But today is yet ANOTHER HOLIDAY in France!! Yes, it’s true!! I am NOT making this up! Today is V-E Day (which means Victory in Europe Day for anyone under the age of 40...) This means that as of today, we have had two straight weeks of S/M/Tu holidays/closures! Can a 30-hour work week be far behind??? At least the museums weren’t closed, which was fortunate, because as we left Taulignan behind, we headed back to Vienne – about 1 ½ hours back up the freeway, and only 25 km from Lyon! But the St. Romain-en-Gal museum looked good, and the excavations on the Roman town looked great, so we decided not to miss it ... And SO glad that we didn’t! The museum is new within the last 5 or 6 years, and is very well laid out. Not as much in English as the Roman museum in Lyon, but enough to get the general idea. And the mosaics are INCREDIBLE. I know I raved about the mosaics in Lyon, but these are even better! About 20 years ago, the city of St. Romain-en-Gal was able to purchase 6 hectares of land on the river, which had been the original Roman city in the area. They have been excavating ever since, and the results are great. They have moved the mosaics and painted walls that they have uncovered and reconstructed inside the museum for purposes of protection. There are beautiful birds and animals, and some of the most colorful mosaics we’ve ever seen. The wall paintings are also incredible; we’ve never seen anything quite like them. Would love to have taken some pictures to share in the blog, but no photos are allowed ... however, R did sneak one in, which we’ve included ... it’s the signage for the bathrooms...laughed out loud over that one, and just couldn’t resist that little bit of civil disobedience! We were able to take pictures outside, though; flowers were lovely! And the nice thing is, excavations are still going on, so if we come back in a few years, we’ll be able to see even more wonderful things!
By this time it was 12:30 p.m. or so, so we stopped for a quick salad – chicken with cheese and tomatoes, and then sped back down the autoroute to Orange. Wondered why we had such an easy time getting to the hotel – until we were standing in the lobby, and a Brit came in and inquired as to whether it was a holiday today ... which obviously explained the lack of traffic in Orange and the light crowd at the museum! Settled into our room – EUROSPORT on TV – YEA!!! And Wi-Fi in the room!! How great is that! And we’ll be here for three nights! YEA AGAIN! Decided to head first to the Roman Theatre, which was within easy walking distance from the hotel (as is the Triumphal Arch AND the laverie automatic – I LOVE this town!!). They provided audioguides, which gave a great tour – the theatre is only one of three left in the world that is in good shape. The others are in Turkey and Syria, so don’t imagine we’ll be getting to either of those any time soon...R took some great pictures of the theatre, and is now trying to talk me into coming back here this summer for the Opera ... but I’m still sticking to the US Open, and have told him it will have to wait until next year. (Fortunately, they have a program of what Operas they are doing this summer, and Carmen, his favorite, isn’t on the list ... whew...) Got back to the hotel around 6:30 for a bit of a rest (and to check email and to see what was happening at the Rome Open in tennis...) and out for dinner again about 7. Found a nice restaurant on the Place de la Republic, and had a great dinner! (Can you really not have a great dinner anywhere in France???) We both started with a torte de la maison, which was something like an asparagus and artichoke heart pie, using egg as the binder; just GREAT, and it came with a green salad; balsamic vinegar dressing. R followed that up with lotte (described as “butbot” on the English translation of the menu – and if anyone out there can help us out with that one, we’d certainly be obliged...with scallops and rice and carrots and haricots verts. I had a fillet with cepes, pommes frites, carrots and haricots verts. R had tarte au pomme and I had mousse au chocolate for dessert; whew; full! Then took a short stroll to find the laundry ... YEA! I do continue to have laundry issues! Back now, and R is sound asleep – long day and full tummy, and I am soon to follow ... hopefully I’ll be able to get all the pictures included that I want to!
Take care, love to all, and more later!!
m
2 comments:
I would guess that the fish is "turbot" in English, sometimes called "dogfish," I believe.
Again a big WOW! Should we get a wheel barrow to pick you up at the airport when you get home. PS - Wings eliminated San Jose. Now will pay Ducks! Nothing else new in Michigan!
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