On The Way To Nice

Carrières de Lumières

Former quarry with art-based multimedia shows, projecting images of famous paintings set to music.  At the time of our tour, the performance was "Van Gogh, Starry Night / Dreamed Japan, Images of a Floating World".

As with previous exhibits/shows, the admission was part of the tour package and as such we were able to cut the extremely long line to get in.  We received glares from those who had to wait in line as we nonchalantly traipsed in.  Once in, we were treated to a room that was completely dark with only the projections providing what navigational light we could use to get around.  The floor of the room was a rough cut rock surface.  The experience was quite overwhelming such that mere videos do it no justice.

In the area adjacent to the showroom were restroom facilities and a theater showing a movie about the quarry site.  And yes, if you look for it you couild find graffiti dating back a few centuries carved in the stone walls.  A gift shop and an eatery was also onsite for those who wanted souvenirs or needed a bite to eat....not that I partook in either.

Les Baux-de-Provence

Les Baux-de-Provence is a French commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the province of Provence in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southern France.

Wikipedia Link

The commune itself was split into two areas.  The older part of town was actually an old fortress that had been fixed up to resemble what it might have looked like centuries earlier.  The admission along with audio boxes was paid for by our tour.  This is where I took a selfie of myself in stocks because it was there.  It's one of the missing photo gems.  At least there proof of this shenanigans as Mare took this compromising shot of me setting up that selfie. 

The newer part of town, but still a few centuries old, was the commercial part of town.  There was a tourist office, gift shops and many eateries.  Marlene and I split a very messy kebab sandwich from one of the "fast food" places working out of a single room with a dutch door.  We followed that up with ice cream after we found Nina and Michael sitting it out in the shade. A couple of memorable sites were the local cemetery and the ultra-modern, stainless steel restroom.