The main tourist attraction in Orange is the ancient Roman Theater.  When we first arrived in Orange and surveyed the town and its attractions we saw that the theater was open for tours on Sunday and knowing that all the shops would be closed on this day we decided to spend the day at the theater.  Since this was the only thing on our agenda we slept in very late.  The streets were all quiet.  The only sound that could be heard was the tolling of the many church bells calling parishioners to Mass.

            It was close to noon when we emerged from the hotel and walked around the corner to a café where we sat at an outdoor table looking up at the theater wall.  As usual the café tables were covered with bright yellow tablecloths.  We were the only ones at the restaurant and the streets were peacefully quiet.  We ordered from the placemat menu omelettes with pommes frites and took our time eating, talking, and admiring the antiquity looming above us.  As we ate our meal the church bells tolled again and we saw a small group of nicely dressed older people leave the église Saint Florent and pass us on their way home from church.  When we were completely done with our food we ordered un café as the French do (rather than drink their coffee with their meal) and lingered longer over our tiny espressos. 

            When we were almost done a tourist bus pulled up and a large group of people piled out of the bus and came to our restaurant, some seating themselves outside and others going inside.  This snapped us out of our reverie and back to reality.  We decided we’d better get into the theater before all these people did.  I decided to use the bathroom at the restaurant before we left.  Many people from the bus had the same idea so when I entered the bathroom (there was only one) it was full of people.  Now this bathroom was like many in France – one for both men and women with a central hand washing area and several fully enclosed stalls.  Needless to say, coming from a culture where men’s and women’s are always separated it is rather disconcerting to be waiting for a stall to become free and when the door opens to come face to face with a man coming out – or vice versa which is what happened to me.  When I finished my business and exited the stall I gave a little startled jump as I came face to face with a man who was standing outside my stall door waiting his turn.  Then we were all are mingling together as we washed up at the sinks.  I never ceased to have startling bathroom experiences in this country!

            The Ancient Theater of Orange – built by the Romans in the first century A.D.  It was the center of entertainment and emperor worship during the Roman Empire.  After the decline of the empire it was abandoned and later served as a fortification.  By the Middle Ages it had became filled inside with tiny houses that were built right upon the tiered seats and against the stage wall.  In 1825 work began to “disencumber” the theater of its squatters and to restore its original appearance.  As mentioned before, it is famous for its stage wall which is still standing (protected ironically by the fact that people were living inside it for hundreds, possibly even a thousand years).  Of all the Roman theaters in existence this is rather extraordinary.  Only two others in the entire world still have the stage wall standing intact.  One is in Syria and the other in Turkey.  Upon entering the gift shop we were told that the interior wall was covered in scaffolding due to some construction on the roof which would seriously detract from the experience, but, no, we could not get a reduction in price.  Well, we had come to see the theater so of course we went ahead and purchased tickets (which included an audio guide) and went inside to begin our tour.

            We spent the afternoon leisurely wandering the theater.  By the end of the day I would have what I affectionately call “Audioguide Head” – an indentation in my hair from wearing headphones all day – but it was well worth it.  The audio guide instructed us and really made the history come alive.  I could picture what it may have been like to attend an event at the theater with 10,000 other people thronging all around.  It was warm today, probably about 75° F, and the sun warmed the stone and heat radiated all around.  I took my sweater off and tied it around my waist.  I imagined what it would be like here in the heat of summer with thousands of people crowded around you.  How good it would feel to enter the cool ambulatories – the corridors that circled the seating area of the theater and were tunneled partially into the hillside behind – and to purchase refreshments from vendors here as they did in Roman times.  It felt refreshingly cool to me on this warm spring day as I entered and explored the now abandoned corridors and rooms.

            Back out in the sunshine I stood gazing across over 2,000 years of history and saw an orange tabby cat across the theater.  I imagined it was a wild cat that had made the theater its home, like the feral cats in Greece that live among the ruins.  I cautiously approached for a photo.  The cat was rolling around on its back on the warm stone tiered seats of the theater.  He seemed unconcerned as I approached but nevertheless I proceeded cautiously.  He allowed me to come right up to him and I could have reached down to pet him if I wanted.  About now I realized he most likely belonged to someone who lived nearby and the theater was just his backyard.  Still, I decided not to touch him.  Cats are unpredictable after all and I didn’t want to get scratched and contract some strange French feline disease.

