France : Arles 20/10

A quieter day to potter around Arles. We had to return the car by 11am but first had a short trip to make to a place just outside the city. Bob had been keen to locate an old bridge that was the subject of one of Van Gogh's paintings. After wandering along the riverfront of the Rhone we knew where it wasn't. A more thorough reading of our walking tours booklet provided the answer. The original had been destroyed but the enterprising powers that be had searched for an identical one, purchased it and located it on a small tributary of the river. It must have been somewhere similar anyway as the Rhone is much too wide here for this small wooden bridge to have worked. Once that was achieved we made a second trip to the laundromat and returned the car. On our way back to the hotel we found the nearby train station and worked out the fastest route there for Sunday. Bob also bought the train tickets so we are prepared to move on.
Walking back we found a boulangie with nice crunchy baguettes and took them to eat in the garden patio at the hotel. We haven't had an after lunch relax for a few days so enjoyed this chance. Then a stroll down to the Carrafor Market to buy supplies meant we had the time to browse in the shops. Clothing is quite expensive here so this was a window shopping exercise only. I did my best to encourage Bob to buy some burgundy chinos that he liked but the price tag stopped him from even trying them on. We visited yet another church on our way through the central aquare. This one is huge, really cathedral size and with massive but quite elegant columns. I think I must be "churched out" because I didn't take any photos.
Dinner was at one of the tourist venues in a central square. The prices are reasonable but one knows this is not highest form of French cooking. It was very pleasant sitting outside at a comfortable temperature watching the Saturday evening crowd. The day was warm enough that I had been wearing the lightest clothes that I had packed but I had changed back to long pants for the evening. Next week is going to be cooler but still fine which is nice.