Baux de Provence

Bonjour a Tous!

Not much has changed at the Onstott home over the past couple of weeks. The kids just finished their two week break from school. It was a welcome change for Nicolas and Elyse in particular, who spent their time playing with friends and getting caught up on scouts, French, and their instruments. It was also nice for Julie, who didn't have to shuttle the kids to and from school several times a day. Unfortunately, it hasn't been much of a rest for Joe, whose work never seems to abate. However, he is hopefull that his communications with the BYU MBA school will result in some help in a few months.



Our wanderings this week took us to the the mideval city of Baux de Provence and its fortress. The city is about one and a half hours west of Pierrevert in a group of rocky hills. Unlike other places we've visited, Baux is not a living city but the remains of a city that was largely destroyed by King Louis the XIII in 1633. Nevertheless, the small village contained numerous small shops and restaurants that catered to the tourists.

One of the things that sets the Baux fortress apart from other castles we've visited is its collection of working armaments. The kids got to climb on top of a catapult to see how its timbers and ropes fit together.

Baux is also renowned for being a poet's town. One particular poet, Charles Rieu, is famous for his appreciation of the unique nature of Baux and wrote in the Provencal style.

Another unique aspect of Baux is its collection of working Trebuchets, or seige cannons that were used to smash walls or throw projeciles at the occupants on the other side (think Lord of the Rings). Trebuchets were much more accurate than catapults because they used a counterweight rather than tension to hurl objects of up to 350 pounds. Occassionally, they were used to launch corpses at the enemy in a kind of biological warefare.



Like any good castle, Baux is perched on the top of a hill with a commanding lookout of the valley below. The large olive groves surrounding the site made the view particularly good, even on a coldish February day.



The kids enjoyed their visit because of the many places to climb and explore, including the worn and uneven steps of this old watch tower.

They were also given activity books at the receiption that included a kind of treasure hunt in which they had to locate letters in the various rooms of the ruins. At the end of the tour, they were finally able to figure out that the letters spelled "Etoile de Berger" or "star of the shepherd". This is a reference to the Baux coat-of-arms and a legend that one of the founders of the city was one of the wisemen who had seen the star at Christ's birth. Given the fact that there were people living here in the bronze age, we had fun imagining him returning from Bethlehem to his home here in Baux.



Just before heading home, we took a short drive to the adjacent city of Saint Remy-de-Provence, which has its beginnings in Gallo-Roman times. There we found an amazingly preserved triumphal arch, whose intricately carved ceiling caught the attention of Elyse and Nicolas.



There was also a tower that was built about 20 to 30 years before Christ after an ancient battle.

During our visit to Baux and Saint Remy, we saw our first few signs of spring. Consequently, we are excited for the opportunity to get out of the house and see more of our region in the coming weeks.

Bonne Semaine (Have a good week)!

Julie, Joe, Nicolas, Elyse, and Nathaniel