I woke up bright and early to finish packing before we needed to clean the Gite and leave Vergons. Cleaning was a chaotic affair of too many cooks in the kitchen and not sticking to the plan. It resulted in sweeping twice and some not quite getting their breakfast when they wanted. In the end, all was accomplished and we were ready to go on time. A few more group photos and Erica taking her last chance to ice her knew in the fountain, then on the bus and away we went.
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| Erica "icing" her knee |
How quickly the landscape changed once we were no longer in the mountains. Hot and flat, different vegetation - I missed the mountains almost immediately, well except for the curvy, crazy roads. Those I can do without. We arrived at Orange (stop saying it like the color we all know and love - more like Oar - rawnge). Right of the bat - a war memorial in the parking lot, only this time it was for "l'arrondissement d'Orange a ses Enfants Morts Pour la Patrie - 1870-1871" commemorating the children from Orange who died for the Fatherland in the Franco-Prussian War.
The really neat part of this monument was the extra plaque attached near the bottom (the bit of blue in the photo). It marked that the city was "liberated by the soldiers of the 3D infantry division during World War II." Ahhh the layers of history you find in France!
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| Exterior Wall - The Most Impressive in France |
When we walked the block and first spied the Théâtre antique d'Orange I completely understood why Kind Louis XIV called it's exterior wall the most impressive in his kingdom. While I have not seen all of France, from what I have seen I'd have to agree. The whole Théâtre is so grand in size, it just boggles the mind. I did my best to try and capture it with my camera, but I'm sure I failed miserably. No matter what I tried, I could not get all of it to fit in a single photograph!
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| View of the stage from as high up as I could get |
Oh how I'd love to see a play or an opera performed on that stage! They do that from time to time. The acoustics are still amazing. Marissa and I were down by the stage and Cindy was up in the seats taking our picture and she could hear us without us really shouting at her.
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| View of the seats - my back is against the stage wall |
They had a nice film about the history of the Théâtre and the city of Orange. Very strange to think that people once built their homes within the walls of the Théâtre and even more amazing to think that someone had the foresight to preserve the structure before it was too badly destroyed. From the Théâtre antique d'Orange we walked across town to L'Arch Commemoratif - but that is another story for my next post!
For more photographs from Théâtre antique d'Orange click here.
