EMSE- Gardanne and a Brief Trip to Arles

The rest of our days in the Provence area were spent visiting (Alice, on Monday) EMSE-Gardanne, a concentration camp museum in an old tile factory (Randy, on Monday) and the historic small city of Arles (both, on Tuesday).  Alice's main professional objective for the south of France was to reconnect with Professors Claude Yugma and Stephane Dauzere-Peres, whom she met at the 2012 research colloquium that they hosted at their campus.  EMSE is a branch of a mining and technical university that is in Gardanne, France (just southeast of Aix en Provence) and which specializes in microelectronics.  The campus is small but the laboratories are world class and the students and faculty interact heavily with the industries in the region.  Alice is hoping to develop a National Science Foundation proposal with EMSE that would bring cohorts of U.S. students to their campus each summer to conduct research.

The compact but excellent campus of EMSE in Gardanne

Some of the seminar audience - mostly graduate students and a few faculty members

Stephane Dauzere-Peres (left) and ClaudeYugma  (right) treated Alice to a nice lunch after the seminar and laboratory tour

The starter was shrimp and apple salad

The men had the daily beef special while Alice had fish and vegetables - all delicious

Desert was irresistible - amazing chocolate mousse

Randy enjoyed his several hours learning about the situation near Gardanne during World War II, made even more interesting by the fact that his father was in the military in France during that time and may have even been in the building that Randy visited.

Evening found us eating at a local Lyonaise style food place, Les Deux Bouchons, recommended by our host family.  This proved pretty tasty.  We split a Lyon style lardon salad which was mighty delicious.  Alice had a cheese and mushroom homemade ravioli while Randy chose a beef dish.  We drank a glass of Beaujolais wine each as recommended by our host, Gerard.  The waiter managed to stain Randy's shirt and jacket with some spilled meat juice so the friendly owner served us some digestive liquor made from mint and verbena from his garden followed by a fairly old Armagnac. 

The quaint restaurant in the nearby village of Calas

The interior - it got fuller with diners later - the French in this area eat rather late

Alice's main course of ravioli stuffed with cheese and served in a truffle sauce with grilled vegetables

Our last full day in the area was spent visiting Arles, about 45 minutes away.  This is well known for its Roman ruins and being the home, for a number of years, of Vincent Van Gogh.  We especially wanted to visit because at this time the museum is hosting a special Van Gogh Live exhibit that had recently opened.  We found Arles pretty nice and liked the exhibit but then left to explore some backgrounds.  We happened upon a road running east from Arles to Saint-Martin-de-Crau that was apparently the main road until the highway was built.  This road was lined with huge trees for many miles and was breathtaking and unique in that regard.  We stopped along the way for a picnic in the car (it was exceedingly windy).

The Republic Square in Arles with its old but plain Egyptian obelisk

Lion detail on the fountain which forms the foundation of the obelisk

The well known church of Arles - Saint Trophime - which is noted for its carvings.  This church dates from the 12th century and was closed for lunch (about three hours) when we visited

Carving over the portal

More detailed and solemn (if not scary) carvings

The exhibit at the Van Gogh Foundation which had recently opened

Photos were allowed without flash - this picture dates from his Netherlands years

A self portrait from the Netherlands years

This still life does not seem Van Gogh like but is from the master

A simple but effective Van Gogh painting

This is by Renoir (and is Randy's favorite painting of the exhibit)

One of the Japanese woodblock prints that inspired Van Gogh.  He apparently viewed Arles as Japan like.  The many woodblock prints in the exhibit were identical to those in Van Gogh's personal collection.

Another of the Japanese woodblock prints from Japan

A "zoave" by Van Gogh shows his use of color to advantage

Painting of the "Yellow House" where Van Gogh resided with Paul Gaugin and others during a brief artistic period in Arles

An arresting rural scene

A tour de force of Van Gogh Arles period paintings

Randy on one of the authentic ancient streets of Arles (and there are many)

A depiction of how the Roman Amphitheater in Arles originally looked

In the Middle Ages, more than 200 houses were squeezed in the site and four watchtowers were added (of which three are still standing)

A view of the amphitheater with church spire beyond

The structure was very clean and fairly well preserved

The day, as usual, was spectacular with blue skies and warm but not hot temperatures in the afternoon and cool evenings

Alice in front of the Roman amphitheater in Arles

A panorama from the amphitheater site

The place is currently used for bull fights - nice that it is still used but not nice that it is for hurting animals

A rather sad sight - a Roman column stuck in parking lot

Remains of the Roman theater where performances are still given

Like many sites in Turkey there are a few columns standing which give you a glimpse of the glory of the place 2000 years ago

We saw a dead ringer for General Charles de Gaulle on the streets of Arles - note the hat

The long and incredibly beautiful stretch of tree lined roadway leading east of Arles to Saint-Martin-de-Crau - take this, not the motorway

Camargue - Land of Flamingos and Wild White Horses

Our place for four nights in Provence was with gentle, interesting and so very gracious Nicole and Gerard in Les Pennes Mirabeau between Marseille and Aix.  The location was perfect for us and the bed and breakfast turned out to be perfect also.  The first night we dined at Mas d'Entremont, an upscale restaurant we had discovered on our 2012 visit to the region.  It did not disappoint.  It was too cold to eat in their large and beautiful garden but the inside dining room was set in the garden with glass walls so it was the next best thing.  The most special part of a dinner there is the cheese board which includes about 30 varieties from around France and the helpings are lavish.

