Van Gogh – A Traveling Fool

Past Trips

Navajo Reservation

One of my favorite parts of the trip I did to the Western National Parks in the US back in the spring of 2013 was to visit the four corners area and the Navajo Reservation. The place where we stayed (Goulding Lodge) and all of the restaurants where we ate and gift shops were owned and operated by the Navajo.

All of our excursions while there in and around Monuments Valley were also led and hosted by the Navajo who lived there. I was able to learn so much more about their culture and lives than I had known before. We also had one of the last living code talkers from World War II join us during a cookout to tell us about his experiences. I had watched a movie about that. But to hear actual stories from someone who had been there was very special.

Battlefields and Other Sites of War

I have also had a real interest in visiting battlefields, both in the US and other places. In the US, I have visited a couple of Civil War (Gettysburg, Fredericksburg) and Revolution (Yorktown) battlefields. But also several other locations having to do with either war (Appomattox Courthouse, Richmond, Harper’s Ferry, Valley Forge, Charlotte, Savannah, Beaufort, Williamsburg).

Overseas, it has been a lot of European World War II sites (battlefields, D-Day landing sites, and concentration camps), but also the Culloden Battlefield in Scotland (where Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Highlanders with him met their downfall), where David met Goliath in the Valley of Elah in Israel, and where the 300 Spartans met the Persians in Greece (at Thermopile), and Gallipoli in Turkey (World War I) where so many Australians lost their lives.

One of the reasons why I find battlefields and other sites connected with wars interesting is because of the heavy toll such actions take on human lives and the incredible stories that are associated with both the loss of life and some of the miraculous survivals that also took place. History is about peoples’ stories. I find learning those stories to be fascinating. Seeing where they took place (when the battlefield has been preserved) brings it into perspective. And yes, each time, I am left in tears.

NYC 9/11 Memorial

On my most recent trip to New York City in 2016, which was also my first trip back to NYC since 9/11, I visited the memorial. I recommend it to everybody. It is one thing to imagine a twisted firetruck or a collapsed staircase or a mangled piece of one of the World Trade Center buildings and quite another thing to see them for yourself.

I do have to say that I did not go into the room with the photos of the people and their voices from their last cellphone messages to loved ones. I just couldn’t. It was too much.

Kennedy Space Center

One of my cousins eventually worked at the Kennedy Space Center on the space shuttle crew, mainly for Endeavour. But he was also involved with all of the shuttle launches. Many years before that, Mom and I had visited the Kennedy Space Center and toured everything that a regular citizen on a tour could see. So, when he started working there, we already could picture a certain amount of it. I love it when something pops up in a TV show or movie or some other context and I been there and have seen whatever it is.

Hadrian’s Wall – Vindolanda

I have long been fascinated by Hadrian’s Wall. On one of my trips to Scotland (in 2016) I took several day trips to parts of the wall. One of those trips included the Roman fort of Vindolanda, which actually predates the wall. They had a wonderful museum containing items discovered at the site – shoes and other clothing, dishes and pottery, bridles, saddles, stirrups, etc from horses plus loads of other items. They also had much of foundations of the fort, despite the location having been robbed of much of its stone works over the centuries. A favorite of mine was the replica of the wall that gave a really good idea of the actual size and dimensions of it. I could also go up on top and walk along it.

This Trip

Van Gogh’s Art Techniques

Vincent Van Gogh is a favorite artist of mine. I have visited many sites associated with his life and death as well as viewing his art at the Musee d’Orsay during past trips to France. So, when I saw that I had the option to join a class on Van Gogh’s techniques while in Arles, I signed up for it immediately. I ended up painting a very quick version of a portion of his most famous “Starry Night”, which is now a treasured souvenir of the experience. Since returning home, I have also begun a couple of his other paintings that he did in Arles – “Starry Night over the Rhone” and “Café Terrace at Night”.

Truffles

On the Grand France River Cruise, I was able to visit a truffle farm and watch how the dogs searched for truffles. Then I was able to sample the truffles. It was fun to learn about truffle farming and to pet the dogs once they were off-duty.

