Glanum and St. Remy

Bonjor!

So, I've been slacking this weekend concerning my blog and I haven't posted in a couple days. We'll start with Friday. On Friday we had an all-day field trip to Glanum and St. Remy which are about an hour away. The trip started with a visit to the ancient ruins of the town called Glanum. In the 6th century BC the town was founded by the Gauls, who settled there because of the healing spring that comes from the base of a nearby mountain. The city was taken over by Greece and then in 49 BC was taken over by the Romans and made an official Roman town in Provence. In 260 AD, around the time of the fall of the Roman empire, the town was abandoned and all the residents moved one or two kilometers north and created the town of St. Remy. Over time the town was completely covered with mud and was not re-discovered until the 1920s. the only things that weren't covered and were the indicators of a hidden town, were the triumphal arch, which was built between 10-25 BC and is one of the earliest arches of its kind, and the Mausoleum of Julii, which just looks like a tower. I love how relaxed the French are, because we were allowed to climb all over the ruins, walk into all the rooms, and sit were they sat. It was a really cool experience. After Glanum we traveled into town, where it was market day! St-Remy was a very cute town with lots of hidden alleys and tiny shops. The best part of the town was the chocolate shop, the chocolates were tiny, but soooo delicious! After touring the town, we headed back up the hill for a tour of the asylum that Van Gogh voluntarily lived in for a year and where he created some of his very best work. The crazy thing is that Van Gogh lived right next to Glanum, but had a absolutely no idea of it's existence. Visiting the asylum was really cool because we got to see first-hand all of the things that he painted. We saw the olive trees around the area, the sunflower field in the garden, and of course all of his iconic Cyprus trees. We also got to visit the room that he lived in while at the asylum. It was tiny, but it was so amazing to be standing where Van Gogh stood. We then returned to Lacoste and relaxed until that night, which was the first night of the town's annual summer festival. We decided to forgo the 15 euro dinner and instead joined them around 11 when the "disco" dancing began. It was and inedible party; even the professors joined the many SCAD students on the dance floor. I have to say that they had some of the best dance moves of the night!

Au Revoir