After breakfast we head out with Laura for a walk through Avignon behind the old walls, our hotel is opposite. There is major road works happening all around the place so that detracts from the overall impression of this lovely city. It is 8.30 of a Sunday morning so not many around at all, which is great for us.
The buildings are quite lovely and such variety.
I must digress slightly and move from the lovely to the Walmart variety!
This is the guy I’m voting off first from our island.
Suffice to say that’s Henry is American, and I’m guessing east coast. He’s a pain in the proverbial and asks questions to things Laura has already given us the information about, but he’s so busy thinking up his next dumb question just so he can hear the sound of his own voice, that he had no concept of his grating impact on the rest of the group. I’ve also decided that his nutty wife is operating at the top end of the autism scale so they truly deserve each other.... but the rest of us don’t.
Anyway back to Avignon.
The fortified Papal palace is a grand building as is the clock tower. We will have free time this evening and tomorrow to really check the place out. No shortage of lovely restaurants and cafes.
We end our walking tour at the bridge which clearly goes nowhere Anymore as the river current was way too strong to retain the original bridge. I think there were meant to be something like 21 arches but not so any more, however not bad for 12th century architecture.
We are then brought by coach back to our hotel to collect those who didn’t want to do the city walk this morning. The weather was cool, about 17 and we know that it is forecast for about 21 but showers/rain by late morning, so J and I have dressed accordingly unlike Henry. However I shouldn’t be so unkind as up until yesterday he wore the same lemon shirt for 7 days.
Once again, lovely countryside ad we head towards Arles which is the ancient capital of Gaul.
There is an optional walking tour to follow the steps of a Vincent Van Gogh, but that doesn’t interest me in the slightest. Apparently his yellow cafe painting was done here, among some other ones that mean nothing to me. I’ve seen better work by kindy kids during finger painting play time!
I’m more than happy to follow Laura on her guided tour through the city. The Roman ruins of an amphitheater and colosseum are quite amazing. This colosseum was built about 10 years before the Italian one, but fits about 20,000 instead of the 75-80,000 in Rome.
Once again, lots of alley ways and narrow streets with plenty of fabulous eateries dotted everywhere.
In our free time J and I head for a cafe that Laura assures us has the best coffee and she isn’t wrong, so much so that we have two cafe au lait at Cafe Richard. We then have a wander and eventually decide on a shared wrap for lunch that we eat on a bench opposite the carousel just love how all the old cities have a carousel.
Forgot to mention earlier, that in uncovering some of the Roman ruins a beautiful statue of Venus was discovered and has been put on display in the Louvre. A copy is on display in the city hall.
Time to get back on the coach. The mistral wind had really built up and all the pollen from the plane trees is causing hay fever and allergies for many of us. No shortage of sneezes!!!
We then head to the UNESCO listed 3 tiered Pont du Gard. It has started raining now but isn’t cold so we are happy to wander around the area armed with lovely big brollies supplied by our driver.
After Laura has explained the makings and workings of the water bridge we have free time where some elect to walk across the pont du gard, however J and I head for the outdoor restaurant where a cafe au lait is promptly ordered. Laura came and joined us, so it was nice to have some private time with her. She’s our kind of people.
Time to head back to the coach and then back to Avignon.
Back in our room, we attempt to access the wifi, as I have photos from yesterday to add to the blog, quite apart from today’s offering but the bloody internet is so damn slow that we abandon our happy hour efforts and head to the lobby bar where once fortified with more white wine and olives we have 5 bars of wifi and I am happily typing and uploading away for you.
Just hope you appreciate the sacrifices I’m making to keep you included in my travels, a lesser princess would have given up some time ago...
The rain has not stopped so we are in no hurry to head outside right now, but will venture out later tonight as we find a nearby restaurant for our dinner.
