Birthday and the Superbowl

L'Espace Van Gogh

At 6:15 am (12:15 am, Eastern Standard Time) on February 5, 2011, I woke up to my alarm. After quickly dressing and having a tartine for breakfast, I began my walk to the bus station to catch the last bus to Arles (hardest word to pronounce in the French language, I've been walking around saying it to myself for practice). At 7:55 am, the bus departed for Arles, leaving behind anyone who had not woken up on time to catch it (inevitable at that early hour), and arrived in Arles one hour (nap) later.

Arles was gorgeous. It was 17°C (62.6°F), making it the warmest birthday of my life (I think). After locating the tourist center and obtaining maps, we wandered over l'Espace Van Gogh, where Van Gogh recovered after chopping his ear off (also in Arles). After a brief respite in the garden, we continued roaming through town, stumbling upon a fairly large church. Not that we were surprised; you can't walk down a street without bumping into one cathedral or another in Europe.

From there, we headed back to the market on the main street and purchased a delicious lunch (baguettes, other breads, fruits-grapes, dates, oranges, apples, bananas, etc.- fried orange extract coated with honey-didn't catch that name- macaroons, wine, paella, fromage, hummus) which we ate in the sun. Best birthday lunch of my life.

The Amphitheater

After eating to our hearts content, we traveled onward to the Roman Amphitheater, which was constructed in the first century BC, is the oldest of its kind in France, and is reminiscent of the Colosseum. Just outside, we were momentarily distracted by the antics of some local free runners practicing, but eventually the ruins drew us to explore them. After circumambulating the structure, several us succumbed to the desire to take a nap in the Mediterranean sun. When we awoke, we knew that we had made the right decision: a stray cat had approved of our slumber and joined us. Historically, after the fall of the Roman Empire, the amphitheater became a town in its own right as people erected houses and chapels within before it was restored in the nineteenth century.

The next stop was the bank of the Rhône, the river that runs through Provence. Then we kept going.

Roman Theater

As the day wound down, we headed over to a Roman Theater. While not as impressive as the amphitheater, it had just as lively a history. It also had housed houses. Although only two columns of its original facade still stood, and only the first few rows of seating were original, it was still impressive.

Finally, we caught the last bus back to Aix-en-Provence. By this time, an echo of hunger was rumbling in my stomach, so we sought out an interesting restaurant (I did not intend to eat cheap pizza on my birthday). We eventually settled on a Moroccan Restaurant nestled in a back alley. It was quite delicious, and the French couple sitting behind us was quite impressed with my ability to make shurikens out of the table napkins.

Catnap of Approval

Sunday was not as successful as my birthday by a half. The day itself was pleasant: as warm as the day before, and lots of free museums to go to, as there are the first Sunday of every month here. Things started to go downhill because of time difference.

• Super Bowl Sunday is technically Super Bowl Monday in France since it starts after midnight here.
• Alright, I can handle that. Yeah, I have class at 9 am Monday, but it's only one day.
• I was sitting with a bunch of kids who go to Vanderbilt.
• Apparently Aaron Rodgers' brother goes to Vanderbilt, so they were mistakenly cheering for the wrong team.
• The Steelers lost.
• I stayed up until almost 5 am to see them lose? Well, at least I'll take some consolation in that they refused to win since I couldn't be there for the celebrations. Sorry guys.
• ESPN America sucks.
• Their announcers were awful. I was glad when the sound skipped. But my true complaint with them as is follows:
• There were no commercials.



Enduring the Super Bowl

• There were NO commercials. I mean, couldn't I even have subpar American commercials? Couldn't I have FRENCH commercials? Usually, excluding the Super Bowl, commercial breaks are a bad thing. They're worse without commercials.

 So, it would seem the worst thing that's happened to be so far in France is American.