Day Five
Saturday, May 19th, 2007
I was sad that we already had to leave beautiful Carcassonne and early in the morning too! I wanted to bottle the smell as we left the hotel. The combination of lilacs and all the other flowers in the morning dew was amazing. Robert, our bus driver, had some tunes playing on the bus. It was a great way to get us all going because everyone was dancing. He would come on the bus periodically and flash the string lights that ran along the isle of the bus – we were just rocking out on your average disco bus.
Our destination for the day was Avignon, but with a stop in Toulouse for the Air Bus factory. Not going to lie, but the Air Bus factory was not something I was remotely interested in. I would have been perfectly fine with taking the time out to go to Cezanne’s studio and cut out the Air Bus, but oh well. The experience at the factory made me even less thrilled that we wasted time driving to it and the hour and a half it took out of my life that I will never get back. After we locked our cameras under the bus because they were forbidden we took a riveting (yeah right) drive around the factory with our Air Bus guide explaining what was going on in each building. We stopped at one building just to overlook three planes in the process of being built. Granted it is a huge plane, but I was less than impressed by their tour and the information given to us.
When we finally arrived in Avignon, we had to say “au revoir” to Robert and Elaina took us into the heart of the walled city. Our hotel was just outside the wall, but it was a ways from the center where we headed. It was a very busy afternoon and a holiday weekend for France. I was uncomfortable with all the crowding, the shops weren’t appealing and the heat was too much. I didn’t get the best first impression of Avignon.
Elaina had a great surprise for our evening! To make up for the Air Bus tour, she negotiated two more group dinners, one being a dinner cruise on the Rhone! The cruise gave us awesome views of the city including the Popes Palace, Pont d’Avignon and much more. Our dinner was a five course meal with the main course being filet mignon. I also had the chance to test fois gras as an appetizer. After I stopped thinking about what it actually was, it wasn’t that bad. After the cruise and dinner, the boat docked and had a DJ for a dance party. I couldn’t dance because of the blisters on the balls of my feet, but everyone had fun busting a move. It was a great end to a long and not very exciting day.
