The Lions of Arles

In southern France is the town of Arles.  It was inhabited by Romans back in the day, and is filled with ancient structures and fascinating medieval streets.  It's also where Vincent van Gogh spent time painting some of his most memorable works.  Just outside Arles rest these two lions (actually four, two on each side of the river).  The lions were sculpted by Pierre Louis Rouillard, a famous French sculptor, for a bridge built in 1868.  The bridge, linking Arles with Lunel across the Rhone river, was destroyed during Allied bombing in August 1944.  Fortunately, the lions and pillars survived.  

Sometimes a shot jumps out at you and that's what happened here as I walked the trail along the river bank.  The confluence of images create a powerful, archetypal scene.  The clouds gather, the tree appears to sway under the lions' gaze, and the white gravel path by the river, curving just beyond our view, leads to an unknown, or at least unseen, destination.