Sunday, Sep 4. Tour of Arles (”Arl”) home of several Roman ruins, including one of the most complete [partially reconstructed] colosseums. Tour guide was a firecracker. (It’s an observation that French guides like to laugh at their own jokes, even when they’re not that funny. This guide’s jokes were funny.) Our tour was filled with asides about people passing by or drivers being impolite. It really made the city seem more real.

The colosseum was all one could expect. It’s still in use. The amphitheater was less interesting. As the home of Van Gogh for 18 months, the town was filled with references to the artist. The gift shops echoed this. If it had surface area, the item had some image of a Van Gogh painting.

Being Sunday, the chief cathedral had services so we couldn’t enter. But our guide went over (in detail) the meaning of the facade sculptures. With several amusing opinions. She especially liked that the images of people headed to Hell only showed men.

By lunchtime the ship had arrived in Arles and we had lunch. Afterwards, our optional tour was to a limestone cave quarry which presented an incredible show of ever-changing multiple images of Venice. The concept has now been reproduced worldwide, but apparently most of the shows originate in this quarry. I personally think watching the show inside a quarry mined a thousand years ago made it more impressive.

Next was a short tour of an old town at the top of a rocky cliff. Nice town, but we’d seen one before. Nice view, but the haze of a hot day spoiled the quality.

It was a hot day, which is how the entire week has gone. It’s beginning to get to me. Spending time with my pals at the bar helps me recover each evening.