We did it again! We arrived early and parked at the front door for Carriers du Lumières! I mean seriously if I measured it there was no car closer!!! It was astounding! – the car park and the production!!! This year, the theme is – De Vermeer ā van Gogh– ‘The Dutch Masters’ and it was fabulous, and we discovered there are eight more ‘Lumières’ around the world and we would love to see them all. This one is in an abandoned quarry and the light and sound show depicting the artists’ works is a remarkable way to experience their art. It is such an emotive immersive experience! I cried!!!
That same day we returned to Arles. This was not to be our best day. It was hot. We were tired. The parking we had keyed into Google was ‘complet’!!! We had no idea what we were doing and parked in some obscure place and walked into town. It was only ten minutes but in the heat? We found ourselves at the arena so went in there. It is amazing but we were tired. Then we traversed the one hundred metres to the amphitheatre which again was amazing but we were really, really tired.
We decided to go back to the car. Take a bus..we agreed! I had even taken a photo of the bus stop across from where we had parked-‘Foch’. How clever was I? Nah!!! Foch was unavailable due to road works! WTFoch!!! However, an amazing bus driver jumped out of the bus, pointed to the explanatory note and then drove us to the next stop and then when I really wanted to stick a ‘babel fish’ in my ear, explained how we should get to ‘Foch’. We smiled, acknowledged his help, ‘Merci, Monsieur’, waited for the bus to depart and then walked!
And then we went to LUMA. The car park is a zillion miles away. It was hot!!! Still…we were not going to let heatstroke put us off. We waited for the navette. There was a free shuttle bus, but we caught the wrong one and had to pay – one whole euro each! We were too confused, and did I mention it was hot?
The tower at LUMA is fabulous and we both appreciated it. The driving force behind the LUMA foundation is a Swiss philanthropist, Maja Hoffmann, who grew up in the Camargue. Her vision was for a cross-disciplinary art facility Parc des Ateliers which was a former railway wasteland covering 11 hectares. It has been transformed and the pièce de resistance has to be The Tower by Frank Ghery. We did not do this site justice. There was so much to explore. Did I mention it was hot or that we were tired. We did explore the Tower and I rode the slide!
Le Bistrot de La Galine had become our Google entry as our location was virtually adjacent and Google, which I suspect might be sponsored, never had any difficulty locating and directing us to that location. Our last night and we decided to walk next door and enjoy a Provençal meal. We began with a rosé and a white followed by a hearty meal of veal and duck with a Pichet of rouge. This was accompanied by a reggae group ‘I Shot the Sheriff’, a couple of talented four- and five-year-old dancers and some very keen oldies unafraid to humiliate themselves – obviously not us, after all, what would people think?