Arles is full of Roman history so we planned a day trip to just see the one town. Marc and Franc invited us for dinner at their place after.

Leaving the house a little later than planned we had an additional delay when we discovered that we were locked out of the house. Ian had forgotten his sunglasses and wanted to go back to get them. But, somehow 1 or maybe 2 of †he secondary locks had turned and we were unable to open the door. David went to the neighbor to ask for assistance. She brought her keys and was also unable to open the door. She then offered to call a locksmith and to wait for things to be fixed while we left town. Very, very nice of her. I sent a message to Paul, the owner, and asked him to coordinate with her. About 5 I received a message from Paul that all was fixed.

So, on to Arles. Rick Steves suggested we visit the museum first and we all really liked it. Beautiful objects with good explanations and nice facility.

We then drove into town where we found the main parking garage (closest to the sites) full. Much driving around but after about 20 minutes the sign on the garage changed to ouvert and we were able to park the car. There were a couple of recommended lunch spots with views of the Roman arena but I got us walking the wrong direction about 2 blocks and then we had to retrace our steps and then head the correct direction. People were a little beat up by the walking and the sun so we decided to grab lunch at the nearest place. We then headed to the top of the hill to see the arena. From the top we could see the Gehry building in the distance.

Leaving Arles was more difficult than arriving. David and I offered to get the car and pick up Ian and Valerie and the closest possible spot. David and I walked back to the car and turned on Google maps for directions. Unfortunately, it kept sending us to construction sites and we kept getting rerouted. We hit one blocked off street 3 times – coming from different approaches. It was bad. But, eventually we got to them and got out of town. Off to beautiful Chateau D’Arnajon for the evening.