Laundry Day in Provence

After making do by washing out our clothes in the sink, Bill and I finally found a laundry (the sign said Laveria) and we did two loads of wash. We stopped at a little market (not easy to find on Sunday as all grocery stores are closed) and bought what we think is laundry soap (it’s called Skip and it has pictures of clothes on the box which seemed a good sign to us) for 2,80. Each load cost us 3,50, and the drying process cost about 3 euros. All told, it was a fairly expensive process – about 13 euros or $20, but what the heck. You can’t go around being stinky (well, at least not outside of France).

And Sunday apparently really is washing day in Arles. As we walked through the back streets of the old city, there were clothes hanging outside of windows on nearly every street we walked. Arles had a different feel to it today, with children riding on the carrousel, old men wearing berets sitting outside watching the people, and young and old alike carrying baguettes home for tonight’s dinner or tomorrow’s breakfast.

We had time to look at some of the historical sites in Arles. There are beautiful Roman ruins, including an amphitheatre that is being restored. The amphitheatre at one time held tens of thousands of people who watched very violent sporting events. The amphitheater is still used today for what they call bull games. These bull games are apparently a softer version of the very violent bullfights still held in Spain. The bull wears ribbons around his horns, and the matadors (in this case they are called razeteurs) try to grab the ribbon using some kind of a hook. I thought it might be fun to see one of these games, but unfortunately there was none being held this weekend.

The shops of Arles are filled with linens and pottery in the Provencal colors of red and blue and yellow and green. The linens hanging outside the stores lined the streets beside the amphitheatre, and I bought myself an apron because the colors were so pretty. Bill looks puzzled when I spend money on things I already have at home, but I just ignore him. He can go buy cigars!

We ended our day at a little café where I enjoyed a salad Nicoise and Bill had a panini. We realized that we didn’t have any wine at home and that markets were closed. Heaven forbid! But we found a grocery store that was literally one of those that is part of a gas station, just like in the US. Wouldn’t you know that they had a very fine wine selection. Only in France.