The song is stuck in your head now, right? It's ok...it's been stuck in mine for at least a week.
My program periodically puts together trips and events for its students to learn more about Lyon and the surrounding area, and when they offered a day trip to Avignon over this past weekend, I jumped at the chance to go! I figured it would be a fun way to kick off my week-long vacation. Yes, vacation. After only two weeks of class. Ah, France.
We left for Avignon bright and early at 7 am this past Saturday since we had a two to three hour drive ahead of us. The scenery on the way south was really beautiful, especially once the sun finally made its way up. We drove past several postcard-worthy French farmhouses and rolling farms, but the best part was that we saw some lavender fields from the road! They weren't blooming in all of their purple-y summer glory -- they were more of a bluish-gray -- but they were unmistakably lavender. My seatmate, oddly, seemed sort of nonplussed by the fact that we were
in Provence driving past
lavender fields, but I think that she just wasn't ready for so much excitement that early in the day.
Arriving at the outskirts of town around 10 am, we drove along the old stone walls surrounding the city until the bus dropped us off at our rendezvous point at the Pont de
Bénézet, aka the Pont d'Avignon, aka the Bridge of Avignon. Please tell me that I'm not the only one who didn't know that the bridge stops about three quarters of the way across the river! As we circled around, I was astonished to find that the bridge had been partially destroyed by the river away over the years. During the audio tour at the bridge museum, I learned that Avignon is known for its intense winds, which whip up the already powerful Rhone river. Avignon has also suffered several devastating floods throughout history. Despite various attempts to fortify the bridge to withstand the currents of the river and flooding, the city long ago gave up on trying to maintain the bridge.
 |
| Pont d'Avignon! |
 |
| Looking back at the city from the bridge |
After visiting the bridge, our group trekked over to the Palais des Papes, which was the fortress/palace where six popes lived while the seat of the papacy was in Avignon. I DID know that the papacy had moved from Rome to Avignon for a period of time in the fourteen century because I recently finished reading a book called "The Dream of Scipio" by Ian Pears. The story weaves together stories that take place in different time periods (the end of the Roman Empire, during the Black Plague, and during WWII) but all in the same general area of Avignon. I had a lot of fun imagining where different parts of the story would have taken place while I was listening to the audio tour at the palace!
 |
| The plaza outside the papal palace |
 |
| It was an imposing building! |
 |
| Old door at the entrance to the papal palace |
|
 |
| Inside the palace walls |
 |
| Gorgeous courtyard in the papal palace |
|
 |
| Model of the papal palace |
The rest of the day I walked around the city with another girl from my program. We grabbed some sandwiches to eat in a park, and then just followed any street that looked like it might be interesting. The entire time I was thinking about just how old some of the buildings were. We're talking hundreds of years at a minimum! There is just an incredible amount of history there!
 |
| Market shot number 432498 |
|
 |
| Pretty park in Avignon |
 |
| Walking along the medieval walls |
 |
| Another Avignon church |
We ended our wanderings back near the Palais des Papes in the adjacent gardens, which had a great view of the rest of the town, the surrounding countryside, and some mountains off in the distance. It was a nice way to finish the day, especially since it was a clear, sunny day without a cloud in the sky. I'm storing up all of the sunny, warm days before winter arrives!
 |
| Back in the papal palace courtyard |
 |
| Overlooking the papal palace courtyard |
 |
| View of the Pont d'Avignon from the papal gardens |
|
|
|
 |
| View of the mountains from the papal gardens |
I'm planning to go back to Provence sometime next spring when everything is in bloom and to see the coast, but until then, this was a perfect taste of the region. Can't wait to return!
