Van Gogh, a bridge, and more great meals

Or Den says I should title this "Arles well that ends well".
Drove to Arles today, saw the Roman ruins --the amphitheater and the coliseum, and the Cafe la Nuit, the bright yellow cafe that is the subject of one of Van Gogh's most famous paintings. We also visited the hospital where they put him after he went ballistic on Paul Gaugin and ended up cutting of his own ear lobe (and apparently gave it to a prostitute--I wonder if he thought that was an appropriate payment).
Here I go talking about food again . . .we had yet another great lunch in an outdoor cafe--Mistral Salad today. Sunshine, fresh food, fine wine, an accordion player in the square serenading the locals while they enjoyed their daily 2 hour lunch. . .I could get used to living like this.

Next it was on to Avignon to see the bridge that is the subject of the nursery rhyme. Avignon is a university town. This month it is hosting a theatre festival, sort of like a Fringe Festival. The streets were jam-packed with performers advertising their plays and hawking tickets for tonight's performances. To put it mildly, it was a zoo, and not our scene at all, especially since it was 37 degrees. We walked all the way through town to the bridge, snapped a picture, abandoned our plan to see the Palace of the Popes (which I am sure is spectacular, but by this point in our day we simply did not care), and headed back to our cottage out here in the country.

It is so quiet here and so far away from anything that we sleep with the door wide open to let a breeze in. The cottage is equipped with everything we could possibly need. Philippe, the owner, obviously likes Ikea--lots of items here. Tonight we made ourselves a salad, and feasted on fresh olive bread, the creamiest Roquefort cheese, lemon olives and Stracciatella yogurt, on Trev's recommendation. A perfect end to the day.