask why we don’t have any pictures of little Alexander on his first outing. Well, that’s because he was sleeping through almost all of it. Not to worry, there will be plenty more for him in the future. Perhaps even a few that he’ll remember.
So, until the next outing…
–Jim