I do love getting a good start to the day! I was fed (lovely French continental breakfast in an elegant breakfast room here at the hotel) and out of the hotel just as the town was starting to come to life. The sun was shining and the air was fresh after the rain yesterday. Trucks were making their deliveries and shopkeepers were washing their windows and preparing to open for the day. The streets were otherwise quiet and I was able to make my way at my own pace.
"Accidental" exploring is great but I decided today was the day to use a map! With the jumble of streets going here and there, even that proved to be a challenge at times!! I did manage to find Espace Van Gogh - the former hospital where Van Gogh was sent after cutting his ear off!!
Gorgeous gardens looking just as they did when he painted them during his stay. Wonder if they lifted his spirits any?!
From there I went to Place du Forum and discovered I had been within seconds of being there yesterday!!! Just one more corner!! There I saw the cafe Van Gogh used for his Le Cafe Le Soir painting. The owners have kept it exactly the same and I could see Van Gogh sitiing on the street corner with his easel painting!!
A quick trip to the post office for a box to send some things back home and back to the hotel all before 10:30! The tourists were just beginning to emerge!
After my first change of clothes of the day (the sun was up now too!), I went back to St. Trophime (one of the oldest Provencal churches) 
to discover a funeral in progress. A hearse (aka van) was parked in the square so I sat and watched the people go by. An interesting past time! Judging by the number of flowers and the tears of the mourners, it was a very loved and respected individual.
The Cathedral sanctuary is quite dark and gray - smaller stained glass windows high in the ceiling and little other light sources there. Gregorian chants were playing as we walked through which added to the sense of history and sombreness. Enormous tapestries and paintings in some of the chapels,
sculptures
and a large display of reliquaries - part of St. Stephen's skull is apparently there?!! I didn't look too closely for it but think I saw a couple of skulls!!
Again, the stones were worn and uneven from hundreds of years of worshippers and pilgrims.
I walked out of the old section of town and towards Les Alyscamps - an avenue of marble sarcophagi that mark the site of a Roman necopolis where the town's dignitaries were buried. Legend also has it that Christ appeared here? I have not been bothering to wear a watch these days and arrived just before noon to find the gates shut up until 2 p.m.!! Even in a city the size of Arles, the Provencal traditions are followed faithfully!
Back to the hotel for another change of clothes! What a fabulous day it was! It just kept getting better and better! Too bad about the snow in Alberta?!!
I decided to go back to Le Cafe La Nuit for a late lunch. I'm sure they see the tourists coming and rake in the cash but it was a perfect day for sitting outside and what better place than Van Gogh's "haunt"?! I had a lovely salade Nicoise along with thick, crusty slices of baguette and felt quite French as I watched the world go by. At one point, a tour group came past and I think I am probably in at least 36 photos!!!
A DISadvantage to getting a good start to the day is that all is accomplished before the sun is ready to go down!! But, I bought some postcards and sat on the steps of the Amphitheatre to write and watch the rest of the world finish their "to do" lists!! Over 10 km of walking today (which is a lot for someone who spent a long winter indoors!) so sitting felt pretty good!
Weather permitting I will take the train to Nimes tomorrow and see what it has to offer!