Alice had her favorite fish soup to start - complete with croutons, garlicky mayonnaise and cheese to add in

Randy had giant prawns with salad to start

Alice enjoyed scallops, vegetables and red Camargue rice

The cheese lady explained all of the cheeses patiently and loaded Alice's plate with a representative sample.  She also provided a reduced (cooked) wine "jam" which was more like a sauce to enhance the cheese as desired.

So many cheeses - so little room in Alice's stomach to eat them!

The next day (Sunday) we voyaged to Camargue - a protected marsh area west of Marseille along the coast.  This area is well known for its birds and its wild white horses.  It is more popular with French people (especially on this spring Sunday) than with tourists.  Clive, our ever reliable GPS, navigated us well and then told us to "Board ferry."  I gasped - what did he just say?  Yes, we had to enter a line for a ferry to reach the Camargue.  The ferry crossed the Rhone River which at that point is quite wide as it is almost entering the Mediterranean Sea.  Luckily the wait was not too long (about 15 minutes) and we paid 5 Euro and took the 10 minute ride on the car ferry across.  The other cars with were filled with French families with their dogs and their picnic baskets.

On the car ferry to the Camargue area that crosses the Rhone River

View towards the Med from the ferry

Arriving, we headed off on the small roads.  We stopped at various locations to view the birds, mainly the pink flamingos.  We were amazed to located two different small groups of wild white horses.  These are stocky and handsome horses with touches of light brown in places.  Working our way around the salt water lagoon area, we found a picnic spot along a back road with good flamingo views.  We ate our cheese and bread and enjoyed the sun and the birds.

Randy seeks out flamingos

The wild white horses of the Camargue - we found two small groups on our drive through the back roads (see photo above and two below) and saw too loving each other also - photo just below (these two are probably not wild though )

Close of a Camargue horse - this one not wild but the same kind

A panorama from our picnic spot in the Camargue marsh

Wild flamingos dine in the shallow marsh

We parked at the main village in the area, Saintes-Marie-de-la-Mer, and walked along the beach.  This was well populated with French (and maybe other European) sun worshipers and their dogs.  It was a pleasant day and we enjoyed our brief seaside walk.  We then drove to an ornithological park a few kilometers away.  This was an awesome place with good trails and wonderful birds. The birds are almost all wild, that is, fully in their natural habitat.  They are abundant and the trails are flat and well marked.  Along the way, Alice also spotted a large mammal eating in an inaccessible road.  It looked like a beaver with a rat tail.  Later, back at our bed and breakfast, together (Randy, Alice, Nicole and Gerard) consulted the internet and identified this creature as a nutria or coypu (ragondin in French).  We ran out of time and could only do half of the trails.  We will have to return for the other half.  We bought some Carmargue grown red rice and salt (the area is famous for both) from the shop across the street and returned to Les Pennes Mirabeau.  

Randy and Alice on the seaside at Saintes-Marie-de-la-Mer

A panorama of the beach area (which is very large and sandy)

The seawall at Saintes-Marie-de-la-Mer

A bathroom area for the numerous dogs at the seaside

The amazing bird park just north of Saintes-Marie-de-la-Mer

A map of the trails - we only did the trails on the right side of the map due to time constraints

Some of the herds of flamingos in the bird park - all wild

Many other birds were there too - like this red beaked duck

Storks and herons nested in the trees.  They build their nests very close to each other.

A close up of the flamingos.  Some have a lot of black on the underside of their wings.  We were lucky to experience a small flock of flying flamingos (they are huge) just over our car as we were driving along a back road.

A swan enjoys being at home in the bird park

The nutria eating something along a road that is off limits to park goers

Apparently Sunday evening is when the French restaurants close down (except for cities or tourist areas).  Nicole and Gerard recommended and booked us in at a local pizza place.  This turned out to be delicious and fun, and a good change from the heavy French dinners we had been eating.  Our young waitress had just returned from a two week holiday to Los Angeles and spoke good enough English.  We dined on salad, pizza and local red wine. 

The pizza place in the nearby village of Calas

The chef/owner (in blue) outside of his popular pizza restaurant

The hip waitress advises Randy on a  pizza loaded with meat - she advised (and he enjoyed) the "Royale"

The salad we shared had a dressing that was like Ranch - a surprise

Randy's Royale pizza.  Alice's was vegetable but had no cheese (how can a pizza have no cheese?) but was relatively healthy and tasty.