Next stop…Avignon!
September 20…also the premiere of the PJ20 film across the globe! I was taking a look for a cinema all day but no dice on the PJ20 front. I did get to read a bunch of reviews when I got back to the apartment and the film about Pearl Jam’s twenty years together sounds fantastic!
We headed into Avignon the train. We were pondering renting a car and driving around France but in the end we liked some of the freedom of not having to think too much about directions, parking, having a beer or two…so we decided to take the train again. Quite convenient to take the train and we also found it was quite affordable.
Vero had already been to Avignon years before but she was interested in seeing it again (to my delight!). It turns out that Avignon is also known as the City of Wind and they weren’t kidding. I almost blew away a few times!
Avignon was former home to the Roman Pope so the entire town is fortified, much like Quebec City. I was already interested in it as soon as we passed through the fortress walls. We walked up into the town and decided to grab a bite to eat on the terrasse. It was pretty windy and I was wondering if my wine would fly away! I believe I had a fish dish and it was quite tasty. My feet were pretty sore (when weren’t they? I had a blister since Day 3 and the shoes just weren’t cutting it for the amount of miles we were putting into them!) but we trucked along.
First stop…le pont d’Avignon…songs have been sung about this fabled bridge so we HAD to go there. We first danced under the bridge (like the original words indicate) but we then headed up to the top of the bridge and spent a few hours listening to audiotapes speaking about the history of Avignon and the bridge. Vero is definitely different than I am when it comes to museum/historical facts…I seem to glaze over them and choose what I think looks interesting whereas she likes listening to every little thing. No worries though, I decided to settle in and listen to every one of the audiotapes and it was quite interesting.
We eventually made our way to the end of the bridge and it was super windy, but very beautiful out on the river. I don’t believe we danced at this point, but the place was crowded! We then bought a bunch of souvenirs (that reminds me, I need to mail some souvenirs!) for family and friends and made our way to the next stop…the Pope’s residence!
We were quite impressed by the old residence of the Pope. They also had audiotapes to listen to and it was interesting to hear about how the Roman Catholics had moved to Avignon while Rome was at war (I’m really glazing over historical details here because I simply can’t remember them and am too lazy to look it up on Wikipedia!) and how Avignon was a hub of commerce.
My favourite part of the castle was when we started seeing the room closer to the Pope’s room. There was art on the walls and great sculptures around the place.
But the piece de resistance was when I discovered the way up to the roof and we got to see how it must have been to be a guard up on top! What an incredible view. I had to run back to get Vero as I knew the place was closing soon and I didn’t want her to miss the most spectacular view of Avignon.
After the pope’s residence we headed back to the train and luckily got back to Nimes in time for some Pizza Roma! We first asked if they sold gift certificates and they looked at us very oddly. I guess it’s not prevalent in Nimes/France! We then ordered a pizza and a panzoratti and brought it back home where we enjoyed our last evening in Nimes! It was delicious.