Crepes

Although I have had dessert crepes before in restaurants, I had never had a savory crepe prior to this trip. On the day that we were setting sail for Les Andelys, we were offered savory crepes for lunch. I went with a buckwheat crepe filled with ham, cheese, mushrooms, and onions. There was some crème fraiche on top. Delicious. Since returning home, I have purchased a special crepe pan and spatula in order to make my own.

Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate Mousse is something I have made myself. But I have to say, the two that I had in France made mine seem more like a simple chocolate pudding. In Bayeux I had one at the restaurant where we had lunch. It was heavenly. On the ship, we had a mousse made with dark, light and white chocolate that was also amazing.

Calvados

An optional tour to Baveux and the Calvados region of Normandy included a visit to the Le Breuil-en-Auge Calvados Distillery. We learned all about how apples became Calvados and sampled some of the finished product. I felt that the amount in the glass was a tad stingy until I actually tried it. It is about 82 proof. It made my eyes water and my voice go raspy. I have since learned to mix it with cider and drink it with ice.

Hospices de Beaune

Touring and learning about the Hospices de Beaune, which were in service from 1443 to 1971, was really fascinating. We could see the wards, the pharmacy, the kitchens, etc. much as they had been.

Swimming Pool for Horses

At Bizy Castle, there was a lovely pool in the courtyard. Its purpose wasn’t just for looks. It had been created to allow the horses to cool themselves off. How thoughtful. Out of all of the castles I have seen all over Europe and the UK, I had never seen one with a swimming pool for horses before.

Originally I had booked a trip before the Pandemic to take place in December of 2020. By September 2020, the reason for my going (a play) was canceled. At that point I received an email from Avalon Waterways saying that they were offering a free upgrade to the Panorama Suite (the one with an entire wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that could be opened – essentially making the entire cabin a balcony). Since I had a couple of their river cruises on my list of trips that I would like to take, I booked the Grand France Northbound for April 2021.

For the next several months, it needed to be moved a few more times. But eventually we settled on the end of August/early September 2021. In the meantime, the single supplement was waved and I ended up with a couple more discounts.

France would let me in as long as I could prove that I had been vaccinated. Avalon sent me a form to fill out that basically said that I hadn’t been exposed to anyone with COVID within 14 days of my flight. At Delta’s International flights desk, they were interested in my passport and vaccination card, but not the form.

On the plane to Amsterdam, I was given another form that they said needed to be filled out before we landed in Amsterdam. It said the same thing as the form I had received from Avalon. Nobody in Amsterdam was interested in that form either.

On the plane from Amsterdam to Marseilles, we were handed yet another form asking the same questions as the first two. We were told that we needed to hand the form in as we left the plane. This time they actually collected the forms.

In order to reach the Marseilles airport, it seemed that we needed to fly over pretty much all of Marseilles. I had the window seat and could see the city very well. Good thing. Once we landed, I didn’t get to see that much of Marseilles at all.

After getting my checked case (which I was very relieved to see since we had ended up with a very short time between flights in Amsterdam) and heading out into the terminal, I saw my Avalon representative. She escorted me to my driver and then I went on an hour-long ride to Port Saint Louis to board the ship.

This ship was much nicer than the one for the previous river cruise I had taken on the Nile. They also had a buffet lunch set up, which was a relief as there wasn’t really anything in the vicinity. We ended up with 21 passengers on board a ship that could hold about 128. It was the first cruise of the year for the Poetry II. At 5:00pm the ship set sail for our first stop – Arles.

Arles is just north of a natural wetlands area called the Camargue. This is a mostly wild area where flamingos, wild horses (thought to have existed for thousands of years), and wild cattle roam. Located in Provence, Arles was an important town during Roman occupation from about 123 BC to roughly the 5^th century AD. Prior to that, it had been a Phoenician port.

During the French Impressionist period, both Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin lived and painted in Arles for a while. Van Gogh produced somewhere around 300 paintings while in the area. Arles was also where he cut off his ear and was hospitalized before moving to a nearby asylum.