            We purchased some more books from the gift shop on our way out and then went across the street to the museum.  (The museum was affiliated with the theater and entrance to it was included in the price of our ticket.)  There was a beautiful fountain in the museum courtyard spilling water from a lion’s mouth.  I was really thirsty from the heat of the theater and was craving a drink of water.  Now we had seen people drink from these fountains all over the city.  Yet I was still unsure of the safety of this.  I didn’t want to catch a parasite!  I decided to ask the museum lady if the fountains were safe to drink from.  After reassuring me that it was good, clean water and that it was not recirculated through the fountain I decided to brave it.  The water was cool and delicious and we entered the museum refreshed.

            When I had seen all I wanted to see in the museum I sat down for a few minutes to flip through my guide book that I had purchased at the theater while I waited for Jayné to finish up.  To my dismay I realized I had picked up a French instead of an English edition.  Was I so used to seeing French all around me that I didn’t notice the difference?  Who was I kidding?  I would not be able to read this!  I looked at my watch.  Oh, no!  It was almost 5 o’clock!  I ran downstairs and explained my plight to the nice museum lady.  “You could bring it back tomorrow to exchange it.”  She suggested.  We had planned on taking an early bus to Vaison la Romaine tomorrow and would be gone all day.  I told her that was impossible.  She took pity upon me and made a phone call across the street to the gift shop to explain my situation and see if I could come over to exchange the book.  I have to give her credit.  She really went to bat for me.  “Okay.  Go on over.  They’ll open the gate for you.”

            I ran across the street and one of the shop ladies was there unbolting the iron gate for me which had already been locked.  She was clearly not happy and had a perturbed look on her face.  I gave my apologies and we went inside.  I thought that it would be a simple exchange.  You know, I hand them the French one and pick up an English one.  But no, they needed to see my receipt.  I had only purchased it a half hour earlier!  And now in the age of computerized inventory it was necessary for them to scan the returned item back into the system and actually re-purchase the new item.  This was a problem because they had already closed out the till and could not (or did not want to) correct the situation.  They were extremely irritated with me and were making it clear how much of a problem I was being.  After all, it was 5 minutes to five and they were supposed to be home by now!  Nevertheless, they took the French book back and handed me an English edition.  Now it was a thing with Jayné and I when we were purchasing books to pick one in the best condition possible with no scuffing or bent corners.  I was appalled to see that one of the corners of this new book had been bent back and now there was a huge crease about three inches long running diagonally across the soft cover.  I did not want this one.  I pointed it out to them and politely asked for a different book.  She glared at me and said nothing but granted my request and before they could change their minds and tell me that the exchange would not be possible I left my receipt with them and fled the building.

            We ate dinner at Le Bouchon, a pizzeria advertising a radical new concept of being open nights and weekends.  (Imagine that!)  We were the only clientele in the place.  (Maybe this idea wasn’t catching on.)  But we were extremely glad they were open even if the locals weren’t.  I ordered pissaladière, a Provençal pizza with onions, black olives, tomatoes and anchovies along with a local beer.

            After dinner we headed out to Orange’s other famous antiquity – the Roman Arc de Triomphe.  “Dedicated to the glory of the veterans of the Gallic 2nd legion, founders of the Roman colony of Orange, the Arch is proudly situated at the northern entry of the city and has been there for over 20 centuries.”  Okay, I took that last bit from a tourist guide of Orange.  But it really wasn’t very far from “downtown” Orange and with all the walking we had been doing lately it was just a short stretch of the legs so we headed off on foot to find it.  According to our tourist map the bus station was also near the arch and we wanted to see if they had a bus schedule posted so we could do some reconnaissance for our trip to Vaison la Romaine tomorrow. 

            Although the distance to the arch was short it went through a couple of shabby looking blocks.  The street was practically deserted and we were the only women in sight.  Surely tourists must come here to see the arch, yet people were giving us strange looks, like we clearly didn’t belong there.  It was the only time on our whole trip that I ever felt uncomfortable.  We could see the arch ahead of us so we quickened our steps.  The arch was proudly lit up and I got out my camera and took a few photos from different angles.  We also searched for the bus stop but there was not a trace of one in sight so we headed back to our hotel.