Walking in Van Gogh's Footsteps and Les Baux

We walked to meet Mathilde our Van Gogh expert near the mental hospital where Vincent lived for exactly one year.  He painted  over 150 paintings of the surrounding area.  She showed us many pictures and showed us exactly where they were painted.  It was a small area, but oh so beautiful and fun to see where he got the inspiration for the paintings I have loved, read about and seen in museums.  It is a peaceful place and is still a mental hospital.  If I needed one, this is where I would want to go.  

 I found some!

After the tour, we got on our bikes and rode to Les Baux.  It was a pretty steep climb to get to the hilltop village and castle.  It was worth it!  Mark of course was the first one up and he passed Canadian guy who looked pretty fit and experienced and who at the top was so surprised that Mark was 55, he thought he was 45.  

The village was quite amazing sitting on an 800-foot rocky plateau.  Mark said it was the best "mall" he has every seen.  There were little shops in every nook as the narrow cobbled street wound around. We walked up to the Chateau Des Baux De Provence and enjoyed the view and the castle artillery.  Patrick would love this place! 

Les Baux in the background.

After visiting the village and castle, we got on our bikes and rode around this valley.  It was so incredibly beautiful.  I kept stopping to take picture after picture but none of them come close to the natural beauty of the olive orchards and the rocky Alpilles.  

After biking the valley, we came back to Les Baux and attended a very unique art display.  A very large limestone quarry has been turned into an amazing show with music and Impressionist art projected onto lots of very large walls.  No description will help in understanding this place, but I loved it.  It was like being in a Monet painting, or a another artist's work.

 A small area of the quarry.  I couldn't take any picture once it was dark and all the walls had paintings on them.  We then biked downhill back to St. Remy where we prepared for dinner at a pastry chef's home.

 Gwen giving us a report on Randy.

It was a wonderful meal with wonderful company.  I enjoyed every bite!