Arles

We visited Arles during our week's stay in Ardeche. It took us an hour and 10 mins to get from Montélimar to Arles as the boys wanted to take a train ride.

We spent the day walking around the old town. As Van Gogh had painted a lot during his stay in Arles, we could see information boards showing us where he took his inspiration from. Below was just one information on the painting "Starry Night Over the Rhoneis".

On many doors, we noticed this door knock in the form of a hand. We found it amusing and the boys tried to spot them as we walked along the narrow streets. There was one particular house which not only had this particular door knock but there was also a grapevine growing on its wall. There were bunches of grapes growing, even on the second floor's window. I wander how old were the house and the grapevine.

After a good lunch, we visited the arena in Arles. I knew about this arena from my visits at France Miniature. This arena is still in use today. In the old, old days, it had been a mini city with people living in it. There was a photo depicting how it looked like in 1686.

After the visit of the arena, we walked around and stopped for ice cream. There was music bands everywhere. Seb brought the boys to the park with a playground while my mother and I went to do a little shopping.

We then had dinner at an italian before taking the 8.20pm train back to Montélimar. My mother liked the thin crust pizza a lot and even finished the pana cotta which she tried for the first time. She liked that too.

On the train journey back, we were delayed an hour and a half. Apparently, the train before us was hit by a rock and had a broken window and could not move forward. So all the trains behind it were blocked. A2 was sleeping then. As for A1, he would not sleep even though it was past his bedtime. He kept asking questions on the train's situation. We arrived Montélimar really late and by the time we got back to our vacation home nearby Aubenas, it was already midnight.

We rarely took trains and that one time we did, we were delayed. Still, we enjoyed ourselves that day. Glad that I got to know another area in France.

Dog cushion

In his first year, Handsome destroyed all his cushions that we decide not to buy him anymore cushion. The dog cushions did not come cheap and having them destroyed in a few days' time was just like throwing money into the rubbish bin.

As Handsome grows older, he grows wiser too. He is doing less stupid stuff. So I felt he deserved another chance and sewed him a cushion. The home made cushion cost a fifth of the cushion we bought for him.  Another reason was that I wanted him to have an alternative than to sleep on the sofa when we were not in the living room. 

Often when I came down the stairs, I saw my dog hurrying to meet me. When I put my hand on the sofa, it was warm.  Despite having a blanket on the floor, he would prefer the sofa. He is an outdoor dog and I do not want him on the sofa. 

I took two pieces of left over fabrics (one was actually an old mattress protector) and sewed them togather. I put in stuffing and sewed a square in the middle so that the stuffing would not shift too much. I would prefer a darker color but I only had big white fabrics.

 Handsome got used to his new cushion quickly. He used it as his bed for the past two days. I had caught him chewing on it and had stopped him. Hopefully, this cushion would last a long while.