Day Six
Sunday, May 20th, 2007
I honestly wasn’t excited about today because of my first impression of Avignon, but knowing the shops were closed today, I figured if anything at least it wouldn’t be as busy.
The day started off with a sad good-bye to Elaina. She wished she could have stayed with us to head to Paris, but she had only been scheduled with us for one week. She is definitely the best tour guide I have experienced traveling abroad.
We continued on from our departure with Elaina to the Pope’s Palace. When the Pope lived in France, he inhabited this magnificent piece of architecture. I was disappointed to see bare walls and empty rooms. While the audio guide gave you an idea of what the Palace looked like, it was hard to concentrated and envision. My favorite part had nothing to do with the building itself but with the rose exhibit in the center court. I have never seen so many different colors of roses before, and the scent was overwhelming. I took a ton of pictures of the beautiful roses and the displays they had set up.
From the Palace, we headed to the Pont d’Avignon. The little song about the Pont was some of the first French I ever learned to speak. I danced on the bridge and took a ton of pictures of the beautiful scenery. It is said that the current of the Rhone is slowly taking away the historic bridge.
Earlier, on the way to the Palace, I noticed artist setting up tables with their work to sell. As we walked back to the cafes, there were even more vendors out. I was in love with one in particular painting of a sun flower, which was so big that it would have had to be shipped, and also it was way out of my price range. I settled for a smaller painting of sunflowers. I really loved her work and she was very pleasant to deal with. What was nice about her paintings too was that they all were very representative of the Provence area.
Lunch was at a café in the center square, right by the carousel. Lynn and I gave the Croque Madame a try. It was different because it had an egg on top of the regular ham and cheese grilled sandwich. I wasn’t sure if I would like it, but at the same time it is a similar concept to the egg sandwich we have at home. It was delicious!
Bellies full, it turned out to be nap time. I was trying not to sleep, but I ended up passing out for the afternoon, only to wake up and eat some more. Our second additional group dinner was at a modern restaurant down the street from our hotel. The coolest feature was the red light coming out of the faucet in the bathroom and the wall made of soap bars. Crab cakes, pates and pot de crème were another “best meal” of France. Not to mention the fried potato skins they gave us a starter. I really think that the meal deal idea for three courses at one price is a great concept. I wish American restaurants would take that into consideration.
