saltwatersteve.com/travel

Since I was sick today, Mom has contributed the following:

After studying bus and train schedules and routes and trying to figure out a way to get from Avignon to this magnificent Roman structure and back, the tourist office across the street from the hotel suggested a novel way….by taxi! I just HAD to finally see this 2000 year old aqueduct - I could not be so close and miss it, and this was our last day in Avignon! For a set fee (especially reasonable after considering all the other options) we (Meghan, Susan and I) were whisked to the site, allowed an hour-ish to stroll, admire and photograph, then brought back to the hotel to pursue other adventures.

The Pont du Gard is a combination aqueduct, and as the name implies, bridge over the Gard river. Built in 19 B.C. it carried water from springs in Uzès to Nîmes 38 miles away. (Thanks, Lonely Planet!) People used to be allowed to climb up and walk across the upper portion, but now the lower portion serves as the pedestrian bridge, and it goes all the way across, unlike the Pont d’Avignon. Those Roman builders knew how to make things last! We were totally in awe! The day was beautiful, blue sky and fairly warm. I just wish Stephen had felt well enough to join us. On the drive back to Avignon, we had an amazing view of Mont Ventoux in the distance, with its icing of white rock (granite?) at the top, making it appear to have a snow-capped summit.

[Later this afternoon, we went to the Petit Palais.]
Just a short walk across the Place du Palais from the Palais des Papes, this “petit” palace is not so little! Bishops and Archbishops lived here in the 14th and 15th centuries while the Pope lived in the larger palace. It now houses a collection of 13th to 16th century Italian religious paintings. (Again, a history lesson thanks to Lonely Planet.) What amazed me about the art was that most, if not all, is on wood! Some of it looked almost like découpage, and there was a lot of use of gilt/gold on the paintings. We noticed other “trends” from painting to painting….including birds flying around Mary in many scenes. It was also interesting to see how differently the religious figures were portrayed by the various artists….we tend to have a certain expectancy for how our Jesus, Mary, Joseph, etc. would look in art from centuries ago. I was particularly interested in the range of portrayals of Mary, since she is such a central figure in most of the paintings. Some of these Marys, hundreds of years old, had very, if not extremely modern features….(Paris Hilton as Mary??)

In one room we (Susan?) set off the security alarm by getting too close to the paintings. But….please step away from the art…..the only sign about the restriction was tiny, in French, and located in the opposite corner from the door we entered. Luckily, no gendarmes, no jail time…..

This “little” museum seems so much bigger as you amble from room to room, and up and down stairs. It’s hard to believe that the Italians let so much art leave the country! The French did learn a good lesson about art preservation….in trying to fairly distribute the collection to numerous museums all around the country, many triptychs were split up, with one-third going here and another there, but are now being reassembled into their original formats. C’est logique, n’est-ce pas?

Once again, an amazing collection of art from centuries ago, tucked away in a corner of France……something we should all experience.