I found five ancestors born in Arles between 818 and 986 during ancestral research. This plus the ties to Van Gogh helped to make Arles a destination to which I was really looking forward. There were still lots of Roman vestiges, plus quite a bit of medieval architecture.

When we left the ship and climbed the steps to the street level, we immediately saw a poster of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night over the Rhone”. It had apparently been painted right there. In the photo, you can see our ship on just the other side of the wall from the poster. I found that to be exciting. Our ship was docked right next to where Van Gogh had painted one of his famous Starry Night paintings.

Due to Arles’ age and the narrowness of its streets (except for the areas that were bombed during World War II – mainly near the port) cars aren’t allowed other than for residents. So, as soon as we crossed the road, we found several parking lots.

At the edge of one of these parking lots was another poster showing the location of where Van Gogh painted “Yellow House”. The house was no longer there. But the building behind it was. This had been a house that Vincent rented and where Gauguin stayed with him briefly.

I had signed up for a painting workshop where we would learn Van Gogh’s techniques and then paint part of one of his paintings. There were only three of us that had signed up. The building the class was in was a post war building just the other side of the parking lots. There were two instructors as well as our local guide.

We were taught how Van Gogh mixed his paints. He had blue, red, yellow and white. All other colors came from those four. They also talked about mixing on the canvas, layering, the thickness of brush strokes, etc. I picked out “The Starry Night” (painted while Vincent was in the asylum) and ended up painting the far left section with the tree and some of the stars. I have included a photo of it here.

After the workshop, we went off to explore the rest of the town. Our local guide was from a family who has spent several generations in Arles. The women there tend to dress in heritage clothing for special occasions. The styles date from the mid-eighteenth century. I have included a photo I took of a shop window where such clothing was sold. The photo is a little fuzzy, but it gives an idea. I especially liked the hat on the mannequin on the far right.

The actual café that Van Gogh painted in “Café Terrace at Night” still stands and, along with the two Starry Nights, is one of my favorites of his paintings. I took several photos, but included just two here. My mom used to love Van Gogh too. We had visited Auvers-sur-Oise (where he died and is buried) together and spent a lot of time in the Musee d’Orsay looking at his paintings. I thought of her while I was standing there at another place that he had painted. The café is now called Café Van Gogh.

After walking through another part of the town, we arrived at the hospital where Vincent stayed after cutting off his ear. There too was a poster of the painting he did of the garden of the hospital. He had been living in the yellow house when the incident took place (after an argument with Gauguin) and he returned to the yellow house for a time after he was released from the hospital and before he went to the asylum.

In the center of the Place de la Republique (town square) stood a 4^th century Roman obelisk. Also in the square, the Church of Saint Trophine’s origins date back to the 12^th century. It was built upon the site of a 5^th century church and is considered to have some of the finest Romanesque sculpture in existence on the west portal.

Our final stop before heading back to the ship was the Roman amphitheater. Built in 90 AD, it could hold about 20,000 spectators. It is still used for concerts, plays, and the occasional bull fight. After the fall of Rome in the 5^th century, the arena ended up being equipped with four medieval towers and a large share of the town (200 houses plus a town square and two chapels) built inside of it. It wasn’t until the late 18^th century and early 19^th that the buildings were cleared out of the center and it went back to being an amphitheater. Three of the four medieval towers still exist.

I really enjoyed the couple with whom I had taken the Van Gogh workshop. We later exchanged contact info and plan to stay in touch. We also hung out together several times during the southern portion of the river cruise (which was the only part they were doing).

At lunch, I met another couple with whom I ended up sitting during Happy Hour and dinner that night. We ended up continuing to have dinner together with two other couples most nights. This particular couple was participating in the entire cruise. They sort of adopted me immediately as part of their circle.

After dinner, for entertainment, we had the Gipsy Kings, who were from Arles. I had seen then on TV several years ago.

Since the Van Gogh workshop, I have felt a little emboldened to try an entire Van Gogh. I am currently working on “Starry Night over the Rhone”, since I feel a special connection to it.

Next time – Pont du Gard