A trip to Arles - what a spot!

The boys and I decided to get the train to Arles - a city about one hour away and one that has a really cool Colosseum and amphitheater.

We got to the train and managed to find out where to print out our tickets (no mean fete) and then we found the right train.  These trains are two storied and of course, we headed up to the top = very cool.

 Arles is a walled city = here is the entrance and the colleseum is that way - but I spot a market to the left - so shopping and munching here we come - Lachlan brought some sunnies and socks and we got some croissants and tried different cheeses - markets are fun!

 Van Gogh spent time here in Arles and there is a walking tour and lots of areas dedicated to him - this is one!

 A beautiful old building with a huge door and crazy pillars..........................

 The cool and groovy streets of Arles.......................

 Very cool church - boys were keen to take a look -

 The stained glass windows are so amazing and so old - how can that be!

Below are two pictures of the roman amphitheater..........currently under restoration.

 Then it was off to visit the Arles Amphitheatre - the reason we came to Arles -

The amphitheature, which is still active today can seat 21,000 people.  It was built at the end of the first century A.D. and while we think it is huge, apparently it is only half the size of the Coliseum.

Great views .......

Our exploration is complete - now it is time for lunch.............................

We found a perfect place for lunch - great views..........

And who could resist a Rose at this beautiful spot - certainly not me!

The boys new favourite drinks - Loks on the left and Con on the right..................food was fab too - Connor could not resist the waffle while Loks got a hot-dog and I went for a ham, mozzarella and salad sandwich - perfect!

Loks really did like his hotdog although you can't tell from his face!

More of my cool lights...............................

Vincent was everywhere in this town....................

Cool little house with great flowers...........

Another place to explore Roman ruins - these were anxient Roman baths.........................

Walking along beside the river Rhone - well not walking - more like wall jumping.............................. and what big brother does, little brother does too!

Keep walking boys........................

A bridge that used to go across the river.................great entrances with Lions attached.........................

The remains of the bridge...........................you would get a bit wet crossing it now!

The end of our day in Arles - off to the train station for our return home.  It was a bit of a wait as our train was cancelled due to strike action and we had to catch a later one..............................

We will definately be back here in July/August - these shows look fantastic! Wahoo!

A trip to remember - Estanque........

Yay - on Sunday ferry shuttles started to two of the regions beaches and because we are "locals" and have a transpass they are free for us to use - Pont Rouge and LeEstanque.  Monday was really windy so we had a home-ish day and so when it was calm on Tuesday we decided on Tuesday that we should go to L'Estanque.

Mental note:- calm in town/port does not mean calm at sea...........anyway the boys had a blast - said they felt like they were on a roller-coaster - me, not so much and was relieved to reach land after about 30 minutes.  I decided we would take the bus back while the boys were keen to return on the ferry - I won and we took the bus!  It was funny just as we were taking off one of the ticketers came to the front and said something in French (of course we did not understand) - some people got up and went inside and others stayed - we stayed and then thankfully someone who realised we didn't understand said in English - "rough trip, prepare to get wet or head inside".  Kids were happy to get wet and I thought you might as well know what is coming than inside 'rockin and rollin'.............

Land - yay - here we come! 

Exploring L'Estanque - I love the lights!!!!!

I want one when I come home............

I love these cool bridges - they certainly stand out in town - on our trip the following day we went over this bridge on the train!!!!

Cool little tunnel!

Sunday driving along the French Riviera

A perfect Sunday drive along the French Riviera - "oh what a wonderful world".
This was our second weekend of hiring a car and what a difference a week makes - Karl was relaxed and confident driving on the other side of the road and in this car we had a Nav-Man - perfect.  Today we were going where Karl's workmates had recommended and also adding in St Tropez - my request!
We loved our rental car - it was pretty racy!



We woke on a very windy Sunday morning and decided to head to Cassis, a quaint little fishing village alongside the world famous callanques that link it to Marseille.  Cassis is often described as the best kept secret as it has the quaint feel and great beaches but not the hordes of people that invade the rest of the riviera.    The drive to Cassis is beautiful.........................it is close to Marseille and we will probably come back here via the bus numerous times over the summer as it is definitely a place to spend some summer afternoons! Yay!

Our next stop was La Ciotat - another wee village on the coast.  Here was a wee market which we were able to explore, tasting cheeses, eating olives and buying a few momentos.  It was also our morning tea stop where we were able to sit, relax and watch the locals for a while.  A number of cruise ships anchor outside La Ciotat with the tourists popping in for a visit.  Thankfully today was not cruisers day!

Then we were off to another beautiful French Riveria town, Le Lavandou - breathtaking! We walked along the golden beaches and found a great restaurant for our lunch.  It was time to have escargo and I was keen to have again, Moules Frites (regional speciality) of mussells and fries.  Check them out! Karl and I shared some Rose wine - perfect lunch.  While paying the bill they also gave you a little sampler of a cocktail of gin/strawberry ice - yumo - we could have settled in for the rest of the day (or week).

Rose - perfect! 

Escargo for Connor - for sure! 

And for Karl and I too - Loki also tried them - not to bad but we all agreed we had better on our South Pacific Cruise last year.

Hard to see - but can you identify the huge pots of mussells that Loki and I had! 

We then headed to St Tropez for an explore, ice-cream and shopping - bliss.  There were super yachts galore, very rich looking people; super flash shops and restaurants and insanely a very flash Bentley parked in a no parking zone about to get towed - hilarious!  Groovy place and I brought the obligatory "I have been to St Tropez" beach bag - yup tacky and touristy but I really could not resist!  This was one place on my "wanna go" list and somewhere I didn't go on my last venture to the French Riviera 20+ years ago!

Biggest ice-creams in St Tropez

 Checking out the restaurants and boats - ammaazing!

At the waters edge - pic of the boys photobombed by the biggest boy of them all!

 A couple of pictures of the boats Karl would quite like....................

And a mirrored sign I thought I would take a shot of..............

What a perfect day - the French Riviera is beautiful with long white sandy beaches, beautiful coves and amazing scenery.  Karl likened it to the Corromandel - NZ is just as beautiful and without the crowds! Headed home along with motorway - great roads and home superfast with the motorways having a speedlimit of either 110 or 130 - and four lanes which certainly makes a different with traffic and speed.  Home by 8 - time for bed!

Also, figured I should put in a picture of the rental car......nice, small and just perfect for our weekend.  Luckily we had full insurance with zero excess as some random hit one of our doors with their doors and made quite a mark - no problem though will full insurance.  Karl dropped the car back on Monday morning on his way to work - perfect!