Whilst my days are spent in the doldrums of excavating a 1939

bathroom (with a dash of 1960’s Formica thrown in),

my daughter has danced about more illustrious

antiquities. In previous trips to Italy she picked up

my fascination with doorways….

and captured some incredible portals last week in Provence

From the relatively “contemporary” historical architecture…

Another doorway…

a bit of snow drifted gothic froth

To the truly ancient…

The immense stone portals that ring

the Amphitheatre in Arles…

How incredible to see the extent of Roman ruins so deep into France…

She spent a summer in Rome before starting college

excavating at Villa delle Vignacci…

The Villa delle Vignacce complex, built in the second century AD, was the property of Quintus Servilius Pudens, a friend of the Roman emperor Hadrian. The villa is located in a park famed for the well-preserved aqueduct channels that stretch for miles along the Via Appia Antica and was  first explored by archaeologists in 1780.

American Institute for Roman Culture

But if you’ve ever visited Rome in the summer…

you can imagine what it must be like to walk amongst

all this antiquity on a cold wintery day in Provence

Great stone boulders celebrating fertile fields and stream….

Leaves, berries…les poissons?

A story behind every piece…

(knowing my daughter….a long one)

How do these people scurry about their daily lives with

this sort of sublime rubble underfoot?!

Time marches on….

Sigh…is it possible to take a bad picture anywhere in Provence?