A Stop for Van Gogh

To Istres, France -- 54.4 miles, 12.0 mph, 925 ft

Today was a relatively flat day. We experimented with sticking to the bigger roads and highways to save time and simplify navigation. This, despite the constant nagging of the Komoot electronic guide who was constantly trying to get us back on track -- “You have left the route; please look at the map!"

At just over the halfway point, we rode into Arles. As we ate our lunch next to a small canal running through town, we realized that Arles is where Vincent Van Gogh lived for a time and that many of his paintings were of the very wheat fields and landscapes we’d just been riding through.  A Google search revealed that the museum in town was having a special exhibition of 31 of his paintings. Seemed like the perfect opportunity for a little art history lesson. We splurged on the audio tour so we could each listen and move at our own pace.

A surprisingly strong north wind kept up all day, providing a stiff crosswind for most of the ride but a kick-butt tailwind for the last 10 miles. Wow, I really love riding at 20 mph. Nevertheless, by the time we finally made it to the Hotel "Premiere Classe" around 5:00, we were all pretty tuckered out. 

Hotel after dinner (9:30PM)

After carrying everything up to the room, we rejuvenated ourselves with showers while the kids did some homework before dinner.

Not doing homework

Unlike the small, quaint towns with narrow stone streets and broad plazas that we’d been getting used to, Istres seemed to be modeled after a sprawling US city. We were just off the freeway with scattered, widely-spaced business parks and boulder-strewn, weed-infested medians.

For dinner, we walked to the nearby Hippopotamus restaurant -- which I liked to refer to as “Le Eeppo”. The kids loved their dinners of extremely rare beef kebabs, pomme frits, and ice cream.

One pet peeve about France that I've been meaning to mention is the lack of soap and toilet paper in public restrooms. We’ve started to carry both, but I've yet to see anyone else do so. Hmm, I guess that helps to explain the popularity of bidets.