Quick trip to France… for research purposes

For spring break this year, we finally had the chance to travel! Outside the US, and for a full week!

So… we headed to the south of France (March 26-April 2). Using Arles as our base city, we visited Fréjus (on which I’ll do a separate post), Avignon, Orange, Vaison-la-Romaine, Nîmes, and Marseille, all of which have incredible museums, ruins, and statues.

Had I been wiser in my younger years when visiting the Louvre in Paris, I’d have taken a picture of the bust of Domitian. But, that was a long time ago… long before the writing bug every bit me. Fortunately, Vaison-la-Romaine had an incredible statue (was once Nero, reworked into Domitian’s face). Despite all that I’ve learned about him, I had to pose for a picture alongside the man who made much of The Dark Before the Dawn possible.

In the same room, were statues of Hadrian and Sabina. Couldn’t help myself from posing with them, too.

I couldn’t help but notice that she looked a bit done with him. They didn’t even pose the statues so that she was facing him! Despite her less-than-thrilled expression, the gap-sleeve tunic she’s wearing was beautifully sculpted and really gave me a solid idea of what a lady of means would wear. Her hairstyle was incredibly elaborate, as well.

The amount of miniature villas and public buildings we saw were too numerous to count! But all of them allowed me to picture what would’ve been the layout for a wealthy family’s home. I think the example of la Maison au Dauphin was nicely done!

 

 

We then got the chance to walk through the remains of that very house, along with a few others. We even walked into the shops along the streets. It really gave me perspective!

 

It was exactly the vacation we needed. There’s more to come in the next post!