Let's see - when we left off in Avignon, after leaving the Barge, we had been stranded by our bus to Nice with 5 other paying passengers, including 2 young Korean girls.
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| Jemma and Cindy |
After waiting 1.5 hours we traipsed to a café back inside the walls (Avignon's medieval walls surround the town, and it's a BIG town), with another jilted traveler, Clara, from Strasbourg. Clara is a young actress in The Theatre of Resistance in Berlin (no photo, dammit), and, regarding the bus situation, agreed that "This would NOT happen in Germany."
She scheduled another bus north that afternoon, and the Korean girls rescheduled a 7pm bus to Nice. We booked a room in the Hotel de l'Horloge, near the Pope's Palace, and all but Clara walked over to the hotel in the rain. The desk clerk checked us in, and we explained our situation and that we wanted to place the girls' luggage in our room for the afternoon. She not only stored their luggage, but upgraded our room ('since we were doing such a favor for our friends'), and invited them to rest in the hotel's second-floor lounge for the day (!). At 6pm I walked them back to the bus.
[I failed to take a photo of the hotel - but here's a link:
https://www.hotel-avignon-horloge.com/en/?Hotelnames=frocreazurhotels&d=30d-xppc&partner=FB-PACK-PPC-15&campaignId=629649588%7C28069878395%7Ckwd-kwd-37412968763&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_KrAzbe-3gIVHoezCh0odQL7EAAYAiAAEgI4YvD_BwE] Only about 90 Euros/night - if you go, I highly recommend it!
We couldn't even book a bus or train to Nice the next day, so we stayed 2 more nights in Avignon. As mentioned before, I didn't mind, as I thought it was the best city we'd visited on the entire 2-week trip. So here are some photos. Walking tour:
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| Clock tower |
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| Gothic church |
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| Carved church doors |
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| Front of Pope's Palace |
["
The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1376 during which seven successive popes resided inAvignon (then in the Kingdom of Arles, part of the Holy Roman Empire, now in France) rather than in Rome." wikipedia]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_des_Papes
This palace was built in 30 years by two popes, and has to be seen to be believed. We had about a one-hour tour with a great Viking guide.
A few more shots:
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| Pope's Tower and Treasury (His bedroom window is that slot about half-way up on the right.) |
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| Looking down into the courtyard |
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| It was built as a real fortress, to protect all that gold. |
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| Golden Virgin |
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| It was used as a stables after Napoleon |
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| 70-meter high chimney in the kitchen |
This is one time I wish I'd taken more photos, but it's hard to capture its immensity.
The chapel had beautiful frescoes that were mostly destroyed during The French Revolution. What's left could not be photographed - incredible colors and detail, that brought to mind the Unicorn Tapestries in the Paris Cluny Museum. (Except they were painted on the walls!)
The museum - sorry, no attributions:
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| Señor Guapo |
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| Worried Pope |
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| Monsignor John Cleese |
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| Hieronymus Bosch? |
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| Get me away from these Popes! |
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| Wanted poster |
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| Don't ask me. |
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| Doggie gargoyle |
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| This year's Christmas card |
We toured a market after that, and immediately found a corner bar:
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| That first beer really helps tired feet. |
When we tipped a Euro the maniac running the bar rang a loud bell, and gave us a table inside.
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| Maestro |
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| Maestra |
Pamela tipped 1/2 a Euro for her wine, and he only tinkled the bell. Then insisted on showing us what he was cooking over in the corner:
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| Don't-look-too-closely stew |
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| Wall photo, to help you forget what you just saw. |
Avignon has a lot of shops:
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| Mexican wedding dress |
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| Glasses |
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| They make wicked tea in Avignon. |
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| Kevin |
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| Calliope player - note doggie on top |
This will no doubt be edited by the Powers-that-Be.
p.s. La Editora has pointed out the litter box on the sidewalk - denoting a moggie, not a doggie musical partner. Doh.
