Day Twelve
April 12
A wild day of driving… and not for the faint of heart.
We set off early for the city of Arles, home to Van Gogh for 15 months from 1888-1889. Because of my poor planning, I frivolously entered the GPS coordinates for the Arles Amphitheater - not a parking lot in that vicinity.
It was a rough and rookie mistake. Leah has been phenomenal at giving directions this entire trip. She gives ample warning for everything and in plenty of time so this was in no way her mistake.
Within minutes of entering the city center, we found ourselves on the tiniest back streets literally driving straight up to the amphitheater in front of us. No one except the garbage collection crew drives on these narrow cobblestone streets! And we have a fairly large SUV (for European standards…)
When we realized our mistake - there was no turning back… we just had to plow on until we could squeeze our way out. Minutes felt like hours…
We passed tour groups who somehow found our presence and dire straights more exciting than the Van Gogh tour for which they signed up…
I was sweating bullets by the time we crossed the Rhône River (again… we can’t get away from this body of water!) After this hair raising adventure, the next few hours seemed a bit anti-climatic.
It seemed fitting for today’s photography to depict the beautiful pastel shaded colorful streets today… Leah and my aunt did not find the same fascination with all the different shades of wooden shutters and painted walls nearly as interesting as I.
We decided that making our way to
the peaceful Camargue (where the Rhône meets the Mediterranean) might just be a better fit for us today.
It was interesting! Exciting! And the second driving adventure of the day. I’ll say I’m grateful we have an SUV after driving the semi-paved roads for at least 60km…
We saw pink flamingos dancing in the Mediterranean, rice fields in all different stages of growth, bulls, sheep, wild white horses… and more types of birds imaginable in one place.
We finally escaped the clutches of the back country roads… and hit the motorway to head northeast to Aix-en-Provence.
We found our hotel perfectly - thanks to Leah’s amazing navigational skills! I had the awful idea to drive around the “block” to get our bearings before I parked underground for the next two days.
Bad idea…
Arles 2.0 and this time it wasn’t just ancient narrow streets to contend with… it was that AND millions of beautiful French people causally crowding the market streets trying to make way for the immense SUV creeping through the shopping district.
I just don’t ever want to repeat that again. Ever.
I carefully wound my way down underground to the parking area and literally had to make a three point turn on the bend to get around the steep curve midway down.
At least a 20 point turn got the car beautifully parked for the night.
Needless to say, we will be walking everywhere in this town. I can only hope I can get out when the time comes!
Life is funny like this sometimes… we have a destination in mind. An idea. A thought… Great intentions on achieving and arriving…
And we set off with little to no planning and sometimes we even arrive at the place we intended but everything seems wrong. Nothing seems right…
There was a better way…
But sometimes that better way requires better planning, better discipline, rigor, time, and patience…
As I was sweating buckets behind the wheel today, I asked myself how in the world I didn’t think through this part of our trip better!
And I was reminded of grace…
When I put “Arles” on the itinerary for this trip - that was the best I could muster. The most I could plan. I wasn’t thinking sharply… we were deeply grieving.
It’s not an excuse but a reminder…
Sometimes the best plan we can gather together has to be enough…
I was also reminded to be cautious when I look at others… to be conscious that what might seem like poor planning on their part - is simply their best.
And sometimes the best gift we can offer ourselves and others is grace.
Because …
When we were still sinners -
Christ loved us and
Died for us.
Graciously
Passionately
Patiently
gave GRACE…
And we press on -