Arles

Arles was an interesting trip. It was really overcast and kind of cold, but the amphitheater that we visited was really impressive and if I remember the lecture well enough, Brittany said it was the best preserved amphitheater in France. One of the coolest things about the lecture was learning that at one point a whole medieval village was house inside the amphitheater because when Arles lost its power with the loss of the church's presence in the city it had no real way of defending itself so everyone moved into to the amphitheater to try to keep safe.


Here is a shot form the bottom of the interior of the amphitheater , I really just like the patterns that all the arches make. they create a lot of really interesting shadows (though now that i've said that I realize that this particular image actually doesn't show the shadows that well as some of the other ones...oh well guess that's what happens when it is overcast.)







After spending about a half hour at the amphitheater, we went over to a cloister that I was really blown away by. I was the first one of the group to enter the cloister and it was so quite and serene. i see now why monks live there, it really is somewhat like what they portray in the movies which I thought was cool.
Inside the building there were a lot of old tapestries and some unexpected stain glass that unfortunately my pictures do not do justice to. THey are much more green and less yellow in real life which is why I liked them so much. Green is one of my favourite colours.


Here is another view of the cloister, I really love the vaulting that they used, it always looks cool, even if it's a pain in the butt to draw.

Last but not least a few of us had attempted to go visit the really old roman cemetery but unfortunately it was closed because of Frances strange obsession with their lunch hour. So instead we went and stopped to get some ice cream (which omg was good) to try to cheer ourselves up from being unable to look at what would have been very awesome sarcophagi and statuary.

Oh I guess I should also mention that Van Goh spent some time in Arles in a hospital when he was going crazy. That's sort of important.