Kelsie & Alan | Colorful romantic couples session in Arles, France
If there’s one thing I love since moving part-time to my second home in Provence, it’s showing couples around. Many of us in Paris during the first Covid wave in 2020 found ourselves stifled. Loving our city of Paris, but dealing with constant lockdowns in tiny spaces became a real challenge. I still live and work in Paris, and serve amazing clients there. But in 2020 I threw my hat into the right of home ownership again and purchased an historic townhome in the town of Arles.
Most of you have never heard of Arles (pronounced A-R-L, the “s” is silent, you don’t pronounce it, it isn’t pronounced Arl-es). But you should know about it, because it’s one of the coolest towns in all of Provence. A smaller town, with only about 50,000 residents, it was one of the most important cities in the Roman empire going way back in the time machine. The Romans loved Arles because it’s on the Rhone River, and was a strategic outpost for the Roman empire.
The Romans were busy bees when they arrived in Arles, which in Roman times was called Arelate. They built a Roman colosseum, that’s still in use today. It’s beautiful, and impressive, and honestly, maybe just as nice or nicer than the one in Rome (don’t throw tomatoes at me!). They built a Roman theatre as well, because of course you have to have entertainment in your Roman town.
There’s the thermal baths and other relics also of the Roman empire in Arles. But Arles did not stop with the Romans. In February 1888, Vincent Van Gogh had enough of Paris too, and packed his suitcase and headed to Arles, where he lived for a year. He painted up a storm, so much of Arles is reflected in his work, some of which you can still see today.
In addition to these two very important points of history in the history of Arles, there’s so much going on in the summer that you’ll never be bored. Lots of festivals–the famous photography festival (Rencontres de Photographie) plus many other festivals run all summer. It’s a hot place in summer, but it’s fun.
Arles also boasts some really amazing restaurants, and did you know that designer Christian Lacroix is from Arles? I could go on and on, there’s so much to tell, but I’ll save it for another time. Arles geographically is located an hour north of France’s third largest city, Marseille, and 20 minutes south by train of another Roman town called Avignon.
On this glorious Arlesian day, I had the pleasure of welcoming Kelsie and Alan to Arles. Hailing from San Diego, California, it was their first time in Arles. They were in Arles to attend a wedding of a college friend. The groom is from France and would be getting married near by to Arles. Kelsie and Alan got married themselves just last year, an elopement in Las Vegas, and so this could be considered both a honeymoon session and couples session in one.
It was easy to love this couple from the start. They had a breezy, up-for-anything spirit, and we started our morning at the famous colosseum (arenes). From there, we wound through the colorful squares and neighborhoods of Arles, also stopping to have a look at the famous street market, which happens twice a week. On Saturdays, it’s one of the largest street markets in all of Provence. You can find all kinds of delicious fresh food (and food samples), as well as clothing and other home supplies. It’s a must-do for most tourists.
What I love most about meeting couples like Kelsie and Alan is getting to chat with them about Arles, or Paris, or wherever we are, sharing a few tips I think could be helpful, and of course sharing my knowledge of what we’re looking at. I’m not a historian, but I do like to share a little bit of history and context and I’m always delighted when my clients enjoy my de-facto tours, in addition to their images, which I hope they cherish forever.
The absolute hardest part for me each and every time is saying goodbye, if I could walk around all day with my clients, I would!
I love what I do!
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