TGV from Montpellier to Arles took about an hour, and cost about 15€. Always book trains early for a better price, and for better seat selection if you go First Class, which typically costs just a few € more.

My first impression upon arriving at the gare was Arles is small. There’s just 2 train tracks, and no lifts. The airBnB host picked us up from the train station. Eric was already at the house. I always have this strange lovy feeling for the kids when I see them in another country; as if we are now alone in a strange land but we have each other. Arles is, for the next 7 days, our home away from home. We decided to have a base, and take daytrips to the villages in Lubéron and Provence.

Our airBnB is a house built in 16th century. The location is convenient, there’s a plaza at the doorstep, several restos, bars, and shops within the same block, and it’s one block from the river. The walls are made of stones, the ceiling of wooden beams reinforced with metal beams. There are 3 floors, and the kitchen is on the 3rd floor. The circular stairs are also made of stones, the steps are high but at least there are metal handrails installed in the walls to pull myself up. It’s like living in a small castle. At least the kitchen and bathrooms are somewhat renovated.

I made Pho Ga the first day. Eric thanked God for the Pho (instead of thanking me :). Tina was a bit under the weather as her flight from London got delayed for 3 hours, so she came just in time for a hot bowl of Pho. We decided to take it easy the next day, visiting Arles, the LUMA center, the amphitheater and arenas built by the Romans 2000 years ago.

The LUMA central tower was designed by Frank Gehry (of Guggenheim Bilbao) has twisting structures and irregular windows that are supposedly inspired by Van Gogh and other structures in Arles. The entrance to the tower was free! Unheard of in the States!

We bought the Pass Liberté which, for 15€, allows entrances to a museum and several monuments within 1 month.

In 1888, Van Gogh stayed in Arles for a year and produced about 200 paintings. We followed the Van Gogh artist walk, and visited the place where he frequented and painted Cafe Terrace At Night. We walked along the Rhône trying to see what he saw in Starry Night Over the Rhône. But it was cloudy and raining, and there was no moon or stars twirling in the grey sky.

It’s in Arles that he cut off his ear in Dec 1888, and checked himself into the Hotel Dieu.

Food here is quite expensive, and reservation needs to be made for most dinners. The restaurants are ususally small, accomodating 1 seating a night, sitting maybe 25 people at most, and the menu is quite limited to 3 entrees and 3 plats a day. The menus stay the same for the week. Tonight’s dinner was at Le Gibolin, which is about 200 ft from our airBnB.