Ancient Vaison

With the Mistral now into its third day - theory has it that this should be the last day - I had a sobering lesson about what NOT to do during the Mistral. That would be, hang clothes on the line. All I hung out yesterday were two bath towels, but by the end of the day they had become so twisted around the line that the line wouldn't move in either direction. Hmm! Dilemma! Two towels stuck in the middle of courtyard!
Solution! Get out Peter's taller step ladder and whack away at the towels with a broom. Finally they came free of the clothespins and gravity led them to me. OK. Lesson learned!

Don't think a Tuesday is going to get by without a trip the market in Vaison la Romaine. Today we DID stroll through the market and make a few purchases, but our prime motivation for this trip was to do the tourist thing, bolster the economy and finally visit the Roman ruins.

It wasn't until the 1920's that the the good residents on Vaison la Romaine realized that they'd totally built their town on top of the remnants of a substantial Roman community. From that point onward they've done some excavating, but with the exception of the theatre, they really haven't done much restoration.

As you walk about the hilly site, most of what you see are the foundations of Roman homes, some of which were palatial in size.
Although not much of the original stone remains, the theatre is the most impressive part of this exhibit. The picture taken of us, shows about the only original stone seats remaining.

Although we've never been to any event here, it seems clear that this is a functioning theatre in much the same way that the Orange theatre regularly hosts cultural events.

We brought home a market pizza and pretty much hung out for the rest of the day - kinda sounds like teenagers doesn't it?
I've been reading Jose Saramago's "The Elephant's Journey" and as I looked out over the Rhone landscape, he reminded me that one can never really describe a landscape with words. Pictures, maybe! Paint, maybe! But after that, you pretty much have to be there. That is, until someone hands me a 3D sensory camera - probably not too far fetched!
So, on that note and in the true study of Matisse and his light studies, I give you views from our terrace, first the chapel cross and then the arch in diminishing light.